As the Department of Energy completes cleanup at its sites across the country, it has begun to implement the "end state" in the process—long-term stewardship (LTS). DOE expects 108 sites to be subject to LTS activities by 2070. Because it is not technically or economically feasible to clean up to levels allowing for unrestricted use, Office of Environmental Management cleanups will leave residual levels of radioactivity and other hazards at most sites across the complex. The challenge facing DOE is how to ensure continued protection of human health and the environment after cleanup projects are complete.

To address the need for ongoing management of DOE sites after closure, the assistant secretary for EM, Dr. Carolyn Huntoon, established the Office of Long-Term Stewardship (OLTS) in 1999. This is the first office in the federal government devoted to the protection of human health and the environment after cleanup, disposal, or stabilization is completed. Directed by James D. Werner, EM’s new OLTS works with other offices within DOE to develop LTS-related policy and guidance, conducts technical analyses, represents DOE at national stakeholders and tribal organization meetings, and provides support for stewardship activities conducted at DOE sites. Werner established a Working Group on LTS with participation from DOE field representatives, regulators, and stakeholders to work with his office on these activities.

"Long-term stewardship is not in the future. It’s here and now," Werner says. About half of DOE’s cleanup sites are already involved in stewardship activities. DOE also performs stewardship at about 30 sites where surface contamination has been removed and waste is contained in capped disposal cells. DOE’s Grand Junction Office in Colorado is responsible for this work, which is often performed under license by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The number of sites Grand Junction is responsible for is expected to grow to approximately 60. DOE estimates more than 100 additional sites with widely differing waste types and containment methods will need stewardship by 2070. Planning for LTS at these sites will require coordination with state and federal regulators, local governments, tribal nation representatives, communities, and other stakeholders.

Werner says, "We need to be thinking today about the LTS obligations we are creating for tomorrow—not only the cleanup decisions, but the siting, design, construction, and operation of new facilities so that they are done with consideration of their long-term consequences."

Werner says that the OLTS emerged from the process of defining EM’s scope through the Baseline Environmental Management Report, which revealed that after cleanup is completed, there will still be contamination at most DOE sites requiring hazard management. The LTS program will help establish long-term surveillance, security, and maintenance plans for DOE sites and will monitor how new technology developments could improve waste management and environmental cleanup into the future. According to Dr. Huntoon, OLTS’s organizational location within the Office of Science and Technology reflects DOE’s ongoing commitment to investment in science and technology to ensure long-term, cost-effective protection of human health and the environment.

Finding the best solutions for the long term
"The risks from exposure at sites after cleanup aren’t high, and the overall cost of stewardship is dramatically lower than cleanup, but the cost to monitor and maintain cleaned-up sites is high when you multiply any dollar amount times forever," Werner says. Preliminary estimates for annual LTS cost indicate that it will be approximately $100 million, but the problem is that this money is required in perpetuity unless standards or land use change or new science and technology enable us to do it in a smarter, cheaper way.

Research into new methods for LTS can reduce costs and improve effectiveness. "If technology were available right now that would clean up waste 100 percent at lower costs with no need for ongoing monitoring and surveillance, then you wouldn’t need stewardship," says Werner. Investments in technologies that help reduce LTS costs will benefit cleanup investments by increasing reliability and keeping costs down. Reducing the number of sites needing LTS will decrease the overall EM cost burden and future liabilities.

Most current science and technology research is focused on identifying and meeting needs that will help EM complete as many projects as possible by 2006. However, the scope of the current science and technology program does not deal with some likely critical needs for effective LTS, such as information management or sustainable energy sources. Science and technology research focused on LTS offers the greatest hope for the difficult technical problems that will still remain after 2006. DOE will not know exactly what its needs for LTS and science and technology will be until each site develops an LTS plan laying out the expected LTS scope, schedule, and costs.

"The fundamental basis for the OLTS and OST are the same," explains Werner. "Existing technologies are too expensive, not permanent, sometimes ineffective. Current methods for providing long-term stewardship are not sustainable for cost and reliability reasons. Monitoring, for example, requires significant costly labor. Materials used for barriers and disposal caps will not last forever." OLTS is working to identify science and technology needs and research opportunities that will reduce cost, reduce waste, and improve confidence and reliability in monitoring and surveillance.

OLTS is seeking to incorporate stewardship needs within the EM life-cycle scope through project baseline summaries and to work with existing organizations—focus areas, crosscutting programs, the Environmental Management Science Program, and private-sector and international programs—to address its science and technology needs. Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory has the lead for identifying LTS science and technology needs. EM’s near-term approach is to establish an inventory of existing technologies that can be adapted for stewardship use. It is also performing a needs assessment and has defined the following high-priority science and technology needs:

• durability of materials—better capping/barrier materials, waste containers, waste forms;
• knowledge of fate and transport mechanisms and predictive capabilities;
• monitoring and surveillance—methods of detection, analysis, remote sensing, data transmission;
• information management—identifying, recording, storing, archiving, and accessing data for future site stewards and land users; and
• renewable energy and other support systems that reduce costs—geothermal heat pumps, solar photovoltaic systems, improved pump-and-treat systems.

"The most important work is done at the DOE field offices," Werner said. "Stakeholders need to see that DOE is assigning responsibility and budget to stewardship activities at the sites for the entire site or for the portion of the site that is finished with cleanup."

First steps on a long journey
OLTS is an advocate of science and technology, but the office’s functions also include coordinating and providing programmatic guidance on stewardship, facilitating land transfers, reducing post cleanup and disposal liabilities, and serving as a liaison with other state and federal agencies. Major LTS initiatives are as follows:

Congressional report (http://lts.apps.em.doe.gov/ndaareport.htm)
Congress directed DOE to produce a report on its existing and long-term environmental stewardship responsibilities in the FY00 National Defense Authorization Act. The report covers DOE sites or portions of DOE sites that expect to complete environmental restoration, waste management, and facility stabilization activities by the end of calendar year 2006 without unrestricted land use. This report, due to Congress by October, helps to establish a baseline of the scope, cost, and schedule for stewardship at sites and portions of sites. It will contain some estimated costs of LTS and a site-by-site status of LTS plans and activities. "OLTS is committed to helping DOE field sites focus on the full analysis of the consequences of cleanup and other decisions, from life-cycle costing to material breakdown," Werner says.

LTS national study (http://lts.apps.em.doe.gov/stewstudy.htm)
As part of a programmatic environmental impact statement (PEIS) legal settlement agreement with the Natural Resources Defense Council and 38 other plaintiffs, DOE is producing an LTS study addressing national, crosscutting institutional and programmatic issues associated with stewardship. The department concluded a 120-day scoping process in February. Formal comments were received from many sources, including state agencies, citizen groups, DOE advisory groups, a private company, and citizens.

Key challenges identified in the draft study include the following:

• incorporating LTS considerations into cleanup decisions;
• ensuring continued effectiveness of LTS through multiple changes in property ownership;
• ensuring open access to information about residual hazards;
• ensuring reliable and sufficient funding for stewardship;
• maintaining continued partnerships with state, local, and tribal governments;
• developing mechanisms and technologies to promote the sustainability of LTS; and
• building the concept of "stewardship prevention" into planning for new construction and operation and near-term cleanup decisions.

DOE’s internal review of the draft study is near completion, and it will soon be released to the public for comment.

Central Internet Database (http://cid.em.doe.gov)
Also as part of the PEIS settlement, DOE created a publicly accessible, Web-based database containing available information on the location and quantities of waste at sites across the country. The CID gathers data from existing DOE databases. OLTS manages the site, which has been available since January 2000. "The idea is to provide a map of where DOE contamination is for stakeholders and to provide them information about these materials," Werner says. The CID—a DOE-wide database—provides information on radioactive and hazardous wastes, different types of contaminated media, facilities, spent nuclear fuel, toxic chemicals, materials in inventory, and the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program.

Other initiatives
OLTS is also working toward the following:

• developing internal DOE LTS policies (e.g., analyzing guidance and policy options and implications for addressing stewardship within various DOE divisions, from EM to Defense Programs);
• developing a science and technology roadmap to document and plan for stewardship research needs;
• working with many groups outside the federal government who are studying stewardship;
• monitoring a $6.25 million Citizen Monitoring and Technical Assessment Fund pursuant to the 1998 PEIS lawsuit settlement; and
• developing documents and management tools toward a sustainable stewardship program at DOE sites nationwide.

For more information contact Jim Werner, director, Office of Long-Term Stewardship, (202) 586-9280.