THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES
Advisers to the Nation on Science, Engineering, and Medicine
National Academy of Sciences
National Academy of Engineering
Institute of Medicine
National Research Council
Board on Radioactive Waste Management
August 20, 2002
Jessie Roberson
Assistant Secretary Environmental Management
U.S. Department of Energy
1000 Independence Avenue, SW Washington, DC 20585
Dear Ms. Roberson:
I am writing on behalf of the Board on Radioactive Waste Management in response to your request that the National Academies' study entitled Long-Term Institutional Management of DOE Legacy Waste Sites/Phase 2 be wrapped up in advance of its planned October 2003 completion date. The Board met in closed session on July 31 to discuss your request and agree on a course of action. The chair of the committee that is carrying out this study (Dr. Kai Lee, Williams College) participated in this discussion.
The Board recognizes that you inherited this study from the previous assistant secretary and, as reported to us by board director Dr. Kevin Crowley, that you do not yet feel ready to engage the National Academies in an examination of the DOE long.term stewardship program. Accordingly, the board has asked Dr. Lee and his committee to terminate its infomation-gathering activities and prepare a status report based on its work to date. This report will address both technical and institutional aspects long-term stewardship planning and execution at the sites the Department plans to close in the next several years and related issues that have arisen during the study. We believe that this report will be useful to your current planning efforts because the long-term stewardship choices being made at those sites to be declared closed in the coming decade will set important precedents for future site-closure decisions.
We hope that Dr. Lee's committee will be able to deliver its report to you before the end d the current calendar year. The committee is now trying to schedule a meeting to begin work on this repot, and Dr. Lee will be able to provide you with a better estimate of a repot-completion date once the committee has held this meeting.
500 5th Steet, NW, 6th Floor, Washington, DC 20001 Telephone (202) 334-3086 Fax (1202 334-3077 www.nas.edu/brwm
Dr, Crowley has informed the Board of your desire to re-engage the National Academies on long-term ste rdship in the future, and also of a potential Congressional request for a study of the long-term stewardship program. The Board will be in a position to respond in a timely manner to possible future requests and would expect to take advantage of the considerable expertise on Dr. Lee's committee and its familiarity with the issues. The Board remains willing to assist the Depadment in its efforts to carry out its clean-up and long-term stewardship responsibilities in a technically sound and societally responsible manner.
