This fall, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) plan to hold a public meeting and poster sessions to inform BNL employees and the public about contamination involving, and proposed cleanup strategies for, radiologically contaminated soils located at the Lab.
The meetings will be held during a comment period on two documents that relate to the contamination and its proposed remediation. The "Operable Unit I (OU I) Proposed Plan," and "Feasibility Study Report for OU I/Site-Wide Radiological Soils" follow a remedial investigation that was completed in June 1996. The two reports identify and compare alternatives for remediation of the area, and this starts the decision-making phase of the Superfund process for this project.
Soils identified
The majority of radiologically contaminated soils on site are in the Hazardous Waste Management Facility. This area has been the central receiving, storage and processing area for BNL's hazardous and radioactive waste since 1947. It will be the principal focus of remediation activity. Most of the soils in the Hazardous Waste Management Facility contain low levels of radiological contamination, primarily cesium-137.
The Hazardous Waste Management Facility will be replaced later this year by a new, state-of-the-art waste handling facility in the northeast part of the Lab's central portion.
Other contaminated soils containing low levels of cesium-137 have been found near the center of the site, a developed area consisting of buildings, roads and parking lots. These soils were probably contaminated in the mid- to late-1960s, and later mistakenly used as landscaping fill in several locations around the site. BNL's health professionals do not consider these soils to present a hazard to the health of Lab employees or the public. Also, since cesium-137 binds to soil particles, it does not migrate in groundwater.
Low levels of contamination have also been found at the Waste Concentration Facility, where several liquid radioactive waste storage tanks were removed in the fall of 1994, and in a wooded sump outfall area outside Building 650, where radioactive clothing and equipment were decontaminated.
The Building 650 sump was included in an interim action under Operable Unit IV that included fencing and monitoring of the area, but the final remediation of these soils will be included in the Operable Unit I plan.
Options considered
The Proposed Plan and Feasibility Study describe a variety of possible remediation alternatives for Operable Unit I and site-wide radiological soils, including:
The reports also address several areas that have already undergone or are currently undergoing remediation. These include the Former and Current landfills (capped in 1995 and 1996, respectively), the Interim Landfill (to be capped this year), and 51 waste pits known as the Chemical/Animal Pits and Glass Holes (currently being excavated; see story, page 1).
Because these areas were known sources of contamination, their cleanup was carried out as a short-term removal action.
Groundwater addressed
While groundwater in this area is discussed in these documents, remediation was addressed as a separate removal action last year. The removal action involved construction and implementation of a pump-and-treat system at the Lab's southern boundary to remove contaminants from groundwater in the area.
The public meeting is part of a comment period on the Proposed Plan and Feasibility Study that will take place in late summer/early fall 1997.
Remedy finalized
After all public comments are reviewed and considered, a final remedy for the area will be chosen by the members of the interagency agreement (DOE, EPA, and NYSDEC) and documented in a "Record of Decision."
The Record of Decision includes a "Responsiveness Summary" summarizing DOE's responses to the public's questions and comments. Following that step, actual design and remediation will begin.
The Proposed Plan and Feasibility Study will be available this fall at the Lab's four information repositories (for locations, see page 11).