[CPEO-MEF] DOE Long-Term Stewardship

[CPEO <cpeo@cpeo.org>]

For Immediate Release

Contact: Roseanne Black, roseanne_black@wpi.biz

DOE faces challenges in transferring formerly used sites to public

ITRC surveys state regulators on DOE's long-term stewardship issues

The U.S. Department of Energy is the fourth largest federal landowner, 
with 50 major sites on 2.4 million acres across the country. With its 
mission coming to a close at many sites and the potential to return land 
to the public, DOE and several states are considering how to best manage 
this transition. The concept of "long-term stewardship" emerged over the 
past decade as it became clear that "cleanup" of federal facilities 
under multiple regulatory programs cannot in all cases achieve 
conditions safe for unrestricted use and that some sites will therefore 
require some form of management far into the future. Long-term 
stewardship (LTS) is the federally implemented institutions, controls, 
information, and mechanisms needed to protect the public and environment 
from legacy waste that is impractical, unsafe, or too costly to 
remediate to free-release standards.

In Issues of Long-Term Stewardship: State Regulators' Perspectives 
(RAD-3, July 2004), the Interstate Technology & Regulatory Council's 
(ITRC) Radionuclides Team reports the results of a targeted survey of 
state regulators involved with DOE sites and familiar with LTS issues. 
The survey was conducted to identify LTS challenges that could benefit 
from the development and application of additional science and 
technology of various types, including social, biological, chemical, and 
engineering. The document presents the survey methodology, data, 
results, and conclusions and-to put this effort into context with other 
LTS efforts-compares the survey findings with three other relevant 
documents: DOE's Long-Term Stewardship Science and Technology Roadmap; 
DOE's Draft Guidance for Transition of Long-Term Surveillance and 
Maintenance Function; and Environmental Cleanup at Navy Facilities: 
Adaptive Site Management, developed by the National Research Council.

Thirty-one regulators from seven states with large DOE facilities 
(Colorado, Missouri, New Mexico, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, and 
Washington) completed the survey. A broad collection of activities was 
identified as important to closing sites and conducting LTS. State 
regulators recognize the need for new technologies to support better and 
more cost-effective cleanup and LTS efforts. They also identified 
several areas where they would like to improve their own skills and 
knowledge to be better prepared for the significant challenges LTS will 
present, including information management, monitoring, and decision making.

The challenges and technology gaps identified by the state regulators 
are based on a thorough understanding of the complexities that exist not 
only in their own states but also DOE complex wide. Ninety percent of 
respondents indicated that technology is critical in addressing 
treatment and monitoring challenges of LTS. The results of the survey 
were generally consistent with the comparison documents, which were 
selected because they represent federal initiatives for moving the sites 
from cleanup to long-term management and meeting the implementation 
challenges of LTS and all of which recognize the need for a 
multidimensional approach to LTS.

Culminating with more than 20 broad-ranging observations identified from 
the survey and 10 specific conclusions for improvement of LTS 
implementation, this report provides a useful basis for continuing 
dialog, education, and development efforts to bring the perspectives 
closer, facilitate the transition of sites into LTS, improve the tools 
available for conducting LTS, and improve the effectiveness and 
efficiency of LTS operations. It highlights issues and concerns 
pertaining to LTS to assist regulators, stakeholders, technology 
developers and DOE to understand, evaluate, and make informed decisions 
as they move forward and implement long-term stewardship to protect 
human health and the environment.

Issues of Long-Term Stewardship: State Regulators' Perspectives and 
other ITRC products can be downloaded from the ITRC Web site at 
www.itrcweb.org by clicking on "Guidance Documents." To receive a 
hard-copy ITRC document in the mail, e-mail your request to itrc@wpi.biz.

ITRC is a state-led group that works to overcome regulatory barriers to 
the deployment of innovative environmental technologies. ITRC 
participants come from state regulatory agencies, federal agencies 
concerned with environmental cleanup, environmental consulting firms, 
and technology vendors. These diverse experts work together in technical 
teams to develop documents and training to help regulators develop 
consistent, streamlined approaches to regulating innovative 
technologies. ITRC products also help environmental consultants improve 
the way innovative technologies are deployed.



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