Long-Term Stewardship and the Nuclear Weapons Complex

Long-Term Stewardship and the Nuclear Weapons Complex
Author: Katherine N. Probst
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 72
Release: 2014-04-04
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 1135893136

Decades of U.S. nuclear weapons production have exacted a heavy environmental toll. The Department of Energy estimates that cleaning up waste and contamination resulting from production activities will cost over $150 billion. Yet even once that money is spent, these sites will need long-term attention to assure protection of human health and the environment. In the authors' words, stewardship refers to 'institutions, information, and strategies needed to ensure protection of people and the environment, both in the short and the long term.' Probst and McGovern make a compelling case for establishing a formal program of long-term stewardship for contaminated sites. Their report details the requirements of a successful stewardship program and discusses the daunting technical and political challenges facing such efforts, including the designation of an institutional home for key stewardship functions. The legacy of environmental damage is considerable; hazardous waste disposal, radioactive waste, and contaminated facilities are among the problems that will remain after DOE cleanup efforts are complete. Stewardship planning, according to Probst and McGovern, must start now.

Hazards Ahead

Hazards Ahead
Author:
Publisher: DIANE Publishing
Total Pages: 96
Release: 1993
Genre:
ISBN: 9780788101212

Examines risks workers might face in cleaning up contamination at the Nuclear Weapons Complex. Evaluates the effectiveness of the Energy Dept's. occupational safety and health programs for cleanup workers. Photos.

Advice on the Department of Energy's Cleanup Technology Roadmap

Advice on the Department of Energy's Cleanup Technology Roadmap
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 284
Release: 2009-06-21
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0309132312

Beginning with the Manhattan Project and continuing through the Cold War, the United States government constructed and operated a massive industrial complex to produce and test nuclear weapons and related technologies. When the Cold War ended, most of this complex was shut down permanently or placed on standby, and the United States government began a costly, long-term effort to clean up the materials, wastes, and environmental contamination resulting from its nuclear materials production. In 1989, Congress created the Office of Environmental Management (EM) within the Department of Energy (DOE) to manage this cleanup effort. Although EM has already made substantial progress, the scope of EM's future cleanup work is enormous. Advice on the Department of Energy's Cleanup Technology Roadmap: Gaps and Bridges provides advice to support the development of a cleanup technology roadmap for EM. The book identifies existing technology gaps and their priorities, strategic opportunities to leverage needed research and development programs with other organizations, needed core capabilities, and infrastructure at national laboratories and EM sites that should be maintained, all of which are necessary to accomplish EM's mission.

Cleaning Up America's Nuclear Weapons Complex

Cleaning Up America's Nuclear Weapons Complex
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages: 40
Release: 2008
Genre: Nuclear weapons
ISBN:

The creation of atomic weapons and the buildup of the Cold War nuclear arsenal in America has left an environmental cleanup legacy of enormous cost and scope -- it is the largest environment cleanup program in the world. 2 The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), which is responsible for the cleanup of America's nuclear weapons complex, estimates the total cost of the cleanup over several decades at $264 billion. DOE's recent annual budgets for the cleanup have averaged about $6 billion --four times the size of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Superfund program. The program involves more than 100 sites, although about 16 large sites in 13 states are of primary concern. Over the past 16 years, states have been working jointly with DOE to complete cleanup of the nuclear weapons complex in a way that protects the citizens, workforce, and environment in and around the sites. However, despite some notable accomplishments and successes, a number of issues between the states and DOE persist, and hurdles to timely and effective cleanup remain.

Complex Cleanup

Complex Cleanup
Author:
Publisher: Office of Technology Assessment
Total Pages: 222
Release: 1991
Genre: History
ISBN: