The Energy Department must address concerns about potential water contamination before the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) is ready to sign off on a new waste disposal landfill at the Oak Ridge Reservation.
“To gain the state’s support, DOE may need to revise the landfill design, because groundwater near the land surface could help contamination escape into streams,” TDEC said in written comments submitted to the federal agency this month as part of the public input process for the facility.
Lack of stronger groundwater protections might affect the types and amounts of waste DOE could place in the landfill, according to TDEC.
Tennessee is among the top five states for rainfall in the United States, averaging more than 50 inches annually, TDEC said. The state and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which regulate Oak Ridge, “must agree on how to manage all contaminated water generated by the landfill” in order to protect people downstream.
The state’s concerns must be resolved before TDEC can approve DOE’s preferred alternative in a record of decision, according to a spokeswoman for the state agency, Kim Schofinski.
The Energy Department has proposed the new 2.2-million-cubic yard waste disposal facility to replace an existing landfill, also located within the Bear Creek Valley at the Oak Ridge Site, which has been taking waste since 2002 and is expected to reach full capacity in the mid-2020s.
The new disposal site would accept low-level radioactive waste, mixed low-level waste, and chemical waste from remediation of the Y-12 National Security Complex, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and the East Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP), where cleanup is nearly finished. The existing landfill took the same types of material but mostly from the ETTP, the former uranium enrichment complex at Oak Ridge.
“Because fish in Bear Creek already contain contamination, the state is concerned about mercury being placed in the new landfill,” according to TDEC.
The state agency also noted Tennessee does not allow the use of “underdrains,” which have been proposed by the Energy Department. These underdrains beneath landfill waste are used to collect and carry water away from the landfill. “Failure of underdrains could make the landfill less stable and allow water to get into the waste,” TDEC said.
The Energy Department believes the underdrain can help prevent water intrusion into the waste cells. ” e are continuing to work and coordinate with the state and EPA to receive their approval on this project.,” a DOE spokesman said in a Thursday email.
As of October, DOE has not resolved the state’s concerns, and until it does “the State cannot approve the landfill as currently proposed,” TDEC said.
A public hearing DOE had originally scheduled for Oct. 18 to discuss the landfill project is now planned for Nov. 7. Public comments can be emailed until Dec. 10 to [email protected].
An EPA spokesperson said Thursday he did not immediately know if his agency had made any formal comments yet on the proposed Environmental Management Disposal Facility.
Ralph Hutchison, coordinator of the nongovernmental Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance, said by email Wednesday he has not studied the landfill proposal much to date, but will likely attend the public hearing. “I was pleased to see the state of Tennessee is paying attention to this latest DOE proposal.”
