DOE recommending $2.2 bil. for Test Site cleanup projects

BethAnn D'Agostino

Tuesday, March 3, 1998 | 10:08 a.m.

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Years of making nuclear weapons for the federal government has left the Nevada Test Site in need of $2.2 billion, the U.S. Department of Energy says.

As part of a national proposal to clean and close nuclear projects across the nation, the DOE on Monday recommended that amount for the Test Site. The portion of that money to be used for environmental cleanup would be spent through 2014.

Although the amount is $1 billion more than was proposed in the first draft of a DOE report titled "Paths to Closure," it remains $16 million short of what had been requested by the local DOE office.

"The amount is going to make it difficult to accomplish what we need," said Nancy Harkess, spokeswoman for the DOE's Nevada Operations Office.

"The high priority is looking at the underground test areas, and making sure that contaminated water isn't moving off of the Test Site into public lands," she said, referring to contaminated groundwater in the northwestern corner of the Test Site.

The Paths to Closure proposals, headed by James Owendoff, the DOE's assistant secretary for environmental management, amount to $147 billion nationally. This amount would be used to clean 53 DOE sites through 2070.

Following a public comment period, the proposals will be subject to change.

Despite worries that the proposals may be under-funded, Owendoff said the DOE needed to make them to begin solving the problems caused by years of producing nuclear weapons for the U.S. military.

"Paths to Closure is a significant step forward in tackling the enormous challenge of cleaning up more than 50 years of contamination," Owendoff said.

The draft outlined costs and completion dates for specific cleanup projects, including groundwater monitoring and disposal of contaminated surface soils.

Environmental cleanup at the Test Site is scheduled for completion in 2014. The draft proposal also includes funds for low-level waste storage at the site through 2070.

Owendoff said the public has until the end of May to comment on the proposals and that he hopes to have a final draft released in the summer.