Sediment ISS in an Aqueous Environment: An Innovative Adaptation of a Proven Remedial Technique

In situ solidification/stabilization (ISS) is a proven remedial technique in upland soil remediations. In recent years, ISS has emerged as a technique to remedy submerged sediments on contaminated marine sites. ISS of submerged sediments is performed similarly to upland ISS, in which the sediments are mixed with grout in situ to form a moderate strength, low-permeability monolith. ISS can provide an alternative to traditional dredging and capping methods that can reduce implementation costs, primarily by reducing/eliminating the cost of dredged spoil handling and disposal. Additionally, for deeper and/or thicker treatment zones, this method can be performed without a considerable scaling factor that could be anticipated with traditional dredging methods. Because of its advantages over environmental dredging, the past 20 years have seen this application grow from several initial pilot projects to some recent full-scale applications. This paper presents a background on the ISS of impacted sediments technology and its history, several recent case histories to illustrate its applications, construction details, and other considerations.