Annual Site Environmental Report: 2009(ASER)

Technical Report · Fri Oct 01 00:00:00 EDT 2010

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/992434· OSTI ID:992434

This report provides information about environmental programs during the calendar year of 2009 at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, California. Activities that span the calendar year, i.e., stormwater monitoring covering the winter season of 2009/2010 (October 2009 through May 2010), are also included. Production of an annual site environmental report (ASER) is a requirement established by the United States Department of Energy (DOE) for all management and operating (M&O) contractors throughout the DOE complex. SLAC is a federally-funded research and development center with Stanford University as the M&O contractor. Under Executive Order (EO) 13423, Strengthening Federal Environmental, Energy, and Transportation Management, EO 13514, Federal Leadership in Environmental, Energy, and Economic Performance, and DOE Order 450.1A, Environmental Protection Program, SLAC effectively implements and integrates the key elements of an Environmental Management System (EMS) to achieve the site's integrated safety and environmental management system goals. For normal daily activities, SLAC managers and supervisors are responsible for ensuring that policies and procedures are understood and followed so that Worker safety and health are protected, The environment is protected, and Compliance is ensured. Throughout 2009, SLAC continued to improve its management systems. These systems provided a structured framework for SLAC to implement 'greening of the government' initiatives such as EO 13423, EO 13514, and DOE Orders 450.1A and 430.2B. Overall, management systems at SLAC are effective, supporting compliance with all relevant statutory and regulatory requirements. SLAC continues to demonstrate significant progress in implementing and integrating EMS into day-to-day operations and construction activities at SLAC. SLAC's EMS was audited by a review team from the DOE Oak Ridge Office and the DOE SLAC Site Office (SSO) on March 31, 2009. The review team found the EMS to be in substantial conformance with the appropriate EMS requirements. Based on the audit results, SLAC and DOE were able to declare conformance with DOE Order 450.1A ahead of the June 30, 2009 mandated deadline. During 2009, there were no reportable releases to the environment from SLAC operations. In addition, many improvements in waste minimization, recycling, stormwater management, groundwater restoration, and SLAC's chemical management system (CMS) were continued during the year. The following are amongst SLAC's environmental accomplishments for 2009. Hazardous materials field verifications of 36 buildings identified a number of materials that could be removed from inventory due to lack of need or age of the material. In all, 124 chemical containers were removed from inventory. SLAC's chemical purchase approval process was reconfigured to allow for more effective control over purchase of highly toxic materials. One hundred percent of SLAC's purchased desktops, laptops, and monitors were either Silver or Gold level Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) certified in fiscal year (FY) 2009. SLAC continues to make progress on achieving the sustainability goals of EOs 13423 and 13514, which include, but are not limited to reductions in the use of water, energy, and fuel, building to green standards and reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In 2009, no radiological incidents occurred that increased radiation levels or released radioactivity to the environment. In addition to managing its radioactive wastes safely and responsibly, SLAC worked to reduce the amount of waste generated. During calendar year (CY) 2009, SLAC shipped 1324 cubic feet of low-level radioactive waste, legacy waste accounted for 40 percent of the volume, to appropriate treatment and disposal facilities for low-level radioactive waste. Moreover, SLAC continued its efforts in the inventory reduction of materials no longer needed for its mission: returned 28 sealed sources to the manufacturer, transferred additional 3 sources to Los Alamos National Laboratory, and disposed of 636 kilograms of depleted uranium tiles. In 2009, the SLAC Environmental Restoration Program personnel continued work on site characterization and evaluation of remedial alternatives at four sites with volatile organic compounds in groundwater and several areas with polychlorinated biphenyls and low concentrations of lead in soil. SLAC is regulated under a site cleanup requirements order (board order) issued by the California Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB), San Francisco Bay Region on October 19, 2009, for the investigation and remediation of impacted soil and groundwater at SLAC. Risk-based preliminary cleanup goals for impacted soil and groundwater have been established for SLAC, and the remedial efforts are being designed to meet these established goals.

• Research Organization: SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC)
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-76SF00515
• OSTI ID: 992434
• Report Number(s): SLAC-R-941
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English