Em Report On Liabilities Associated With Doe Excess Facilities

Report on Liabilities Associated With Department of Energy Excess Facilities

September 2008

U.S. Department of Energy

Unfunded Environmental Liabilities

TABLE OF CONTENTS Overview ........................................................................................................................................ 1 Unfunded Environmental Liabilities .......................................................................................... 2 Appendix A.................................................................................................................................... 6 Appendix B .................................................................................................................................... 9 Appendix C.................................................................................................................................. 19

i

U.S. Department of Energy

Unfunded Environmental Liabilities ACRONYMS

ANL

Argonne National Laboratory

BNL

Brookhaven National Laboratory

CERCLA

Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act of 1980

D&D

Decontamination and Decommissioning

DOE

U.S. Department of Energy

EM

Office of Environmental Management, U.S. Department of Energy

FNAL

Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory

HEWD

House Energy and Water Development Subcommittee

INL

Idaho National Laboratory

LLNL

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

LCAM

Life Cycle Asset Management, DOE Order 430.lA

LLW

Low-Level Radioactive Waste

LANL

Los Alamos National Laboratory

MLLW

Mixed Low-Level Radioactive Waste

MOA

Memorandum of Agreement

NE

Office of Nuclear Energy, U.S. Department of Energy

NMDCCC

Nuclear Materials Disposition and Consolidation Coordination Committee

NNSA

National Nuclear Security Administration

NTS

Nevada Test Site

ORNL

Oak Ridge National Laboratory

ORR

Oak Ridge Reservation

PDM

Program Decision Memorandum

PSO

Program Secretarial Officer

RCRA

Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1984

S&M

Surveillance and Maintenance

SC

Office of Science, U.S. Department of Energy

SLAC

Stanford Linear Accelerator

SRS

Savannah River Site

TSCA

Toxic Substance Control Act of 1984

Y-12

Y-12 National Security Complex ii

U.S. Department of Energy

Unfunded Environmental Liabilities

Overview This report responds to direction in the FY 2008 House Energy and Water Development Appropriations Report (H.R. 110-185) to prepare a report on the scope of the Department’s environmental liabilities, the facilities and sites to be considered, life-cycle cost estimates of work to be performed, and the schedule as to when the work will begin and end. The management and control of these liabilities under the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Environmental Management (EM) program has great importance to the Department, given the possibility for these liabilities to create a financial and safety burden that EM will not be able to address expeditiously. The congressional language requesting the report appears below: Unfunded Environmental Liabilities.—The Committee is aware that the Environmental Management program has responsibility for facility decontamination and decommissioning for legacy buildings across the complex. The Committee needs to be aware of environmental liabilities that the EM program will assume in the future, and directs the Department to prepare a report on the scope of this liability, the facilities and sites to be considered, life-cycle cost estimates of work to be performed, and the schedule as to when the work will begin and end. The Department has hundreds of excess contaminated facilities, materials and radioactive wastes requiring cleanup. The Program Secretarial Offices (PSOs) are currently responsible for management and maintenance of these excess facilities and materials until transferred to the Office of Environmental Management (EM). EM’s current program plans do not include this new cleanup scope. The framework used for managing these unfunded environmental liabilities is provided in Appendix A. In addition, a summary of the 340 excess facilities and materials is displayed in Table 2 on page 5, and a cumulative inventory can be found in Appendices B and C. These unfunded liabilities, estimated at up to $9.2 billion, translate into potential risks to the health and safety of DOE workers, the public and the environment. In addition, they limit the Department’s ability to reconfigure sites and laboratories to more effectively sustain ongoing DOE missions. EM will ultimately be responsible for addressing unfunded environmental cleanup and waste management liabilities, and will incorporate those liabilities into its plans.* This will be done commensurate with the risk these activities pose, and in accordance with appropriate DOE Orders and directives. Consequently, some of these activities may be deferred for many years, extending completion dates at some sites. DOE manages excess facilities and materials in accordance with three DOE directives: !

DOE Order 413.3A, Project Management for the Acquisition of Capital Assets – provides the requirements and guidance to DOE employees, including the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) on the planning and acquisition of capital assets. EM utilizes the guidelines in this Order for the management of its operating projects as well.

1 * EM’s responsibilities do not include those legacy surveillance, maintenance and other activities at closed sites, for which the Office of Legacy Management (LM) is responsible.

U.S. Department of Energy

Unfunded Environmental Liabilities

!

DOE Order 430.1B, Real Property Asset Management – establishes a corporate, holistic, and performance-based approach to real property life-cycle asset management that links real property asset planning, programming, budgeting, and evaluation to program mission projections and performance outcomes.

!

DOE Order 435.1, Radioactive Waste Management – defines the requirements for the management of radioactive wastes within DOE. The Order provides specific requirements for the management of each radioactive waste type, such as high-level waste, transuranic waste, low-level radioactive waste, and mixed wastes. The Order also defines the responsibilities of each HQ element, particularly those programs that generate these waste types as part of their operations mission.

Unfunded Environmental Liabilities In the U.S. Department of Energy Agency Financial Report for Fiscal Year 2007 (FY2007), the DOE reported a liability of $188.7 billion in constant FY2007 dollars for the Environmental Management Program. More specifically, the Department reported a liability of $29.2 billion in constant FY2007 dollars for the active and surplus facilities not currently in the EM program. This report focuses on a portion of the $29.2 billion in active and surplus facilities that EM may accept from other DOE programs for remediation in future years. The facilities addressed in this report represent a portion of that $29.2 billion liability estimate. (See summary below.) Total reported DOE liability for overall EM Program Total reported DOE liability for active and surplus facilities NOT in EM Program Total point estimate of DOE liability for the excess facilities and materials identified in this report for possible future transfer Cost range of DOE liability for the excess facilities and materials identified in this report for possible future transfer

$188.7B* $29.2B* $6.4B $3.7B - $9.2B

* Source: “U.S. Department of Energy Agency Financial Report FY 2007” Developing life-cycle costs for these unfunded liabilities presents a number of challenges related to the scope, schedule and complexity of the work. Detailed assessments are being performed to better understand the extent of contamination and the complexity of the demolition work for facilities. Materials assessments will focus on the volumes and types of wastes and potential disposition paths. The term “materials” encompasses various radioactive, hazardous and/or chemical substances identified for possible transfer to EM. Examples of materials include, but are not limited to, low-level or low-level mixed radioactive wastes, transuranic waste, special nuclear materials, spent nuclear fuels, radioactive metals, and contaminated soil and equipment. The Department developed initial cost ranges associated with the Department’s unfunded liabilities addressed in this report to better reflect the uncertainties likely to be encountered. The total cost range for the unfunded work scope identified in this report is estimated at $3.7 billion to $9.2 billion.

2

U.S. Department of Energy

Unfunded Environmental Liabilities

Table 1 on page 4 displays the cost range and identifies the DOE site, the PSO, and whether the range is for facilities, materials, or both. Based on EM’s current planning, the earliest EM could accommodate any of the new work without re-prioritization of its existing work scope is 2017. Integration of these unfunded liabilities into the existing EM program will require re-prioritization based on an overarching framework that accounts for health and safety, environmental, and regulatory.

3

U.S. Department of Energy

Unfunded Environmental Liabilities

Table 1 Unfunded Environmental Liability Cost Estimates

Site & PSO

Cost Range (+50% / -30%) Future Cost Liability (in Millions)

Facilities and/or Materials/Wastes

LANL / NNSA

$13.9 – $29.8

Facilities

LLNL / NNSA

$26.2 - $56.2

Facilities

NTS / NNSA

$4.0 - $8.5

Facilities

SRS / NNSA

$19.0 - $40.7

Facilities

Y-12 / NNSA

$1,092.6 - $3,410.7

Both

Subtotal NNSA

$1,155.7 - $3,545.9

Both

ANL / SC

$209.7 - $449.4

Both

BNL / SC

$36.2 - $77.6

Both

SLAC / SC

$37.7 - $80.9

Materials/Wastes

FNAL / SC

$1.5 - $3.3

Materials/Wastes

ORNL / SC

$980.5 - $2,588.4

Both

Y-12 / SC

$358.8 - $424.6

Both

Subtotal SC

$1,624.4 - $3,624.2

Both

INL / NE

$886.4 - $1,899.5

Both

ORNL / NE

$34.5 - $40.6

Both

Y-12 / NE

$33.6 - $35.7

Both

Subtotal NE

$954.5 - $1,975.8

Both

Total Potential New EM Liability

$3,734.6 – 9,145.9

Both

4

U.S. Department of Energy

Unfunded Environmental Liabilities Table 2

Summary of Facilities and Material Groups for Potential Transfer to EM in the Out-years PSO

Total by PSO/Site F

M

164

24

ANL

15

0

BNL

8

3

SLAC

0

20

FNAL

0

1

ORNL

124

Y-12

SC

Cost Range by Site ($ in millions)

Total Facility Square Footage (by Site)

$1,624.4 - $3,624.2

3,144,903 1,149,237

$285.1 - $611.2

160,252

0

$980.5 - $2,588.4

832,384

17

0

$358.8 - $424.6

1,003,030

102

0

$1,155.7 - $3,545.9

2,285,780

LANL

11

0

LLNL

4

0

NTS

5

0

18,710

SRS

3

0

72,349

Y-12

79

0

$1,092.6 - $3,410.7

1,947,721

40

10

$954.5 - $1,975.8

416,558

INL

38

10

$886.4 - $1,899.5

134,663

ORNL

1

0

$34.5 - $40.6

26,239

Y-12

1

0

$33.6 - $35.7

255,656

$3,734.6 –$ 9,145.9

5,847,241 (Sq. Ft.)

NNSA

NE

Grand Totals

340

92,000 155,000

$63.1 - $135.2

(Acronyms are listed on page ii.) * For the gray-shaded columns, “F” means number of facilities; “M” means number of materials. NOTE: For a comprehensive inventory of all facilities and materials included in this report, please reference Appendix B.

5

U.S. Department of Energy

Unfunded Environmental Liabilities

Appendix A Framework for Management of the Unfunded Environmental Liability Inventory Criteria for Transferring Excess Facilities The process for transferring excess contaminated facilities and “materials” (hereinafter collectively referred to as “cleanup scope”) between EM and DOE’s operating programs, such as SC, NE and NNSA, has evolved and matured since the EM program was established in 1989. At that time, all known “cleanup” was simply transferred to EM as a policy decision. Over the subsequent years, based on a drastically changing DOE mission, more and more “cleanup scope” was transferred to EM, including landlord responsibilities for large sites, including the Hanford Site, the Idaho National Laboratory, the Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site, and the majority of the Savannah River Site, as well as smaller but no less significant sites like Fernald and Mound. In the mid 1990s, the consequence of this approach was that EM accepted additional cleanup scope without the necessary resources. As a result, EM decided to limit the number of “cleanup” transfers to EM, and transfers were accepted only after a more rigorous and disciplined process was conducted, mostly through the establishment of formal DOE Orders, such as DOE Order 430.1A, DOE Order 430.1B, and their associated Guides. DOE Order 430.1B, published in 2003, is the primary requirements directive for determining how excess facilities are transferred from non-EM PSOs to EM. DOE Order 430.1B contains the specific requirements for the transfer of excess contaminated facilities, and was tiered off its predecessor document, DOE Order 430.lA, Life Cycle Asset Management (LCAM). The LCAM order was developed as a joint effort among EM, NE, SC, and NNSA, and has already been proven as a successful tool in efficiently transferring a number of facilities. The same process was implemented with this initiative, helping EM better determine and compare the relative risk ranking of new proposed scope with current EM scope, while also providing approximate timeframes for commencing the transfers and work that would fit into EM planning. The framework established in DOE O 430.1B is fairly straight forward and is initiated annually by EM’s request to other Departmental PSOs to identify what “cleanup scope” they would like to propose for transfer to EM. Following the receipt of the PSO nominations, EM convenes an integrated team of representatives from various EM program and budget offices, the PSO requesting the transfer, DOE field offices, and DOE contractors. The integrated team conducts a site visit and completes an evaluation of the subject facility, using a standard and comprehensive “walk-down” checklist that helps evaluate the overall facility condition and any major associated risks and liabilities. In addition, stabilization actions for which the PSO requesting the transfer is responsible, are identified, and a cost estimate for required surveillance and maintenance (S&M) is developed. The information is consolidated and formalized in a report, which becomes the basis for a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) that specifies the condition of the facility at the time of transfer, the schedule for transfer, and the amount of funding required to allow S&M activities to continue during the period of transfer and the shift in budgetary responsibility between the PSO and EM.

6

U.S. Department of Energy

Unfunded Environmental Liabilities

In addition to establishing the general framework, DOE O 430.1B also establishes the primary criteria for assessing a facility’s readiness for transfer into the EM program. In evaluating excess facilities nominated under this current transfer, 430.1B criteria were applied to each proposed facility to determine if it satisfied transfer requirements. They included: !

The facility had to be “process contaminated”, defined as contamination resulting from the operational or process aspects of a facility’s mission, rather than contamination resulting from a function of construction (such as the presence of asbestos floor tiles, lead-based paint, PCBs in electrical equipment, or stored chemicals in tanks). The principal concept guiding this criterion is the expertise required to manage the technical complexities and regulatory elements associated with process contamination. Exceptions are considered if a non-process-contaminated facility is ancillary to, and/or an integral part of, a process-contaminated facility being proposed for transfer.

!

The facility must be certified as excess (surplus) to Departmental mission needs, not just the mission needs of the requesting PSO. The principal concepts supporting this criterion are twofold: 1) retrofitting and/or modifications and associated clean-out and decontamination of a facility to meet new mission needs is an operating program responsibility; and 2) if a facility is excess to one program, but suitable to the mission of another, transferring to EM for final disposition is counterproductive.

!

The facility must be a stand-alone building, and not a room, wing or annex of a nonexcess facility. The fundamental concept behind this criterion is the lack of feasibility and cost effectiveness of demolishing part of a building without impacting the remainder of the structure. A similar consideration is the need to potentially re-route utilities running through an excess facility. Exceptions to this criterion are considered if the PSO proposing the transfer is willing to conduct (as a stabilization action) or fund the segregation, safeguards, or re-routing required for efficient and cost-effective demolition. Stabilization actions must be completed prior to the effective date of transfer.

Criteria for Transferring Excess Materials For materials declared excess and identified for potential transfer by non-EM PSOs to EM, there are no DOE Orders, directives or guidance documents similar to 430.1B to which an analysis can be performed using specific criteria. Moreover, unlike certain commonalities often present in the D&D of excess facilities, the level of difficulty in managing and dispositioning radioactive materials varies greatly, due to their chemical makeup, pre-treatment and stabilization requirements, regulatory schemes, risks to worker and public safety, and paths to ultimate disposition. The materials recently identified for transfer by the PSOs present similar challenges, and each is being reviewed individually. The range of materials and waste types nominated include low-level and low-level mixed radioactive wastes, transuranic wastes, special nuclear materials, spent nuclear fuels, radioactive metals, and contaminated soil and equipment. See Appendix C for a detailed list of the types of materials nominated by the PSOs for possible transfer.

7

U.S. Department of Energy

Unfunded Environmental Liabilities

In considering each material or waste group for potential transfer, EM will apply several basic criteria during the analysis. They include: !

that the material is fully excess to Departmental needs and that processing above and beyond stabilization is necessary to meet disposition requirements;

!

nominations of contaminated environmental media (e.g., soils, groundwater) will be considered, and based on the need for EM’s expertise and capability in acquiring and managing critical remediation activities; and

!

if the materials are not suitable for disposition within EM’s currently planned waste management program, they may be referred to the Nuclear Materials Disposition and Consolidation Coordination Committee (NMDCCC) or other Departmental decision makers for corporate level consideration of disposition options.

8

U.S. Department of Energy

Unfunded Environmental Liabilities

Appendix B Unfunded Environmental Liabilities Inventory (Pages 9 thru 16)

U.S. Department of Energy

Unfunded Environmental Liabilities Appendix C

Breakout of Materials by Site / In Outyears SITE

Nominated Material for Transfer

BNL

Trap & Skeet Shotgun Firing Range Remediation Project Sand Filter Bed Material Remediation Project Excess Contaminated Equipment & Material Disposition

FNAL

Nevis Shield Blocks Disposition

SLAC

Magnet Storage Yard Legacy Radioactive Materials Radioactive Materials Storage Yard Legacy Materials Bone Yard Shielding Blocks End Station B Shielding Blocks Excess Lead Disposal Final Focus Test Beam Shielding Blocks Former Underground Storage Tank Excavation Cleanup High Resolution Spectrometer Mark II Detector Ethane Tanks Disposal SPEAR Magnets at Sector 0/1 Research Yard Storm Drain System and IR-6 Drainage Channel Historic Vessels and Site-wide Debris Cleanup Stanford Linear Collider Large Detector SLC Disassembly and D&D PEP II Disassembly PEP II Equipment and Impacted Soil Cleanup PEP II D&D Babar Detector Disassembly Babar Detector Transportation and Disposal of Non-Reusable Components

INL

Legacy Remote-Handled Transuranic Waste Disposition Legacy Spent Nuclear Fuels Disposition Legacy Special Nuclear Material Disposition Legacy Remote-Handled Low-Level Waste Disposal Legacy Low-Level/Mixed Low-Level Waste Disposition Remote-Handled Waste Disposition Project Advanced Test Reactor Irradiated Beryllium Blocks Voluntary Consent Order RCRA Closure Activities Excess Legacy Radioactive and Hazardous Materials Disposition INL CERCLA Long-Term Stewardship Activities

ORNL

To Be Determined (TBD)

Y-12

TBD 19