Kwajalein Atoll Compliance Cleanup Program

Client: U.S. Army Space Missile Defense Command

Location: Republic of the Marshall Island

This project included environmental investigation and remediation activities at multiple contaminated sites. Kuna provided a complete team of experts including geologists, engineers, chemists, environmental scientists, an archaeologist, surveyors, and translators.

Due to the distance from the United States, Kuna set up an onsite laboratory to perform some of the soil and groundwater testing. A solar-powered, free-product recovery system was designed, installed, and operated. Passive soil remediation was performed on highly contaminated soil using black plastic sheeting. Two groundwater remediation systems were designed, constructed, and operated – one on Kwajalein at the fuel farm and one on Roi-Namur near the fuel tanks. These systems were unique in that they were remediating active tank farms by extracting contaminated groundwater on the down-gradient side, pumping it to a central multi-stage treatment system, and then pumping it to a series of injection wells on the up-gradient side. This challenging process required that fresh water extraction occur at a specific rate to prevent pull-up of underlying salt water that would contaminated the fresh water layer. Treatment included both adding oxygen and nutrients to the groundwater to assist in the biological remediation of the contaminated water. Contaminated soil that could not be treated on site (e.g., PCBs and heavy metals) were properly packaged and shipped to United States disposal facilities.

This project presented Kuna staff with two unique challenges. Kuna’s documents were first produced prepared in English, then had to be translated into the local language (Marshallese). And, given Marshall Islands is a foreign country, Kuna had to comply with all requirements of that country.