Staff Reports
WC Monitor
7/17/2015
The schedule for cleanup of the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge reservation has been stretched many times over the past three decades, as the extent of environmental problems and decaying infrastructure were better understood, and now it appears another extension may be on the horizon. The completion date that’s set forth in the Federal Facilities Agreement, negotiated by DOE, the EPA and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, has been set at 2046 or thereabouts for several years.
But Chris Thompson, TDEC’s key overseer of the DOE activities in Oak Ridge, said some recent DOE budget projections have suggested the cleanup job may require another 20 years. “The current FFA Appendix J schedule (based on federal budget projections) shows the overall cleanup effort complete by 2047,” Thompson said in an email response to questions. “However, DOE’s Dynamic Planning Model from March (which is based on a reduced annual budget) proposes overall cleanup complete in the 2066/2067 timeframe.
Thompson noted that the end date for cleanup actions can “change significantly” based on the different budget scenarios. “At this point, TDEC still expects DOE to maintain the current FFA Appendix J completion schedule of 2047,” she said. “Regardless, our office will continue to work with DOE and EPA to develop cleanup priorities on the Oak Ridge Reservation to ensure the protection of the environment until CERCLA remediation is complete in Oak Ridge.”
David Adler of DOE’s Office of Environmental Management in Oak Ridge, said the federal agency remains focused on getting the work done by 2047 if possible. “That is our goal,” Adler said. He said the goal is based on annual funding in the range of $400-420 million. “It’s gone up and down over time,” Adler said, “but if we can keep it around $400 million we can come in around that date.”
