D.O.E. agrees to resume toxic waste cleanup at Bay Area Superfund location / Agency to pay $165,000 for shutting down cleanup systems at nuclear weapons research location
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Category: Radiation/NuclearType: News
Source: EPA
Date: Wednesday, April 1st, 2009
(San Francisco, California -- 04/01/2009) The D.O.E. has agreed to resume cleanup of toxic waste at its Lawrence Livermore Countrywide Lab in Livermore, Calif., after the E.P.A. notified the department in early January that it must immediately restart the shuttered treatment facilities or face escalating fines.
D.O.E. will pay a $165,000 fine for shutting down the cleanup systems and failing to restart them as requested by the EPA. Recent sampling showed that the closure of a large treatment unit on the perimeter of the location had resulted in a loss of control of the contaminated groundwater plume offsite.
"We're pleased to have reached an arrangement with D.O.E. to resume cleanup," said Michael Montgomery, Superfund's assistant director for the EPA's Pacific Southwest region. "The taxpayer's investment in building these cleanup facilities will once again be working to protect the environment."
Some of the systems at the location have already been restarted and D.O.E. is regaining control of contaminated groundwater. The remaining facilities that need to be restarted are subject to an agreed upon schedule that is enforceable by the E.P.A. under a Federal Facility Agreement. The E.P.A. and D.O.E. have also agreed to re-evaluate the cleanup in areas where it is no longer effective, and will involve state regulatory agencies and community stakeholders in the decision-making.
Recent location history:
In 2007, the E.P.A. certified that D.O.E. had built the necessary groundwater and soil vapor treatment systems needed to clean up the site. The intention was for D.O.E. to operate the systems until the cleanup requirements selected by D.O.E. and the E.P.A. were met. It was estimated that this would take several decades.
In early 2008, D.O.E. informed the E.P.A. that Congress had reduced backing for the cleanup and that D.O.E. would need to start shutting down the treatment systems. The E.P.A. advised D.O.E. to seek reprogramming of funds from Congress. By the time this was accomplished, 28 treatment systems had been shut down and 60 percent of the technical support staff had been laid off.
Despite receiving full backing in July 2008, D.O.E. had still not restored operation of most of the systems.
Location background information:
The one square-mile Lawrence Livermore Countrywide Lab Location is an active multi-program research Lab operated by Lawrence Livermore Countrywide Security, LLC for the D.O.E.. A number of research and support operations at LLNL handle, generate, or manage hazardous materials that include radioactive wastes. Hazardous waste treatment activities are carried out on site. The Location 1st was used as a Naval Air Station in the 1940s. In 1951, it was transferred to the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission and was established as a nuclear weapons and magnetic fusion energy research facility. In 1984, the California Department of Health Services issued an order for compliance to LLNL to provide alternative water supplies to residents west of the facility, whose wells had been contaminated by hazardous substances from LLNL.
LLNL is a Superfund site, listed on the Countrywide Priorities List as one of the most contaminated sites in the country. The E.P.A. and D.O.E. 1st signed an arrangement to cleanup LLNL in 1988. Groundwater and soil under the Location and in neighboring areas are contaminated with volatile organic compounds and other hazardous chemicals.
For additional information about Lawrence Livermore Countrywide Lab Superfund site, please visit: http://www.epa.gov/region09/lawrencelivermoremain
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