The Department of Energy has delayed the release of its draft record of decision (ROD) for a planned 2.2-million-cubic yard landfill for the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee until the end of the month.
The document had previously been anticipated today. The Energy Department postponed issuance after consulting with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC).
“This will provide us the time necessary to refine some language in the ROD, based on recent discussions with our environmental regulators,” a DOE spokesman said by email Friday.
The draft record of decision explains the environmental plan of action at a Superfund site, such as Oak Ridge, under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA).
Because it is a draft document, the federal agency does not plan to hold a public meeting with the city of Oak Ridge over its concerns with the Environmental Management Disposal Facility (EMDF). The city fears the landfill planning will be largely a done deal once the draft ROD is issued, although the Energy Department says that is not the case and a public meeting is not needed.
The landfill that will replace the existing the Environmental Management Waste Management Facility (EMWMF), which could be full in as little as five years.
The city says it has unanswered questions on issues such as the landfill’s waste acceptance criteria, mercury treatment and disposal, and life-cycle costs. The Energy Department says the draft ROD addresses issues raised by the city and other stakeholders during the formal comment period between September and December 2018.
The new facility would be located in the Bear Creek Valley at Oak Ridge, in the same general area as the current landfill. Low-level radioactive and mixed waste from remediation at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Y-12 National Security Complex would go to the new complex.
The current facility accepts construction waste from buildings torn down at the former uranium enrichment complex that is now the East Tennessee Technology Park, which is being restored for public use.
EPA Decision Expected Soon on Radionuclide Effluent Standard
Meanwhile, EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler is expected to rule this month on a dispute over waste discharge standards at the Oak Ridge Site.
Mary Walker, administrator for EPA Region 4, said in March the new on-site waste landfill planned at Oak Ridge lacks adequate protections against discharges of contaminated wastewater into Bear Creek. The Energy Department’s approach seems based in part on “dilution,” rather than the Clean Water Act’s technology-based standard, she said.
Best available technologies, such as ion exchange, activated carbon, or reserve osmosis, should be considered, Walker has said. The Energy Department has proposed use of underdrains beneath the facility to collect and carry water away from the landfill.
In April, the manager of DOE’s Office of Environmental Management operations at Oak Ridge asked Wheeler to overrule Atlanta-based Region 4. The EPA regional office, Jay Mullis said, was trying to implement much tougher standards than those established at either government or commercial facilities elsewhere in the country.
State and Energy Department officials expect a ruling in the next few weeks.
The dispute over an EPA “focused feasibility study” on water management and waste disposal standards across the 35,000-acre Oak Ridge Reservation dates to 2016.
The EPA regional office, the state, and the city of Oak Ridge, want the runoff issued addressed issue before DOE begins building the new landfill because any changes could affect the new facility.
