Advice on the Department of Energy's Cleanup Technology Roadmap Gaps and Bridges (2009) / Chapter Skim
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1 Introduction
1 Introduction
Pages 13-20
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From page 13... ...
Decommissioning of the Rocky Flats Site, perhaps the nation's most highly contaminated plutonium facility, was completed ahead of schedule and under budget in 2005, and the site became a national wildlife refuge in 2007. Other cleanup accomplishments are tracked on EM's website. Nonetheless, the scope of EM's future cleanup work is enormous.
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From page 14... ...
There has been a technology development program within EM since its creation. However, headquarters-directed investments in science and technology activities have varied substantially, rising from $184 million in fiscal year 1990 to almost $410 million in fiscal year 1995, followed by a decade-long decline to $21.2 million in fiscal year 2008. This amounted to about 0.4 percent of EM's total appropriation for fiscal year 2008. Beginning in about 2002, the program became focused almost exclusively on short-term technology development needs to support accelerated site cleanup (DOE 2002)
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From page 15... ...
The fiscal year 2007 House Energy and Water Development Appropriations Report recommended an increase in EM's R&D funding and, to sustain future support, requested that EM provide an engineering and technology roadmap. The roadmap was to identify technology gaps in the current DOE site cleanup program and a strategy, with funding proposals, to address them.
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From page 16... ...
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 initia tives to address each uncertainty are also listed.
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From page 17... ...
, uni versities, and the private sector. • Core capabilities at the national laboratories that will be needed to address EM's long-term, high-risk cleanup challenges, especially at the four laboratories located at the large DOE sites (Idaho National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and Savannah River National Laboratory)
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From page 18... ...
Nevertheless, technology gaps related to them were apparent from the committee's information gathering, and they are included in one of the gap analyses in Chapter 2. After its site visits, the committee focused its last information-gathering meeting on the topic of leveraging R&D.
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From page 19... ...
As described in the committee's interim report, ensuring stable funding for me dium- and long-term EM R&D is a necessary role of DOE headquarters and Con gress. Given the 30-year time frame of the EM cleanup, the results of long-term R&D could be expected to provide large paybacks on investment by substantially improving EM's ability to conduct site cleanup.
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From page 20... ...
20 ADVICE ON THE DOE'S CLEANUP TECHNOLOGY ROADMAP continuity in EM's R&D programs, especially in maintaining staff expertise and infrastructure at the DOE sites and national laboratories visited by the committee. At the end of Chapter 5 the committee offers closing observations on how EM's Office of Engineering and Technology can enhance its role in leading EM's R&D program.
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