#97-68
ISSUED 6/25/97

MEDIA ADVISORY:
JULY 1 PUBLIC INFORMATION SESSION

"CLEANUP AND WORLD-CLASS SCIENCE:
A VISION FOR BROOKHAVEN LAB'S FUTURE"

EVENT: Public information session on future environmental cleanup and protection issues, including cleanup schedules, priorities and budgets, for Brookhaven National Laboratory, within the context of its science research missions.

WHEN: July 1, 1997, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.

WHERE: Berkner Hall, Brookhaven National Laboratory

DETAILS: John Wagoner, U.S. Department of Energy Brookhaven Group Executive Manager, will describe his vision for BNL over the next nine years, including the continuation of world-class scientific research and completion of most environmental remediation work at the Lab by the year 2006.

The information session will allow the public to learn about and comment on the Accelerated Cleanup Plan for Superfund environmental remediation at BNL and the fiscal year 1999 budget proposal for environmental management priorities, including cleanup, at the Lab. General information on BNL's budget will also be presented. The public will be able to discuss budget, research and cleanup issues one-on-one with BNL and DOE employees at poster stations.

Although the bulk of BNL's nearly $400 million annual budget goes to the pursuit or support of scientific research, about $20 million is spent each year to clean up environmental contamination caused by past activities on the Lab site. This environmental remediation takes place under the federal Superfund program, and is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, which owns the Laboratory.

Among the environmental issues being addressed under the Superfund program are former waste disposal areas and a plume of tritium-contaminated groundwater originating from the spent fuel pool at BNL's High Flux Beam Reactor.

DOE's new Accelerated Cleanup Plan for BNL proposes strategies to complete all environmental remediation projects at the Lab by the year 2006. The fiscal year 1999 budget proposal will set priorities for BNL's environmental cleanup, waste management and pollution prevention programs for that year.

BNL is located on William Floyd Parkway, County Road 46, one-and-a-half miles north of Exit 68 of the Long Island Expressway. For more information on the event, members of the public may call 344-2252.