Published: 2001
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The Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) requires a Federal Facilities Agreement (FFA) for federal facilities placed on the National Priorities List. The Oak Ridge Reservation was placed on that list on December 21, 1989, and the agreement was signed in November 1991 by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Oak Ridge Operations Office, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region IV, and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC). The effective date of the FFA is January 1, 1992. One objective of the FFA is to ensure that liquid low-level waste (LLLW) tanks that are removed from service are evaluated and remediated through the CERCLA process. Five inactive LLLW tanks, designated T-1, T-2, T-3, T-4, and T-9, located at the Old Hydrofracture (OHF) Facility in the Melton Valley area of Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have been evaluated and are now entering the remediation phase. As a precursor to final remediation, this project will remove the current liquid and sludge contents of each of the five tanks (System Requirements Document, Appendix A). It was concluded in the Engineering Evaluation/Cost Analysis[EE/CA] for the Old Hydrofracture Facility Tanks (DOE 1996) that sluicing and pumping the contaminated liquid and sludge from the five OHF tanks was the preferred removal action. Evaluation indicated that this alternative meets the removal action objective and can be effective, implementable, and cost-effective. Sluicing and removing the tank contents was selected because this action uses (1) applicable experience, (2) the latest information about technologies and techniques for removing the wastes from the tanks, and (3) activities that are currently acceptable for storage of transuranic (TRU) mixed waste.