New ERD manager on board
John Meersman, senior project manager for Bechtel National, Inc., has been named the new manager of BNL's Environmental Restoration Division. He succeeds Jim Kannard, who returned to Nevada due to a family illness.
"ERD staff has done a great job in characterizing contamination problems and identifying cost effective cleanup strategies," he said. "The challenge for the future is to build a consensus with our regulators and stakeholders as to how the cleanup should proceed, and then to implement the cleanup on schedule and within budget."
Before Brookhaven Science Associates (BSA) took over management of the Laboratory in March, Meersman became familiar with BNL as part of the transition team. BSA hired Bechtel National, Inc., to assume leadership of the Lab's Environmental Restoration program.
Meersman attended Stanford University where he earned a B.S. in civil engineering in 1976, an M.S. in environmental engineering in 1977, and a postgraduate degree in environmental planning in 1978.
Meersman has supported U.S Department of Energy environmental restoration
programs at Hanford, Savannah River, Nevada Test Site and Oak Ridge. He
is currently in the process of relocating his wife and two children from
Oak Ridge, Tennessee to Long Island.
More Peconic sampling planned
As part of an ongoing environmental investigation of the Peconic River area, Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) recently sampled Peconic River sediments. Very low levels of plutonium were detected on the Lab property and in the river bed one mile beyond BNL's eastern boundary.
The Lab, working closely with the regulatory agencies overseeing its operation, is now planning additional testing of the river sediment.
The next round of sampling, expected to begin in October, will look at several additional areas, encompassing a longer stretch of the river. BNL is currently working with regulators and data analysis specialists to develop a thorough and complete sampling plan.
The Peconic River investigation will be part of an environmental update to be given to the newly-formed Community Advisory Council during their first meeting on September 10.
hookupdate
The U.S. Department of Energy is nearing the end of its public water hookup project.
Work has been completed in almost all areas, and the grant to the Suffolk County Water Authority will be closed out on August 31, marking the end of the project. A certified mailing has been sent to the few property owners who have not responded to the free public water hookup offer.
Residents who have been hooked up, but have not yet made an appointment
with a plumber for final connection, should do so as soon as possible.
Latest documents
Two documents have been added to the BNL Administrative Record. These are the Operable Unit III Tritium Compilation Report (indexed as BNL/OU3/11.4/581-592) and the Operable Unit V Remedial Investigation/Risk Assessment Report (indexed as BNL/OU5/10.7/1-2633). These documents, as well as all previous reports from BNL's Environmental Restoration Division, are available at these locations.