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Shallow-Buried Transuranic Waste: a Comparison of Remediation Alternatives at Los Alamos National Laboratory

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Shallow-Buried Transuranic Waste: a Comparison of Remediation Alternatives at Los Alamos National Laboratory Volume 49 Issue 1 Winter Winter 2009 Shallow-Buried Transuranic Waste: A Comparison of Remediation Alternatives at Los Alamos National Laboratory Helen R. Neill Robert H. Neill Recommended Citation Helen R. Neill & Robert H. Neill, Shallow-Buried Transuranic Waste: A Comparison of Remediation Alternatives at Los Alamos National Laboratory, 49 Nat. Resources J. 151 (2009). Available at: https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/nrj/vol49/iss1/5 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Journals at UNM Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Natural Resources Journal by an authorized editor of UNM Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]. \\server05\productn\N\NMN\49-1\NMN103.txt unknown Seq: 1 9-MAR-10 15:25 HELEN R. NEILL* & ROBERT H. NEILL** Shallow-Buried Transuranic Waste: A Comparison of Remediation Alternatives at Los Alamos National Laboratory ABSTRACT As part of its overall cleanup activities, the U.S. Department of En- ergy (DOE) has identified two alternative remediation plans for the 126,000 cubic meters (m3) of radioactive transuranic (TRU) waste generated from defense-program activities that were disposed in shal- low burial at DOE sites before 1970: (1) removal for deep geologic disposal, or (2) on-site containment. This article identifies and com- pares the different legal requirements for the disposal of TRU waste, notes differences in DOE’s plans for remediation, and summarizes federal remediation decisions for this waste at DOE generator sites. The article then evaluates these two disposal options at Los Alamos National Laboratory, where DOE has not yet made a decision on remediation for TRU waste containing 20,800 Curies of radioactiv- ity. If DOE’s remediation goals are to protect public health and the environment from long-term risks and demonstrate consistency in national TRU waste management practices, then this article recom- mends that DOE exhume these materials at Los Alamos and dispose of them at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in southern New Mexico. Otherwise, DOE should publish a 10,000-year performance assessment of the two disposal alternatives. I. INTRODUCTION By enacting the Atomic Energy acts of 1946 and 1954, Congress gave the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), the predecessor agency of the Department of Energy (DOE), the sole responsibility and ownership of fissionable materials used in defense programs, as well as the obliga- tion to protect the health and safety of the public from these materials.1 * Helen R. Neill is Associate Professor, Department of Environmental Studies, Greenspun College of Urban Affairs at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. She can be reached at [email protected]. ** Robert H. Neill is Director Emeritus, New Mexico Environmental Evaluation Group. He can be reached at [email protected]. 1. Atomic Energy Act of 1946, Pub. L. No. 585-724, § 5(a)(2), 60 Stat. 755, 760 (codified as amended at 42 U.S.C. § 2011 (2000)); Atomic Energy Act of 1954, Pub. L. No. 703, §§ 2, 52, 68 Stat. 919, 921, 929–930 (1954) (codified as amended at 42 U.S.C. § 2011 (2000)). 151 \\server05\productn\N\NMN\49-1\NMN103.txt unknown Seq: 2 9-MAR-10 15:25 152 NATURAL RESOURCES JOURNAL [Vol. 49 Exercising these authorities, DOE disposed of transuranic (TRU) waste2 generated by U.S. defense programs at six generator sites at shallow and intermediate depths.3 This article focuses on shallow-buried TRU waste4 at the sites and does not address the contamination of soil or ground- water, nor does it address TRU waste buried at much greater depths. This waste was placed in cardboard boxes, plastic bags, or steel drums and was disposed in shallow trenches or pits5 at the following six sites: Hanford Site, in Washington State; Idaho National Laboratory (INL)6; Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), in New Mexico; Nevada Test Site, near Las Vegas, Nevada; Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), in Tennessee; and Savannah River National Laboratory, in South Carolina.7 In 1970, the DOE recognized that the long-term hazards of TRU waste warranted greater isolation than that provided by shallow land burial and directed its field offices to stop disposing of TRU waste at the facilities in this manner. Facilities were directed to take immediate action to begin segregating, packaging, and burying TRU waste in a manner that could be easily retrieved within a 20-year period or beyond.8 A few 2. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency defines TRU waste as “waste contain- ing more than 100 nanocuries of alpha-emitting transuranic isotopes, with half-lives greater than 20 years, per gram of waste, except for: (1) High-level radioactive wastes; (2) wastes that the Department has determined, with the concurrence of the Administrator, do not need the degree of isolation required by this Part; or (3) wastes that the Commission has approved for disposal on a case-by-case basis in accordance with 10 CFR Part 61.” 40 C.F.R. § 191.02(i) (2006). 3. OFFICE OF ENVTL. MGMT., U.S. DEP’TOF ENERGY, PUB. NO. DOE/EM-00-0384, BUR- IED TRANSURANIC-CONTAMINATED WASTE INFORMATION FOR U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY FA- CILITIES 21 tbl.1 (2000) [hereinafter BURIED TRU WASTE]; see also John M. Peterson et al., Volume and Activity of Buried Transuranic-Contaminated Wastes at U.S. Department of Energy Facilities, 82 HEALTH PHYSICS 1, 7 tbl.1 (2002). DOE defines shallow-buried TRU as waste buried within 30 meters (98 feet) of the surface, but does not specify a minimum depth. See BURIED TRU WASTE, supra at 3; Peterson et al., supra at 3. 4. BURIED TRU WASTE, supra note 3, at 1 (“Radioactive wastes meeting the current R definition of transuranic (TRU) waste were disposed of by shallow land burial and other techniques at a number of sites owned and operated by the federal government in support of the nuclear weapons program from the 1940s through 1970s.”). 5. LAWRENCE E. ALLEN, N.M. ENVTL. EVALUATION GROUP, PUB. NO. EEG-87, IDENTIFI- CATION OF ISSUES CONCERNING BURIED TRANSURANIC WASTE 1, 11 (2003). 6. Formerly known as Idaho National Environmental and Engineering Laboratory (INEEL). 7. BURIED TRU WASTE, supra note 3, at 22 tbl.2. In 2004, Savannah River’s laboratory R was designated a national laboratory. However, the site that includes more than the labora- tory is still called the Savannah River Site. 8. U.S. Atomic Energy Comm’n, Immediate Action Directive, AEC Manual, IAD No. 0511-21, at 2 (Mar. 20, 1970) [hereinafter AEC Immediate Action Directive]. See also BURIED TRU WASTE, supra note 3, at 7; Peterson et al., supra note 3, at 4 (reporting that in 1973 AEC R \\server05\productn\N\NMN\49-1\NMN103.txt unknown Seq: 3 9-MAR-10 15:25 Winter 2009] SHALLOW-BURIED TRANSURANIC WASTE 153 sites, such as LANL, the Savannah River National Laboratory, and ORNL “continued to bury some TRU waste well into the 1970s” with “the intent of” retrieving the waste.9 Only later did all DOE sites begin storing newly produced TRU waste in a retrievable manner for eventual deep geologic disposal. The DOE refers to this retrievably buried TRU waste as stored or legacy TRU waste.10 The directive does not mention or provide guidance on the previously disposed shallow-buried TRU waste.11 In 1992, Congress changed the dual authorities of the DOE to dis- pose of TRU waste and to determine the safety of the practice by as- signing the responsibility to set standards for the safe disposal to an independent regulator, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).12 The EPA had issued standards13 in 1985 for safe geologic dispo- defined TRU waste as that which contains “more than 10 nCi/g of TRU alpha-emitting radionuclides”). DOE in 1982 raised the threshold concentration for TRU waste to be 100 nCi/g. Id. In 1988, DOE revised the definition of TRU waste as exceeding 100 nCi/g at the time of assay. U.S. Dep’t of Energy, Radioactive Waste Mgmt., DOE Order 5820.2A, at 4 (Sept. 26, 1988). See U.S. Dep’t of Energy, Radioactive Waste Mgmt., DOE Order 435.1, at 3 (July 9, 1999) [hereinafter DOE Order 435.1]. Order 435.1 refers to DOE Manual 435.1-1. See U.S. Dep’t of Energy, Radioactive Waste Mngt. Manual, DOE Manual 435.1-1 (July 9, 1999) [hereinafter DOE Manual 435.1-1]. Transuranic waste is defined in Chapter III of DOE Manual 435.1-1, “Transuranic Waste is radioactive waste containing more than 100 na- nocuries (3700 becquerels) of alpha-emitting transuranic isotopes per gram of waste, with half-lives greater than 20 years, except for: (1) High-level radioactive waste; (2) Waste that the Secretary of Energy has determined, with the concurrence of the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, does not need the degree of isolation required by the 40 CFR Part 191 disposal regulations; or (3) Waste that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has approved for disposal on a case-by-case basis in accordance with 10 CFR Part 61.” This definition is identical to EPA’s definition, see 40 C.F.R. § 191.02(i) (2006). Note that this DOE Manual also states, “Transuranic waste disposed of prior to implementation of the 1970 Atomic Energy Commission Immediate Action Directive regarding retrievable storage of transuranic waste is not subject to the requirements of DOE O 435.1, Radioactive Waste Management, and this Manual.” DOE Manual 435.1-1, supra at III-1. 9. BURIED TRU WASTE, supra note 3, at 7; Peterson et al., supra note 3, at 5.
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