OAK RIDGE, Tenn.—The U.S. Department of Energy is preparing a study that could help determine how to treat contaminated groundwater at the East Tennessee Technology Park, the former site of uranium enrichment for nuclear weapons and nuclear power reactors.
The feasibility study is expected to evaluate technologies that could be used to treat the contaminated groundwater for the main plant area. It could be issued as a draft report in November to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, a federal official told the Oak Ridge Site Specific Advisory Board on Wednesday.
A proposed plan due in April 2021 could propose remedies, and DOE could then accept public comment before issuing a record of decision formalizing the remediation approach. That could be issued in January 2022, said David Adler, director of the Quality and Mission Support Division for DOE’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management.
The main plant area that is the focus of the feasibility study is where most of the contaminated water is found. It is where three of the five large gaseous diffusion buildings at Oak Ridge once stood, and it includes an area where technetium-99 leaked.
The main plant area also includes former machine shops where large amounts of solvents were used, and a burial ground where solvents were dumped, Adler said.
Potential options for treating the contaminated groundwater include thermal treatment, bioremediation, monitored natural attenuation, and pumping and treating. Remediation will aim
to restore the groundwater as close as possible to drinking water standards, but it’s possible that groundwater use could always be prohibited at the site, according to Adler.
The Energy Department expects to have more information later about how much the cleanup work might cost and how long it might take, he said.
