300 Area Completion Strategy and Commitments

The strategy for the 300 Area is also built on the early completion of remedial actions on an area-by-area basis. For the purposes of the Tri-Party Agreement, the 300 Area has been subdivided into three parts:

the portion of the 300 Area within the industrial complex (inside the fence),
the portion outside the industrial area (outside the fence),
and the 618-10 and 618-11 burial grounds.

The commitments necessary to obtain a final record of decision for the 300 Area are based on the same strategy as employed in the 100 Area, including submittal of close-out verification packages in a "timely manner" for each of the three subdivisions within the 300 Area National Priorities List. Development of the final record of decision will again be done after an appropriate period of time to judge the effectiveness of the remedies. The record of decision requires a new milestone be set to establish a date to complete the final remedial investigation/feasibility study for the entire 300 Area. These efforts are likely after 2020.

Actions to control sources of contamination are to be completed for the portion outside the fence by December 2012. Completing source control actions for the portion inside the fence and the 618-10 and 618-11 burial grounds are not scheduled to be complete until December 2018.

Earlier efforts to complete the outside-the-fence portion of the 300 Area for partial deletion from the National Priorities List would be the primary driver to move this work forward. Any efforts to pursue partial deletion from the National Priorities List for the outside-the-fence portion could not occur before 2014.

In addition to the new milestone commitments contained in the River Corridor change packages, several existing and ongoing activities represent the primary near-term issues between the Groundwater Remediation Project and the River Corridor contractor. Several complementary efforts are now underway to evaluate whether the industrial cleanup standard for contaminated soil of 350 pCi/g protects the groundwater and/or ecological receptors. These activities support the ongoing remediation of the 300-FF-1 Operable Unit that contains the primary sources of uranium responsible for the existing groundwater contamination. This re-evaluation of the 350 pCi/g uranium cleanup standard for groundwater is to be complete in early 2003. In addition, it will allow the completed waste site excavations to be backfilled and recontoured, may require the industrial cleanup standard to be lowered to protect the groundwater and ecological receptors, or will seek to modify the existing groundwater remedy to require long-term institutional controls of the groundwater rather than the current remedy of monitored natural attenuation.

Due to the long lead time for completion of the first portion of the 300 Area (after 2012), few other issues exist that cannot be resolved in time to meet the Tri-Party Agreement requirements.