Interim Report from the National Research Council Committee on Development and Implementation of a Cleanup Technology Roadmap (2008) / Chapter Skim
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2007 House Energy and Water Development Appropriations Report directed the Department of Energy (DOE) to prepare a technology roadmap that identifies technology gaps in the current DOE site cleanup program and a strategy, with funding proposals, to address them.
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Many of these tasks are complex and unique (for example, 2 The committee visited the Savannah River Site and the Savannah River National Laboratory in early January 2008, when this interim report was in review. 3 In March 8, 2007, testimony before the House Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management James Rispoli reported that the estimated lifecycle cost for the DOE cleanup program had increased to about $235 billion owing to the addition of new projects as well as regulatory and technology development problems [ital.
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For example, within tank waste processing, the roadmap indicates that there are technical risks and uncertainties involving waste storage, waste retrieval, tank closure, waste pretreatment, and stabilization. Strategic initiatives to address each uncertainty are also listed.
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. In directing EM to prepare the Cleanup Technology Roadmap, the fiscal year 2007 House Energy and Water Development Appropriations Report stated support for EM technology development work and cited another previous NRC report, as follows: "EM technology development program funding has declined over the years, while at the same time, many technological challenges continue to face the program.
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For example, to scope a remediation task for the cleanup or containment of buried waste or a subsurface contaminant plume, a basic understanding of the problem would include the probable mechanisms and pathways by which contaminant migration could occur; how the contaminant migration could be stopped, curtailed, or intercepted; and the most effective remediation options that a contractor might implement. Such understanding of a cleanup problem is often based on the results of longer-term research, which as noted above, is seldom funded by the cleanup contractors.
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National laboratories played key roles in supporting large-scale production of materials for nuclear weapons throughout the Cold War. They also built on this expertise by expanding into areas such as nuclear energy and beneficial uses of radioisotopes.7 Although the missions of the national laboratories have expanded to include most areas of cutting-edge science, expertise in basic radiochemistry, radiochemical separations, remote equipment operation and maintenance, nuclear instrumentation, and radiation monitoring remains a forte and is essential to addressing EM cleanup challenges.
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In 2006, DOE designated SRNL as the "corporate laboratory" for the DOE Office of Environmental Management.8 In this capacity, SRNL has the responsibility to apply its unique expertise and technology capabilities to reduce technical uncertainties in meeting cleanup requirements across the DOE complex. The EM roadmap can help establish a more direct coupling of national laboratory capabilities and infrastructure with EM's high-priority long- and medium-term R&D needs.
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Tank waste immobilization: Borosilicate glass was selected in the late 1970s as the baseline waste form for immobilizing tank sludge, primarily because of its long-term durability and its ability to incorporate a wide variety of waste constituents. However, use of borosilicate glass to immobilize DOE tank waste requires considerable pretreatment to remove bulky (e.g., sodium salts)
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Carbon tetrachloride occurs from near-surface to deep in the difficult-to-characterize fluvial gravels underlying the Hanford site, and it also occurs in fractured bedrock aquifers, including one of the fractured aquifers beneath the Oak Ridge Reservation. The complexity of remediating DNAPL contamination at the Oak Ridge Reservation's East Tennessee Technology Park is driving a request for a "technical impracticability" waiver from the State of Tennessee.
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Retaining relevant expertise and supporting research programs to develop stabilization methodologies and technologies to limit the effects of building deterioration, while not hindering or complicating the building's future disposition, are important medium- to longterm challenges for EM. Maintaining aging buildings until they eventually undergo D&D will also require monitoring and sensing technologies, some of which could be leveraged from groundwater protection and remediation programs mentioned previously.
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In concluding this interim report, the committee wishes to highlight the following: • The committee generally agrees with the five program areas for strategic R&D presented in EM's draft Cleanup Technology Roadmap. • According to the range of technology needs presented to the committee and the committee's initial observations, the committee judges that existing knowledge and technologies are inadequate for EM to meet all of its cleanup responsibilities in a safe, timely, and costeffective way.
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