In a recent Federal Register notice, the Department of Energy announced its decision to start groundwater remediation in Area IV of the Santa Susana Field Laboratory in Ventura County, Calif.
The DOE said its preferred alternative for most of the area combines treatment and monitored natural attenuation.
The DOE said in its Nov. 10 record of decision that the work groundwater work within the identified seven locations within Area IV will require approval from the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC). One of the largest groundwater impacts is a trichloroethylene plume from the Hazardous Materials Storage Area.
Monitored natural attenuation means DOE will use physical, chemical, or biological means to reduce toxicity with little human intervention.
One environmental advocate said that isn’t good enough.
“We are alarmed to see DOE proclaim it will use “natural attenuation” for areas contaminated with incredibly toxic materials such as tritium and trichloroethylene, as this means DOE plans to do nothing,” Denise Duffield, assistant director of Physicians for Social Responsibility-Los Angeles in an email Monday. “We are also troubled by DOE’s continued imperious behavior of claiming that it, the polluter, gets to decide how much of its pollution it will clean up when in fact that decision rests with DTSC, its regulator,” she added.
The laboratory is located on approximately 2,850 acres between Chatsworth and Simi Valley, Calif., was developed as a remote site to test rocket engines and conduct nuclear research.
The DOE’s predecessor, the Atomic Energy Commission, developed the Energy Technology Engineering Center on a parcel of land at Santa Susana that once held 10 small reactors used in nuclear research from the 1950s into the 1980s.
Since the late 1980s, DOE has set up over 130 monitoring wells to identify groundwater contamination.
The DOE’s groundwater environmental impact statement identified seven areas within the DOE-run Area IV with differing groundwater effects related to solvents, metals, and radionuclides, resulting from research work over the years.
The DOE and the state of California this month reached agreement on tearing down the final eight buildings controlled by the department.
