U.S. E.P.A. says cleanup must resume at nuclear weapons research location / Northern California’s Lawrence Livermore Countrywide Lab must immediately address Superfund location contamination

(San Francisco, California -- 01/07/08) The E.P.A. has notified the D.O.E. that they must immediately resume cleanup activities at its Lawrence Livermore Countrywide Lab in Livermore, Calif., or face escalating penalties.

A federal facilities arrangement was signed between EPA, D.O.E. and California state agencies in June 1988. The arrangement outlines DOE's responsibilities and milestones for addressing location contamination.

D.O.E. has failed to operate numerous groundwater and soil vapor treatment facilities and associated wells -- an integral part of cleanup activities at the site. While pump-and-treat systems have been shutdown, location contamination has spread laterally and vertically, resulting in a larger volume of contaminated groundwater and increasing timeframes for completing the overall cleanup.

"The shutdown of the treatment systems puts the community and the environment at risk," said Michael Montgomery, assistant director for the EPA's Superfund Division in the Pacific Southwest region. "The taxpayers have already paid for the construction of the treatment systems -- it's DOE's responsibility to operate them"

Indicators show that the recent failure of a large treatment unit on the perimeter of the location has resulted in a loss of contaminated groundwater plume control off-site, where it may spread beneath adjacent local neighborhoods.

The E.P.A. is seeking $105,000 in penalties for the period from July to September 2008 for DOE's failure to resume cleanup.

Additionally, the E.P.A. is continuing to assess penalties of $10,000 per week from Oct. one until D.O.E. resumes the cleanup. Because the violations of the federal facilities arrangement are ongoing, the penalty amount will continue to increase until D.O.E. fully restarts the shuttered treatment facilities and associated wells at the site.

Although D.O.E. began shutting down and ceasing to repair treatment facilities in February 2008, the E.P.A. is not assessing penalties for that time period in recognition of the challenges presented by a backing shortfall.

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. has 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 the University of California 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.

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