Integrated program for department of energy environmental management office of soil and groundwater remediation - 15426
- Department of Energy, Office of Environmental Management, 19901 Germantown Road, Germantown, MD 20874-1290 (United States)
- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, P.O. Box 999, Richland, WA 99352 (United States)
- Los Alamos National Laboratory, MS B284, P.O. Box 1663, Los Alamos, NM 87544 (United States)
- Savannah River National Laboratory, Savannah River Site, Bldg 773-43A, Aiken, SC 29808 (United States)
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831 (United States)
The subsurface problems that remain at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Environmental Management (EM) sites are technically complex and the costs to complete the cleanup mission are expected to range from $17 billion to $21 billion. There is growing recognition that conventional remedies will not meet regulatory goals at a number of sites and alternative approaches will be required. To address the challenge, the EM Office of Soil and Groundwater Remediation created an integrated program to develop innovative scientific and technical in conjunction with engagement of stakeholders, regulators, and the public. The integrated program provides a holistic approach to assess the risk associated with the remaining challenges facing EM and develop solutions that achieve remediation goals and protect human health and the environment. The integrated program uses a systems-based framework for achieving environmental remediation goals. The framework is based on developing and updating a site conceptual model and includes steps to 1) provide the technical basis for remedial actions, 2) assessments of potential remedies, and 3) implementation and management of remedies to achieve site restoration goals. The Office of Soil and Groundwater remediation defines research and development needed to successfully define and apply the framework. Research opportunities and targets are identified in characterization and conceptual model development, predictions of site conditions, remediation, monitoring, and remediation decision support. Characterization and quantification of key subsurface uncertainties is needed to support conceptual model development, identify contaminant source zones, quantify the flux of contaminants from source terms to points of compliance, and characterize controlling processes for remediation approaches including natural attenuation. Predictive analyses are needed to support development of remediation endpoints, select and design active and in situ or passive remedies, assess remedy performance, and predict long-term contaminant behavior for design of monitoring systems. Advancements are needed to support adaptive remediation approaches and to develop long-term contaminant management strategies for complex sites, such as effective in situ treatment methods for long-lived contaminants ({sup 99}Tc, {sup 129}I, U, Hg, etc.). Monitoring tools and approaches are needed to evaluate remedy performance and plume behavior and decision support methods are needed to quantitatively evaluate remediation alternatives. The Office of Soil and Groundwater Remediation leverages scientific understanding provided through partnerships with the DOE Office of Science, the Department of Defense, and Environmental Protection Agency. These partnerships are helping EM develop scientific understanding and technologies for implementing the assessment framework. (authors)
- Research Organization:
- WM Symposia, Inc., PO Box 27646, 85285-7646 Tempe, AZ (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 22824332
- Report Number(s):
- INIS-US-19-WM-15426; TRN: US19V0904069378
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: WM2015: Annual Waste Management Symposium, Phoenix, AZ (United States), 15-19 Mar 2015; Other Information: Country of input: France; 11 refs.; available online at: http://archive.wmsym.org/2015/index.html
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
CONTAMINATION
COST
ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
GROUND WATER
HAZARDS
IODINE 129
MERCURY
MONITORING
NATURAL ATTENUATION
PLUMES
REMEDIAL ACTION
SOURCE TERMS
TECHNETIUM 99
URANIUM
US DOD
US DOE