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Suggested Citation:"1 Background and Study Task." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2019. Independent Assessment of Science and Technology for the Department of Energy's Defense Environmental Cleanup Program. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25338.
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1

Background and Study Task

The National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year (FY) 2017 (P.L. 114-328) contained a request for a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (the National Academies) review and assessment of science and technology (S&T) development1 efforts within the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management (DOE-EM).2 The congressional request is shown in Appendix A. The National Academies appointed an expert committee to carry out this review and assessment and prepare a technical report with findings and recommendations. The committee did not consider nontechnical factors, for example political and regulatory constraints or public acceptance in its report, although it recognizes that they affect the development and application of new technologies and alternative approaches in the cleanup program.

This chapter provides background information on DOE-EM’s mission, the role of S&T development in advancing that mission, and the committee’s approach to responding to the congressional request.

1.1 DOE-EM MISSION

DOE-EM is responsible for cleaning up 107 sites in 31 states and 1 territory that were utilized for nuclear weapons development, testing,

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1 The committee defines S&T as the scientific and engineering activities leading to the development and deployment of new approaches and technologies in the DOE-EM cleanup program to increase efficacy and safety and/or reduce costs and schedules.

2 DOE-EM refers collectively to headquarters and the site offices that oversee the implementation of cleanup projects.

Suggested Citation:"1 Background and Study Task." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2019. Independent Assessment of Science and Technology for the Department of Energy's Defense Environmental Cleanup Program. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25338.
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and related activities during the Manhattan Project (1942–1946) and the Cold War (1947–1991). The DOE-EM cleanup program began in 1989 and has, over the past three decades, cleaned up 91 sites at a cost of about $170 billion (GAO, 2019). DOE projects that cleanup of the remaining 16 sites will continue for at least another 50 years (until 2070 or beyond) at an estimated cost of $377 billion.3,4 These cost and schedule projections do not account for the possible future expansion of the cleanup mission to sites now managed by other DOE offices. Such expansion could extend the timeline by several decades and add to the cost of the remaining cleanup work.5

It is important for the purposes of the present study to recognize two facts about the DOE-EM cleanup program:

  1. The cleanup program has not yet reached its halfway point from either a cost or a schedule standpoint; and
  2. The largest and most complex sites in DOE-EM’s remaining portfolio—the Hanford Site in Washington, the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, the Oak Ridge Reservation in Tennessee, and the Idaho Site—still have to be cleaned up. As shown in Figure 1.1, DOE-EM projects that tank waste remediation alongside facility decontamination and demolition (D&D) are the costliest remaining cleanup activities.

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3 This environmental liability estimate is based on DOE’s FY 2018 financial statements which are developed in accordance with federal accounting standards. A much lower lifecycle cost estimate for the cleanup program was provided to the committee by DOE-EM (communication with Rodrigo V. Rimando, Jr., Director, Technology Development Office, October 19, 2018): $232 to $274 billion. This lower estimate was generated by the Integrated Planning, Accountability, and Budgeting System (IPABS) [Life-Cycle Cost (LCC)-01c Report dated September 17, 2018] and was used by DOE-EM to communicate with Congress about its FY2019 budget request. During the briefing to the committee on October 19, 2018, Mr. Rimando noted that there was high uncertainty in the IPABS estimates. See discussion in Chapter 2 on the discrepancy between DOE and DOE-EM remaining cleanup cost estimates.

4 As the committee was finalizing its report for publication, DOE issued an update on the Hanford Site’s cleanup lifecycle cost and schedule (DOE-RL, 2019). That update estimates that Hanford’s lifecycle cleanup costs are approximately $323 to $677 billion, about three to six times larger than the 2016 estimate of about $108 billion. The low-range cost estimate of $323 billion reflects the “baseline planning case,” whereas the high-range cost estimate of about $677 billion “fully incorporates the realization of risks associated with uncertainty in discrete elements of work.” The 2019 DOE update also extends the cleanup timeline by 10 to 30 years, that is, through 2080 to 2102. The committee did not have the opportunity to be briefed on the DOE reports’ findings. However, this update for Hanford suggests that DOE’s current $377 billion/50-year-plus estimate for complex-wide cleanup costs and timelines could be low by hundreds of billions of dollars and several decades.

5 The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) estimates that DOE-EM’s current environmental liability “does not include more than $2.3 billion in costs associated with 45 contaminated facilities that will likely be transferred to EM from other DOE programs in the future” (GAO, 2019).

Suggested Citation:"1 Background and Study Task." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2019. Independent Assessment of Science and Technology for the Department of Energy's Defense Environmental Cleanup Program. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25338.
×
Image
FIGURE 1.1 Projected lifecycle costs and schedules for the DOE-EM cleanup program. The DOE-EM cleanup effort is projected to continue for at least another 50 years (until 2070 or beyond) and cost $377 billion. The majority of the funds are projected to be expended in the next 30 years or sooner. Tank waste remediation activities account for about 20 percent of the lifecycle costs and facility decontamination and demolition for about 28 percent.
SOURCES: Integrated Planning, Accountability, and Budgeting System–Information System (IPABS), September 17, 2018. Provided by Rodrigo V. Rimando, Jr., Director, Technology Development Office, DOE-EM.

The long estimated remaining life of the cleanup program provides ample time for new cleanup approaches and technologies to be developed and deployed to reduce cleanup costs and schedules and to mitigate cleanup risks and uncertainties. DOE-EM does not hold a comprehensive list of the technologies it has deployed; therefore, it is difficult to link technology advancements with cost and schedule savings. However, the experience from cleaning up large and complex sites, for example Rocky Flats near Denver, Colorado, showed that new technology development can have major impacts in accelerating schedules and reducing costs.6 The

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6 Cleanup of Rocky Flats was completed in 2005. The site cleanup was accelerated by nearly 60 years and was completed at about a $30 billion lower cost than DOE-EM’s 1995 plan (communication between David Maloney, Technology Fellow [Emeritus], Jacobs Engineering Group, and Ourania Kosti, the National Academies, on February 25, 2019). GAO identified implementation of new technology that significantly accelerated schedules and reduced total costs to be one of the lessons learned from Rocky Flats cleanup (GAO, 2006).

Suggested Citation:"1 Background and Study Task." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2019. Independent Assessment of Science and Technology for the Department of Energy's Defense Environmental Cleanup Program. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25338.
×

complexity of the remaining cleanup tasks provides an opportunity for S&T to have similar impacts.

1.2 S&T DEVELOPMENT IN THE CLEANUP PROGRAM

DOE-EM has sponsored S&T development since its creation to improve the efficacy, effectiveness, and safety of its cleanup efforts. Sponsored S&T development has included mission-directed basic scientific research, technology development and demonstration, and technology deployment into the cleanup program.

Funding for headquarters-managed S&T has varied substantially over time (see Figure 1.2). It peaked at around 5 percent (about $300 million) of the annual DOE-EM budget in the 1990s through early 2000s when the focus of the DOE-EM S&T program was on the characterization of affected soils and water and the implementation of actions to manage contamination. There were limited technologies available for cleanup of radioactive contamination at the time, so DOE-EM was driven to invest in technology development.

Funding for S&T declined steadily since then as DOE-EM’s focus shifted to site closure and mission completion. Funding for headquarters-managed S&T development in FY2018 was about 0.5 percent ($35 million) of DOE-EM’s annual budget. The projected funding for FY2019 is about 0.3 percent ($25 million) of DOE-EM’s annual budget.

These funding variations reflect the perceived level of importance of S&T development relative to other budget priorities in the cleanup program by DOE-EM assistant secretaries. Congress also influences priorities for DOE-EM S&T and the overall viability of the S&T program through the annual appropriations process, including by increasing/decreasing funding dedicated to S&T and/or directing funding to particular organizations.

The perceived lack of importance of S&T development that started in the early 2000s is also reflected in the decline of collaborative work between DOE-EM and other DOE offices, notably DOE’s Office of Science (SC). Starting in 1996, DOE-EM and DOE-SC designed and cooperatively managed the Environmental Management Science Program, a basic research program that focused exclusively on DOE-EM’s difficult cleanup challenges. The program was discontinued after about 6 years. Today, DOE-SC sponsors environmental and energy research through its Office of Biological and Environmental Research and Office of Energy Research, but coordination with DOE-EM on cleanup mission–directed basic research is not obvious (see Chapter 2 for additional discussion).

The National Academies have published more than 100 advisory reports to the federal government on management and cleanup of the U.S. nuclear weapons complex. A recurring theme in many of these reports is

Suggested Citation:"1 Background and Study Task." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2019. Independent Assessment of Science and Technology for the Department of Energy's Defense Environmental Cleanup Program. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25338.
×
Image
FIGURE 1.2 History of DOE-EM’s annual budget for headquarters-managed S&T development. Funding peaked at around 5 percent (about $300 million) of the annual DOE-EM budget in the 1990s through early 2000s and has declined steadily since then. Funding for S&T development in fiscal year 2018 was about 0.5 percent (about $35 million) of DOE-EM’s annual budget.
SOURCE: Rodrigo V. Rimando, Jr., Director, Technology Development Office, DOE-EM.
Suggested Citation:"1 Background and Study Task." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2019. Independent Assessment of Science and Technology for the Department of Energy's Defense Environmental Cleanup Program. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25338.
×

the importance of S&T development for DOE-EM’s cleanup mission.7 Other advisory bodies, notably DOE’s Secretary of Energy Advisory Board (SEAB), the Environmental Management Advisory Board (EMAB), and the Consortium for Risk Evaluation with Stakeholder Participation (CRESP) omnibus committee agree (see Sidebar 1.1).

1.3 APPROACH FOR CARRYING OUT THIS STUDY

This study was carried out by the Committee on the Independent Assessment of Science and Technology for the Department of Energy’s Defense Environmental Cleanup Program (referred to as the “committee” in this report), which was appointed by the president of the National Academy of Sciences. Brief biographies of the committee and staff members involved in this study are provided in Appendix C.

The committee comprises experts in disciplines relevant to the congressional request: chemistry and radiochemistry; geoscience; materials science; civil, nuclear, mechanical, and chemical engineering; and health physics. It also includes experts in disciplines relevant to technology development and evaluation, program management, and laws and regulations related to cleanup activities. This breadth of expertise allowed the committee to consider the many technical factors that affect a successful S&T development program and to provide actionable advice.

1.3.1 Committee Interpretation of Congressional Request

The committee viewed the congressional request (see Appendix A) as having both past-looking (study charge 1) and future-looking (study charge 2) elements.

Study charge 1 calls for a “review of DOE-EM’s technology development efforts, including an assessment of the processes by which technologies are identified and selected for development.” The committee addressed this charge by assessing the processes used by DOE-EM headquarters and sites for identifying, prioritizing, and funding S&T development to address their cleanup challenges. The committee paid particular attention to the processes used by DOE-EM for coordinating S&T development-related work within DOE headquarters, at DOE sites, and at national laboratories, as well as processes for integrating advice from these entities and others into S&T development prioritization and funding decisions. The committee’s assessment related to study charge 1 is summarized in Chapter 2 of this report.

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7 Examples of National Academies reports on waste management and environmental cleanup of the U.S. nuclear weapons complex are given in Appendix B.

Suggested Citation:"1 Background and Study Task." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2019. Independent Assessment of Science and Technology for the Department of Energy's Defense Environmental Cleanup Program. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25338.
×
Suggested Citation:"1 Background and Study Task." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2019. Independent Assessment of Science and Technology for the Department of Energy's Defense Environmental Cleanup Program. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25338.
×

The congressional wording for study charge 2 called for a “comprehensive review and assessment of technologies or alternative approaches” applicable to DOE-EM cleanup activities. The committee interpreted the phrase “technologies and alternative approaches” to mean tools, processes, methods, and scientific knowledge that could be used by DOE-EM to clean up its contaminated sites. The committee considered technologies and approaches that are available to the cleanup program today as well as those that could potentially become available sometime in the future. The committee did not consider nontechnical alternative approaches, for example

Suggested Citation:"1 Background and Study Task." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2019. Independent Assessment of Science and Technology for the Department of Energy's Defense Environmental Cleanup Program. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25338.
×

regulatory reforms or stakeholder initiatives that could change the cleanup goals or standards.

The committee determined quickly in the review process that DOE-EM does not maintain an integrated list of past and present cleanup technologies and approaches that could be used to support the “comprehensive review and assessment” called for in study charge 2. Consequently, the committee was faced with the task of developing its own list of past and present cleanup approaches and technologies from more than 100 DOE sites—a time-consuming and expensive proposition. It was not clear to the committee whether the site-specific information needed to develop such a list is available in written form—or if available, whether the information would be released for use in this study. Cleanup work is being carried out by private companies under contract to the federal government; contractors take the lead in selecting which cleanup approaches and technologies to use. Sharing this information with the committee for use in a public report could put contractors at a competitive disadvantage.

The committee recommended to the National Academies that the wording of study charge 2 be revised to alleviate these practical concerns while still meeting the intent of the congressional study request. The revised Statement of Task (see Sidebar 1.2) was approved by the National Academies,

Suggested Citation:"1 Background and Study Task." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2019. Independent Assessment of Science and Technology for the Department of Energy's Defense Environmental Cleanup Program. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25338.
×

staff representing the congressional committee that requested the study, and DOE-EM. The revised study charge 2 focuses on “types of technologies and/or alternative approaches” that could reduce cost, time to completion, and risks associated with the cleanup and closure of the DOE-EM sites. The committee’s assessment related to study charge 2 of the Statement of Task is provided in Chapter 3 of this report.

Many of the approaches and technologies that the committee is being called on to identify in study charge 2 do not exist today in readily deploy-able form. The committee recognized that breakthrough solutions and technologies were likely to become available to the cleanup program over its remaining 50-year-plus lifetime. The committee focused part of its efforts to address study charge 2 on assessing the underlying sources of such breakthrough solutions and technologies.

1.3.2 Committee Work Plan

The committee collected the information it needed to write its report from December 2017 to November 2018. During that period, the committee received briefings from national and international subject-matter experts and visited five major DOE-EM sites: Savannah River Site in January 2018; Hanford Site in April 2018; Idaho Site in May 2018; and Oak Ridge Reservation and the Portsmouth, Ohio, site in August 2018. Appendix D provides a list of presentations received during the committee’s meetings and site visits. A brief description of the sites the committee visited, including their role during the Manhattan Project and the Cold War and current activities, can be found in Appendix E.

Suggested Citation:"1 Background and Study Task." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2019. Independent Assessment of Science and Technology for the Department of Energy's Defense Environmental Cleanup Program. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25338.
×
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Suggested Citation:"1 Background and Study Task." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2019. Independent Assessment of Science and Technology for the Department of Energy's Defense Environmental Cleanup Program. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25338.
×
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Suggested Citation:"1 Background and Study Task." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2019. Independent Assessment of Science and Technology for the Department of Energy's Defense Environmental Cleanup Program. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25338.
×
Page 9
Suggested Citation:"1 Background and Study Task." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2019. Independent Assessment of Science and Technology for the Department of Energy's Defense Environmental Cleanup Program. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25338.
×
Page 10
Suggested Citation:"1 Background and Study Task." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2019. Independent Assessment of Science and Technology for the Department of Energy's Defense Environmental Cleanup Program. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25338.
×
Page 11
Suggested Citation:"1 Background and Study Task." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2019. Independent Assessment of Science and Technology for the Department of Energy's Defense Environmental Cleanup Program. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25338.
×
Page 12
Suggested Citation:"1 Background and Study Task." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2019. Independent Assessment of Science and Technology for the Department of Energy's Defense Environmental Cleanup Program. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25338.
×
Page 13
Suggested Citation:"1 Background and Study Task." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2019. Independent Assessment of Science and Technology for the Department of Energy's Defense Environmental Cleanup Program. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25338.
×
Page 14
Suggested Citation:"1 Background and Study Task." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2019. Independent Assessment of Science and Technology for the Department of Energy's Defense Environmental Cleanup Program. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25338.
×
Page 15
Suggested Citation:"1 Background and Study Task." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2019. Independent Assessment of Science and Technology for the Department of Energy's Defense Environmental Cleanup Program. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25338.
×
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The National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2017 contained a request for a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine review and assessment of science and technology development efforts within the Department of Energy's Office of Environmental Management (DOE-EM). This technical report is the result of the review and presents findings and recommendations.

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