9 research outputs found
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Facility Environmental Vulnerability Assessment
From mid-April through the end of June 2001, a Facility Environmental Vulnerability Assessment (FEVA) was performed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). The primary goal of this FEVA was to establish an environmental vulnerability baseline at ORNL that could be used to support the Laboratory planning process and place environmental vulnerabilities in perspective. The information developed during the FEVA was intended to provide the basis for management to initiate immediate, near-term, and long-term actions to respond to the identified vulnerabilities. It was expected that further evaluation of the vulnerabilities identified during the FEVA could be carried out to support a more quantitative characterization of the sources, evaluation of contaminant pathways, and definition of risks. The FEVA was modeled after the Battelle-supported response to the problems identified at the High Flux Beam Reactor at Brookhaven National Laboratory. This FEVA report satisfies Corrective Action 3A1 contained in the Corrective Action Plan in Response to Independent Review of the High Flux Isotope Reactor Tritium Leak at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, submitted to the Department of Energy (DOE) ORNL Site Office Manager on April 16, 2001. This assessment successfully achieved its primary goal as defined by Laboratory management. The assessment team was able to develop information about sources and pathway analyses although the following factors impacted the team's ability to provide additional quantitative information: the complexity and scope of the facilities, infrastructure, and programs; the significantly degraded physical condition of the facilities and infrastructure; the large number of known environmental vulnerabilities; the scope of legacy contamination issues [not currently addressed in the Environmental Management (EM) Program]; the lack of facility process and environmental pathway analysis performed by the accountable line management or facility owner; and poor facility and infrastructure drawings. The assessment team believes that the information, experience, and insight gained through FEVA will help in the planning and prioritization of ongoing efforts to resolve environmental vulnerabilities at UT-Battelle--managed ORNL facilities
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Oak Ridge Low Level Waste Management Task Force summary
New facilities are required in the next five years to manage low level radioactive wastes (LLW) produced on the Oak Ridge Reservation (ORR). The Central Waste Disposal Facility (CWDF) was planned to provide the needed additional facilities beginning in late 1985. The CWDF was planned as a shallow land burial facility to dispose of non-stabilized LLW. However, comments on the CWDF Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) received from the State of Tennessee, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission identified major issues related to the treatment of alternatives as required by the National Environmental Policy Act, and the potential for unacceptable groundwater contamination resulting from shallow land burial of non-stabilized waste. A series of initial and detailed evaluations are being conducted to develop the basic environmental performance and cost information needed to compare several LLW management approaches and arrive at a proposed system for development. The evaluations are targeted for completion by October
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Oak Ridge greater confinement disposal demonstrations
Demonstrations are being conducted in association with the disposal of a high activity low-level waste (LLW) stream. The waste stream in question will result from the cement solidification of decanted liquids from the Melton Valley Storage Tanks (MVST). The solid waste will be produced beginning in mid summer 1988. It is anticipated to have significant concentrations of Cs-137 and Sr-90, with smaller amounts of other radionuclides and <100 nCi/gm of TRU. The solid waste forms are expected to have surface dose rates in the 1 to 2 r/hr range. The solid waste will also contain several chemical species at concentrations which are below those of concern, but which may present enhanced corrosion potential for the disposal units. 2 refs., 5 figs
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Tumulus Disposal Demonstration Facility for the Oak Ridge Reservation
This disposal concept is based on the Tumulus design developed by the French at the La Manche facility. Waste units are stacked above-grade on a concrete pad. The facility currently under development at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) involves sealing waste in concrete vaults, placing the vaults on a grade level concrete pad, and covering the pad and vaults with a soil cover after vault emplacement is complete. Emplacement is expected to continue until the facility exhausts its approximate 800 m/sup 3/ (28,000 ft/sup 3/) capacity. The facility incorporates engineered barriers to radionuclide migration; a monitoring system to ensure barrier performance; and a newly developed set of Demonstration Waste Acceptance Criteria to reduce the likelihood of groundwater contamination
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Gunite and associated tanks remediation project recycling and waste minimization effort
The Department of Energy`s Environmental Management Program at Oak Ridge National Laboratory has initiated clean up of legacy waste resulting from the Manhattan Project. The gunite and associated tanks project has taken an active pollution prevention role by successfully recycling eight tons of scrap metal, reusing contaminated soil in the Area of Contamination, using existing water (supernate) to aid in sludge transfer, and by minimizing and reusing personal protective equipment (PPE) and on-site equipment as much as possible. Total cost savings for Fiscal Year 1997 activities from these efforts are estimated at $4.2 million dollars
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Remote systems for waste retrieval from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory gunite tanks
As part of a Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act Treatability Study funded by the Department of Energy, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is preparing to demonstrate and evaluate two approaches for the remote retrieval of wastes in underground storage tanks. This work is being performed to identify the most cost-effective and efficient method of waste removal before full-scale remediation efforts begin in 1998. System requirements are based on the need to dislodge and remove sludge wastes ranging in consistency from broth to compacted clay from Gunite (Shotcrete) tanks that are approaching fifty years in age. Systems to be deployed must enter and exit through the existing 0.6 m (23.5 in.) risers and conduct retrieval operations without damaging the layered concrete walls of the tanks. Goals of this project include evaluation of confined sluicing techniques and successful demonstration of a telerobotic arm-based system for deployment of the sluicing system. As part of a sister project formed on the Old Hydrofracture Facility tanks at ORNL, vehicle-based tank remediation will also be evaluated
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White Oak Creek embayment sediment retention structure design and construction
White Oak Creek is the major surface water drainage throughout the Department of Energy (DOE) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). Samples taken from the lower portion of the creek revealed high levels of Cesium 137 and lower level of Cobalt 60 in near surface sediment. Other contaminants present in the sediment included: lead, mercury, chromium, and PCBs. In October 1990, DOE, US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) agreed to initiate a time critical removal action in accordance with the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) to prevent the transport of the contaminated sediments into the Clinch River system. This paper discusses the environmental, regulatory, design, and construction issues that were encountered in conducting the remediation work
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Overview of tumulus design, construction, and operating experience
The Tumulus Disposal Demonstration (Tumulus 1), Tumulus 2, and the Interim Waste Management Facility (IWMF) are being utilized to demonstrate the acceptability of tumulus disposal technology while at the same time providing disposal capacity for solid low-level radioactive waste (LLW) generated at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). The planning process resulting in selection and ultimate implementation of tumulus disposal technology for the Oak Ridge Reservation is still on-going and consists of four major phases: alternatives identification and evaluation; technology demonstration; limited operational implementation; and full operational implementation at a new site. This document discusses these phases. 2 figs., 1 tab