CLEANUP BASICS

ECA identified the following steps in the cleanup process, which are examined more in depth in this guide.

1. Identify the environmental contamination.

2. Communicate with the affected parties and decision-makers, including Congress.

3. Understand the issues and the process, including the regulatory process.

4. Identify the parties, the decision-makers within the parties, and the goals for each party.

5. Develop attainable near-term and long-term goals.

6. Identify opportunities to forge a common ground and form coalitions as opportunities allow.

7. Understand the politics and ensure the political leaders are informed and on-board with the cleanup and future use goals.

8. Understand the federal budget process and the impacts on the cleanup.

9. Learn the technical issues and identify opportunities and constraints that define what is technically attainable.

10. Understand the steps taken to clean up the site:

a. Identify cleanup options and make sure all parties understand them.

b. Empower all parties to provide input into the decision-making process.

c. Understand that parties will be adverse.

d. Provide technical assistance for local governments and community groups, as such assistance helps build understanding and trust.

e. Work together to determine the future use of the site.

f. Decide on cleanup levels and understand risk and costs.

g. Understand future responsibilities for waste remaining in place.

h. Work together once decisions are made to accomplish the goals.

11. Develop the right contract for the budget, site, risk tolerance, and technical capability.

12. Plan for cost overruns and changes in plans and budgets.

13. Be persistent.

14. Repeat the steps above several times as new personnel become involved in the cleanup process, and as the rules and funding of the cleanup process change.

The regulation of nuclear facilities and waste involves many federal agencies. Under the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) had the sole responsibility for the development and production of nuclear weapons and for the development and the safety regulation of the civilian uses of nuclear materials. Certain Atomic Energy Act responsibilities were assigned to EPA when it was created under Reorganization Plan 3 of 1970. The Energy Reorganization Act of 1974 abolished AEC and split the weapons and civilian functions primarily between the Energy Research and Development Administration (now part of DOE) and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).

Department of Energy: While there is no “regulator” for defense nuclear high-level waste, DOE is the federal agency responsible for the development and production of nuclear weapons, promotion of nuclear power, and other energy-related work. In addition, DOE is in charge of planning and carrying out programs for the safe handling of DOE owned or generated high-level nuclear waste, developing nuclear waste-disposal technologies, cleaning up legacy contamination, and for designing, constructing, and operating disposal facilities for DOE-generated high-level nuclear waste and for both federal and commercial spent nuclear fuel. DOE Order 435.1, Radioactive Waste Management, outlines policies and requirements for DOE’s waste management

Nuclear Regulatory Commission: The NRC was created as an independent agency by Congress in 1974. NRC regulates commercial radioactive waste and is responsible for licensing commercial facilities developed for permanent disposal of low-level radioactive waste and for licensing a high-level radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel repository. However, NRC does not have licensing authority over DOE radioactive waste storage and disposal facilities (except for certain DOE activities and facilities over which Congress has provided NRC licensing and related regulatory authority).

Environmental Protection Agency: EPA is responsible for developing generally applicable environmental radiation standards for specific sources or practices associated with the nuclear fuel cycle. EPA has developed standards for operations of uranium fuel-cycle facilities, uranium and thorium mill tailings, and management and disposal of spent nuclear fuel, high-level waste, and transuranic waste. EPA usually is not the enforcement authority for these standards. Rather, they are enforced by the NRC or DOE in nearly all cases. An exception is that, under the WIPP Land Withdrawal Act, EPA directly enforces its disposal standards for long-term performance of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant disposal facility.

Spent Nuclear Fuel: Refers to fuel elements that have been irradiated and then removed from a reactor, typically because the fuel is no longer efficiently producing the intended energy or weapons-related materials. Spent (or used) nuclear fuel (SNF) from civilian nuclear power reactors and research reactors (not weapons-focused) is regulated by the NRC. DOE manages its defense SNF.

High-Level Waste (HLW): Highly radioactive material generated by the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel and irradiated targets. Most of DOE’s HLW comes from the production of plutonium, and a smaller fraction is related to the recovery of enriched uranium from naval reactor fuel. The on-site management or disposal of this waste is not regulated by the NRC, though NRC may have a consulting role. The eventual disposal of defense HLW in a national repository would be subject to EPA and/or NRC regulation.

Transuranic Waste (TRU): Waste containing more than 100 nanocuries of alpha-emitting transuranic isotopes per gram of waste, with half-lives greater than 20 years, except for (A) high-level radioactive waste; (B) waste that the Secretary of Energy has determined, with the concurrence of the EPA Administrator, does not need the degree of isolation required by the disposal regulations; or (C) waste that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has approved for disposal on a case-by-case basis in accordance with Part 61 of the Code of Federal Regulations. TRU waste results from clean-up of DOE legacy research and weapons-related activities and ranges from contaminated soil and sludge to debris and equipment. The disposal of TRU waste at WIPP is regulated by the EPA.

Low-Level Waste (LLW): As defined by the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, “low-level radioactive waste” means radioactive material that (A) is not high-level radioactive waste, spent nuclear fuel, transuranic waste, or byproduct material as defined in section 2014(e)(2) of this title; and (B) the [Nuclear Regulatory] Commission, consistent with existing law, classifies as low-level radioactive waste. Low-level radioactive waste spans a wide range of characteristics, but most of it contains small amounts of radioactivity in large volumes of material. Some wastes in this category (e.g., irradiated metal parts from reactors) can have more radioactivity per unit volume than the average reprocessing waste—some of which might be categorized as HLW —from nuclear weapons production.

As provided in 10 CFR 61.55, based on the concentrations of the radionuclides, LLW regulated by NRC is divided into four classes—A, B, C and greater-than-class C (GTCC) . Class A is harmless in approximately 100 years, Class B in 300 years, and Class C remains hazardous for 500 years. GTCC LLW contains higher concentrations of radionuclides than Class C LLW. Class A, B, and C LLW is considered generally acceptable for near-surface disposal. DOE does not use the 10 CFR 61.55 classification system except when DOE waste is disposed of in an NRC or Agreement State licensed facility. DOE operates on-site LLW and mixed LLW disposal facilities at some sites. The radioactivity limits for waste in those facilities are set based on strict criteria for long-term performance of the disposal facility, as required by DOE Order 435.1.

Large quantities of DOE LLW from legacy cleanup and other activities have been disposed of in DOE and commercial near-surface facilities and additional quantities will continue to be generated and disposed of at these facilities as DOE missions continue. This waste can include gloves and equipment that came into contact with radioactive materials.

Greater Than Class C LLW: GTCC contains the highest levels of radioactivity for LLW and remains hazardous for more than 500 years. GTCC LLW is generated by commercial licensees and includes certain disused radioactive sealed sources used in hospitals, activated metals from the decommissioning of nuclear power reactors, and other wastes. DOE is responsible for developing a disposal capability for GTCC LLW. Because the NRC LLW classification doesn’t directly apply to DOE LLW, the Department technically has no GTCC waste. However, DOE owns or generates “GTCC-like” waste: LLW and non-defense transuranic (TRU) waste that has characteristics similar to commercial GTCC LLW and may benefit from a common disposal approach. “GTCC-like” is not intended to and does not create a new DOE classification of radioactive waste.

Mixed Waste: Waste that contains both radioactive and chemically hazardous materials. Some low-level waste is mixed waste. Depending on the levels of radioactivity, mixed waste can be TRU or LLW. Mixed waste is regulated by EPA or states for its chemical hazards, even if its radioactivity classification falls under DOE’s authority. This means, for example, that while DOE can authorize its own LLW disposal facilities, the facilities must also obtain state approval to operate under hazardous waste regulations if they accept mixed waste.

Other Waste: By volume, most of the waste generated at DOE sites is not contaminated with either radioactive or hazardous wastes. That waste includes clean buildings such as office buildings, and the contents therein. These wastes are disposed at commercial or DOE construction and demolition landfills.

There are operating disposal facilities for LLW, Mixed LLW, and defense TRU waste and this waste can be safely stored onsite until shipped to a treatment or disposal facility. There is currently no permanent repository for the disposal of SNF and HLW. In 1987, Congress designated Yucca Mountain as the repository for spent nuclear fuel (a byproduct of the nation’s commercial nuclear reactors) and high-level waste (materials resulting from the nation’s defense and nuclear weapons programs). However, the Secretary of Energy withdrew the license application after deciding that Yucca Mountain was not a workable option, resulting in facility owners storing both HLW and SNF on-site in locations across the U.S. DOE recently restarted efforts to develop a consent based approach to identify sites to store and dispose of HLW and SNF. In addition, there is currently no disposal capability for GTCC LLW and DOE non-defense transuranic waste, for which DOE is currently evaluating potential disposal alternatives.

Spent Nuclear Fuel: Two primary storage options are utilized—storage pools (known as “wet storage”) and dry casks.

High-Level Radioactive Waste: HLW is mostly managed as liquids in underground tanks, some of which has been converted to a powder form, and some solidified and stored in glass. HLW is stored on-site at Hanford, Savannah River Site, Idaho Site, and the West Valley Site as there is currently no permanent repository for such waste. While DOE manages most tank waste as HLW for the purpose of storage, its ultimate waste classification is made prior to disposal based on the characteristics of the final waste stream.

Transuranic Waste: DOE’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), located near Carlsbad, New Mexico, serves as the nation’s repository for defense TRU waste. Defense TRU waste is stored on-site pending certification and shipment to WIPP. Non-defense TRU waste continues to be safely stored at several DOE sites until a disposal capability is developed.

Low-Level Waste: Commercial LLW (LLW) and DOE LLW can be disposed of in near-surface facilities. Much of the DOE LLW is disposed in on-site landfills, though some is shipped to off-site disposal facilities.

Greater Than Class C LLW: Greater than Class C LLW waste is generated by commercial licensees and currently must be disposed of in an NRC-licensed geologic repository (unless NRC grants an exception). GTCC LLW is stored by the commercial licensee pending the development of a disposal capability by DOE.

Mixed Waste: (See TRU and Low-Level Waste)

Other Waste: Other waste is stored in municipal landfills.

Completing the environmental cleanup of a whole site can vary from years to decades. Cleanup is broken down by specific areas of the sites. DOE provides excellent summaries of progress and current status of cleanup at the sites here. Further, the summary of each EM cleanup site including the site manager, contractors that manage the cleanup of each site, the local governments near the site, the site budget and other information is listed on the ECA site profiles.

At every EM cleanup site, DOE has a cleanup contract, which establishes the legal relationship among DOE and the private contractor consortium, defines the scope of work the contractor must accomplish to clean up the site, estimates the cost to clean up the site and identifies community support requirements for the contractor to invest in the community, and creates incentives to accomplish the cleanup mission (in a timely manner). Properly scoped contracts should (but often do not) mirror the regulatory agreements that drive federal facility cleanup projects. Such contracts provide a basis for community members and Congress to gauge cleanup progress which in turn can increase trust and confidence in the cleanup. The “contractor” is the private company that DOE hires to manage the site and implement cleanup at every DOE site. To find the contractor at your site, please visit ECA’s site profiles.

Over time, DOE and other federal agencies amend the terms and the names of the cleanup contract. For example, DOE currently calls its approach “end states” contracting, but these are simply indefinite delivery contracts with specific task orders. They do not specifically focus on the holistic cleanup level of the site. In fact, end state identified in the contract is rarely the cleanup level of the site.

Learn more the status of contracts and the schedule of procurements at each DOE site here.

Yes. EM contracts with small businesses both as prime contractors and as subcontractors for projects and services. Typically, small businesses are subcontractors to the consortium company that manages most sites. In 2018, DOE approved DOE Policy 547.1, Small Business First Policy, which outlines the EM goals and principles for engaging small businesses in the cleanup mission. In addition, DOE established the EM Consolidated Business Center (EMCBC) and the Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization to assist small businesses with contracting opportunities. Many of communities around the sites support small business consortium groups.