Tennessee Department of Environment
and Conservation

DOE Oversight Division

Status Report to the Public

2006

Download the entire report as a PDF file (500 kb).

BACKGROUND

In 1942, construction began on enormous complexes across the nation created to support the Manhattan Project, a massive, top-secret effort during World War II to build the atomic bomb. The 35,545-acre Oak Ridge Reservation (ORR) in Tennessee remains as a legacy to the Manhattan Project and to the Cold War that followed. The ORR is currently owned by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), and approximately 15 percent of its total area is contaminated by hazardous and radioactive materials.

During World War II, four plants were built on the ORR to create materials for nuclear weapons; these plants were given the code names S-50, K-25, Y-12, and X-10. S-50, a thermally operated uranium enrichment facility, ran for about a year and was dismantled when it proved inefficient. K-25 and Y-12 enriched uranium using more successful techniques: K-25 used gaseous diffusion and Y-12 used electromagnetic separation. X-10 developed the technology to produce plutonium, which was then transferred to the Hanford Plant in Washington state for full-scale production.

K-25, Y-12, and X-10 still exist as East Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP), the Y-12 National Security Complex, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). During the Cold War, these facilities played a key role in maintaining materials and components for nuclear weapons and in preserving a technological lead over the Soviet Union. In the past decade, the missions of Y-12 and ORNL have continued to evolve, while ETTP will be cleaned up for eventual use as a private-sector industrial park.

Over the last 60 years, DOE and agencies that preceded it contaminated more than 500 sites on or near the ORR. This legacy of contamination is being remediated to levels that comply with current environmental laws, particularly the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980.

SCOPE OF THIS STATUS REPORT

The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation DOE Oversight Division (the "division") performs independent monitoring and oversight of DOE's cleanup and waste-management actions. The division has performed this role since the Tennessee Oversight Agreement was signed in 1991. This status report summarizes the state of Tennessee's perspective on federal cleanup progress at the ORR for fiscal year (FY) 2006. The results of state monitoring and analysis are also evaluated, as are the quality and effectiveness of DOE environmental monitoring and surveillance programs.

MAJOR FINDINGS

DOE has continued to make good progress under the Accelerated Cleanup Plan begun in 2002. At ETTP, decontamination and decommissioning (D&D) of the three youngest gaseous diffusion buildings has been essentially completed. At ORNL, DOE has made progress in capping the radioactive waste burial grounds in Melton Valley, with several sites completed. Nearly all of the uranium hexafluoride at ETTP has been shipped to the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Ohio, with only problematic containers remaining at ETTP. The backlog of low-level legacy waste has been worked down so that only "orphan" wastes remain, awaiting a disposal pathway.

DOE still faces decisions regarding cleanup of groundwater and D&D of deteriorating facilities at ORNL and Y-12. A major challenge will be obtaining the resources to continue the necessary cleanup work.

Cleanup of the ORR will leave the reservation much less hazardous to people and the environment; nevertheless, continued maintenance, monitoring, and institutional controls-effective "stewardship"-will be required even after cleanup activities are completed.

KEY ISSUES AND CHALLENGES

The division has identified several areas that continue as cause for concern to DOE, regulatory agencies, and the community. Satisfactory resolution of these issues may be time consuming and costly. The key issues and challenges are listed below and described more fully in Section 5.

Groundwater management strategies,
Long-term stewardship responsibilities,
The federal commitment,
Characterization and disposal of radioactive waste, and
Incorporating historic preservation into cleanup activities.

Download the report in PDF format (500 KB).

Back home

Tennessee Department of Environmentand Conservation