The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is giving the Energy Department and the state of Tennessee a chance to file more information in a dispute over water discharge standards for radionuclides at the Oak Ridge Site.
EPA Region 4 is seeking a much more stringent standard on water discharges at Oak Ridge than those now used at government and commercial nuclear sites nationally, according to the Energy Department. Jay Mullis, manager of DOE’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, requested in an April 5 letter that EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler overrule the Atlanta-based regional office.
Susan Parker Bodine, assistant administrator for the EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, acknowledged in an April 18 letter to the parties the federal regulator has received the appeal letter. Bodine gave the Energy Department 21 days to submit additional materials, and said Tennessee would also have an opportunity to address the DOE documents. It was not clear when exactly the 21-day close would start.
Once EPA headquarters has the additional materials in hand it will schedule a meeting with the parties.
At issue is a dispute dating to 2016 over an EPA focused feasibility study on water runoff and waste disposal standards across the Oak Ridge Reservation. The dispute has major implications on technical requirements for a planned new on-site landfill.
Mary Walker, acting administrator for EPA Region 4, said in a March 21 letter to Mullis that current DOE wastewater standards at Oak Ridge don’t provide enough protection against discharges of contaminated runoff into Bear Creek. The regional office said the Energy Department should reduce reliance on dilution and consider best available technologies at the site, according to the March 21 ruling.
The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) agrees with EPA Region 4, saying DOE should not publish a draft record of decision (ROD) on the new Environmental Management Disposal Facility (EMDF), until the Oak Ridge discharge issue is settled.
