Emphasizing the priority in its environmental restoration mission, the Department of Energy's Office of Environmental Management has announced the formation of the Contaminant Plume Containment and Remediation Focus Area. A seven-member team has been selected to support this effort. The team will consolidate the groundwater and soil remediation technology development activities throughout DOE's Office of Environmental Management and identify or develop cost-effective solutions to plume remediation problems at sites throughout the DOE complex. Led by DOE's Savannah River Operations Office, the team is a cooperative effort with Oak Ridge, and the Richland DOE Operations Offices, and will be supported by Westinghouse, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Battelle-Pacific Northwest Laboratories, and Bechtel. The Plume Focus Area goal is to work with the scientific community to develop a credible technology program ranging from basic research through full scale demonstration.
The team is the first to be established as part of an action, developed by DOE's Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management, Thomas P. Grumbly, to coordinate environmental management activities within the DOE complex. In the plan, Grumbly outlined five areas of focus, one of which is an effort to clean up contaminated groundwater and soils at DOE facilities. Currently, Grumbly's office provides about $50 million for research in this area through DOE's Office of Technology Development. DOE will form four additional teams to focus on high-level waste tanks, mixed waste, contaminated soils and buried waste, and decontamination and decommissioning.
"An integral part of the [Plume Focus Area] program is the involvement of the public near facilities within the DOE complex," said Dr. Mario Fiori, DOE Manager, Savannah River Operations Office. "Stakeholders will be called on to provide the team with input on determining which technology may be the best suited for the unique contamination situation found at the different DOE facilities," he said.
" DOE is actively searching for the best talent to address this nationwide problem," said Fiori. "As team leader, SRS [Savannah River Site] will combine its expertise with that of other defense facilities, private industry, and academia to seek out, acquire, or develop these badly needed technologies."
The team for the Plume Focus Area is responsible for the technical management and implementation of all Environmental Management sponsored groundwater and soil technology development activities, and will integrate those activities within DOE programs and related external programs at such agencies as the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Defense. The first task will be to develop an implementation plan that will describe the research and development needed and identify promising technology to clean up contaminated groundwater and soil.
For additional information, contact James Wright, Savannah River Operations Office at (803) 725-5608.
