Avoiding Destructive Remediation at DOE Sites
F. W. Whicker, T. G. Hinton, M. M. MacDonell, J. E. Pinder III, L. J. Habegger
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and its predecessor agencies pioneered atomic weapons, nuclear energy, and peaceful uses of radioisotopes, but operating practices that began half a century ago left a legacy of environmental contamination (1) at more than 100 sites in 30 states covering 2 million acres. In 2002, a critical review of DOE's Environmental Management Program concluded that the cleanup program for the nuclear weapons complex could cost more than $300 billion, and that more than $60 billion had already been spent without a corresponding reduction in actual risk (2). The environmental cleanup program generally involves excavation, transport and disposal of soil, pumping and treating of groundwater, and other engineering and technological measures.
For highly concentrated radioactive and chemical wastes confined to engineered
structures (tanks, vaults, etc.) and much less concentrated but still
clearly dangerous wastes in landfills, trenches, basins, etc., the need
for active control or cleanup is obvious. Less obvious is how to deal
with the measurable but far lower levels of contami- nation dispersed
over large volumes of soil and water, for which engineered cleanup can
cost billions (3, 4) and cause significant environmental damage
(5).
SREL Reprint #2728
Whicker, F. W., T. G. Hinton, M. M. MacDonell, J. E. Pinder, III. and L. J. Habegger. 2004. Avoiding destructive remediation at DOE sites. Science 303:1615-1616.
