INNOVATIVE REGULATORY AND TECHNICAL APPROACHES FOR THE U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS’ LINDE FUSRAP SITE REMEDIATION

摘要

The U.S. Department of Energy (USDOE) created the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial ActionrnProgram (FUSRAP) in 1974 to identify, investigate, and cleanup or control radiologicalrncontamination at sites used by the Manhattan Engineer District (MED) and the Atomic EnergyrnCommission (AEC) from the 1940s through the 1960s. The USDOE had identified 46 sites in thernprogram and finished remediation at 24 of the smaller ones before the end of 1997. With thernpassage of the Energy and Water Resources Appropriation Act of 1998 the United States ArmyrnCorps of Engineers (USACE) was designated by Congress with responsibility to manage andrnexecute the FUSRAP. The Linde Site located in Tonawanda, New York was operated by thernMED from 1942-1946 to extract uranium from several high-grade ores. This natural uraniumrnwas subsequently enriched in U-235 elsewhere in the United States and ultimately used tornproduce energy or weapons. Though in the process of reviewing alternative disposal options byrn1995, the USDOE had operated FUSRAP with a strategy requiring virtually all materialsrnremediated be disposed of at only one Nuclear Regulatory Commission licensed facility. Thernchange in management of the FUSRAP in 1997 allowed the disposal policy of low levels ofrnradioactively contaminated materials found at the remaining sites to be reexamined. This paperrnpresents some of the innovative regulatory and technical approaches employed at the Linde Siternthat are resulting in project cost savings while meeting applicable or relevant and appropriaternrequirements as well as fulfilling commitments made to the local community: