RICHLAND, Wash. - One of the largest cleanup challenges in the world is the 580-square-mile Hanford Site. Four decades of nuclear energy production, spanning World War II through the Cold War, left an array of chemicals in soil and groundwater across the site.
As cleanup progresses, site managers need to identify exit strategies for remedies such as groundwater pump-and-treat systems. These decisions require the ability to quantify trends in data and calculate technically-defensible metrics that describe contaminant concentration levels in size and over time.
To help EM evaluate the data, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) developed a set of online software tools that perform multiple types of analyses on environmental data collected from over 2,000 groundwater monitoring wells.
The suite of tools, funded by DOE’s Deep Vadose Zone Program, is called SOCRATES. These tools provide practical results from scientific data and ultimately advance Hanford’s groundwater cleanup mission.
SOCRATES stands for a Suite of Comprehensive Rapid Analysis Tools for Environmental Sites. It’s also a clever reflection of its namesake.
“Ancient Greek philosophers observed and interpreted the world around them, forming the early basis for western science and natural philosophy," said Vicky Freedman, principal investigator for the SOCRATES tool suite. “We captured all these tools under the name SOCRATES because we can use them to readily analyze and interpret subsurface conditions and support site management."
Socrates pursued knowledge through questioning, then examining the implications of the answers. The modules in the Socrates tool suite are named after like-minded ancient Greek philosophers. SOCRATES currently includes four modules, each with an instructional user guide:
* GALEN: Groundwater AnaLytics for the ENvironment. GALEN analyzes water level data to understand changes over time and to determine groundwater flow directions and gradients. This module was named after Galen, a physician who discovered that arteries carry blood.
* PLATO: PLume Analysis TOol. PLATO provides a framework for seamless access to multiple data sources, allowing a user to quickly and consistently perform analyses to quantify groundwater contaminant plume dynamics and answer questions that support remedial decisions. PLATO implements data-driven, quantitative analyses based on published U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) guidance and standard statistical methods. Plato, the preeminent Greek philosopher of his time, emphasized the abilities to think and reason rather than depend on the senses to perceive knowledge.
* ION: Images ONline. ION provides image visualization capabilities for electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) data acquired on the Hanford Site. ERT is a geophysical technique for imaging the subsurface using electrical resistivity measurements made at the surface, or by electrodes located in boreholes. Ion of Chios, a versatile writer, dramatist, lyric poet, and philosopher, placed himself as interpreter of history and the human condition.
* ARIUS: A Remote-sensing Image USer Interface. This visualization tool integrates remote-sensing images to reveal changes in surface elevation over time. This information can be used for early detection of waste site subsidence and potential catastrophic events. While land-based routine physical surveys are feasible for monitoring changes in surface elevation, airborne or spaceborne remote sensing methods are more cost- and time-effective. Arius was a teacher of philosophy and advisor to the emperor Augustus who summarized Peripatetic and Platonist philosophy. The term Peripatetic means "of walking" or "given to walking about."
Source: U.S. Dept. of Energy, Office of Environmental Management
