A second draft of the Department of Energy’s Record of Decision to build a new on-site landfill for low-level radioactive waste at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee is now expected in mid-October, the agency said late last week.
Originally slated to appear this week, publication of the updated draft has been pushed back until mid-October after both the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation requested 30 more days for review, a spokesman with the DOE’s Office of Environmental Management wrote in an email to Weapons Complex Morning Briefing.
Approval of the landfill has dragged for years now. A plan for the new site went out for public comment on Sept. 10, 2018 and was twice extended, wrapping up on Jan. 9, 2019, after 120 days. The first draft record of decision did not appear until this summer, and now there may be more chances for public comment this fall, Kim Schofinski, a spokeswoman for the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, said in a separate email.
The preferred option identified in the draft ROD released in July is a new 2.2-million-cubic yard landfill in the Central Bear Creek Valley of the sprawling Oak Ridge Site meant to replace an existing one expected to reach its capacity by 2028, a point cited by Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.) during a May Congressional hearing.
Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm told Congress at the same hearing that she wants to address concerns about the landfill raised by community groups, such as radionuclides carried by wastewater into Bear Creek. She did, however, pledge to support the project.
The current on-site landfill has been nearly filled with debris from demolition of buildings at the former K-25 gaseous diffusion complex area, now known as the East Tennessee Technology Park. The new on-site landfill, known as the Environmental Management Disposal Facility, will handle low-level waste from work at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Y-12 National Security Complex.
