NOTE: The comments herein are those of the author and not DOE nor the SSAB. There will be a brief coverage of events leading up to the present documented by on-line references followed by more real-time comments on the major events in the progress of the present. References to on-line documents (or hard-copy references if on-line is not available) will round out any the project summary. These pages are clearly a work in progress. Any additions or comments may be addressed to: A. A. Brooks
The development of a comprehensive Long Term Stewardship program has attracted a concerted effort on the part of the public for several years. These efforts have been carried out under the auspices of the Oak Ridge Reservation (ORR) Sit Specific Advisory Board (SSAB) utilizing its method of creating an open public working group. This working group structure, led by SSAB members, allows the participation of the members of other organizations, such as the Local Oversight Committee and its Citizens Advisory Panel as well as the unaffiliated public. In this manner the working group is staffed by those who have both the interest and the expertise necessary to address a major task. A very significant event occurred when DOE EM designated the SSAB/LTS committee as the interim official citizens group to advise DOE on LTS matters. The arrangement through the SSAB also provides for the presence of the proper DOE liaison personnel and administrative support personnel. The working groups, given minimal guidance by SSAB and DOE but excellent support, have been able to exercise great autonomy as they pursue their tasks.
The EUWG's primary task was to encourage public input to the reasonable end uses of the several remediation regions on the ORR. During this process, it was realized that the recommendation to leave significant contamination in the ground was not a responsible suggestion unless it was possible to ensure an adequate Long Term Stewardship program was feasible. The EUWG then addressed this aspect of the problem: the description of adequate LTS processes. The following online reports detail these two studies:
1) EUWG, Final Report of the ORR End Use Working Group, July 1998
2)
EUWG, Stakeholder
Report on Stewardship, July 1998
The following year, the Stewardship Working Group (SWG) was formed to give greater in-depth study to the LTS problem and their work is reported in:
SWG, Stakeholder Report on Stewardship Volume II, December 1999
The stewardship plan recommended is one that addresses the
problem when 1) DOE (or the federal government) is still a presence in
As the SWG finished it deliberations and was prepared to
pursue implementation plans, the DOE started to address the LTS problems at the
national level. The good news was that the
These events are documented in the following:
See Lorene for references
During this period two noteworthy projects were started by the LTS committee: 1) An Annotated Outline for the Remediation Effectiveness Report (RER) was created, and an Educational project was started.
The periodic RER summarizes the results of all the LTS activities taken to ensure the many remediation sites remain safe and doe not constitute a public hazard. Thus it will become the most important LTS document in the future. Since one document covers the entire ORR and many individual sites, the organization and contents of the RER is important. In 2002 the LTS committee critiqued the report and made suggestions for its improved format and content. They continue to suggest minor changes as each report is reviewed. The future reports will contain by reference the most important, prior remediation documentation and thus will constitute the best starting point for anyone needing to understand the detailed history of a remediation site. The 2002 RER can be found at:
The suggestions for the RER were passed to DOE/ORO as an Annotated Outline of the Specifications for the RER. This method was found to be most useful for the presentation of complicated suggestions for a complex situation. It both forces the LTS to organize its thoughts according to DOE guidance documents but also make is less work for DOE to translate the ideas into the target document.
A Public Education component has been one of the mainstays
of the SWG LTS plan both at the school level and the adult level. During 2003,
the LTS committee undertook to create an Educational Resource packet working
with high school students to ensure the suitability of the content and format.
While the packet will be a continuing effort, the SSAB LTS now makes public
presentation available to high schools. The first one was given at
An on-line display of these efforts is found at:
Not all was lost; the SSAB LTS Committee (a working group) was rejuvenated by these events and is making an extensive recommendation to DOE for the implementation of an LTS system based on its previous reports. The recommendations will take the form of an Annotated Outline for the Implementation Plan of a ORR LTS System. This method tried and found to be effective with the Remediation Effective Report format and content makes it easy to transfer a complex recommendation efficiently as well as reducing the DOE plan generation effort. The outline will incorporate concepts and formats specified in the DOE guidance documents. An on-line version of the Draft is found at:
The Annotated Outline for the ORR LTS Implementation Plan
If it's easy, just do it. The only thing necessary to test
the
As DOE files more of the Notices of Contamination and