Questions Persist over Subcontractor Raid
Three months after federal law enforcement agents raided the office of a subcontractor to URS-CH2M Oak Ridge, LLC (UCOR), the purpose of the raid remains unclear. On Jan. 16, agents with the FBI and the Department of Energy Inspector General’s Office removed records from the office of Transportation, Operations and Professional Services, Inc. (TOPS), which performs waste transportation services for UCOR. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Tennessee declined to comment on the issue this week. “It is the policy of the U.S. Attorney’s Office to neither comment on, nor confirm or deny the existence or status of a pending investigation,” a spokeswoman said in a written response. TOPS CEO and owner Joni Armes did not return calls for comment.
The DOE Oak Ridge Operations Office referred calls for comment to UCOR, which said this week that TOPS is still performing work at Oak Ridge. “TOPS is continuing to transport waste generated from the East Tennessee Technology Park cleanup project under its subcontract with UCOR,” UCOR spokesman Wayne McKinney said in a written response.
DOE to Redo Draft Study for New Landfill
The Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge environmental management team will revise its first draft of the Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study for a new CERCLA landfill in an effort to address concerns raised by environmental regulators. DOE has proposed a new landfill adjacent to the current CERCLA facility, known as the Environmental Management Waste Management Facility, in Bear Creek Valley west of the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant in Oak Ridge. DOE submitted an earlier draft of the RI/FS that indicated the total cost of the facility would be in excess of $800 million, including long-term operations at the disposal facility. That figure was still significantly lower than the potential costs of shipping the hazardous and radioactive materials off-site.
The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation submitted comments and raised a number of issues with the initial plan, however, including the need for detailed hydrology studies of the proposed site. The matter is currently in informal dispute, but Mike Koentop, executive officer of the EM Office in Oak Ridge, called it a “healthy dialogue” and said it wasn’t unusual to have differences at this stage of the project’s development. “We are working with EPA and the State of Tennessee to resolve issues from the previous version of the Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study,” Koentop said in email response to questions. “Characterization of the proposed disposal site will begin this spring and the characterization results should address some of their questions. The next draft of the RI/FS is due September 30 and it will be a D1 [first draft].”
Space is running out at the existing landfill, which may add pressure to the planning. “There is some urgency to this project because, ideally, we would like to have the new cell operational before EMWFM reaches capacity; that is the most efficient approach to waste disposal,” Koentop said. “We are proceeding with that schedule in mind; however, we do understand there are issues that must be resolved. We will continue partnering with TDEC and EPA, as well as other important stakeholders, throughout this process.” TDEC spokeswoman Shannon Ashford said DOE is meeting with the state and Environmental Protection Agency to address the comment from the earlier draft. “This will hopefully result in a D1 version that will have fewer points of disagreement,” Ashford said.
