Final Report Radon-222 as a Natural Tracer for Monitoring the Remediation of NAPL Contamination in the Subsurface

Radon-222 as Natural Tracer for Monitoring the Remediation of NAPL Contamination in the Subsurface

470-481 Gw J-a 03

The release of nonaqueous phase liquids (NAPLs) to the subsurface environment can create long-term sources of ground water contamination as the NAPL slowly dissolves into ground water (Mercer and Cohen 1990; Cohen and Mercer 1993). Effective remediation of subsurface NAPL contamination requires that NAPL be accurately located and saturations quantified. This is particularly important for dense ...

Numerical simulations of radon as an in situ partitioning tracer for quantifying NAPL contamination using push-pull tests.

Presented here is a reanalysis of results previously presented by [Davis, B.M., Istok, J.D., Semprini, L., 2002. Push-pull partitioning tracer tests using radon-222 to quantify non-aqueous phase liquid contamination. J. Contam. Hydrol. 58, 129-146] of push-pull tests using radon as a naturally occurring partitioning tracer for evaluating NAPL contamination. In a push-pull test where radon-free ...

Push-pull partitioning tracer tests using radon-222 to quantify non-aqueous phase liquid contamination.

Naturally occurring radon in groundwater can be used as an in situ partitioning tracer for locating and quantifying non-aqueous phase liquid (NAPL) contamination in the subsurface. When combined with the single-well, push-pull test, this methodology has the potential to provide a low-cost alternative to inter-well partitioning tracer tests. During a push-pull test, a known volume of test soluti...

Single-well "push-pull" partitioning tracer test for NAPL detection in the subsurface.

Previous environmental applications of partitioning tracer tests to detect and quantify nonaqueous phase liquid (NAPL) contamination in the subsurface have been limited to well-to-well tests. However, theory and numerical modeling suggests that single-well injection-extraction ("push-pull") partitioning tracer tests can also potentially detect and quantify NAPL contamination. In this type of te...