Agencies extend deadline for draft Record of Decision for Radioactive Waste Management Complex remediation

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) have further extended the deadline for completing a draft Record of Decision (ROD) for the radioactive and hazardous waste landfill remediation project at DOE’s Idaho cleanup site until June 30, 2008 in order to complete the necessary consultations and analysis of the public comments on the proposed plan.

On April 1, 2008 the agencies extended the deadline for the first time to June 2, 2008. Under the original agreement, DOE was to submit the draft Record of Decision to the state of Idaho and EPA for review by March 31, 2008. In October 2007, the agencies issued a proposed plan for public comment outlining the preferred alternative for addressing buried radioactive and hazardous waste at the Radioactive Waste Management Complex (RWMC). DOE proposed expanding current targeted waste exhumations at the landfill to 4.8 acres. The state of Idaho awaited public comments before determining the appropriate acreage for waste retrieval.

Under the preferred alternative, exhumed targeted waste would be removed, repackaged and shipped offsite for disposal; grout would be applied to stabilize contaminants over a combined area of approximately 0.2 acres; the vacuum extraction system would continue operations to remove solvent vapors; and a final surface barrier would be placed over the 97-acre Subsurface Disposal Area. Long-term monitoring and site access controls are also included under the preferred alternative.

The Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality are expected to complete the final ROD for Radioactive Waste Complex remediation by the end of the fiscal year 2008.

Established in 1952, the RWMC was used for the buried disposal of site-generated radioactive and hazardous wastes. From 1954 through 1970, the landfill also received wastes from the Rocky Flats Plant in Colorado and other off-site generators.

DOE-ID

ICP-08-004