Using the Conceptual Site Model to Remediate Two Sites in New England and Reach License Termination and Site Reuse

Conference · Tue Jan 15 04:00:00 EST 2008

OSTI ID:21144181

Glucksberg, Nadia; Peters, Jay ^[1]

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1. MACTEC Engineering and Consulting, Inc., Portland, Maine, 04112 and Wakefield, Massachusetts, 01880 (United States)

The Conceptual Site Model (CSM) is a powerful tool for understanding the link between contamination sources, cleanup objectives, and ultimate site reuse. The CSM describes the site setting, geology, hydrogeology, potential sources, release mechanisms and migration pathways of contaminants. The CSM is needed to understand the extent of contamination and how receptors may be exposed to both radiological and chemical constituents. A key component of the CSM that is often overlooked concerns how the regulatory requirements drive remediation and how each has to be integrated into the CSM to ensure that all stakeholder requirements are understood and addressed. This paper describes how the use of the CSM helped reach closure and reuse at two facilities in Connecticut that are pursuing termination of their Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) license. The two facilities are the Combustion Engineering Site, located in Windsor, Connecticut, (CE Windsor Site) and the Connecticut Yankee Atomic Power Company, located in Haddam Neck, Connecticut (CYAPCO). The closure of each of these facilities is regulated by four agencies: - Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) - which requires cleanup levels for radionuclides to be protective of public health; - US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) - which requires cleanup levels for chemicals to be protective of public health and the environment; - Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection (CTDEP) Bureau of Air Management, Radiation Division - which requires cleanup levels for radionuclides to be protective of public health; and - Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection (CTDEP) Bureau of Water Protection and Land Reuse - which requires cleanup levels for chemicals to be protective of public health and the environment. Some of the radionuclides at the CE Windsor Site are also regulated under the Formerly Utilized Site Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP) under the Army Corps of Engineers. The remainder of this paper presents the similarities and differences between the CSMs for these two sites and how each site used the CSM to reach closure. Although each of these site have unique histories and physical features, the CSM approach was used to understand the geology, hydrogeology, migration and exposure pathways, and regulatory requirements to successfully characterize and plan closure of the sites. A summary of how these attributes affected site closure is provided.

• Research Organization: American Nuclear Society, 555 North Kensington Avenue, La Grange Park, Illinois 60526 (United States)
• OSTI ID: 21144181
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
CLOSURES
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
CONNECTICUT
CONTAMINATION
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
GEOLOGY
LICENSES
PUBLIC HEALTH
RADIOISOTOPES
RADIONUCLIDE MIGRATION
REMEDIAL ACTION
SAFETY
US CORPS OF ENGINEERS
US EPA