September 21, 2014

DOE to Enter Dispute Resolution With South Carolina Over Tank Closure Milestone

By ExchangeMonitor

After South Carolina and the Environmental Protection Agency denied a request to extend a Savannah River high level waste tank closure milestone, the Department of Energy late last week invoked dispute resolution on the matter. Citing technical and funding issues, DOE in August requested an extension of the closure dates for Tanks 12H and 16H from September 2015 to December 2016. However, the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control and the EPA earlier this month denied the request. DHEC said it didn’t believe the technical issues were cause for extension, and instead said DOE did not make the effort to obtain necessary funds.

However, in a Sept. 18 response, DOE cited the Federal Facilities Agreement with South Carolina as stating that new technical information could be good cause for an extension, and also said that SCDHEC and EPA did not respond to the extension request within the required 14-day window. “DOE looks forward to working with SCDHEC and EPA in the informal phase of the dispute resolution process, as it provides a constructive opportunity to gain clarification and resolve the issues,” the response states. “DOE believes the diligent efforts implemented to achieve early closure of tanks 5F and 6F (two of the four tanks included in this 2015 commitment) twenty months ahead of the milestone date, demonstrate that DOE will similarly work to mitigate any schedule delays associated with tanks 12H and 16H.”

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