Stakeholders now have through Jan. 9 to weigh in on the proposed new 2.2-million-cubic yard-landfill to eventually replace the existing facility at the Energy Department’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee.
An Energy Department spokesman confirmed by email the public comment deadline has been extended from Dec. 10. This marks the second extension — DOE had previously pushed back the comment deadline from Nov. 7.
The planned Environmental Management Disposal Facility would replace the existing Environmental Management Waste Management Facility, which is expected to run out of space in the mid-2020s.
The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation said in comments filed Oct. 25 that DOE might need to modify the design somewhat to address groundwater concerns before it endorses the new facility. The facility needs approval from the state, DOE, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency before it can be built. The Energy Department has not issued a final cost estimate for the project.
Like the old landfill, which has been taking waste since 2002, the new site will be built within the Bear Creek Valley at the Oak Ridge Site.
The new disposal site would take chemical waste and low-level radioactive waste, and mixed low-level waste generated from cleanup at the Y-12 National Security Complex, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and the East Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP). The current landfill takes the same types of material, but mostly from the ETTP, the former uranium enrichment complex at Oak Ridge.
Comments can be submitted to [email protected].
