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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Estimating the Cold War mortgage: The 1995 Baseline Environmental Management report. Executive summary, March 1995

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:56600

This is the first annual report on the activities and potential costs required to address the waste, contamination, and surplus nuclear facilities that are the responsibility of DOE`s Environmental Management program. Of the Base Case life-cycle cost estimate of $230 billion from 1995 to 2070, 49% is waste management, 28% environmental restoration, 10% nuclear material and facility stabilization, 5% technology development, and 8% other. The top 5 sites account for 70% of the costs: Hanford 21%, Savannah River Site 21%, Rocky Flats 10%, Oak Ridge 10%, and Idaho Laboratory 8%. Assumptions include significant productivity increases, meeting current compliance requirements, and use of existing technologies. Excluded were: cleanup where no feasible cleanup technology exists (eg, nuclear explosion sites and most contaminated groundwater), cleanup of currently active facilities, naval nuclear propulsion facilities (handled by US Navy), and first 5 years of program ($23 billion). Of the alternative cases evaluated, land use has the biggest potential cost impact. Total projected environmental costs are comparable to total U.S. nuclear weapons production costs. The makeup of Volumes I and II (the latter being site summaries) are outlined briefly.

Research Organization:
USDOE Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management, Washington, DC (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
OSTI ID:
56600
Report Number(s):
DOE/EM--0232; ON: DE95011575; NC: NONE
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English