Deputy Designated Federal Official and Ex-Officios Present

Dave Adler, Ex Officio, DOE-Oak Ridge Offices (DOE-ORO)
Pat Halsey, Federal Coordinator (DOE-ORO)
Connie Jones, Ex Officio, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
John Owsley, Ex Officio, Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC)

Others Present

Dennis Hill, Bechtel Jacobs Company LLC (BJC)
John Kubarewicz, BJC
James McBrayer, BJC
Pete Osborne, BJC
Lorene Sigal
Judy Ullmann, Temp Systems

Eleven members of the public attended the meeting.

Presentations

Lorene Sigal of the Stewardship Committee, gave a presentation titled “Why Stewardship?” Ms. Sigal read the mission statement of the stewardship committee; “acceptance of the responsibility and the implementation of activities necessary to maintain long-term protection of human health and of the environment from hazards posed by residual radioactive and chemically hazardous materials.”

Addressing stewardship issues has become more urgent under accelerated cleanup plans. Some contamination will remain in place and stewardship helps ensure the long term protection of human health and the environment. Buffer zones and institutional controls have become more important as population areas expand. In 1996 the Oak Ridge DOE recruited the SSAB to discuss stewardship issues. 100 people attended an SSAB sponsored public workshop in 1997. The End Use Working Group (EUWG) consisting of approximately 20 members met regularly to define stewardship issues and end uses for reservation land, and to recommend solutions and a path forward. The SSAB Stewardship Committee and members of the public concentrated efforts and continued working on expanding the stewardship goals. This group, the Stewardship Working Group (SWG), published two Stewardship Reports, volume 1 and 2, in 1998. The Stewardship Committee recognizes that stewardship is not only an intergenerational issue but also an intergenerational activity.

Ms. Sigal stated that the well-defined roles, authority and responsibility for stewardship ensure the long term protection of human health and the environment. She defined and identified Principal Steward, Implementation Steward, and Oversight Steward. She reviewed the various operations and activities of stewardship. Ms. Sigal mentioned areas of research needs:  contamination migration, chronic exposure to low level waste and natural attenuation. Ms. Sigal emphasized that long-term stewardship must be addressed during the planning stages of remediation.   Long-term stewardship must be described in legally enforceable documents.

Currently, DOE has established the Office of Legacy Management to combine the activities of stewardship and distribution of worker’s pension and benefits at closed sites. She stated that the Office of Legacy Management does not presently cover stewardship at sites with on-going missions.

A copy of Ms. Sigal’s presentation is included as Attachment 1.

John Kubarewicz of BJC gave a presentation on program collaboration between BJC and UT-Battelle. A copy of Mr. Kubarewicz’s presentation is included as Attachment 2. The presentation addressed new technologies that are now available for accelerated cleanup and remedial actions. The program collaboration between BJC and UT-Battelle involves multi-site cooperation between five major sites; Oak Ridge, Savannah River Site, Hanford, Idaho and Nevada. The purpose of this cooperation is to identify common issues, identify key problems by site, optimize research and take advantage of specialized expertise. Mr. Kubarewicz discussed common issues in the areas of subsurface plume remediation, surface barriers, burial ground remediation and D&D of large highly contaminated buildings.

Mr. Kubarewicz covered the following topics:

·Monitoring/Performance Evaluation

·EM Strategy Development

·Technology Development

·Innovative Design Support

·Specialty Consultation

·Operations Support

Mr. Kubarewicz also discussed a Bechtel initiative to leverage closure in relation to the “Top-to-Bottom Review of the Environmental Management (EM) Program” published by DOE-Headquarters in Spring 2002. Mr. Kubarewicz’s overheads on this initiative are included as Attachment 3.

One of the challenges that came out of the Top-to-Bottom Review is to come up with innovative ideas and technologies to reduce the cost of accelerate closure. Bechtel’s response was to form a group called the EM Integration Council. The council is run out of Idaho, but most of the meetings are held at Bechtel headquarters in San Francisco. The council meets as necessary to discuss issues occurring at the various cleanup sites. The council allows for optimizing resources, facilitating partnerships between sites, and sharing knowledge and lessons learned.

The council supports the EM Program’s focus on accelerating cleanup by bringing together specialists from around the country into panels that act as a resource pool. The panels are Technology, Waste Disposition, Regulatory, Multi-Site Buying, and Corporate Resources.

John Kubarewicz welcomed the ORSSAB committees to contact him for any additional information.

Charles Washington asked what method they were using to lower the mercury contamination at Y-12.  Mr.  Kubarewicz responded that he would get John Michael Japp in touch with Mr. Washington for a discussion of this technology.

Deputy Designated Federal Official (DDFO) and Ex-Officio Comments

Mr. Adler made five announcements:

·        Mr. Adler announced that he will be the acting DDFO for the evening. Mr. Boyd could not be present this evening. Mr. Boyd asked Mr. Adler to restate his strong commitment to the ORSSAB and his intention to be present at these meetings.

·        The President’s FY 2004 budget for the Environmental Management (EM) program reflects an increase to $525 million. The FY 2003 budget is still in continuing resolution, but Congress has submitted the budget to the President for approval.

·        A public meeting will be held on February 20, 2003, concerning the FY 2005 EM budget prioritization. The meeting will be held at the Information Center at 6:00 PM. Everyone is encouraged to attend.

·        There has been a temporary halt of railway transportation of waste, due to an incident last month. The incident involved the rail shipment of sludge from the Y-12 West End Treatment Facility to Envirocare. There was a very small (0.035 ounce) leakage of waste from one of the boxes. The spilled material was cleaned up, with no radioactive readings detected. Five other boxes were damaged by the shifting of the box car.

·        A new Office of Legacy Management will be established October 1, 2003, to report directly to the Under Secretary of Energy, Robert Card. Michael Owen is the lead during the transition effort. David Geiser (EM stewardship lead) is reporting to Mr. Owen. The office will be charged with effective and efficient management of legacy and stewardship issues. These activities include: land management, (follow up activities for remediation) environmental safety and management, record keeping, and the funding of benefits and pension to workers associated with former nuclear weapons production sites. This office will only manage sites that are closed.

Mr. Kopp asked if this new office would also be involved with the transfer of properties. Mr. Adler stated that he would look into the matter and will report to Mr. Kopp.

Ms. Jones reported that due to a resource issue, EPA’s "Final September 2001 Sampling Report for the Scarboro Community" will not be issued by the end of January. The expected new release date will be no later than April of this year.

Public Comment

None

DOE Coordinator Comments

Ms. Halsey reported that Martha Crosland has taken a new job with General Counsel at DOE Headquarters. Her duties will be associated with the Yucca Mountain permits and lawsuits. Ms. Sandra Waisley is now the new Director for the Office of Intergovernmental and Public Accountability. Ms. Waisley has also taken on the role of the Designated Federal Official for the DOE EM SSABs.

Ms. Halsey addressed the new DOE Headquarters Ethics and Conflict-of-Interest Guidance distributed in this month’s notebook. A principal change is for Board members to notify the DDFO of instances when their participation in discussion of an issue may be a potential conflict.

Ms. Halsey reminded members that EM program documents archived at the DOE Information Center (DOEIC) that were given a classification review prior to May 30, 2002, will have to receive an additional review for security issues related to dissemination of maps that could be used by terrorists to target DOE facilities. To allow ORSSAB and Local Oversight Committee members’ unrestricted access to these documents, a list of those members will be maintained at the DOEIC. Members may check out unsanitized documents, with the understanding that they will not disseminate those materials to others. In addition, many EM documents (including the annual Remediation Effectiveness Report) will now carry the designation “Official Use Only.” These documents will be available to Board members with the condition that Board members protect the documents under conditions dictated by “Official Use Only”.

Ms. Halsey announced that the recruiting application period for new ORSSAB members has been extended until March 10.

Announcements and Other Board Business

The next Board meeting will be Wednesday, March 12, 2003, at the DOE Information Center. The presentation topic will be “Update on the EM Management and Integration Contract,” by Steve Liedle, President of Bechtel Jacobs Corporation.

Mr. Mosby introduced a delegation from the Japanese Nuclear Fuel Cycle Group.  Mr. Hirofumi Nakamura, Mr. Hirofumi Takashita and Ms. Rimiko Tabata attended this evening’s meeting and met with members prior to the meeting to learn how the Board involves the public and to observe the Board meeting for the synergy between the DOE, the Board, and the regulators.

Minutes of the January 8, 2003, Board meeting were approved without change.

Proposed changes to ORSSAB Bylaws and Special Rules of Order were approved on second reading (Attachment 4).

Comments on the Draft DOE Policy: “Cleanup Driven By Risk-Based End States” and Draft DOE Guidance: “Development of Risk-Based End States” were approved (Attachment 5).

Mr. Trammell reported that the Environmental Restoration committee will be meeting on Thursday, February 20 from 5:30 pm until 6:00 pm. The public budget meeting Mr. Adler spoke about will immediately follow.

Mr. Gibson reported that the Waste Management Committee met on January 15.  Bob Hightower of UT-Battelle gave a presentation on the UF₆ Cylinder Conversion Program. The scheduling of the shipping of the UF₆ cylinders is still questionable because it involves coordination between Tennessee, Ohio, and Kentucky. The next Waste Management meeting is scheduled for February 19, 2003.

Mr. Mosby announced that he and Mr. Mulvenon will be attending the EM SSAB Chairs Meeting to be held in Denver, March 27-29. Mr. Mosby also told the Board that Ms. Campbell, Mr. Mulvenon, and he met with Assistant Secretary of Energy for EM, Jessie Roberson, earlier in the day. She provided information concerning the FY 04 budget and the BJC cleanup contract modifications.

Mr. Osborne reported that several letters were sent out this month requesting opportunities to give presentations about ORSSAB. He is waiting for responses on potential presentation dates.

Mr. Kopp discussed the memo “Findings and Recommendations of the Environmental Safety and Health (ES&H) Issues Ad Hoc Committee,” which was published in this month’s notebook. Mr. Kopp said that the committee had found that the existing EM program ES&H issue resolution processes are functioning properly and that there are no unresolved ES&H issues specifically related to the EM program. Mr. Kopp reported that the committee advocated no further review of these topics, and he recommended that the committee be disbanded. Mr. Mosby, hearing no objections, pronounced that it was the will of the Board to accept the report from the ad hoc committee and dissolve the committee

Several members commented on the EM SSAB Workshop on Transuranic Waste Management held at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant January 30-February 1. Several others spoke about their experiences during the tour of the Nevada Test Site, Yucca Mountain, and Envirocare of Utah that had been sponsored by ORSSAB in conjunction with the EM SSAB workshop. Trip reports from Dick Berry and Kerry Trammell were distributed (Attachments 6 and 7). A memo from Dick Berry regarding legacy waste issues was also distributed (Attachment 8). Mr. Mosby recommended that the Executive Committee address Mr. Berry’s memo at its February 27 meeting.

The meeting adjourned at 8:51 p.m.

Motions

M2/12/03.1

Ms. Campbell moved to approve the minutes of the January 8, 2003, Board meeting. Mr. Washington seconded the motion, and the motion was approved, by a vote of 16 in favor, 1 abstention (Ms. Hill).

M2/12/03.2

Mr. Million moved to approve the second reading of proposed changes to ORSSAB Bylaws and Special Rules of Order. Mr. Revilla seconded the motion, and the motion was approved by a vote of 14 in favor; 2 against (Mr. Alexander, Mr. Washington); and 1 abstention (Ms. Hill).

M2/12/03.3

Mr. Million moved to approve the comments on the Draft DOE Policy: “Cleanup Driven by Risk-Based End States” and Draft DOE Guidance: “Development of Risk-Based End States.” Mr. Kopp seconded the motion, and the motion approved by a vote of 13 in favor; 3 against (Ms. Bonner, and  Mr. Washington); and 2 abstentions (Mr. Adams and Mr. Alexander).

Action Items

1.  Mr. Adler will report to Mr. Kopp on whether the Office of Legacy Management will be involved in property transfers.

2.  Mr. Kubarewicz will request John Michael Japp to provide details to Charles Washington on the methodology for lowering mercury contamination.

3.  The Executive Committee will consider Mr. Berry’s memo at its February meeting. Completed 2/27/03. The Executive Committee requested that the Stewardship Committee review the issue

4.  Mr. Adler will look into the planning assumptions on the drain lines and direct discharge storm sewers and see what process characterizations have been done. (Carryover from 12/11/02) Completed. Response distributed to Luther Gibson via e-mail 3/4/03 (Attachment 9)

Respectfully submitted,

Donna L. Campbell, Secretary

DLC/ju

Attachments (9) to these minutes are available upon request from the ORSSAB support office.