ADDING VALUE BY USING AN INNOVATIVE APPROACH: RECYCLING AND DISPOSAL OF ASHLAND FUSRAP MATERIALS AT A LICENSED URANIUM MILL

摘要

During World War II, the Manhattan Engineering District (MED) utilized facilities in the Buffalo, N.Y. area to extract natural uranium from uranium-bearing ores. Some of the sandy byproduct material left from the ores (MED byproduct), containing low levels of uranium, thorium, and radium, was deposited on land currently owned by the Ashland Oil Company, now known as Ashland 1. Some of the same material was later moved to a nearby disposal site known as Ashland 2. Both sites are in Tonawanda, New York. The mixing of this byproduct with soil ultimately increased the volume of radiologically contaminated soil. Tasked to clean up MED waste sites throughout the United States under the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP), the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) conducted several site investigations, and evaluated remedial alternatives, during the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1993, the DOE proposed a solution for its Tonawanda, New York sites that involved on-site containment of the radiologically emplaced material. Due to overwhelming public opposition to this plan, it was not implemented and other alternatives were investigated. In FY 1998, Congress transferred the cleanup management responsibilities to the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE, or the Corps) with the charge to commence cleanup promptly. USACE worked with the local community near the Tonawanda site, and after considering public comment, selected the remedy calling for removing soils that exceed the sitespecific cleanup standard, and transporting the contaminated material to an off-site location licensed to manage this type of material. The selected remedy is protective of human health and the environment, complies with Federal and State requirements, and meets commitments to the community. As a rule, the Corps performs a formal Value Engineering (VE) Study on all projects with cost estimates greater than $2 million. A proposal to consider recycling of FUSRAP 11e.(2)-like uranium byproduct materials, as an option to direct disposal, was proffered in a FUSRAP VE study in 1998. Consistent with this proposal, the contractor selected to perform the cleanup activities, IT Corporation (IT), the Total Environmental Remediation Contractor (TERC) for the USACE in the region, was tasked to provide the best value clean-up results that meet all of the criteria established in the Record of Decision for the site. To this end, rather than focusing solely on disposal-only options, IT also evaluated options that included possible beneficial reuse; effectively reducing the cost associated with disposal as well. During the solicitation process, International Uranium (USA) Corporation (IUC), the operator of the White Mesa Uranium Mill, a Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)-licensed mill near Blanding, Utah, responded with a proposal to perform uranium extraction on the excavated materials. The Mill’s proposal was selected as the best value as it provided beneficial use of the material consistent with the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) intent to encourage recycling and recovery, while also providing the most cost-effective means of material disposal. Such recycling encourages conservation of energy and natural resources, while realizing the benefit of reduced disposal costs. Remediation of the Ashland 2 site began in spring of 1998. Excavation and shipment of material from the Ashland 2 site continued through February 1999, and recycling of the material commenced November 16, 1998 after a majority of the material had been received at the Mill, and ended in the first quarter of 1999. Remediation of the Ashland 1 site began in mid-June of 1999, and shipment of material will continue through spring of 2001. Recycling of the material is currently expected to commence in mid-2001. Challenges that were met for the Ashland 2 project, and are being met to implement the Ashland 1 project include: (1) identifying the