ABSTRACT
In Situ Vitrification (ISV) is an innovative, mobile, onsite remediation technology for contaminated solids. ISV has been under development for the US Department of Energy since 1980 by Bauteile Memorial Institute’s Pacific Northwest Laboratories. ISV applications may also be categorized relative to the primary location and/or condition of the waste. Such categorization includes: contaminated soil, buried waste, and underground structures. Most ISV development work has focused on contaminated soil applications wherein the contaminated media is primarily soil. Buried waste applications involving wastes which were highly heterogeneous at time of burial typically pose a problem of site characterization. It is necessary to know worst-case conditions within the treatment zone to allow appropriate remedial design for the site. The solid media itself may also decompose during processing. For example, the inorganic portion of soils, which consists of complex mineral compounds, typically breaks down into major oxide groups such as silica and alumina.
