Idaho National Laboratory Environmental Monitoring Plan

6.2 Response to an Exceedance
Each INL Site contractor maintains their own plans or procedures to ensure that appropriate, timely
notifications to appropriate authorities occur, and that corrective actions are taken in the event that
monitoring results exceed a regulatory limit or, in some cases, a preset trigger level. Specific actions to be
taken when validated monitoring results are above certain trigger levels are identified in the applicable
permits and regulations (e.g., RCRA, WLAP, Safe Drinking Water Act [Reference 33]). These actions
include reporting any exceedances to the appropriate federal, state, or local agencies, along with initiating
appropriate corrective actions in a timely manner. The types of corrective actions could vary depending
on the specific regulation and could include follow-up reanalysis or confirmation sampling, removing
potable water well from service, or remedial action.
For reportable occurrences, specific actions to be taken are identified in the DOE Order 231.1A,
“Environment, Safety and Health Reporting,” 45 which establishes reporting requirements and categorizes
releases of radionuclide and hazardous substances or regulated pollutants. Taking the following general
steps when responding to an environmental data exceedance will ensure that coordinated actions are taken
and INL Site stakeholders are notified in a timely manner:
1. Discover, confirm, and make initial notification.
2. Categorize environmental data exceedance.
3. Determine and initiate appropriate response.
4. Complete necessary reporting and notification.
6-5 Environmental Event Monitoring