EM Weekly Report - 12/8/00

[Susan Gawarecki <loc@icx.net>]

ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT WEEKLY REPORT

December 8, 2000

I	Schedule

12/11	Dr. Huntoon will be speaking at the National Environmental Justice
Advisory Council Bi-Annual meeting in Arlington, VA.
12/14	Dr. Huntoon will be speaking at the Land Transfer and Long Term
Management of Contaminated Federal Facilities Workshop in San Francisco
and touring the Oakland site.
	Mr. Owendoff will be Acting Assistant Secretary in her absence.

II	Key Departmental News

Hanford K-Basin Spent Nuclear Fuel Project Commences Startup:  Following
issue closure with the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, final
preparations for fuel removal were completed on December 6, and
DOE-Richland authorized startup.  The first Multi Canister Overpak
shipment from the K-West Basin was completed on December 7.  This
culminates a 5-year effort to begin fuel removal which will reduce the
risk to the Columbia River.
Media Interest:  Local
Program Contact:  Tom Hull, 301-903-5677

Westinghouse Savannah River Company (WSRC) DOE-Voluntary Protection
Program (VPP) STAR Status:  The Assistant Secretary for Environment,
Safety and Health visited the Savannah River Site on December 7, to
present WSRC with the DOE-VPP Star Flag and Certificate to commemorate
being selected as STAR participants in the DOE-VPP Program.  This award
recognizes an outstanding safety and health program that includes
significant employee involvement at all levels.  The Assistant Secretary
for Environmental Management also attended the ceremony.
Media Interest:  Local
Program Contact:  Yvonne Gentry, 803-725-1931	

Vice President Al Gore Hammer Award for the National Facility
Deactivation Initiative (NFDI):  The Office of Environmental
Management's NFDI team has been awarded the Vice Presidential Hammer
Award in recognition of its cost-saving and innovative approach in
resolving issues related to the deactivation of contaminated excess
facilities throughout the DOE complex.  During FY 2000, over 450
nominations from 18 Federal agencies were received by the National
Partnership for Reinventing Government.  Less than 25% of the
applications submitted received an award.  NFDI received 1 of 4 awards
presented to DOE.  The NFDI team (formed in June 1998) educated planners
and engineers complex-wide in the methodologies and technologies it has
developed and more importantly provided hands-on support and guidance at
each site location in the planning and estimating of facility specific
deactivation activities.  The award is scheduled for presentation on
December 20.
Media Interest:  Possible
Program Contact:  Andrew Szilagyi, 301-903-4278

West Valley Demonstration Project (WVDP) Receives Charter Member Status
in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Performance Track
Initiative:  The WVDP was notified on November 29, that its application
for Charter Member status in the new EPA Performance Track initiative
was accepted.  Only those applicants who have a proven record of
regulatory compliance, an operational Environmental Management System, a
public outreach program, and a demonstrated commitment to continued
improvement were accepted.  Moira Maloney (DOE-OH/WVDP) and a West
Valley Nuclear Services representative will be attending an awards
presentation by Carol Browner, EPA Administrator, on December 13, in
Washington, DC.
Media Interest:  None
Program Contact:  Alice C. Williams, 716-942-4312

Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF):  On Thursday, November 30,
DWPF reached a significant milestone with the pouring of the 1000th
canister of High-level Waste since beginning operations in 1996.  The
facility is continuing feeding and pouring operations.  Canisters poured
for fiscal year (FY) 2001 are 53 (1003) total with 992 canisters in the
Glass Waste Storage Building. 
Media Interest:  None
Program Contact:  K. Fisher, 301-903-7412

Briefing of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) on the
Research Reactor in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DROC):  EM staff,
along with staff members from IA, NN, and Department of State, met with
representatives from USAID on December 4.  At the meeting were
representatives from the USAID Bureau for Africa, the Office of Foreign
Disaster Assistance, and the Office of the Deputy Administrator to
USAID.  The briefing was a follow-up to a November 27 meeting with the
Deputy Secretary in which EM raised the infrastructure issues and
erosion problem at the DROC reactor facility and stressed the need for
the U.S. government to propose a management plan to President Kabila. 
The Deputy Secretary will raise the issue with USAID Deputy
Administrator Hattie Babbitt at the next President's Management Council
meeting.  Over the last year and a half, EM and State Department staff
have been in contact with DROC government officials concerning their
eligibility for the Foreign Research Reactor (FRR) Spent Nuclear Fuel
Acceptance Program.  DROC is one of the 41 countries eligible for
participation under the FRR Acceptance Program.
Media Interest:  None 
Program Contact:  Maureen Clapper, 202-586-8013

Oak Ridge TRU Privatization Project:  In a ceremony on December 1, DOE
and its contractor, Foster Wheeler Environmental Corporation (FWEC),
commemorated the completion of the design, National Environmental Policy
Act (NEPA) document, permitting prerequisites, and the start of
construction of the Transuranic Waste Treatment Facility (TWTF).  This
facility will treat, process, and repackage all transuranic (TRU) waste
at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, with final offsite disposal of TRU
waste at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in NM, and disposition of
low-level waste at the Nevada Test Site.  Congressman Zach Wamp, Sam
Box, Chief Executive Officer of FWEC and Leah Dever, Manager of DOE's
Oak Ridge Operations Office attended the ceremony.
Media Interest:  Local
Program Contact:  Jit Desai, 301?903?1431

Report to Congress on Depleted Uranium Hexaflouride (DUF6) Conversion
Project:  As part of the recent transition of the Uranium Programs from
the Office of Nuclear Energy, Science and Technology (NE), the Office of
Environmental Management will prepare a letter report to Congress to
outline the Department's plan and resource assumptions to keep the DUF6
conversion project on track.  Public Law 105-204 requires construction
to commence on conversion facilities at the Paducah and Portsmouth
Gaseous Diffusion Plants by January 31, 2004.  During review of the FY
2001 Energy and Water Development Appropriation Bill, the Senate
Appropriations Committee directed that the Department provide this
report by December 31, 2000.  The Office of Site Closure has assigned a 
full-time person to develop the report and process it through the
approval process.  Due to the timing of this program transition, meeting
the December 31, deadline is unlikely, unless all Departmental offices
commit to an accelerated review and concurrence schedule.  A meeting is
scheduled for December 13, with CI, GC, EM and the CFO to discuss the
schedule.  
Media Interest:  Regional (Kentucky and Ohio)
Program Contact:  Sal Golub, 301-903-2994

Paducah City Officials Discuss Paducah Cleanup at National Forum:  The
Paducah City Commissioner, City Manager, and other local officials will
attend the National League of Cities annual convention in Boston the
week of December 4, to discuss expedited cleanup of the Paducah Gaseous
Diffusion Plant.  The City of Paducah has been a regular participant at
the convention and last year discussed issues with nuclear facilities
cleanup.  
Media Interest:  Local & Regional
Program Contact:  Don Williams, 301-903-8173

III	Work on Secretarial Initiatives

IV	Press Inquiries

National Recognition:  The National Subsurface Contaminants Focus Area
(SCFA) is showcased in the November/December editions of Radwaste
Solutions, a publication of the American Nuclear Society.  The five-page
article highlights recent successes, including the Vadose Zone: Science
and Technology Solutions  textbook, technical assistance program, and
recent deployments including dynamic underground stripping at the
Savannah River Site.  Six-phase soil heating, a technology promoted and
deployed by SCFA, is portrayed as the cover in the November issue of the
American Chemical Society publication, Environmental, Science and
Technology. 
Media Interest:  None
Program Contact:  Jim Guisti, 803-725-2467

V	FOIA Requests

VI	Grants, Economic Announcements and Publications

VII	Climate Change

VIII	Disaster Assistance
-- 
.....................................................
Susan L. Gawarecki, Ph.D., Executive Director
Oak Ridge Reservation Local Oversight Committee
                       -----                       
The LOC newsletter "Insights" is posted on our Web site
http://www.local-oversight.org - E-mail loc@icx.net 
.....................................................


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