Long-Term Institutional Management of U.S. Department of Energy Legacy Waste Sites (2000) / Chapter Skim
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7 Fundamental Limits on Technical and Institutional Capabilities
7 Fundamental Limits on Technical and Institutional Capabilities
Pages 77-92
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From page 77... ...
While decisions and actions are the most visible component of residually contaminated site management, they must be supported with effective organizational, financial, and legal structures. These structures, in turn, are shaped by contextual factors such as legal and budgetary realities and political and economic pressures, as well as by societal and technological changes that can promote or inhibit the long-term success of institutional management.
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From page 78... ...
The Contaminants In situ waste characterization remains difficult at DOE sites. As one example, consider the Subsurface Disposal Area at INEEL, where DOE is pursuing a pilot characterization approach for buried transuranic (TRW)
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From page 79... ...
It is notable that most major DOE contaminated sites are complex due to the geology and hydrology, the waste composition and form, or both; of particular complexity is the unsaturated, or vadose, zone. To achieve the necessary understanding there are essentially two methods: empirical (gathering data and learning from experience)
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From page 80... ...
The tendency to rely on models without detailed site investigations, site monitoring, and field experimentation is sometimes used to justify decisions that additional site or experimental data would be of little value for a project. The reasons for this practice are sometimes identified as regulatory and budgetary pressures.
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From page 82... ...
A currently available technology may preclude using a more effective technology later, but waiting for further technology development may defer remedial actions that are needed now. Use of Current and Future Technologies In Chapter 4 the example was given of using multiple grout and cement barriers to fix waste remaining in a high-level waste tank after most of the contaminants have been removed.
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From page 83... ...
There is a need to study systematically the scientific and technical aspects of contaminant reduction and isolation to reveal the capabilities and limitations with the accuracy and detail necessary to provide for and maintain a focused and relevant program of research and development. INSTITUTIONAL CAPABILITIES AND LIMITATIONS At most DOE contaminated sites there is a need to understand not simply how institutional management policies should be formally enunciated, but how they are likely to be implemented over time, and in particular how various factors may cause people to behave or not behave in accordance with official policies.
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From page 84... ...
, and Savannah River Site (Peach, 1988; Shrader-Frechette, 1993; U.S. General Accounting Office, 1989)
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From page 85... ...
. Legal Structures A key feature of the legal structure governing the cleanup of DOE's waste sites concerns the U.S.
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From page 86... ...
DOE now has only limited input into site remediation decisions but remains responsible for providing long-term institutional management of FUSRAP sites that remain residually contaminated following their remediation. This obligation, already difficult, becomes especially challenging when institutional controls must be specified in detail in decision documents for remedies that include institutional controls (see Chapter 5, Periodic Reevaluation of the Site Protective System)
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From page 87... ...
at Oak Ridge Reservation, Tennessee. In addition, the potential for urban development pressures exists at sites such as Rocky Flats, Colorado, and the Nevada Test Site, both of which were once considered remote but are now experiencing rapid urban growth nearby.
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From page 88... ...
These advocates are often capable of exerting quiet, behind-the-scenes development pressure long after most members of the public have lost interest and long after records of residual contamination have become lost or forgotten. These pressures can make it difficult for governments to restrain development and to conduct vigorous oversight of residually contaminated sites.
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From page 89... ...
the development of new science and technologies. Periodic Reevaluations As noted in Chapter 5, a comprehensive approach to long-term institutional management of residually contaminated sites includes periodic reevaluations.
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From page 91... ...
For this reason, attention to the needs of both is necessary in the design and implementation of institutional management systems, a point pursued in the next chapter. New Science and Technology Development The prospect of advances in contaminant reduction and isolation technologies gives reason for optimism, albeit not for complacency.
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From page 92... ...
Moreover, both periodic reevaluations and new science and technology developments take advantage of present institutional capabilities to "buy time" to find longer-lasting solutions.
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