Doing more or less: Improving efficiency of cleanup at federal facilities

Conference · Fri Oct 01 00:00:00 EDT 1993

OSTI ID:10108597

Stapp, D C ^[1]; Erickson, J K; Goodenough, J D ^[2]; Wintczak, T M ^[3]

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1. Pacific Northwest Lab., Richland, WA (United States)
2. USDOE Richland Operations Office, WA (United States)
3. Westinghouse Hanford Co., Richland, WA (United States)

The US Department of Energy (DOE) has committed to cleaning up the contamination resulting from decades of nuclear weapons production, an effort that will require many billions of dollars. With the current federal budget concerns, such costs are unpalatable and possibly even untenable. DOE and other federal agencies in a similar situation would seem to face three options: reduce the scope of planned activities, spread the work over a longer time period, or reduce the cost of performing the work. Changing the scope of work or schedule is possible; however, doing either is time-consuming and difficult to accomplish, especially if binding legal agreements with regulatory agencies are in place. Improving the cost-effectiveness of cleanup operations, then, may be the more viable near-term strategy for reducing costs. The cleanup of the DOE facility at Hanford, Washington, is a prime example. With cleanup costs predicted at over $50 billion, budgets are increasingly coming under scrutiny as the nation searches for ways to cut the national budget. Faced with this situation, the DOE Richland Operations Office conducted a series of studies at Hanford to identify opportunities for improving efficiency of its Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study work. This paper focuses on the concept of conducting studies on cleanup programs to identify opportunities to improve efficiency. The paper describes the studies that were conducted at Hanford, the findings and recommendations resulting from the studies, and the progress that has been made in implementing the recommendations. It also assesses the value of the studies and the lessons that have been learned.

• Research Organization: Pacific Northwest Lab., Richland, WA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: AC06-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 10108597
• Report Number(s): PNL-SA-22286; CONF-931095-69; ON: DE94004297
• Resource Relation: Conference: Department of Energy environmental remediation conference,Augusta, GA (United States),24-28 Oct 1993; Other Information: PBD: Oct 1993
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
REMEDIAL ACTION
EFFICIENCY
HANFORD RESERVATION
COST
FEASIBILITY STUDIES
EVALUATION
054000
540250
052002
HEALTH AND SAFETY
SITE RESOURCE AND USE STUDIES
WASTE DISPOSAL AND STORAGE