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Agencies plan continued DOE landfill remediation
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Idaho Department
of Environmental Quality and U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency have released a planning document that
specifies how DOE will continue to remediate a landfill
containing hazardous and transuranic waste at DOE’s
Idaho Site located in eastern Idaho.
The Phase 1 Remedial Design/Remedial Action Work Plan
for Operable Unit 7-13/14 document was issued after the
September 2008 Record of Decision (ROD) and implements
the retrieval of targeted waste at the Subsurface
Disposal Area (SDA) within the Radioactive Waste
Management Complex (RWMC). The SDA began receiving waste
in 1952 and contains radioactive and chemical waste in
approximately 35 acres of disposal pits, trenches and
soil vaults.
The ROD specified removal of 6,238 cubic meters of
targeted waste (including uranium, transuranics such as
plutonium and americium, and organic solvents such as
carbon tetrachloride) from a combined area of 5.69 acres
within the pit areas. Targeted waste is retrieved,
packaged, certified for disposal and shipped out of
Idaho.
This Work Plan incorporates completed and ongoing
retrieval activities in three pit areas. Retrieval
activities were initiated under the CERCLA Non-Time
Critical Removal Action program in 2004 and a fourth
area will be implemented under this Work Plan. Retrieval
activities in the six remaining pit areas of the SDA
will be added as future updates to this Work Plan.
In addition to targeted waste retrieval, Phase 1
includes continued removal of organic vapors from the
subsurface, monitoring, institutional controls (to
protect workers, public and environment) and regular
5-year reviews with the Agencies.
The Phase 1 Remedial Design/Remedial Action Work Plan
for Operable Unit 7-13/14 is available in the
Administrative Record for Operable Unit 7-13/14. The
Administrative Record can be accessed at
http://ar.inel.gov/
or by visiting the DOE Reading Room of the INL Technical
Library in Idaho Falls or Albertsons Library at the
Boise State University Campus.
Citizens may request a briefing on this project by
calling the Idaho Cleanup Project at (800) 708-2680.
DOE-09-017
Editorial Date September 14, 2009
By Bradley Bugger
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