THE CLARET PROJECT
The launch meeting for the CLARET project (Contaminated Land: Assessment of Remediation by Electrical Tomography) was hosted by the British Geological Survey (BGS) on the 11th January 2007 and marks the start of a two year investigation project aimed at proving a new contaminated land mapping technology.
The project is being industry-led by the VHE Group, one of the UK’s leading brownfield regeneration specialists and INTERKONSULT LTD, an innovative engineering practice specialising in sub-surface environments. The British Geological Survey provides the research and development components whilst South Kesteven District Council as the fourth partner of the consortium provides a regulator's perspective and access to the trial site. The project is part funded by the DTI technology programme aimed at supporting innovative projects in priority areas.
SCOPE OF CLARET
CLARET comprises of multiple work packages which include instrumentation, laboratory experiments, site trials, cost benefit analysis and market research. The focus of the work will be the assessment of a former gasworks site in the centre of historic Stamford in Lincolnshire. The site has been subjected to a wide range of contaminants and is close to both sensitive environmental and human receptors.
With the increased demand for land for property development and an estimated two million contaminated sites throughout Europe alone, it is vital that methods such as ERT be developed. In addition, the world market for time-lapse ERT instrumentation might generate income streams in excess of £15 million within five years. These factors, combined with the fact that ET technology is non-destructive, non-invasive and will create many new jobs, makes it an ideal technology to develop. Specific aims of the project are:
* To adapt a prototype geoelectrical imaging system to monitor and
image in-situ contaminant remediation.
* To assess the ability of geoelectrical imaging to map contaminant
distribution and track remediation processes in controlled laboratory
conditions.
* To develop image reconstruction algorithms for real-time 4D
monitoring of remediation.
* To install the system at a contaminated land test site and undertake
field trials to verify its reliability, accuracy and practicality
during and after the remediation phase.
* To perform a cost-benefit analysis to quantify the potential savings
of using CLARET compared to conventional remediation verification
strategies.
WORK PACKAGES
The CLARET Project is organised into a number of work packages which form the basis of monitoring progress:
WP1 Instrumentation
WP2 Remote Data Capture
WP3 Laboratory Experiments
WP4 Inversion Code
WP5 Test Site
WP6 Data Management
WP7 Cost Benefit Analysis
WP8 Project Management & Exploitation