Improving the Characterization and Treatment of Radioactive Wastes for the Department of Energy's Accelerated Site Cleanup Program

Improving the Characterization and Treatment of Radioactive Wastes for the Department of Energy's Accelerated Site Cleanup Program PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309181941
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 84

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Book Description
The Department of Energy's Office of Environmental Management (EM) directs the massive cleanup of more than 100 sites that were involved in the production of nuclear weapons materials during the Manhattan Project and the Cold War. This report offers suggestions for more effectively characterizing and treating the orphan and special-case wastes that are part of EM's accelerated cleanup program. It identifies technical opportunities for EM to improve the program that will save time and money without compromising health and safety. The opportunities identified include: making more effective use of existing facilities and capabilities for waste characterization, treatment, or disposal; eliminating self-imposed requirements that have no clear technical or safety basis; and investing in new technologies to improve existing treatment and characterization capabilities. For example, the report suggests that EM work with DOE classification officers to declassify, to the extent possible, classified materials declared as wastes. The report also suggests a new approach for treating the wastes that EM will leave in place after cleanup.

Improving the Characterization and Treatment of Radioactive Wastes for the Department of Energy's Accelerated Site Cleanup Program

Improving the Characterization and Treatment of Radioactive Wastes for the Department of Energy's Accelerated Site Cleanup Program PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309181941
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 84

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Book Description
The Department of Energy's Office of Environmental Management (EM) directs the massive cleanup of more than 100 sites that were involved in the production of nuclear weapons materials during the Manhattan Project and the Cold War. This report offers suggestions for more effectively characterizing and treating the orphan and special-case wastes that are part of EM's accelerated cleanup program. It identifies technical opportunities for EM to improve the program that will save time and money without compromising health and safety. The opportunities identified include: making more effective use of existing facilities and capabilities for waste characterization, treatment, or disposal; eliminating self-imposed requirements that have no clear technical or safety basis; and investing in new technologies to improve existing treatment and characterization capabilities. For example, the report suggests that EM work with DOE classification officers to declassify, to the extent possible, classified materials declared as wastes. The report also suggests a new approach for treating the wastes that EM will leave in place after cleanup.

Independent Assessment of Science and Technology for the Department of Energy's Defense Environmental Cleanup Program

Independent Assessment of Science and Technology for the Department of Energy's Defense Environmental Cleanup Program PDF Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309487781
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 123

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Book Description
The National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2017 contained a request for a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine review and assessment of science and technology development efforts within the Department of Energy's Office of Environmental Management (DOE-EM). This technical report is the result of the review and presents findings and recommendations.

Advice on the Department of Energy's Cleanup Technology Roadmap

Advice on the Department of Energy's Cleanup Technology Roadmap PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309132312
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 284

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Book Description
Beginning with the Manhattan Project and continuing through the Cold War, the United States government constructed and operated a massive industrial complex to produce and test nuclear weapons and related technologies. When the Cold War ended, most of this complex was shut down permanently or placed on standby, and the United States government began a costly, long-term effort to clean up the materials, wastes, and environmental contamination resulting from its nuclear materials production. In 1989, Congress created the Office of Environmental Management (EM) within the Department of Energy (DOE) to manage this cleanup effort. Although EM has already made substantial progress, the scope of EM's future cleanup work is enormous. Advice on the Department of Energy's Cleanup Technology Roadmap: Gaps and Bridges provides advice to support the development of a cleanup technology roadmap for EM. The book identifies existing technology gaps and their priorities, strategic opportunities to leverage needed research and development programs with other organizations, needed core capabilities, and infrastructure at national laboratories and EM sites that should be maintained, all of which are necessary to accomplish EM's mission.

Strategy and Methodology for Radioactive Waste Characterization

Strategy and Methodology for Radioactive Waste Characterization PDF Author: International Atomic Energy Agency
Publisher: IAEA
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 188

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Book Description
Over the past decade significant progress has been achieved in the development of waste characterization and control procedures and equipment as a direct response to ever-increasing requirements for quality and reliability of information on waste characteristics. Failure in control procedures at any step can have important, adverse consequences and may result in producing waste packages which are not compliant with the waste acceptance criteria for disposal, thereby adversely impacting the repository. The information and guidance included in this publication corresponds to recent achievements and reflects the optimum approaches, thereby reducing the potential for error and enhancing the quality of the end product. -- Publisher's description.

Best Practices for Risk-Informed Decision Making Regarding Contaminated Sites

Best Practices for Risk-Informed Decision Making Regarding Contaminated Sites PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309303087
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 203

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Book Description
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.

Tank Waste Retrieval, Processing, and On-site Disposal at Three Department of Energy Sites

Tank Waste Retrieval, Processing, and On-site Disposal at Three Department of Energy Sites PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309101700
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 214

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Book Description
DOE Tank Waste: How clean is clean enough? The U.S. Congress asked the National Academies to evaluate the Department of Energy's (DOE's) plans for cleaning up defense-related radioactive wastes stored in underground tanks at three sites: the Hanford Site in Washington State, the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, and the Idaho National Laboratory. DOE plans to remove the waste from the tanks, separate out high-level radioactive waste to be shipped to an off-site geological repository, and dispose of the remaining lower-activity waste onsite. The report concludes that DOE's overall plan is workable, but some important challenges must be overcomeâ€"including the removal of residual waste from some tanks, especially at Hanford and Savannah River. The report recommends that DOE pursue a more risk-informed, consistent, participatory, and transparent for making decisions about how much waste to retrieve from tanks and how much to dispose of onsite. The report offers several other detailed recommendations to improve the technical soundness of DOE's tank cleanup plans.

Energy and Water Development Appropriations for 2006: Department of Energy, Environmental management and commercial waste management

Energy and Water Development Appropriations for 2006: Department of Energy, Environmental management and commercial waste management PDF Author: United States. Congress. House. Committee on Appropriations. Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Federal aid to energy development
Languages : en
Pages : 538

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Book Description


Science and Technology for DOE Site Cleanup

Science and Technology for DOE Site Cleanup PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309108217
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 86

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Book Description
The Department of Energy's Office of Environmental Management is developing a technology roadmap to guide planning and possible future congressional appropriations for its technology development programs. It asked the National Research Council of the National Academies to provide technical and strategic advice to support the development and implementation of this roadmap, specifically by undertaking a study that identifies principal science and technology gaps and their priorities for the cleanup program based on previous National Academies reports, updated and extended to reflect current site conditions and EM priorities and input form key external groups, such as the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, Environmental Protection Agency, and state regulatory agencies. In response, this book provides a high-level synthesis of principal science and technology gaps identified in previous NRC reports in part 1. Part 2 summarizes a workshop meant to bring together the key external groups to discuss current site conditions and science and technology needs.

Energy and water development appropriations for 2004

Energy and water development appropriations for 2004 PDF Author: United States. Congress. House. Committee on Appropriations. Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 3118

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Book Description


A Review of Department of Energy's Radioactive High-level Waste Cleanup Programs

A Review of Department of Energy's Radioactive High-level Waste Cleanup Programs PDF Author: United States. Congress. House. Committee on Energy and Commerce. Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 88

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Book Description