The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) have agreed to a cleanup plan for contaminated soils at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL).
DOE, EPA and DEC have signed the Operable Unit I Record of Decision (ROD). This document describes the final plan to address Operable Unit I, which includes soils at the Lab that contain radioactive materials.
The approval of the ROD represents a significant milestone in the Brookhaven Lab cleanup. It clears the way for the final soil cleanup to begin.
Community input
DOE held three information sessions and a public meeting on Operable Unit I in April of 1999. Participants were asked to provide comments on the proposed cleanup, as described in the Operable Unit I Proposed Plan. Public comments from these meetings, as well as comments from EPA and DEC, supported the proposed cleanup. Therefore, DOE adopted the proposed cleanup plan in the ROD.
"To reach this milestone, many people and organizations worked very closely and diligently," said George Malosh, manager of the Department's office at Brookhaven. "The community, our environmental regulators, and the Laboratory deserve a lot of credit. Congratulations and let's get this cleanup going."
Next Steps
The first priority in this cleanup is the removal of landscaping soils that contain low levels of cesium-137. Plants that grow in these soils can absorb the cesium, thereby becoming contaminated. These plants may be consumed by deer on Lab property. The Lab plans to remove the radioactively contaminated soils, thereby removing the source of plant contamination. This cleanup should be completed by the summer of 2000.
Following the landscaping soils, the Lab will excavate and remove the other areas of radioactively contaminated soils in Operable Unit I. All of these areas are on Lab property. They include the Lab's former Hazardous Waste Management Facility, the Waste Concentration Facility, the Reclamation Facility sump and sump outfall, and tanks at Building 811.
In addition, areas on Lab property with low concentrations of metals will be addressed. An area that was used to dispose of incinerator ash will be capped with soil and monitored. Two basins that are used by tiger salamanders, a state endangered species, will be excavated and restored.
The Department expects to complete the Operable Unit I cleanup by 2005.