FUSRAP [Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program] - Ten years of experience

The Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP) is one of two US Department of Energy (DOE) environmental programs administered under the direction of the DOE Division of Facility and Site Decommissioning Project. The US Congress authorized DOE to initiate FUSRAP in 1974 to identify and clean up or otherwise control sites where residual radioactive material (exceeding current guidelines) remains from the early years of the nation's atomic energy program or from commercial operations causing conditions that Congress has mandated DOE to remedy. FUSRAP currently includes 30 sites in 13 states; work is complete at 9 sites, and characterization and remedial action are underway at 14 others. Since field work began in 1979, many procedural and technical obstacles have been encountered and addressed. Difficult field conditions, dealing with mixed hazardous waste issues, changing environmental regulations and political atmospheres, as well as funding changes and limitations are a few of the challenges program personnel meet on a day-to-day basis. The lessons learned during ten years of field experience have led to innovative technologies, unique management approaches, and engineering accomplishments. Technical developments include an iterative drilling process used in characterization, a system for detection of Thorium-230 in the field (PERALS), a hardware/software ranging and data transmission system (USRADS), and a treatment process for converting a particular hazardous chemical/radioactive mixed waste to low-specific-activity (LSA) radioactive waste. FUSRAP is a dynamic program with a future of innovation based on experience and technical expertise