Long Term Stewardship Of Doe Legacy Waste Sites

Author : National Research Council
Publisher : National Academies Press
ISBN 13 : 0309071860
Total Pages : 179 pages
Book Rating : 4.64/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Long-Term Institutional Management of U.S. Department of Energy Legacy Waste Sites written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2000-11-09 with total page 179 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It is now becoming clear that relatively few U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) waste sites will be cleaned up to the point where they can be released for unrestricted use. "Long-term stewardship" (activities to protect human health and the environment from hazards that may remain at its sites after cessation of remediation) will be required for over 100 of the 144 waste sites under DOE control (U.S. Department of Energy, 1999). After stabilizing wastes that remain on site and containing them as well as is feasible, DOE intends to rely on stewardship for as long as hazards persistâ€"in many cases, indefinitely. Physical containment barriers, the management systems upon which their long-term reliability depends, and institutional controls intended to prevent exposure of people and the environment to the remaining site hazards, will have to be maintained at some DOE sites for an indefinite period of time. The Committee on Remediation of Buried and Tank Wastes finds that much regarding DOE's intended reliance on long-term stewardship is at this point problematic. The details of long-term stewardship planning are yet to be specified, the adequacy of funding is not assured, and there is no convincing evidence that institutional controls and other stewardship measures are reliable over the long term. Scientific understanding of the factors that govern the long-term behavior of residual contaminants in the environment is not adequate. Yet, the likelihood that institutional management measures will fail at some point is relatively high, underscoring the need to assure that decisions made in the near term are based on the best available science. Improving institutional capabilities can be expected to be every bit as difficult as improving scientific and technical ones, but without improved understanding of why and how institutions succeed and fail, the follow-through necessary to assure that long-term stewardship remains effective cannot reliably be counted on to occur. Long-Term Institutional Management of U.S. Department of Energy Legacy Waste Sites examines the capabilities and limitations of the scientific, technical, and human and institutional systems that compose the measures that DOE expects to put into place at potentially hazardous, residually contaminated sites.

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ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : pages
Book Rating : 4.88/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Long-Term Stewardship of DOE Legacy Waste Sites written by and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Author : Katherine N. Probst
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1135893136
Total Pages : 72 pages
Book Rating : 4.32/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Long-Term Stewardship and the Nuclear Weapons Complex written by Katherine N. Probst and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-04-04 with total page 72 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Decades of U.S. nuclear weapons production have exacted a heavy environmental toll. The Department of Energy estimates that cleaning up waste and contamination resulting from production activities will cost over $150 billion. Yet even once that money is spent, these sites will need long-term attention to assure protection of human health and the environment. In the authors' words, stewardship refers to 'institutions, information, and strategies needed to ensure protection of people and the environment, both in the short and the long term.' Probst and McGovern make a compelling case for establishing a formal program of long-term stewardship for contaminated sites. Their report details the requirements of a successful stewardship program and discusses the daunting technical and political challenges facing such efforts, including the designation of an institutional home for key stewardship functions. The legacy of environmental damage is considerable; hazardous waste disposal, radioactive waste, and contaminated facilities are among the problems that will remain after DOE cleanup efforts are complete. Stewardship planning, according to Probst and McGovern, must start now.

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Publisher : DIANE Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1428918167
Total Pages : 167 pages
Book Rating : 4.60/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Long-Term Stewardship Study Draft: Draft for Public Comment written by and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on with total page 167 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

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ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : pages
Book Rating : 4.68/5 ( download)

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Download or read book LONG-TERM STEWARDSHIP AT DOE HANFORD SITE - 12575 written by and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Hanford Site is located in southeast Washington and consists of 1,518 square kilometers (586 square miles) of land. Established in 1943 as part of the Manhattan Project, Hanford workers produced plutonium for our nation's nuclear defense program until the mid 1980's. Since then, the site has been in cleanup mode that is being accomplished in phases. As we achieve remedial objectives and complete active cleanup, DOE will manage Hanford land under the Long-Term Stewardship (LTS) Program until completion of cleanup and the site becomes ready for transfer to the post cleanup landlord - currently planned for DOE's Office of Legacy Management (LM). We define Hanford's LTS Program in the ''Hanford Long-Term Stewardship Program Plan, '' (DOE/RL-201 0-35)[1], which describes the scope including the relationship between the cleanup projects and the LTS Program. DOE designed the LTS Program to manage and provide surveillance and maintenance (S & M) of institutional controls and associated monitoring of closed waste sites to ensure the protection of human health and the environment. DOE's Richland Operations Office (DOE-RL) and Hanford cleanup and operations contractors collaboratively developed this program over several years. The program's scope also includes 15 key activities that are identified in the DOE Program Plan (DOE/RL-2010-35). The LTS Program will transition 14 land segments through 2016. The combined land mass is approximately 570 square kilometers (220 square miles), with over 1,300 active and inactive waste sites and 3,363 wells. Land segments vary from buffer zone property with no known contamination to cocooned reactor buildings, demolished support facilities, and remediated cribs and trenches. DOE-RL will transition land management responsibilities from cleanup contractors to the Mission Support Contract (MSC), who will then administer the LTS Program for DOE-RL. This process requires an environment of cooperation between the contractors and DOE-RL. Information Management (IM) is a key part of the LTS program. The IM Program identifies, locates, stores, protects and makes accessible Hanford LTS records and data to support the transfer of property ultimately to LM. As such, DOE-RL manages the Hanford LTS Program in a manner consistent with LM's goals, policies, and procedures.

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ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : pages
Book Rating : 4.38/5 ( download)

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Download or read book A Report to Congress on Long-Term Stewardship. Volume II, Site Summaries written by and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During World War II and the Cold War, the Federal government developed and operated a vast network of industrial facilities for the research, production, and testing of nuclear weapons, as well as for other scientific and engineering research. These processes left a legacy of radioactive and chemical waste, environmental contamination, and hazardous facilities and materials at well over a 100 sites in 30 States and one U.S. Territory. Hundreds of thousand of acres of residually contaminated soils, contaminated groundwater, surface water and sediment contamination, and contaminated buildings are present at many sites across the country. These sites range in size from less than one acre, containing only a single facility, to large sites spanning over 100,000 acres with huge uranium enrichment plants and plutonium processing canyons. Since 1989, the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Environmental Management (EM) program has made significant progress in addressing this environmental legacy. Millions of cubic meters of waste have been removed, stabilized, or disposed of, resulting in significant risk and cost reduction. In addition, DOE began disposing of transuranic (i.e., plutonium-contaminated) waste in the nation's first deep geologic repository - the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico. DOE is now carrying out its long-term stewardship obligations at dozens of sites, including smaller sites where DOE has completed cleanup work for the entire site and many larger sites where DOE has remediated portions of the site.

Author : D. B. Bennett
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 11 pages
Book Rating : 4.85/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Planning for the Transition to Long-Term Stewardship at Three U.S. Department of Energy-Chicago Operations Office Facilities written by D. B. Bennett and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 11 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper describes a pilot study that resulted in the generation of draft planning documents for the upcoming transition from remediation construction to long-term stewardship at three national laboratories managed by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)-Chicago Operations Office (CH). The remediation construction work at these facilities is being completed under the DOE's Office of Environmental Management (EM) Program. Once the remediation is complete, the responsibility for long-term stewardship (LTS) of the closed waste sites is expected to be transferred to the DOE organization responsible for managing each of the three facilities (i.e., the site landlord). To prepare for this transfer, an extensive planning effort is required. This pilot study utilized the DOE guidance in effect at the time to (1) develop a series of documents identifying applicable requirements that the LTS Programs will need to satisfy, issues that need to be resolved before the transfer can proceed, and criteria to be used to determine when active remediation is complete and a given site is ready for transfer to the LTS Program; (2) examine alternate structures for possible LTS Programs; and (3) develop draft LTS Implementation Plans. This advanced planning effort yielded a number of observations and lessons learned that are applicable to any facility approaching the end of its remediation construction phase.

Author : National Research Council
Publisher : National Academies Press
ISBN 13 : 0309303087
Total Pages : 203 pages
Book Rating : 4.88/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Best Practices for Risk-Informed Decision Making Regarding Contaminated Sites written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2014-07-21 with total page 203 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Department of Energy's Office of Environmental Management's (EM) mission is the safe cleanup of sites associated with the government-led development of nuclear weapons and nuclear energy. While many of these legacy sites have completed cleanup, the largest and most complex sites have not been fully remediated. The cleanup of these sites is proceeding under legally enforceable agreements with timelines for hundreds of milestones. EM is reviewing alternative approaches to increase effectiveness and improve cost efficiencies of its cleanup activities, especially for sites that will have residual contamination when active cleanup is complete. This report is the summary of two workshops convened in October 2013 and January 2014 on best practices for risk-informed remedy selection, closure, and post-closure control of radioactive and chemically contaminated sites that present significant difficulty for remediation to unrestricted release. The workshop series aimed to explore best practices that promote effective, risk-informed decision making and future opportunities to improve remediation approaches and practices.In the Workshop #1 section of Best Practices for Risk-Informed Decision Making Regarding Contaminated Sites, the report examines holistic approaches for remediating sites with multiple contaminant sources and post-closure uses, and approaches for incorporating a sustainability framework into decision making regarding site remediation, closure, and post-closure control. In Workshop #2, the report focuses on post-closure controls, assessment of long-term performance of site remedies, and best practices for risk-based remediation decisions.

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : pages
Book Rating : 4.32/5 ( download)

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Download or read book A Report to Congress on Long-Term Stewardship. Volume I - Summary Report written by and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During World War II and the Cold War, the Federal government developed and operated a vast network of industrial facilities for the research, production, and testing of nuclear weapons, as well as for other scientific and engineering research. These processes left a legacy of radioactive and chemical waste, environmental contamination, and hazardous facilities and materials at well over a 100 sites in 30 States and one U.S. Territory. Hundreds of thousands of acres of residually contaminated soils, contaminated groundwater, surface water and sediment contamination, and contaminated buildings are present at many sites across the country. These sites range in size from less than one acre, containing only a single facility, to large sites spanning over 100,000 acres with huge uranium enrichment plants and plutonium processing canyons. Since 1989, the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Environmental Management (EM) program has made significant progress in addressing this environmental legacy. Millions of cubic meters of waste have been removed, stabilized, or disposed of, resulting in significant risk and cost reduction. In addition, DOE began disposing of transuranic (i.e., plutonium-contaminated) waste in the nation's first deep geologic repository - the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico. DOE is now carrying out its long-term stewardship obligations at dozens of sites, including smaller sites where DOE has completed cleanup work for the entire site and many larger sites where DOE has remediated portions of the site.

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 56 pages
Book Rating : 4.25/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Risk Based Requirements for Long Term Stewardship written by and published by . This book was released on 1998 with total page 56 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since 1989, the Department of Energy's (DOE) Environmental Management (EM) Program has managed the environmental legacy of US nuclear weapons production, research and testing at 137 facilities in 31 states and one US territory. The EM program has conducted several studies on the public risks posed by contaminated sites at these facilities. In Risks and the Risk Debate [DOE, 1995a], the Department analyzed the risks at sites before, during, and after remediation work by the EM program. The results indicated that aside from a few urgent risks, most hazards present little inherent risk because physical and active site management controls limit both the releases of site contaminants, and public access to these hazards. Without these controls, these sites would pose greater risks to the public. Past risk reports, however, provided little information about post-cleanup risk, primarily because of uncertainty about future site uses and site characteristics at the end of planned cleanup activities. This is of concern because in many cases current cleanup technologies, and remedies, will last a shorter period of time than the waste itself and the resulting contamination will remain hazardous.