Remediation of DOE hazardous waste sites: Planning and integration requirements

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The US Department of Energy (DOE) is faced with a immense challenge in effectively implementing a program to mitigate and manage the environmental impacts created by current operations and from past activities at its facilities. The current regulatory framework and public interest in the environmental arena have made operating DOE facilities in an environmentally responsible manner a compelling priority. This paper provides information on the results of a project funded by DOE to obtain a better understanding of the regulatory and institutional drivers in the hazardous waste market and the costs and timeframes required for remediation activities. Few realize that before remediating a hazardous waste site, a comprehensive planning process must be conducted to characterize the nature and extent of site contamination, calculate the risk to the public, and assess the effectiveness of various remediation technologies. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and others have found that it may take up to 7 years to complete the planning process at an average cost of $1.0 million per site. While cost information is not yet available for DOE sites, discussions with hazardous waste consulting firms indicate that average characterization and assessment costs will be 5 to 10 times this amount for DOE sites. The higher costs are expected because of the additional administrative requirements placed on DOE sites, the need to handle mixed wastes, the amount and extent of contamination at many of these sites, and the visibility of the sites. 15 refs., 1 fig., 2 tabs.