A decade after the end of the nuclear arms race between the United States and
the Soviet Union, this nation gradually is coming to grips with a chilling fact
of life.
Contamination left over from the development over the past half century of
thousands of nuclear weapons has saddled the United States with one of the world's
biggest environmental problems. Cleaning up will cost billions of dollars and
take decades to complete.
During the Cold War, nuclear arms production and related activities took place
at more than 20,000 facilities across the country. But the Soviet Union, the
main nuclear threat to the United States, disintegrated in the late 1980s. Since
then-although this nation continues to maintain a reduced stockpile of nuclear
weapons and a limited production capability-production itself has largely ceased.
The entire production complex is being downsized. Many materials and facilities
once considered vital to national defense have been declared excess baggage.
Other sites have shifted their focus from weapons production to environmental
restoration, waste management, nuclear material stabilization, and technology
development.
The Department of Energy (DOE)-which inherited responsibility for nuclear weapons
production activities when it was created in 1977-now has been ordered to reduce
the damage caused by previous decades of nuclear production. The damage is considerable,
according to Gerald Boyd, acting deputy assistant secretary of energy for science
and technology.
"Cleanup of the radioactive, chemical and other hazardous waste left after
50 years of U.S. production of nuclear weapons is the largest environmental
management program in the world," he said.
A recent report by DOE's Office of Environmental Management identified 353
projects at 53 sites across the country that require cleanup.
Billions of Dollars
Cleaning up these sites will cost a projected $147 billion and will take until
the year 2070 to complete, the report estimated.
The department currently manages all of the most radioactive waste-known as
"high-level" waste-at the four sites where it was originally generated.
These include Hanford Site, near Richland, Washington; the Idaho National Engineering
and Environmental Laboratory, near Idaho Falls; Savannah River Site, in Aiken,
South Carolina, and the West Valley Demonstration Project in West Valley, New
York.
At Hanford, highly radioactive waste is stored underground in 149 single-shell
tanks and 28 double-shell versions. Some tanks have leaked, releasing a million
gallons of waste to the environment.
Savannah River has only about half as much high-level waste, but it contains
about one and a half times the amount of radioactivity.
The high-level waste in Idaho is stored both in underground tanks and bins.
The West Valley Demonstration Project was the site of the only commercial nuclear
fuel reprocessing plant to operate in the United States. The waste there was
not produced by weapons production, and it is much less radioactive than that
found at the other three sites.
Transuranic (TRU) waste-managed at 23 locations in 16 states-is less radioactive
than high-level material. But it is still hazardous, and it can remain active
for hundreds of thousands of years.
Under federal law, both of these kinds of waste are to be treated to produce
solid material suitable for disposal and placed in deep, underground repositories
in order to minimize environmental damage. Where they have been proposed, however,
underground repositories have generated opposition from environmentalists and
others who fear that radiation will leak out and contaminant nearby populated
areas.
Underground Disposal
The first of these repositories-the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), near
Carlsbad, New Mexico-is ready to begin operating. Occupying 16 square miles
of land, WIPP lies 2,150 feet below the earth's surface in bedded salt. The
National Academy of Sciences, back in the 1950s, recommended disposal of radioactive
waste in stable geologic formations, such as deep salt beds. But WIPP's opening
has been blocked by complaints that it poses a danger to nearby Carlsbad Caverns
National Park.
Another site identified for underground storage for high-level waste is at
Yucca Mountain, Nevada. This location is controversial, in part because local
citizens fear that contamination from the underground site could damage the
nearby gambling metropolis, Las Vegas. In 1997, Congress directed DOE to complete
a "viability assessment" of Yucca Mountain.
DOE also manages 3.3 million cubic meters of low-level waste, which generally
does not contain hazardous materials. Most of this material eventually is buried
in shallow trenches on DOE land. Currently, disposal is taking place at six
sites-Hanford; the Nevada Test Site, near Las Vegas, and the national laboratories
in Idaho, Savannah River, Los Alamos, New Mexico, and Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
In the past, low-level waste was buried at eight other sites.
Before disposal, low-level waste is treated to stabilize it or to reduce its
volume. The waste then is stored until burial onsite or transportation to another
DOE site for disposal. Nineteen sites involved in nuclear weapons production
now store low-level waste, typically in metal drums or plywood boxes.
Another 32 million cubic meters of nuclear waste, called "byproduct material,"
consist of tailings left over after the extraction or concentration of uranium
or thorium from ore.
These residues still contain much of their original radioactivity. They can
emit radioactive radon gas into the environment. In enclosed spaces, this gas
can be inhaled and cause cell damage. The tailings also contain low concentrations
of toxic heavy metals, such as chromium, lead, molybdenum and vanadium.
Tailings typically are mixed with water to form a slurry and placed in a large
pond. There, the liquid is allowed to evaporate or filter out of the pond. The
remaining dry tailings, which contain 85 percent of the original radioactivity,
are removed from the pond and stored in huge, aboveground piles.
Eventually, these unsightly, radioactive piles are removed. The tailings are
collected and stabilized in large, above-grade disposal cells, which are capped
to prevent further dispersal of hazardous material. At last count, 82 percent
of this byproduct material had been stabilized, and the remainder is scheduled
to do so in the next few years.
Contaminated Soil and Water
In the course of decades, the soil and water in the vicinity of nuclear weapons
production sites have been contaminated. Sometimes, this damaged material-known
as "contaminated environmental media"-resulted from atmospheric fallout
from nuclear weapons tests. Other times, waste streams were discharged into
the environment, sometimes accidentally and without prior treatment. Sometimes,
tanks, drums, and landfills leaked waste into adjacent soil and water.
The department is trying to reduce contamination through treatment, removal
from soil and water or containment in places where the hazardous material can
do little harm.
In some locations, the water and soil cannot be returned to original conditions.
If contaminant concentrations are low and regulators approve, DOE often decides
not to treat the polluted soil and water at such sites. Instead, protection
is provided by monitoring the contamination and, as much as possible, limiting
human exposure.
Faced by this contamination problem and the virtual end of nuclear weapons
production, the department has decided to close 5,000 of its facilities-one
quarter of the total. Sites identified as surplus are being stabilized to reduce
safety risks and maintenance costs. Then, when financially and technically possible,
they are decontaminated and decommissioned.
Decommissioning includes removal of contaminated building materials, residual
waste, waste treatment, complete destruction or entombment in place.
DOE also finds itself with a wide variety of nuclear and nonnuclear weapon-making
material that it no longer needs. A 1995 inventory turned up more than 400 million
kilograms of such material at 44 sites in 19 states.
The nuclear material includes natural and enriched uranium, depleted uranium,
plutonium, spent nuclear material, and lithium. In the nonnuclear stockpiles
are lead, sodium, chemicals, nuclear weapons components, scrap metal, machinery,
hand tools, and spare parts.
Some of the materials are valuable and are being sold. Others pose a threat
to human health or the environment. Still others, such as plutonium are used
in nuclear weapons production and can never be released into the public domain.
Transitions for Workers
To ease the impact on displaced workers, the department has set up a Worker
and Community Transition program to draw up plans for each site. The plans include
such strategies as incentive programs for both voluntary and involuntary separation,
outplacement assistance, and educational assistance to help workers make the
transition to new jobs. Some workers are eligible for preferential hiring and
severance pay. Communities that are homes to significant numbers of displaced
workers are offered economic development assistance to minimize distress to
the local area.
These activities have resulted in the amicable separation of more than 30,000
contractor employees via early retirement and other voluntary programs, according
to a congressionally mandated report by Booz Allen and Hamilton, Inc. Friendly
separations reduce legal challenges and incidences of workplace violence, the
report said. More than 22,000 workers participating in the transition program
either retained their jobs or found new ones., the report noted.
Paramount in the cleanup drive, DOE officials say, is the need for safety both
for workers and the environment. Last year for the first time, the department
adopted a "zero tolerance" policy for serious accidents-those that
result in life-threatening injuries or major environmental contamination. Frederico
Pena, energy secretary at the time, said that the department could no longer
accept anything more than zero serious accidents in its nuclear program.
"At stake are nothing less than the lives and livelihood of our workers
and neighbors and a healthy environment to leave to our children," he said.
Under the zero-tolerance policy, officials said, any serious accident will result
in a personal view by the energy secretary. DOE contracts now are written to
require excellent safety practices. Poor safety practices could put entire performance-based
fees at risk, officials said. Putting the new policy quickly into effect, DOE
announced a flurry of enforcement actions during the past year for violations
of its safety rules. Some examples:
Fluor Daniel Hanford Inc., operator of the Hanford Site in Washington state
was cited for safety lapses associated with an explosion that caused significant
damage and released radioactivity to the facility.
The University of California, operator of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory,
was ordered to take corrective actions for safety violations that resulted in
a worker inhaling radioactive material.
The Kaiser-Hill Company-integrating contractor at DOE's Rocky Flats Environmental
Technology Site, near Golden, Colorado-agreed to pay $100,000 in order to resolve
several potential safety violations involving workers receiving doses of radiation.
The Idaho laboratory was cited for safety deficiencies in its Experimental Test
Reactor Building that resulted in an accidental release of toxic carbon dioxide,
causing one death and several life-threatening injuries. In order to minimize
risk to human health and the environment, the department is pushing to make
rapid progress on the cleanup over the next few years. In fact, a recent report
by DOE's Office of Environmental Management says the department is "moving
aggressively" to close 90 percent of the 353 projects identified for cleanup
before 2006.
This effort, however, "is expensive, technologically complex, closely regulated
and relatively unique in the world," warns the report. "Much of what
needs to be done has never been done before, or even attempted."
Technological Solutions
To solve the technological problems surrounding the cleanup, the department
is turning to universities, DOE national laboratories and other research institutions-many
of whom were involved in the original program to build nuclear weapons.
"These institutions understand the problems that we're facing," explains
a DOE official, "so naturally, they're among the first places we look for
help."
In October, for example, a total of 24 universities, seven national laboratories,
and six other institutions received $30 million for 33 new research projects.
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, in Richland, Washington, will lead or
collaborate on 13 of these projects, pertaining to the nearby Hanford Site.
Eleven of Pacific's projects will address specific issues related to cleanup
of high-level radioactive tank waste and contamination of soil between the ground
surface and the water table. Said Undersecretary of Energy Ernest Moniz:
"These projects are targeted at some of our most difficult problems-the
millions of gallons of high-level radioactive waste stored in tank farms and
the thousands of contaminated buildings that must be torn down."
The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, in Berkley, California, will help
develop technology for improved gamma ray imaging cameras to map contaminated
structures without intruding or doing damage.
Brookhaven National Laboratory, in Brookhaven, New York, will investigate use
of a form of citric acid to remove radionuclides from contaminated metal surfaces.
The University of Pittsburgh, in Pennsylvania, will develop simple, inexpensive
chemical testing materials that can be used as visual color test strips to report
selectively on the identity and concentration of pollutants.
The University of North Texas, near Dallas, will team up with Tennessee's Oak
Ridge National Laboratory, to explore new approaches to separate sodium salts
from highly alkaline and radioactive tank waste. Sodium salts make up as much
as half of tank wastes, complicating treatment of the radioactive material.
To give weapons scientists faster and more powerful tools for analysis of cleanup
problems, DOE is developing five generations of high-performance computers.
In November, the department and Silicon Graphics, Inc., unveiled the world's
fastest computer, code named "Blue Mountain."
Located at the Los Alamos laboratory, Blue Mountain is organized into 48 shared-memory
multi-processors (SMPs), which behave like a single computer. The SMPs can communicate
with each other at world-record sustained speeds in excess of 650 gigabits a
second.
During 1999 alone, Blue Mountain is expected to execute 80 million trillion
operations relating to the nuclear stockpile. This is roughly 10 times more
computing than all of the calculations executed in support of the stockpile
from the Manhattan Project during World War II through the end of underground
testing in 1992.
Development of such high-speed computing ability offers the prospect of "significant
progress," DOE officials say. But they warn that nuclear cleanup
will remain one of the world's most complex problems for decades
to come. ND