CAN THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT PROGRAM CONTINUE TO IMPROVE
James Fiore, J.W. Neave, Dinesh C. Gupta · 2005
The U.S. Department of Energy Environmental Management program has been focused on delivering cleanup that is safe for the worker, protective of the environment, and responsible to the taxpayers. Significant progress has been made in response to the recommendations of the Top-to-Bottom Review Team, chartered by the Secretary of Energy in 2001. During last three years, the program has implemented initiatives that have delivered significant risk reduction and cleanup results. This paper describes a study (the study”) by the EM staff that is aimed at investigating if further efficiencies can be incorporated in the program and the cleanup of EM sites can be proficiently completed using further improvement. The study is an ongoing effort; however, preliminary findings have been made and the identified opportunities are being examined by EM management. The set of opportunities identified through the study present programmatic, regulatory and technical issues that will need to be addressed. Many of these issues carry substantial programmatic risks or implementation challenges. In a number of cases, further analyses or trade-off studies would need to be conducted, in consultation with stakeholders, prior to developing detailed implementation plans. The “next steps” for the study have been identified in terms of the near-term actions to be taken to begin or improve implementation of the initiatives and incorporation into site and programmatic baselines.