National Academies Press: OpenBook
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 1995. Improving the Environment: An Evaluation of the DOE's Environmental Management Program. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5173.
×

Improving the Environment

An Evaluation of DOE's Environmental Management Program

Committee to Evaluate the Science, Engineering, and Health Basis of the Department of Energy's Environmental Management Program

National Research Council

National Academy Press
Washington, D.C.
1995

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 1995. Improving the Environment: An Evaluation of the DOE's Environmental Management Program. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5173.
×

NATIONAL ACADEMY PRESS
2101 Constitution Ave., N.W. Washington, D.C. 20418

NOTICE: This volume was produced as part of a project approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the expert committees were chosen for their special competencies and with regard for appropriate balance. This report has been reviewed by a group other than the authors according to procedures approved by the NRC and the Report Review Committee.

The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a private, nonprofit, self-perpetuating society of distinguished scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and technology and to their use for the general welfare. Under the authority of the charter granted to it by Congress in 1863, the Academy has a working mandate that calls on it to advise the federal government on scientific and technical matters. Dr. Bruce M. Alberts is president of the NAS.

The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) was established in 1964, under the charter of the NAS, as a parallel organization of distinguished engineers. It is autonomous in its administration and in the selection of members, sharing with the NAS its responsibilities for advising the federal government. The National Academy of Engineering also sponsors engineering programs aimed at meeting national needs, encourages education and research, and recognizes the superior achievements of engineers. Dr. Harold Leibowitz is president of the NAE.

The Institute of Medicine (IOM) was established in 1970 by the NAS to secure the services of eminent members of appropriate professions in the examination of policy matters pertaining to the health of the public. The Institute acts under the responsibility given to the NAS in its congressional charter to be an adviser to the federal government and, on its own initiative, to identify issues of medical care, research, and education. Dr. Kenneth I. Shine is president of the IOM.

The National Research Council (NRC) was organized by the NAS in 1916 to associate the broad community of science and technology with the Academy's purposes of furthering knowledge and advising the federal government. Functioning in accordance with general policies determined by the Academy, the Council has become the principle operating agency of both the NAS and the NAE in providing services to the government, the public, and the scientific and engineering communities. The Council is administered jointly by both Academies and the IOM. Dr. Bruce M. Alberts and Dr. Harold Leibowitz are chairman and vice chairman, respectively, of the NRC.

This project was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy.

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 95-73219

International Standard Book Number 0-309-05440

Internet Access: This report is available on the National Academy of Sciences' Internet host. It may be accessed via World Wide Web at http://www.nas.edu, via Gopher at gopher.nas.edu, or via FTP at ftp.nas.edu.

Available from:

National Academy Press
, 2101 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Box 285, Washington, D.C. 20055 1-800-624-6242 or 202-334-3313 (in Washington metropolitan area)

Copyright 1995 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. This document may be reproduced solely for educational purposes without the written permission of the National Academy of Sciences. Printed in the United States of America

Printed in the United States of America

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 1995. Improving the Environment: An Evaluation of the DOE's Environmental Management Program. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5173.
×

Committee to Evaluate the Science, Engineering, and Health Basis of the Department of Energy's Environmental Management Program

Synthesis Subcommittee

JOHN F. AHEARNE, Lecturer in Public Policy,

Duke University

ANDREW P. CAPUTO, Attorney,

Natural Resources Defense Council

EDWIN H. CLARK II, President,

Clean Sites, Inc.

DON CLAY, President,

Don Clay Associates, Inc.

DOUGLAS M. COSTLE, Chairman and Distinguished Fellow,

Institute for Sustainable Communities

JAMES R. CURTISS, Attorney,

Winston & Strawn

FRANK L. PARKER, Distinguished Professor of Environmental and Water Resources Engineering,

Vanderbilt University

VICTORIA J. TSCHINKEL, Senior Consultant on Environmental Issues,

Landers & Parsons

JOHN T. WHETTEN, Senior Applications Consultant,

Motorola

Staff

Paul Gilman, Project Director

Deborah Stine, Project Coordinator

Patrick Sevcik, Project Assistant

Subcommittee on the Evaluation of Regulatory Measures

DON CLAY (Chair), President,

Don Clay Associates, Inc.

ANDREW P. CAPUTO, Attorney,

Natural Resources Defense Council

JAMES R. CURTISS, Attorney,

Winston & Strawn

MARSHALL E. DRUMMOND, President,

Eastern Washington University

DANIEL S. MILLER, First Assistant Attorney General,

Colorado Department of Law

BERNARD J. REILLY, Corporate Council,

DuPont Legal

MARY RIVELAND, Director,

Washington State Department of Ecology

Staff

Ray Wassel, Senior Program Officer

Ruth Danoff, Project Assistant

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 1995. Improving the Environment: An Evaluation of the DOE's Environmental Management Program. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5173.
×

Subcommittee on Priority-Setting, Timing, and Staging

EDWIN H. CLARK II (Chair), President,

Clean Sites, Inc.

HUGH J. CAMPBELL, JR., Environmental Manager,

DuPont

MARY R. ENGLISH, Associate Director,

Energy, Environment, and Resources Center, University of Tennessee

DONALD R. GIBSON, Department Manager,

Systems Analysis, TRW Environmental Safety Systems

ROBERT E. HAZEN, Chief,

Bureau of Risk Assessment, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection

THOMAS LESCHINE, Associate Professor,

School of Marine Affairs, University of Washington

ROBERT H. NEILL, Director,

Environmental Evaluation Group, New Mexico

LYNNE M. PRESLO, Senior Vice President,

Technical Programs, Earth Tech

ANNE E. SMITH, Principal and Vice President,

Decision Focus, Inc.

MERVYN L. TANO, General Counsel,

Council of Energy Resource Tribes

Staff

Robert Andrews, Senior Program Officer

Patricia Jones, Project Assistant

Subcommittee on Utilization of Science, Engineering, and Technology

FRANK L. PARKER (Chair), Distinguished Professor of Environmental and Water Resources Engineering,

Vanderbilt University

JOHN F. AHEARNE, Lecturer in Public Policy,

Duke University

CHARLES B. ANDREWS, Vice President,

S.S. Papadopulos & Associates, Inc.

EDGAR BERKEY, President,

National Environmental Technology Applications Center, University of Pittsburgh Applied Research Center

HAROLD K. FORSEN, Senior Vice President (retired),

Bechtel Hanford, Inc.

WALTER W. KOVALICK, Director,

Technology Innovation Office, Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

MICHAEL L. MASTRACCI, Director,

Innovative Technology Programs, TECHMATICS, Inc.

PHILIP A. PALMER, Senior Environmental Fellow,

DuPont Specialty Chemicals, E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company

REBECCA T. PARKIN, Director of Scientific, Professional, and Section Affairs,

American Public Health Administration

ALFRED SCHNEIDER, Professor of Nuclear Engineering (retired),

Georgia Institute of Technology

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 1995. Improving the Environment: An Evaluation of the DOE's Environmental Management Program. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5173.
×

CHRISTINE A. SHOEMAKER, Professor,

School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Cornell University

C. HERB WARD, Foyt Family Chair of Engineering and Director,

Energy and Environmental Systems Institute, Rice University

JOHN T. WHETTEN, Senior Applications Consultant,

Motorola

RAYMOND G. WYMER, Consultant,

Chemical Technology Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Staff

Stephen Parker, Associate Executive Director,

CGER

Karyanil Thomas, Senior Program Officer

Anita Hall, Administrative Assistant

Subcommittee on Integration of Science, Engineering, and Health in Program Implementation

VICTORIA J. TSCHINKEL (Chair), Senior Consultant on Environmental Issues,

Landers & Parsons

BETSY ANCKER-JOHNSON, Vice President of Environmental Activities (retired),

General Motors Corporation

PHILIP H. BRODSKY, Director,

Corporate Research and Environmental Technology, Monsanto Company

DAVID S.C. CHU, Director,

Washington Research Department, RAND

BENJAMIN COSGROVE, Senior Vice President (retired),

Boeing Commercial Airplane Group

BRIAN COSTNER, Director,

Energy Research Foundation

ROBERT C. FORNEY, Executive Vice President (retired),

E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company

JAMES H. JOHNSON, JR., Professor and Acting Dean,

School of Engineering, Howard University

MILDRED MCCLAIN, Executive Director,

Citizens for Environmental Justice

BERNICE K. MCINTYRE, President,

B.K.McIntyre & Associates, Inc.

MAXINE L. SAVITZ, General Manager,

Ceramic Components, Allied Signal Aerospace Company

Staff

Tamae Maeda Wong, Senior Program Officer

Helen Chin, Administrative Assistant

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 1995. Improving the Environment: An Evaluation of the DOE's Environmental Management Program. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5173.
×

Oversight Commission for the Evaluation of the Science, Engineering, and Health Basis of the Department of Energy's Environmental Management Program

GEORGE M. HORNBERGER, Chairman and Professor,

Department of Environmental Science, University of Virginia

TREVOR O. JONES, Chairman of the Board,

Libby-Owens-Ford Company

DANIEL L. MCFADDEN, Professor,

Department of Economics, University of California at Berkeley

EMIL A. PFITZER, President,

Research Institute for Fragrance Materials, Inc.

CHRIS G. WHIPPLE, Vice President,

ICF Kaiser

Staff

E. William Colglazier, Executive Officer

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 1995. Improving the Environment: An Evaluation of the DOE's Environmental Management Program. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5173.
×

Preface

In a letter that I received on January 11, 1995, Thomas Grumbly, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management, requested the assistance of the Academy in addressing remedial-action and waste-management problems that his office and the nation are now facing as a result of 50 years of nuclear weapons development and testing (see Appendix A). These are problems that require a re-engineering of systems and a re-examination of the scientific, engineering, and institutional barriers to achieving cost-effective and safe stewardship of the nation's resources.

In response to this request, the National Research Council established the Committee to Evaluate the Science, Engineering, and Health Basis of the Department of Energy's Environmental Management Program. Four subcommittees were formed to address topics outlined in Mr. Grumbly 's request. The subcommittees were assigned the following topics:

  • Evaluation of regulatory measures.

  • Setting priorities, timing, and staging.

  • Utilization of science, engineering, and technology.

  • Integration of science, engineering, and health in program implementation.

Subcommittee membership (see Appendix C) included a unique combination of those from the scientific and technological community and participants knowledgeable about the concerns of the various stakeholder groups that are involved in DOE 's environmental remediation process. The knowledge of these stakeholders included substantive expertise and site-specific experience with the process involved in DOE's environmental remediation program. These

Page viii Cite
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 1995. Improving the Environment: An Evaluation of the DOE's Environmental Management Program. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5173.
×

individuals, having experience in state and federal agencies involved in monitoring DOE's cleanup operations, national and local citizen, environmental, and American Indian groups, and DOE's citizen taskforces, were able to provide a unique contribution as members of each subcommittee. Members of the subcommittees also included individuals who have addressed similar problems in industry and individuals with background in federal and state government management, including members of the National Academy of Public Administration.

In terms of process, each subcommittee held a workshop which offered an opportunity for public input, followed immediately by a meeting of the subcommittee to develop a brief report. Prior background readings, knowledge, and discussions resulting from the workshops provided the basis for the subcommittees' deliberations. The four subcommittee reports were submitted to a synthesis committee which included the chairs of each of the subcommittees and selected members to provide a spectrum of viewpoints. The subcommittees' complete reports, as well as that of the synthesis committee, follow. Though the memberships of the subcommittees were selected to provide different viewpoints and experience and each of the subcommittees deliberated separately, there was surprising consensus among the reports of the four subcommittees. Beyond the synthesis committee report, no attempt was made to conform the results of the four separate subcommittee deliberations. The reader should look to the individual reports for further detail and for additional recommendations and observations.

Although these reports represent the work of each of the committees, they benefited greatly from the support of the National Research Council staff, specifically, Paul Gilman, who helped refine all the reports, and Deborah Stine, who coordinated the various project activities for the overall report. Each subcommittee was also helped by its staff, Ray Wassel for Regulatory Measures, Tamae Wong for Integration, Stephen Parker and Karyanil Thomas for Utilization, and Robert Andrews for Priority-Setting. In addition, Patrick Sevcik, Helen Chin, Ruth Danoff, and Patricia Jones provided invaluable support.

The National Research Council also acknowledges with appreciation presentations made at the workshops by the persons listed in Appendix D.

BRUCE ALBERTS

President, National Academy of Sciences

Chairman, National Research Council

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 1995. Improving the Environment: An Evaluation of the DOE's Environmental Management Program. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5173.
×
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 1995. Improving the Environment: An Evaluation of the DOE's Environmental Management Program. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5173.
×
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 1995. Improving the Environment: An Evaluation of the DOE's Environmental Management Program. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5173.
×
Page xiii Cite
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 1995. Improving the Environment: An Evaluation of the DOE's Environmental Management Program. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5173.
×
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 1995. Improving the Environment: An Evaluation of the DOE's Environmental Management Program. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5173.
×
This page in the original is blank.
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 1995. Improving the Environment: An Evaluation of the DOE's Environmental Management Program. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5173.
×
Page R1
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 1995. Improving the Environment: An Evaluation of the DOE's Environmental Management Program. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5173.
×
Page R2
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 1995. Improving the Environment: An Evaluation of the DOE's Environmental Management Program. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5173.
×
Page R3
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 1995. Improving the Environment: An Evaluation of the DOE's Environmental Management Program. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5173.
×
Page R4
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 1995. Improving the Environment: An Evaluation of the DOE's Environmental Management Program. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5173.
×
Page R5
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 1995. Improving the Environment: An Evaluation of the DOE's Environmental Management Program. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5173.
×
Page R6
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 1995. Improving the Environment: An Evaluation of the DOE's Environmental Management Program. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5173.
×
Page R7
Page viii Cite
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 1995. Improving the Environment: An Evaluation of the DOE's Environmental Management Program. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5173.
×
Page R8
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 1995. Improving the Environment: An Evaluation of the DOE's Environmental Management Program. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5173.
×
Page R9
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 1995. Improving the Environment: An Evaluation of the DOE's Environmental Management Program. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5173.
×
Page R10
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 1995. Improving the Environment: An Evaluation of the DOE's Environmental Management Program. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5173.
×
Page R11
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 1995. Improving the Environment: An Evaluation of the DOE's Environmental Management Program. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5173.
×
Page R12
Page xiii Cite
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 1995. Improving the Environment: An Evaluation of the DOE's Environmental Management Program. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5173.
×
Page R13
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 1995. Improving the Environment: An Evaluation of the DOE's Environmental Management Program. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5173.
×
Page R14
Next: Part 1: Synthesis Report »
Improving the Environment: An Evaluation of the DOE's Environmental Management Program Get This Book
×
Buy Paperback | $40.00
MyNAP members save 10% online.
Login or Register to save!
Download Free PDF

This book addresses remedial action and waste management problems that the DOE and the nation are now facing that are the result of 50 years of nuclear weapons development and testing—problems that require a reengineering of systems and a reexamination of the scientific, engineering, and institutional barriers to achieving cost-effective and safe stewardship of the nation's resources. Improving the Environment evaluates the DOE's environmental management program in four areas: regulatory measures, organization and management, priority-setting, timing and staging, and science and technology.

  1. ×

    Welcome to OpenBook!

    You're looking at OpenBook, NAP.edu's online reading room since 1999. Based on feedback from you, our users, we've made some improvements that make it easier than ever to read thousands of publications on our website.

    Do you want to take a quick tour of the OpenBook's features?

    No Thanks Take a Tour »
  2. ×

    Show this book's table of contents, where you can jump to any chapter by name.

    « Back Next »
  3. ×

    ...or use these buttons to go back to the previous chapter or skip to the next one.

    « Back Next »
  4. ×

    Jump up to the previous page or down to the next one. Also, you can type in a page number and press Enter to go directly to that page in the book.

    « Back Next »
  5. ×

    Switch between the Original Pages, where you can read the report as it appeared in print, and Text Pages for the web version, where you can highlight and search the text.

    « Back Next »
  6. ×

    To search the entire text of this book, type in your search term here and press Enter.

    « Back Next »
  7. ×

    Share a link to this book page on your preferred social network or via email.

    « Back Next »
  8. ×

    View our suggested citation for this chapter.

    « Back Next »
  9. ×

    Ready to take your reading offline? Click here to buy this book in print or download it as a free PDF, if available.

    « Back Next »
Stay Connected!