INDEPENDENT ASSESSMENT OF
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
for the Department of Energy’s
Defense Environmental
Cleanup Program

Committee on Independent Assessment of Science and Technology for the Department of Energy’s Defense Environmental Cleanup Program

Nuclear and Radiation Studies Board

Division on Earth and Life Studies

A Consensus Study Report of

THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS
Washington, DC
www.nap.edu

THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS 500 Fifth Street, NW Washington, DC 20001

This activity was supported by award DE-EM0001172/NAS Proposal Number 10003493 between the National Academy of Sciences and the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of any organization or agency that provided support for the project.

International Standard Book Number-13: 978-0-309-48775-7
International Standard Book Number-10: 0-309-48775-7
Digital Object Identifier: https://doi.org/10.17226/25338

Cover: This report identifies seven types of technologies and alternative approaches that have the potential to substantially reduce long-term cleanup costs; accelerate cleanup schedules; and mitigate uncertainties, vulnerabilities, or risks, or otherwise significantly improve the Department of Energy’s Defense Environmental Cleanup Program for former nuclear weapons sites. These technologies and alternative approaches are posed as “knobs” that can be “turned” through a properly organized and focused science and technology development and deployment effort.

Additional copies of this publication are available from the National Academies Press, 500 Fifth Street, NW, Keck 360, Washington, DC 20001; (800) 624-6242 or (202) 334-3313; http://www.nap.edu.

Copyright 2019 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.

Printed in the United States of America

Suggested citation: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2019. Independent Assessment of Science and Technology for the Department of Energy’s Defense Environmental Cleanup Program. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: https://doi.org/10.17226/25338.

COMMITTEE ON INDEPENDENT ASSESSMENT OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY’S DEFENSE ENVIRONMENTAL CLEANUP PROGRAM

PATRICIA J. CULLIGAN (Chair), Columbia University, New York, New York

M. JOHN PLODINEC (Vice Chair), Community and Regional Resilience Institute, Aiken, South Carolina

SUE B. CLARK, Washington State University/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington

PAUL T. DICKMAN, Argonne National Laboratories, Washington, DC

BARBARA L. HAMRICK, University of California, Irvine

ROBERT T. JUBIN, Oak Ridge National Laboratories, Oak Ridge, Tennessee

WILLIAM LEE, Imperial College London/Bangor University, Gwynedd, United Kingdom

ALEXANDRA NAVROTSKY, University of California, Davis

JAMES A. RISPOLI, North Carolina State University, Raleigh

REBECCA A. ROBBINS, International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, Austria

ROBIN D. ROGERS, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa

POL D. SPANOS, Rice University, Houston, Texas

Staff

OURANIA KOSTI, Study Director

KEVIN D. CROWLEY, Senior Advisor

TONI GREENLEAF, Administrative and Financial Associate

MICHAEL B. HUDSON, Senior Program Assistant

JORGE MENDOZA-TORRES, Senior Research Librarian

NUCLEAR AND RADIATION STUDIES BOARD

GEORGE APOSTOLAKIS (Chair), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (emeritus), Los Angeles, California

JAMES A. BRINK (Vice Chair), Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston

STEVEN M. BECKER, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia

AMY BERRINGTON DE GONZÁLEZ, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland

DAVID J. BRENNER, Columbia University, New York, New York

MARGARET S. Y. CHU, M.S. Chu + Associates, LLC, New York, New York

TISSA H. ILLANGASEKARE, Colorado School of Mines, Golden

CAROL M. JANTZEN, Savannah River National Laboratory, Aiken, South Carolina

NANCY JO NICHOLAS, Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico

HENRY D. ROYAL, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri

DANIEL O. STRAM, University of Southern California, Los Angeles

WILLIAM H. TOBEY, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts

SERGEY V. YUDINTSEV, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow

Staff

CHARLES D. FERGUSON, Director

JENNIFER HEIMBERG, Senior Program Officer

OURANIA KOSTI, Senior Program Officer

KEVIN D. CROWLEY, Senior Advisor

TONI GREENLEAF, Administrative and Financial Associate

LAURA D. LLANOS, Administrative and Financial Associate

DARLENE GROS, Senior Program Assistant

Acknowledgments

The successful completion of this study would not have been possible without the cooperation and assistance of many organizations and individuals. The committee would especially like to acknowledge and thank the following organizations and individuals for their support:

Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management (DOE-EM), which sponsored the study and provided information on the office’s activities in support of technology development for the cleanup program. Ms. Beth Moore served ably as the agency’s liaison to the committee and was effective in coordinating, together with Mr. Rodrigo V. Rimando, Jr., the committee’s visits to DOE sites. Mr. Rimando also responded to the committee’s numerous requests for information related to the DOE-EM Technology Development Office’s processes for selecting and prioritizing technologies for development and deployment. He remained flexible and available to assist the committee with information gathering and fact checking despite his transfer to another position within DOE-EM in October 2018. The committee and staff applaud his professionalism and commitment during the study process.

DOE’s Hanford, Idaho, Oak Ridge, Portsmouth, and Savannah River sites for hosting the committee’s visits and for providing information on the sites’ cleanup work and associated challenges, science and technology applications and needs, and available resources. Special thanks are given to the following individuals for organizing the committee’s site visits and for lining up the experts to brief the committee: Ms. Elaine Diaz, Dr. Vicky Freedman, Ms. Naomi Jaschke, and Ms. Karen Sinclair for the site visit to Hanford and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory; Mr. Joel Case and Ms. Danielle

Miller for the site visit to Idaho; Ms. Staci Monroe, Ms. Elizabeth Phillips, and Dr. Eric Pierce for the site visit to Oak Ridge; Ms. Elizabeth Scott for the site visit to Portsmouth; and Mr. Andrew Fellinger and Mr. Tony Polk for the site visit to Savannah River. The committee also thanks the site DOE representatives, contractors, and other support staff listed in Appendix D, who briefed the committee.

Stakeholders of the Hanford, Idaho, Oak Ridge, Portsmouth, and Savannah River sites who provided presentations or comments on their role in selecting technologies considered for development or deployment at the sites.

Other individuals and invited participants who provided information and support for this study. Their names are listed in Appendix D.

The committee also thanks staff at the Nuclear and Radiation Studies Board (NRSB) of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (the National Academies) for organizing and facilitating this study. Study director Dr. Ourania Kosti organized the committee meetings and site visits and assisted the committee with collecting the information it needed to write its report. Ms. Toni Greenleaf and Mr. Michael Hudson managed the logistics of the meetings, report review, and publication. NRSB director Dr. Charles Ferguson escorted a small group of committee members during the site visit to Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant.

The committee and the study director are indebted to Dr. Kevin Crowley, advisor to the NRSB (and former NRSB director), who provided valuable technical and policy insights throughout the study as well as valuable historical perspectives on the DOE-EM science and technology program and the National Academies’ work to advise DOE-EM. Dr. Crowley was also instrumental in assisting the committee with report writing and review.

Acknowledgment of Reviewers

This Consensus Study Report was reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in making each published report as sound as possible and to ensure that it meets the institutional standards for quality, objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the deliberative process.

We thank the following individuals for their review of this report:

Although the reviewers listed above provided many constructive comments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the conclusions or recommendations of this report nor did they see the final draft before its release. The review of this report was overseen by Drs. George Hornberger, Vanderbilt University, and Cindy Atkins-Duffin, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. They were responsible for making certain that an independent examination of this report was carried out in accordance with the

standards of the National Academies and that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content rests entirely with the authoring committee and the National Academies.

Contents

LIST OF COMMON ACRONYMS

SYNOPSIS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

1 BACKGROUND AND STUDY TASK

1.1 DOE-EM Mission

1.2 S&T Development in the Cleanup Program

1.3 Approach for Carrying Out This Study

1.3.1 Committee Interpretation of Congressional Request

1.3.2 Committee Work Plan

2 REVIEW OF DOE-EM TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT EFFORTS

2.1 Science and Technology in DOE-EM

2.1.1 Site-Directed S&T

2.1.2 Headquarters-Managed S&T

2.1.3 Coordination and Communication of S&T

2.2 DOE-EM Leadership Views on S&T

2.3 Findings and Recommendations

3 REVIEW AND ASSESSMENT OF TECHNOLOGIES AND ALTERNATIVE APPROACHES

3.1 Technologies and Alternative Approaches

3.1.1 Change Chemistry at Bulk and Interfacial Scales

3.1.2 Change Nuclear Properties

3.1.3 Change Human Involvement

3.1.4 Change Interrogation Approaches

3.1.5 Change Modeling and Visualization Approaches

3.1.6 Change Disposal Pathways

3.1.7 Change Decision-Making Approaches

3.2 Application of Technologies and Alternative Approaches

3.2.1 Characterize and Retrieve Heterogeneous, Highly Radioactive Wastes from Large Underground Tanks Without Degrading Tank Integrity or the Immediate Surroundings

3.2.2 Stabilize Residual Tank Waste and Underground Tanks in Place

3.2.3 Improve the Efficiency and Effectiveness of In Situ Monitoring of Physical and Chemical Conditions Within and Beneath Underground Tanks

3.2.4 Develop Real-Time Capabilities for In Situ Analysis and Modification of Waste Streams During Processing to Reduce the Need for Batching and Batch Storage

3.2.5 Separate Long-Lived and Environmentally Mobile Radioactive Constituents from Waste Streams

3.2.6 Rapidly, Remotely, and Safely Characterize and Remove Radioactive Contamination from Equipment and Buildings

3.2.7 Characterize and Stabilize and/or Retrieve Contamination in the Vadose Zone

3.2.8 Remotely Monitor the Physical and Chemical Environments in Waste Disposal Cells and Surface and Near-Surface Barriers

3.2.9 Monitor the Locations and Movements of Subsurface Contaminant Plumes

REFERENCES

APPENDIXES

A CONGRESSIONAL REQUEST FOR THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES’ STUDY

B MAJOR NATIONAL ACADEMIES REPORTS ON WASTE MANAGEMENT AND ENVIRONMENTAL CLEANUP OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS COMPLEX

C COMMITTEE AND STAFF BIOGRAPHIES

D PRESENTATIONS AND SITE VISITS

E DOE SITES VISITED BY THE COMMITTEE

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List of Common Acronyms