DOE/ORO/2327 Oak Ridge Reservation Annual Site Environmental ...

Annual Site Environmental Report
• air quality compliance,
• water quality compliance,
• U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) compliance,
• environmental sampling and data evaluation, and
• Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) interface.
The UT-Battelle staff also includes experts who provide critical waste management and disposition
support services to ORNL research, operations, and support divisions. These include
• waste services representatives who work with waste generators to identify, characterize, package, and
certify wastes for disposal;
• the waste-handling team, which performs waste-packing operations and conducts inspections of waste
items, areas, and containers;
• the waste and materials disposition team, which coordinates off-site disposition of ORNL’s newly
generated waste;
• the hazardous material spill response team, which is the first line of response to hazardous materials
spills at ORNL and controls and contains such spills until the situation is stabilized; and
• the Environmental Management Program Office (EMPO) coordinates and directs specific CERCLA
decommissioning and demolition work being done on the ORNL site. EMPO activities include
developing and implementing interface agreements applicable to multiple contractors, CERCLA
Applicable or Relevant and Appropriate Requirements (ARARs), and project work plans.
5.2.1.4 UT-Battelle Sustainable Campus Initiative
“The Sustainable Campus for the Year 2018 Initiative” is an ORNL-wide effort that builds upon the
Laboratory’s strength as a premier science and technology organization in integrating energy efficiency,
cutting-edge technologies, and operational and business processes to achieve sustainability. UT-Battelle
implemented this multidisciplinary initiative to provide an overarching support structure to capture
current efforts, to accelerate future implementation, and to provide a comprehensive sustainable vision of
ORNL in the future. The ultimate goal is to achieve benchmark sustainability in campus operation and in
the research, development and deployment of key technologies by 2018. The initiative was launched in
October 2008 and continues a modernization program that began in 2002.
A diverse team, representing multiple organizations and areas of expertise, was formed to develop
and implement a roadmap to achieve a sustainable campus at ORNL by 2018. Implementation of this
roadmap began in 2009. Four components collectively build a base for the roadmap. The first component,
foundational methods, includes historically proven methods such as energy efficiency in buildings and
processes, zero process water discharge, zero solid waste discharge, zero adverse health effects, recycle
and reuse strategies, and employee and family engagement. The second component, known technology,
includes recently proven methods such as renewable energy sources, green building design, hybrid
vehicles, and certain alternative fuel applications. The third component, leading-edge technology,
involves bringing together known technologies in innovative ways and includes methods currently being
tested such as solar covered parking with plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), solar application with
highly-efficient buildings, innovative transportation technology, advanced building design technologies,
and biofuel developments. The fourth component, transformational technology, is forward-thinking highimpact
demonstration projects identified by appointed panels of scientists.
Sustainable successes achieved at ORNL during 2009 are discussed in the following sections. For
more information see http://sustainability-ornl.org.
5.2.1.4.1 Modernization and Facilities Revitalization
In 1943, more than 6,000 workers began construction of some 150 buildings that became known as
ORNL. More than 65 years later, a massive effort to modernize and revitalize the Laboratory continues.
Since 2000, more than 1,900,000 ft 2 of aged, expensive-to-maintain buildings has been vacated and some
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