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

Annual Site Environmental Report
environment. The discharge of nitrate compounds is not regulated in the NPDES permit for the sewage
plant.
5.4 Air Quality Program
5.4.1 Construction and Operating Permits
Permits issued by the state of Tennessee convey the clean air requirements that are applicable to
ORNL. New projects are governed by construction permits until converted to operating status. The
sitewide Title V Major Source Operating Permit includes requirements that are generally applicable to
large operations such as a national laboratory, e.g., asbestos and stratospheric ozone, as well as specific
requirements directly applicable to individual air emission sources. Source-specific requirements include
the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants for Radionuclides (see Sect. 5.4.3),
requirements applicable to sources of ambient air criteria pollutants, and sources of other hazardous air
pollutants (non-radiological). DOE/UT-Battelle holds a Title V permit for 10 emission sources. In April
2009, an application was submitted to the State of Tennessee to renew this sitewide permit.
At the beginning of 2009, the primary
emission points of nonradioactive emissions at
ORNL included the steam plant, boilers 1–6 on
the main ORNL site, two boilers located at the
7600 complex, and four boilers located at the
SNS site. During 2009, steam plant boilers 1–4
were permanently shut down. All of these units
use fossil fuels; therefore, criteria pollutants are
emitted. Actual and allowable emissions from
the sources are compared in Table 5.11. Actual
emissions were calculated from fuel use and
EPA emission factors. Boiler 6, a 125-MBtu/h
boiler, is subject to the new source performance
standards of 40 CFR 60 Subpart Db with
continuous emission monitoring requirements
for NOx and opacity. All UT-Battelle emission
sources operated in compliance with Title V
permit conditions during 2009.
Table 5.11. Actual versus allowable air
emissions from ORNL steam
production, 2009
Pollutant
Emissions
(tons per year) a
Actual Allowable
Percentage
of allowable
(%)
Sulfur dioxide 9 1277 0.7
Particulate
matter
3 71 4.2
Carbon
monoxide
35 196 17.9
Volatile organic
compounds
2 14 14.3
Nitrogen oxides 74 380 19.5
a
1 ton = 907.2 kg.
The permitting and start of construction of the Energy Conservation Measures Project, with the goal
of energy savings, was a significant event in 2009. This project includes replacing the existing natural
gas/fuel oil fired boilers 1–4 with a biomass gasification system at the ORNL Steam Plant, the installation
of additional boilers in remote locations to eliminate the need for steam distribution to those areas, and
modifications to the existing natural gas/fuel oil fired boilers 5 and 6. The biomass gasification system, a
main component of the overall project, will gasify wood fuel to provide a clean source of steam and will
significantly displace fossil fuels used by the existing steam plant and reduce the fossil fuel consumption
at ORNL. Also, during 2009, there were three minor modification and two administrative amendment
requests pending for the Title V permit.
The minor modification requests were to include the SNS Central Exhaust Facility under the
UT-Battelle Title V permit, to transfer ownership of the Radiochemical Development Facility, and to
allow an alternative monitoring system for nitrogen oxides.
For state fiscal year 2009, UT-Battelle paid $7,331 in annual emission fees to TDEC. The fees are
based on a combination of actual and allowable emissions.
DOE/WAI has an operating air permit for one emission source, a TRU waste processing facility.
DOE/Isotek has a Title V Major Source Operating permit for the Radiochemical Development Facility.
During CY 2009, no permit limits were exceeded.
Oak Ridge National Laboratory 5-29