LM, Contractor Staff Show Expertise Across Range of Disciplines at WMS

U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Legacy Management (LM) subject matter experts participated in sessions on a diverse range of topics related to long-term stewardship (LTS) during Wednesday’s activities at the 50th Waste Management Symposia in Phoenix.

Part of those information exchanges included a series of paper presentations associated with long-term stewardship approaches and strategies at various LM sites.

As part of the series, Joni Tallbull — LM site manager at the Shiprock site in New Mexico — led a session related to LM’s evaluation of transitioning from evaporative treatment of groundwater at the site’s disposal facility to a water treatment unit.

Tallbull said there will be no change in groundwater extraction methods or the approach to regulatory compliance. She indicated an ongoing evaluation will determine if a new approach would lead to site efficiencies.

“The question is whether there’s a possibility we can use a water treatment unit long term,” Tallbull said. “Is it efficient? We’ve yet to find out. We’re going to continue to assess that to see if it can be used for future operations.”

Tallbull said there is potential to improve site efficiencies, reduce DOE’s footprint, and reduce site water consumption, among other benefits.

The other paper presentations related to Wednesday’s LTS series included:

• Development of a decision support action level tool for Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Contract Act (UMTRCA) disposal cell erosion risk evaluation, presented by LM Support Partner (LMSP) Morgan Williams.
• UMTRCA cover performance after nearly 20 years of service, presented by LMSP’s Morgan Williams.
• The discovery of cover degradation features on the L-Bar, New Mexico, disposal cell cover and LM’s response and approach to a path forward, presented by LMSP’s Clark Murphy.
• Best practices in transition from cleanup to long-term stewardship, presented by LM’s Tiffany Drake.
• Soil water balance model selection and benchmark testing for evaluating uranium mill tailings disposal cell evapotranspiration covers, presented by Inci Demirkanli of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.
• Creative solutions for long-term stewardship, presented by DOE’s Bud Sokolovich and LMSP’s Ann Wei.
• Continual improvement in long-term stewardship — methodologies, challenges, and successes, presented by LM’s Jonathon Damiano.

Other LM/LMSP authors whose work was presented Wednesday included:

• LM’s Melissa Lutz and LMSP’s Julian Caballero authored a paper on the positive impacts from decades of consistent communication at the Pinellas plant in Florida.
• LM’s Darina Castillo and LMSP’s Jill Bennett and Ann Wei authored a paper on innovative strategies for beneficial reuse at the Middlesex South site in New Jersey.
• LM’s Andrew Keim and Jody Nelson authored a paper on 30 years of successful collaboration between DOE and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on endangered species conservation at Rocky Flats Site in Colorado.
• LM’s Rebecca Roberts and LMSP’s Rex Hodges, Randy Thompson, and Terri Uhlmeyer authored a paper on LM’s collaboration with the National Laboratory Network on comments related to the CERCLA Five-Year Review.
• LM’s Annette Moore and LMSP’s Kyle Shaffer authored a paper on lessons learned from remote telemetry and data collection for long-term stewardship of LM sites.
• LM’s Tiffany Drake and Becky Cato and LMSP’s Greg Lupton authored a paper on successes beyond amending the Record of Decision for the groundwater remedy at the Mound site in Ohio (Operable Unit 1 landfill).
• LM’s Diana Kamenel Trettin and LMSP’s David Holbrook authored a paper on regenerative grazing and carbon sequestration on natural and reclaimed landscapes in Shirley Basin, Wyoming.
• LMSP’s Chris Jarchow authored a paper on combining remote sensing and machine learning to model soil moisture dynamics within an in-service evapotranspiration disposal cell cover at LM.
• LM’s Angelita Denny and LMSP’s Mike Morse authored a paper on soil water balance model selection and benchmark testing for evaluating uranium mill tailings disposal cell evapotranspiration covers.
• LM’s Brian Zimmerman and LMSP’s John Homer authored a paper on completion of Natural Resource Damage commitments at the Fernald site in Ohio.