Al Alm, assistant secretary for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Environmental Management, believes DOE can clean up its former nuclear weapons production complex for $84 billion less than previously estimated. Alm has proposed a 10-year cleanup strategy that, if successful, will save money and cut risks to human health and the environment. A sharply accelerated cleanup will also make the EM program more manageable and help convince Congress and the public that DOE is serious about its cleanup program. Although the cleanup of three sites (Savannah River, Idaho Falls, and Hanford) won't be completed in 10 years, Alm believes a major portion of the cleanup can be accomplished.
In the 1995 Baseline Environmental Management Report to Congress, DOE estimated the cost of cleanup to be $230 billion over 75 years. An expedited plan will cut mortgage costs incurred during each year nuclear and hazardous wastes must be stored and monitored before final disposition.
Alm asked managers at DOE sites to identify projects that can have a significant impact on shortening the BEMR timeline. Site managers submitted their draft 10-year cleanup plans to Alm on July 31. Some of the plans included projects that could be privatized. EM headquarters reviewed the plans and visited sites to discuss the plans and meet with stakeholders.
Ten-year planning will continue into 1997 to allow adequate time for stakeholders to participate in and comment on sites' 10-year plans. The next step in the planning process is scheduled for March 1, 1997, when field offices, incorporating headquarters guidance, will submit their revised 10-year plans. Headquarters plans to release its draft Ten-Year Plan to the public on March 31. The sites will annually revise their plans to reflect policy decisions on cross-site issues.
A Ten-Year Plan to accomplish a major portion of cleanup depends on the opening of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in 1998 to permanently store transuranic wastes. According to DOE site managers, if WIPP's opening is delayed for more than a year or two, other waste storage facilities would need to be constructed to store TRU waste. Such construction will significantly affect sites' 10-year plans. Sites also want assurance that their funding will stay level throughout the 10-year period.
Alm concedes that the complex can't be completely cleaned in 10 years. But by casting the problem in the short-term, DOE site managers are forced to consider what they can do now to clean up their facilities.
For more information on the Ten-Year Plan or to find out how you can participate in this planning process, visit the Ten-Year Plan homepage on the Internet at http://www.em.doe.gov/ tenyear/index.html.
