Test Reactor Area
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A worker scans a tank that was removed from the ground at a TRA cleanup site. |
Cleanup work at the Test Reactor Area falls under Waste Area Group 2 of the Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order. The agreement, also called the FFA/CO, is a binding agreement signed in 1991 between DOE, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the state of Idaho.
The Test Reactor Area, established in the early 1950s, was the home of three major test reactors: the Materials Test Reactor, which ran from 1952 to 1970; the Engineering Test Reactor, which ran from 1957 through 1982, and the Advanced Test Reactor, or ATR, which first started up in 1967. Today, the primary mission at the Test Reactor Area is operation of the ATR, the world's premier test reactor, and is used to study the effects of radiation on materials. The reactor can also produce rare and valuable medical and industrial isotopes. The Office of Nuclear Energy is managing the facility.
The Warm Waste Pond at the Test Reactor Area was one of three release sites that resulted in the INEEL being listed in 1989 on the National Priorities List. This is the EPA's list of sites requiring cleanup under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act, otherwise known as Superfund or by the acronym CERCLA.
The cleanup sites at the Test Reactor Area must undergo an evaluation and review process to verify that cleanup work has been completed, and that it will remain protective of human health and the environment. This review will also ensure that all evaluations and cleanup work have been properly documented and that records are being maintained in accordance with FFA/CO requirements.
A project closeout report that will explain the results of cleanup work and identify all remaining surveillance and monitoring activities is currently being developed. The remaining surveillance and monitoring activities will be transferred to the long-term stewardship function of the Idaho Completion Project. These activities include monitoring, institutional controls to restrict access and limit disturbance where necessary, and the required five-year reviews to evaluate the effectiveness of completed cleanup work.
Any future cleanup sites identified at the Test Reactor Area will be evaluated and managed under the site-wide area of the FFA/CO known as Waste Area Group 10.