Groundwater study marks next step in Oak Ridge landfill work, DOE says

With field work done, a groundwater monitoring study is underway for a new low-level radioactive waste landfill being built at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee, DOE said Tuesday.

Earlier this year, 30 acres were cleared and roads rerouted so subcontractor CTI and Associates can study groundwater at the site of the Environmental Management Disposal Facility (EMDF) over two wet seasons, from December through March, DOE said.

The DOE Office of Environmental Management and Amentum-led United Cleanup Oak Ridge (UCOR) hope to complete EMDF in 2030, DOE’s cleanup office said in a Tuesday announcement.

The 2030 date is when the existing landfill, already 85% full, will be at capacity, DOE said. Earlier DOE had projected the existing 2.2-million-cubic-yard Environmental Management Waste Management Facility would be full a couple of years earlier.

“We did some redesigns that increased its capacity and helps extend its life a little longer,” the DOE spokesperson said of the current landfill in an email response to Exchange Monitor.  “We expect to have the new facility open before [the existing one] reaches full capacity. “

The new onsite landfill will provide a disposal site for debris from dismantling old contaminated buildings from onsite Y-12 National Security Complex and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The existing one is largely filled with debris from DOE taking down old structures at its former K-25 uranium enrichment complex at Oak Ridge.

DOE and its contractors broke ground on the new landfill, a $550-million project, 16 months ago.