Success Stories

Following are a few examples of how ORSSAB helped make a difference regarding environmental cleanup of the DOE Oak Ridge Reservation.

FY 2008

Oral History Program
Under the direction of the Oak Ridge SSAB (ORSSAB) Executive Committee, an Oral History Ad Hoc Subcommittee was established in early 2007 to determine if there would be community support for the preservation of Oak Ridge oral history. The SSAB was clear from the start that this effort would not become the responsibility of the board, but because of the level of public interest in this information and the age of the former workers, the SSAB would play a role in initiating this discussion.

In October 2007 ORSSAB sponsored a workshop to consider ways to consolidate existing Oak Ridge oral histories into one location and how to continue gathering oral histories for future use. Thirty people representing a variety of agencies and interests participated in the workshop at the DOE Information Center.

About 275 oral history interviews have been conducted to date with Oak Ridge scientists, engineers, community leaders, and residents, but there is no central location housing all of the existing tapes, and no mechanism exists to manage an active oral history program in terms of cataloguing and transcribing tapes, identifying and interviewing people, and providing access to material to researchers and other interested parties.

The workshop was intended to help resolve several issues, including:
• What is the definition of an oral history?
• What are sources of funding?
• Should a permanent group be formed to oversee the program?
• What existing regulations/legislative acts control or influence an oral history program?
• Who are the individuals who need to be interviewed in the future?
• What format of the end product will be most desired and easy to access?
• What organization will handle transcribing oral histories that have not yet been transcribed?

In spring 2008 the seeds sown at the workshop flowered into a comprehensive oral history program called the “Center for Oak Ridge Oral History” and the SSAB’s role ceased except to have a seat on the steering committee.

Headquartered at the Oak Ridge Public Library, the program is being led by a steering committee that includes representatives from DOE-Oak Ridge, ORSSAB, the Oak Ridge Public Library, the National Nuclear Security Administration/Y-12, the DOE Office of Science and Technical Information, the Tennessee State Library and Archives, the American Museum of Science and Energy, the City of Oak Ridge, the Tennessee Valley Authority, and the University of Tennessee.

ORSSAB’s work on the oral histories program provided an important step in bringing cohesion to the various interests in the community on an issue of importance not only to the public but to the DOE Environmental Management Program as well. Material contained in oral histories will offer invaluable information to DOE when determining the scope and the data necessary to approach areas of the Oak Ridge Reservation requiring remediation or in determining if an area does not require remediation.

Long-Term Stewardship Map of the Oak Ridge Reservation
In FY 2008 ORSSAB’s Stewardship Committee worked with DOE to produce a stewardship map that shows all remediated areas on the Oak Ridge Reservation and what land use controls are currently in place.

The map, which is 50 by 64 inches, is displayed in the DOE Information Center for public use. Accompanying the map will be a notebook that includes reference to all decision documents related to each remediated area. This book is being developed by one of the student representatives to the board. The map will also be available on the Oak Ridge Environmental Information System (www-oreis.bechteljacobs.org/oreis/help/oreishome.html). Smaller versions of the map will be provided to the City of Oak Ridge, and Anderson and Roane County officials. It will also be on display in the ORSSAB exhibit at the American Museum of Science and Energy.

The map is color coded to indicate the various watershed decision areas: East Tennessee Technology Park, Melton Valley, Bethel Valley, Upper East Fork Poplar Creek, Bear Creek Valley, and Chestnut Ridge. Within each watershed the map indicates contamination sites and remediated areas under deed restrictions. Icons explain what land use controls are currently in place for DOE operating areas and those in place for remediated locations, such as deed restrictions, fences, signs, security patrols, monitoring, and excavation/penetration permits required.

Each time a Remedial Action Report is approved for a remediated site by EPA and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, the map and its reference book will be updated to show the changes where waste has been left in place on the reservation and the land use controls utilized to protect the public and workers.

Through ORSSAB’s efforts, the map will play an integral role in helping the public maintain knowledge about remediated areas on the Oak Ridge Reservation and what land use controls are in place.

Independent Verification of Cleanup
Millions are being spent in Oak Ridge on environmental cleanup. But how receptive will industry be to locating in an area where DOE generated a plethora of hazardous and radioactive waste materials? One way to assuage such concerns is to conduct an independent verification that cleanup requirements have been met and that the land and buildings are safe to use.

In March 2006 ORSSAB investigated the need and use of independent verification at East Tennessee Technology Park and crafted a recommendation to DOE to employ the process at the site. DOE accepted that recommendation and contracted the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education to do the work. DOE approved the institute’s statement of work, as well as yearly funding of $234,000 for three years.

Independent verification at East Tennessee Technology Park was not the first such undertaking in Oak Ridge. Independent verification validated the cleanup of the East Fork Poplar Creek in the early 1990s, as well as the cleanup of Buildings K 31 and K-33. And independent verification was employed off the Oak Ridge Reservation at the David Witherspoon site in Knoxville.

Those successful undertakings coupled with the use of independent verification at sites across the country led ORSSAB to draft a follow-on recommendation in March 2008 that DOE-Oak Ridge conduct independent verification wherever possible.

Many in the community feel that reindustrialization is the key to success at East Tennessee Technology Park and other parts of the Oak Ridge Reservation, and through ORSSAB initiative an important step is being taken to help achieve that success.

National Stewardship Policy
Long-term stewardship of contaminated areas of the Oak Ridge Reservation following cleanup has been an ORSSAB priority almost from the creation of the board in 1995. In FY 2007 the board continued its commitment to assuring that future generations are protected through the actions taken by DOE today by submitting a recommendation on reaffirmation of the DOE Secretarial Policy to provide stewardship at ongoing mission sites with residual contamination. In its recommendation the board asked that DOE establish a national policy for commitment to long-term stewardship. Since a number of remediation projects have been completed on the Oak Ridge Reservation, ORSSAB felt DOE should reaffirm its commitment to long-term stewardship at sites with ongoing missions that contain residual contamination, such as the Y-12 National Security Complex and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

To strengthen that commitment, the board also recommended that DOE assign a headquarters liaison to the Environmental Management Program who would be responsible for oversight and resource assistance for stewardship, both before and after remediation.

In July 2008 Mark Gilbertson, the DOE Deputy Assistant Secretary for Engineering and Technology, announced that Dr. Vince Adams had been assigned as the long-term stewardship liaison. His responsibilities include conducting pre- and post-remediation strategy planning for long-term stewardship that is consistent with applicable regulations and DOE orders. He is also charged with the execution of Environmental Management Program policy on remedy decisions and end-state vision, and he will work with the Environmental Management Program site transition coordinators.

The reaffirmation of the importance of stewardship at the DOE headquarters level and the appointment of a stewardship liaison are important milestones in ensuring remediated properties are protective of human health and the environment for generations to come.

Community Outreach
In FY 2008 ORSSAB made significant gains in its ongoing mission to inform and involve the public in the environmental cleanup program at the Oak Ridge Reservation. Two key accomplishments this year were spearheading community involvement in providing input to the Environmental Management Program on preservation plans for the K-25 Building, and getting DOE and the community to work together in creating an oral history program for the Oak Ridge Reservation.

In February 2008 ORSSAB co-sponsored a public meeting on how best to preserve the historic significance of the K-25 Building at DOE’s East Tennessee Technology Park. The meeting, which was held at the Y-12 New Hope Center, was attended by about 160 people and was covered by all the local papers and two television stations. The meeting provided an important opportunity for members of the public to express their views, and numerous comments were generated and forwarded to DOE by ORSSAB. The meeting was the latest in a long line of public meetings the board has sponsored on topics such as the Environmental Management Program budget, the CERCLA 5-year review, and the K-25/K-27 D&D strategy.

An equally important initiative this year was ORSSAB’s leadership in creating an oral history program. In spring 2007 ORSSAB formed a subcommittee to explore the possibility of facilitating an oral history program. This led to a community workshop ORSSAB sponsored in October 2007 that brought together many groups and individuals interested in preserving Oak Ridge history. That effort led to the formation of a comprehensive oral history program called the “Center for Oak Ridge Oral History.” Headquartered at the Oak Ridge Public Library, the program is being led by a steering committee that includes representatives from DOE-Oak Ridge, ORSSAB, the Tennessee State Library and Archives, the Tennessee Valley Authority, the University of Tennessee, and several other organizations.

Throughout ORSSAB’s activities in historic preservation and oral history in 2008, the board kept up an aggressive public outreach effort that included presentations to eleven schools, clubs, and organizations; participation in the Earth Day and Secret City festivals; and an ongoing program of advertisements, newsletters, and cable television broadcasts. The board also maintained its educational outreach initiatives, which include working with local schools to integrate the board’s Stewardship Education Resource Kit into science curricula, and updating the board’s permanent exhibit at the American Museum of Science & Energy in Oak Ridge. The exhibit uses touch-screen kiosks, displays, and posters to tell the story of the Oak Ridge cleanup program.
 

FY 2007

Melton Valley Closure
For many years the Melton Valley burial grounds posed the highest risk at the Oak Ridge Reservation to human health and the environment. As a result of more than 50 years of operation, production, and research activities at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, a legacy of disposal sites, contaminated facilities, and areas of secondary contamination were spread over 160 acres of the watershed’s 1062 acres. In the 1950s the area was also used as the Atomic Energy Commission’s Southeastern Regional Burial Ground, where largely uncharacterized radioactive wastes from over 50 other federal facilities were disposed.

DOE’s cleanup project for the valley included a wide array of complicated and difficult activities, such as hydraulic isolation through installation of multilayer caps; removal, treatment, and disposal of retrievable transuranic waste; and in situ grouting.

In March 2007, DOE completed remedial actions in the valley, bringing the project to a close and ending a decade of involvement and oversight by ORSSAB.

Beginning in January 1998 with its “End Use Recommendation for the Disposal Areas in Melton Valley,” the board made 20 recommendations to DOE related to various aspects of Melton Valley cleanup. An inestimable number of hours were devoted by the board members in studying, debating, and writing recommendations on numerous issues related to the project and the acceptable end state for the area.

The remediation work was a huge undertaking that addressed 219 release sites over the course of six years at a cost of $360 million. It could have cost as much as $1.6 billion had all the waste been removed and shipped off site, but the board played an instrumental role in the decision to leave some relatively short-lived contamination in place in order to save taxpayers millions of dollars.

Independent Verification
In early 2007 the fruits of an ORSSAB recommendation began to be realized. Millions are being spent at the East Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP) to dismantle scores of old buildings and prepare the site for eventual use as a private industrial park. But how receptive will industry be to locating in an area where DOE generated a plethora of hazardous and radioactive waste materials? Will companies be willing to invest in a site without assurance that the land and any remaining buildings available for lease are free of contaminants?

One way to assuage such concerns is to conduct an independent verification that cleanup requirements have been met and that the land and buildings are safe to use.

ORSSAB investigated the need and use of independent verification at ETTP and crafted a recommendation to DOE to employ the process at the site. DOE accepted that recommendation and contracted the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education to do the work. DOE has recently approved the institute’s statement of work, as well as funding of $234,000 per year for three years.

Many in the community feel that reindustrialization is the key to success at ETTP, and through ORSSAB initiative an important step is being taken to help achieve that success.

Stewardship
Long-term stewardship of contaminated areas of the Oak Ridge Reservation following cleanup has been an ORSSAB priority almost since the board’s inception in 1995. In FY 2007 the board generated three more recommendations in a long series of recommendations on the topic, continuing its commitment to assuring that future generations are protected through the actions taken by DOE today.

• In its “Recommendation on Notices of Contamination and Future Land Use Limitations in Melton Valley” the board codified a process it has been developing for some time. For the past two years the board’s Stewardship Committee has been working with DOE to plan and implement a process for filing Notices of Contamination and plat maps with the Anderson County Register of Deeds and Property Assessor’s office. This process will also be extended to Roane County and the city of Oak Ridge.

The “Notice of Contamination and Future Use Limitations, and Intent to Provide Notations on Ownership Record in Melton Valley” is an important element of this process. At DOE’s request, the committee reviewed the notice, prepared some general comments on it, and rewrote the notice language to ensure that it will be understandable to the general public.

The committee revised the notice into a form it felt was more ‘user friendly’ and recommended that DOE consider using the style and format of the committee’s revision. The recommendation also asked DOE to publish a condensed version of the notice in local newspapers that would also be easily understood by the public.

• In “Reaffirmation of DOE Secretarial Policy to Provide Stewardship at Ongoing Mission Sites with Residual Contamination” the board recommended that DOE establish a national policy for commitment to long-term stewardship. Since a number of remediation projects have been completed on the Oak Ridge Reservation, ORSSAB felt DOE should reaffirm its commitment to long-term stewardship at sites with ongoing missions that contain residual contamination, such as the Y-12 National Security Complex and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

• In its “Recommendation on the ‘Draft Legacy Management Strategic Plan’” the board stated that the strategic plan had no guidance for ongoing mission sites with residual contamination and that DOE’s Office of Legacy Management should state clearly that if it had no responsibility for ongoing mission sites it should identify who does have responsibility for them.

Public Involvement Plan
Both the Comprehensive Environmental Restoration, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) and the “Federal Facility Agreement for the Oak Ridge Reservation” require DOE Oak Ridge to publish a Public Involvement Plan. The plan is updated every three years. The purpose of the plan is to communicate to the public its opportunities for participation in the decision-making process regarding the remediation of contaminated areas on the Oak Ridge Reservation. As such, the plan is one of the most important documents to citizens that the Environmental Management program prepares.

In 2007 DOE began working on an update of the 2004 plan. ORSSAB supplied numerous comments and suggestions, which were incorporated into the final document. Because of the board’s involvement, important additions and changes were made to better serve the community. DOE said in its response to the recommendation: “Thanks to the board’s knowledgeable input, we believe the document has been greatly improved since its previous update three years ago.”

Remediation Effectiveness Report/CERCLA Five-Year Review
DOE is spending hundreds of millions of dollars in Oak Ridge each year cleaning up environmental contamination left from decades of nuclear enrichment and other activities. But how do you know it’s working?

The answers lie in an annual report and a rigorous review that occurs every five years. The annual report is the Remediation Effectiveness Report, and every five years it is expanded to include the Five-Year Review that’s required under CERCLA.

While the annual report evaluates if the remedy is working as planned, the Five-Year Review evaluates whether that chosen remedy is still effective and appropriate under today’s conditions. It also reevaluates the protectiveness of the cleanup decisions.

Because the Five-Year Review is so important, ORSSAB issued its “Recommendations on Logistics for a Public Meeting on the 2006 Remediation Effectiveness Report and CERCLA Five-Year Review” in November 2006. The board made several general recommendations about conducting the meeting, as well as specific recommendations concerning the agenda and publicity. A primary suggestion was to use an ORSSAB monthly meeting as a forum for the public meeting.

DOE agreed and set the date for May 9, 2007. About 50 people attended the meeting, which gave local stakeholders an important forum to express their views on both the Remediation Effectiveness Report and the CERCLA Five-Year Review.

Uranium Hexafluoride Cylinders
During gaseous diffusion activities at the K-25 Site (now known as ETTP), depleted uranium hexafluoride was packaged in approximately 7,000 cylinders and placed in six outdoor storage yards. After diffusion activities at K-25 were shut down in 1987, the condition of the cylinders deteriorated, posing a potential threat of release of radioactive and toxic contaminants to the environment and a risk to onsite workers and offsite public. In addition, surveillance and maintenance of the cylinders contributed heavily to K 25’s already significant landlord costs.

Since 2001 ORSSAB had expressed concern about the condition of the cylinders, making their expedited removal from the site a priority. When DOE’s Accelerated Closure Program was put in place at the Oak Ridge Reservation, the board weighed in with its “Recommendation Concerning the Depleted Uranium Hexafluoride Disposition Program at ETTP” in July 2003, and again in January 2004 with its “Comments on the Draft Environmental Impact Statements for Depleted Uranium Hexafluoride Conversion Facilities.”

The board’s goals were finally met in December 2006 when the acres of cylinder storage yards were finally emptied. Almost 5,000 separate shipments of cylinders were required to transfer the cylinders to DOE’s Portsmouth, Ohio, site where a uranium hexafluoride conversion facility is being constructed.
 

FY 2006

ORSSAB Presented with Prestigious National EPA Award

In June 2006 ORSSAB and its Stewardship Committee were presented with the Citizens Excellence in Community Involvement Award. The national honor is given annually by EPA to recognize an individual or community group for outstanding achievement in the field of environmental protection. The award was presented at EPA’s 2006 Community Involvement Conference in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

The award recognizes two major achievements by the ORSSAB Stewardship Committee between October 2004 and September 2005.

The first achievement was development of the Stewardship Education Resource Kit, which was created to provide local educators with materials to teach students about environmental cleanup and long-term stewardship issues (see “Teacher’s Workshop” story).

The second achievement focuses on maintaining information about contaminated land. In 2004 the Stewardship Committee worked with Anderson County to test a system where plat maps of contaminated land would be placed in the county geographical information system. The test was successful, so in 2005 the board recommended that DOE standardize its language for land with notices of contamination so they could be easily found by anyone doing land searches in the county land records. DOE adopted the recommendation and is standardizing its language when filing notices of contamination with Anderson County. The county also sends the same information to the City of Oak Ridge. A similar effort is underway for Roane County.

ORSSAB Hosts Teacher’s Workshop on the Stewardship Education Resource Kit

In February 2006 ORSSAB sponsored a two-day workshop on how to use the board’s Stewardship Education Resource Kit in the classroom. The event was attended by twenty-four ecology and environmental science teachers representing public and private high schools in Knox and Anderson counties.

The kit, which was completed in March 2005, contains lesson plans, videos, a fictional case study based on actual cleanup operations, an appendix of supporting materials, and a video CD on the background and use of the kit.

During the workshop, held February 9 and 11, ORSSAB members and facilitators from the University of Tennessee explained how to use each lesson, showed videos included with the kit, and demonstrated the use of support materials and related Internet sites. The teachers participated in group activities and listened to a panel discussion on stewardship that included representatives from ORSSAB, DOE, and the state of Tennessee.

Kit materials are available on the ORSSAB website at www.oakridge.doe.gov/ em/ssab/stewardship-kit/kit.htm. Organizations that have an interest in stewardship and the environment may request a version of the kit.
 

Stewardship Education Resource Kit

FY 2004

Student Summary of ORR Stakeholder Report on Stewardship
ORSSAB published the second volume of its two-volume “ORR Stakeholder Report on Stewardship” in 1999. As time passed, though, it became apparent that the report was too detailed for some audiences—notably the high school students the board was trying to reach through its public outreach program.