Archived
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Location
Lexington, Kentucky
Start Date
7-5-2026 11:00 AM
End Date
7-5-2026 11:30 AM
Description
While statistical assessment provides the foundation for CCR compliance reporting, incorporating a holistic geochemical framework transforms statistics from a compliance requirement into a powerful predictive tool. Strategic geochemical insight established the basis of understanding needed to support successful statistical approaches and to ensure that statistical outcomes reflect actual groundwater behavior. Whether it is trend analysis, delineating source mechanism, or updating geochemical conceptual site models (GCMs), geochemical context provides the technical foundations for statistical outputs and methods. A continuously refined GCSM enhances the ability to anticipate how groundwater chemistry should evolve, improving interpretation and predictive capability. This allows practitioners to understand whether an SSI or SSL represents a meaningful shift, a natural fluctuation, or an artifact of background variability. Statistics become a forward-looking tool that supports early indication of change rather than a retrospective compliance check. Integrating geochemical analysis also improves efficiency of decision-making. By anchoring statistical exceedances within a geochemical framework, follow-up quality assurance actions, such as resampling or Alternative Source Demonstrations can proceed with greater technical confidence. This presentation focuses on a case study at a CCR unit under detection monitoring, demonstrating the successes and efficiencies achieved through an integrated geochemical-statistical approach. By combining semi-automated statistical processing with novel geochemical assessment and ongoing GCSM updates, the workflow enhances the predictive capability, accelerates evaluation following an SSI event, reduces costs, and supports scientifically defensible interpretation of evolving groundwater conditions at CCR units.
Document Type
Presentation
Archival?
Archival
Included in
Energy Systems Commons, Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment Commons, Environmental Monitoring Commons, Mining Engineering Commons, Oil, Gas, and Energy Commons, Structural Materials Commons, Sustainability Commons
Integrating advanced geochemical workflows with modern statistical tools to improve the decision-making process at CCR Sites, a case study
Lexington, Kentucky
While statistical assessment provides the foundation for CCR compliance reporting, incorporating a holistic geochemical framework transforms statistics from a compliance requirement into a powerful predictive tool. Strategic geochemical insight established the basis of understanding needed to support successful statistical approaches and to ensure that statistical outcomes reflect actual groundwater behavior. Whether it is trend analysis, delineating source mechanism, or updating geochemical conceptual site models (GCMs), geochemical context provides the technical foundations for statistical outputs and methods. A continuously refined GCSM enhances the ability to anticipate how groundwater chemistry should evolve, improving interpretation and predictive capability. This allows practitioners to understand whether an SSI or SSL represents a meaningful shift, a natural fluctuation, or an artifact of background variability. Statistics become a forward-looking tool that supports early indication of change rather than a retrospective compliance check. Integrating geochemical analysis also improves efficiency of decision-making. By anchoring statistical exceedances within a geochemical framework, follow-up quality assurance actions, such as resampling or Alternative Source Demonstrations can proceed with greater technical confidence. This presentation focuses on a case study at a CCR unit under detection monitoring, demonstrating the successes and efficiencies achieved through an integrated geochemical-statistical approach. By combining semi-automated statistical processing with novel geochemical assessment and ongoing GCSM updates, the workflow enhances the predictive capability, accelerates evaluation following an SSI event, reduces costs, and supports scientifically defensible interpretation of evolving groundwater conditions at CCR units.
