U.S. Department of Energy's environmental restoration recycling program

The US Department of Energy (DOE) is contemplating establishing a recycling policy for environmental restoration efforts across the complex. The proposed Recycle 2000 policy now under consideration calls for recycling radioactively contaminated scrap metal generated by environmental restoration activities into containers for disposing of wastes within the DOE complex. Policy development within DOE typically has involved the Department's stakeholders only at the implementation phase. In this case, DOE decided to involve stakeholders at the outset of policy development. By considering stakeholders' perspectives in the framing of the policy, DOE anticipates that implementation of the resulting policy is likely to meet with greater success. This paper describes the Recycle 2000 policy, DOE's approach to developing it, and the status of development