Deactivation and Demolition (D and D) of the Toxic Substance Control Act (TSCA) Incinerator Oak Ridge, Tennessee - 19184
UCOR, an AECOM-led partnership with Jacobs, manages the cleanup of the 2,200-acre East Tennessee Technology Park for its client, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The site was contaminated with radioactive, hazardous and industrial wastes generated by more than 40 years of national defense and energy missions. In 1989, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) added the Oak Ridge Reservation to the National Priorities List of sites and facilities that pose a sufficient threat to human health or the environment to warrant cleanup. The U.S. Department of Energy is cleaning up the Oak Ridge Reservation under a Federal Facility Agreement with the EPA and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation. Many types of waste have been managed and disposed as part of the multi-decade cleanup effort. One unique facility, the Toxic Substance Control Act (TSCA) Incinerator, was constructed at the Department of Energy's Est Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP) in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The Incinerator was constructed in the mid-1980's and underwent a series of test burns and readiness reviews to obtain the necessary environmental permits and operating approvals from state and federal regulatory agencies. With these in place, the incinerator began routine operations in 1991. It was designed and permitted for receiving, sorting, storing, preparing, and thermally destroying low-level radioactive and RCRA mixed waste contaminated with PCBs. The incinerator was named after a law passed in 1976 that provides the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency with authority to require reporting, record-keeping, testing, and restrictions relating to chemical substances and/or mixtures. During its operating lifetime, the one-of-a-kind thermal treatment facility burned materials regulated under TSCA and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), most notably radiologically-contaminated polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). The TSCA Incinerator met or exceeded environmental regulations and DOE requirements for the treatment of these types of wastes. After more than 18 years of operation and more than 35 million pounds of waste safely incinerated, the TSCA Incinerator shut down operations on December 2, 2009. The TSCA Incinerator has been called a national resource for DOE sites from coast to coast. As the only U.S. facility permitted to incinerate specialized types of wastes, it not only accepted material from the Oak Ridge Reservation but also other facilities across the nationwide DOE complex. Over the years, a dynamic team of hard working and talented people operated and maintained the facility under the most stringent environmental permits and site requirements. The facility has played a key role in the treatment of radioactive PCB and hazardous wastes (mixed wastes) from the Oak Ridge Reservation, as well as from other facilities across the DOE complex. Through its support to over 20 sites in the DOE complex, environmental waste from past and ongoing operations has been safely and permanently treated. In the years since it was shut down, deactivation workers have been preparing TSCA for demolition. This work scope included triple cleaning, rinsing of all production equipment and tanks to RCRA clean criteria, filling sumps, encapsulating PCB and radioactive contamination, removal of universal waste (asbestos. lead and mercury), draining and disposal of residual water in tanks and transfer piping, and removing and disposing of carbon vessels, which were part of the water management system. In 2018, the facility was successfully deactivated and demolished, permanently removing one of the most unique facilities in the DOE complex. (authors)