The U.S. Energy Department on Monday formally announced it would demolish the final 18 structures at the former Energy Technology Engineering Center (ETEC) at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory in California.
The plan is laid out in a new record of decision for remediation of the DOE-held Area IV and Northern Buffer Zone at Santa Susana.
The Energy Department is one of three entities responsible for environmental remediation at the 2,850-acre facility in Ventura County once used for rocket-engine testing and nuclear research. The others are NASA and Boeing.
The Energy Technology Engineering Center housed 10 small nuclear reactors and other facilities for nuclear and liquid metals research through 1998. At one point, there were over 270 structures in Area IV, with 18 now remaining. That includes three structures within the Radioactive Materials Handling Facility and two within the Hazardous Waste Management Facility, all permitted under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). The other structures were not permitted under RCRA and included office space, waste storage areas, and a guard shack.
“DOE’s proposed action that is the subject of this ROD is to demolish the 18 DOE-owned buildings in Area IV and transport the resulting waste off site for disposal,” according to the record of decision. “Demolition of 13 facilities and disposition of the resulting debris will be in accordance with DOE requirements and applicable laws and regulations. Three facilities at the RMHF and the two facilities comprising the HWMF will be closed in accordance with California [Department of Toxic Substances Control]-approved RCRA facility closure plans.”
Completion of demolition will eliminate the Energy Department’s safety and environmental liabilities for buildings at Santa Susana, the document says. It noted, though, it will in the future issue separate records of decision for soil and groundwater remediation.
Alternatives to demolition had included no action, other uses for the buildings in Area IV, and other options for building removal, the record of decision says.
In a press release, DOE said it would issue plans for demolition of each building and disposal of the resulting waste.
The plan laid out in the record of decision fails to live up to DOE’s prior commitments, said Denise Duffield, associate director of the Physicians for Social Responsibility-Los Angeles.
The agency is asserting it will use weaker standards for the debris that would result in radioactively contaminated materials being sent to disposal sites not licensed for low-level radioactive waste, spreading contamination further and risking public health, Duffield said in a Thursday email. “Polluters do not get to decide how much of their contamination they cleanup.”
