Wells James R, Spitz Henry B
University of Cincinnati, Department of Mechanical, Industrial and Nuclear Engineering, 598 Rhodes Hall, Cincinnati, OH 45221-0072, USA.
Health Phys. 2003 Nov;85(5):578-84. doi: 10.1097/00004032-200311000-00005.
It is readily apparent, as the Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management proceeds in remediating its vast network of contaminated nuclear weapons facilities, that final cleanup at many facilities will not be performed to a level allowing unrestricted use of the facility. Instead, these facilities must rely on engineering, administrative, and institutional controls to ensure the level of cleanup performed at the site remains adequately protective of public health and the environment. In order for these controls to remain effective, however, a plan for long-term stewardship of these sites must be developed that is approved by the U.S. Congress. Although this sounds simple enough for the present, serious questions remain regarding how best to implement a program of stewardship to ensure its effectiveness over time, particularly for sites with residual contamination of radionuclides with half-lives on the order of thousands of years. Individual facilities have attempted to answer these questions at the site-specific level. However, the complexities of the issues require federal support and oversight to ensure the programs implemented at each of the facilities are consistent and effective. The Department of Energy recently submitted a report to Congress outlining the extent of long-term stewardship needs at each of its facilities. As a result, the time is ripe for forward thinking Congressional action to address the relevant issues and ensure the remedy of long-term stewardship successfully carries out its intended purpose and remains protective of public health and the environment. The regulatory elements necessary for the stewardship program to succeed can only be implemented through the plenary powers of the U.S. Congress.
随着美国能源部环境管理办公室着手修复其庞大的受污染核武器设施网络，显而易见的是，许多设施的最终清理工作无法达到允许对该设施进行无限制使用的水平。相反，这些设施必须依靠工程、行政和制度控制措施，以确保现场进行的清理工作水平仍能充分保护公众健康和环境。然而，为了使这些控制措施保持有效，必须制定一项由美国国会批准的这些场地的长期管理计划。尽管目前听起来这足够简单，但对于如何最好地实施一项管理计划以确保其长期有效性，尤其是对于那些残留有半衰期达数千年的放射性核素污染的场地，仍存在严重问题。各个设施已尝试在场地特定层面回答这些问题。然而，这些问题的复杂性需要联邦政府的支持和监督，以确保在每个设施实施的计划是一致且有效的。能源部最近向国会提交了一份报告，概述了其每个设施长期管理需求的程度。因此，现在正是国会进行前瞻性思考、采取行动解决相关问题并确保长期管理补救措施成功实现其预期目标并继续保护公众健康和环境的时机。管理计划成功所需的监管要素只能通过美国国会的全权来实施。
