CHEROKEE NATION LONG-TERM STEWARDSHIP INITIATIVE A NEW APPROACH TO LONG-TERM STEWARDSHIP AND SITE MANAGEMENT

摘要

Since the United States realized that various types of natural resources potentially could provide the public with sources of valuable materials,industry has struggled with maintaining the delicate balance between ensuring that these benefits are realized and assuring the public that their surrounding environment will not suffer undue and irreparable harm.As a result,industry licensees,whose sites are utilized for varying periods of time to create these beneficial materials,must,in turn,remediate the contamination at these sites to allow for some future use or to isolate and contain such contamination so that the public may be protected.One set of industry licensees,those licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission(NRC),often are faced with difficult decisions because of the complex nature of contaminants present at their sites(i.e.,radiological and hazardous)and the enormous costs associated with the remediation of such contaminants.Prior to 1998,these decisions were decidedly more difficult to make because the only remediation option available to a licensee was unrestricted release or release of their sites for any future use(e.g.,residential,commercial/industrial,recreational).However,with the advent of a relatively new remediation option,restricted release or release of a site for a selected future use with appropriate site controls,NRC licensees now have the opportunity to avoid potentially astronomical remediation costs and to protect the public from residual contamination left at their sites. But,despite the best efforts of NRC and its licensees,the implementation of restricted release criteria has been unsuccessful.This fact was acknowledged by former NRC Chairman Richard Meserve in 2002 as an important issue that should be addressed quickly and efficiently. rnWhile Chairman Meserve’s point was well-taken,the obstacles to successful implementation of restricted release criteria still remain unaddressed.Since such criteria have not been successfully implemented, NRC licensees are still faced with the prospect of remediating their sites for unrestricted release.Yet,in response to the need for a comprehensive solution to this issue,the Strider Group and Cherokee Nation Enterprises(CNE)have created a new and innovative approach to the problems associated with restricted release which potentially may revitalize a licensee’s approach to decommissioning and final site closure. In order to better understand this new approach,it is important to understand NRC’s restricted release criteria and the obstacles which,up to this point,have prevented such criteria from being implemented successfully.