Chapter 2

UMTRA Project Has Grown in Size and Cost

Since its inception in 1979, the UMTRA project has grown in both size and cost. The surface cleanup at the Title I sites is almost complete, but it took DOE nearly 8 years longer than expected and cost 37 percent more than the agency anticipated. The schedule changes and cost increases resulted from several factors, including unexpected quantities and locations of tailings, changes in federal regulatory requirements, and state and local concerns. As for the cleanup of the groundwater at the Title I sites, efforts have only recently begun. DOE initiated groundwater cleanup at the Title I sites in 1991 and currently estimates completion in about 2014, at a cost of at least $147 million.'

Surface Cleanup Is
Nearly Complete but
Has Taken Longer and
Cost More Than
Anticipated

DOE is currently seeking reauthorization of the surface cleanup program through fiscal year 1998, or 8 years past the act's original deadline. When it was enacted in 1978, the Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act directed DOE to complete the cleanup of the Title I sites by March 1990 (7 years after EPA's standards became effective). The deadline for the surface cleanup was later extended through fiscal year 1994, and then still later, through 1996.2 According to DOE, these extensions were necessary because of growth in the program's size and complexity. The Department currently expects that its surface cleanup will be completed by the beginning of 1997. DOE is working with NRC to expedite the licensing process so that all of the work is completed by the end of 1998.

As of October 1995, the surface cleanup was complete at 15 of the 24 Title I sites, was under way at 7 additional sites, and was being planned at another 2 sites. Of the 15 sites where DOE has completed cleanup, 3 have been licensed by NRC as meeting EPA's standards. Ten of the other 12 sites are working on obtaining an NRC license (e.g., preparing paperwork for submission to NRC or undergoing NRC's review or inspection). Additionally, DOE has completed the surface cleanup at about 97 percent of the 5,276 nearby properties--which DOE terms vicinity properties—included in the program as of October 1995.

'These amounts, as well as all others in this chapter, have been converted to present-value 1995 dollars

Although DOE, through its 1992 planning process, requested that the program be authorized through fiscal year 1998, the Energy Policy Act of 1992 provided authorization only through 1996.

'According to DOE officials, unlike the other sites, the sites at Monument Valley, Arizona, and Riverton, Wyoming, will not be licensed because the tailings were relocated to either a Title I or a Title

Il site.

Chapter 2

UMTRA Project Has Grown in Size and Cost

In January 1995, DOE estimated that the total cost of the surface cleanup at the Title I sites will be about $2.3 billion, or $621 million (37 percent) more than it estimated in 1982. Through fiscal year 1994, expenditures for the surface cleanup already totaled about $2 billion, and DOE expects to spend another $300 million in completing this cleanup. Of the total projected cost of $2.3 billion, DOE expects to spend about 22 percent cleaning up the vicinity properties and the rest on cleaning up the 24 Title I sites. Through fiscal year 1995, the states will have contributed $99.9 million, and they are expected to spend another $29.6 million through the completion of the program as their share of the cleanup costs.

Table 2.1 summarizes the status and cost of the surface cleanup at the
Title I sites and vicinity properties.

'In DOE's accounting system, this amount is reported as $1.47 billion in what DOE terms "escalated" dollars

While DOE's budget system accounts for the two largest cost components of the cleanup at vicinity properties, it cannot fully itemize all these costs. As a result, according to DOE, the 22 percent of the total project cost that DOE expects to spend for cleaning up these properties is understated to a small

extent.

27-350 97-4

*All dollars are adjusted to present-value 1995 dollars

"Processing site only

*Includes 115 vicinity properties that were cleaned up under Grand Junction's remedial action program

*Anticipated completion date

"Includes contaminated materials from the vicinity property in the Burrell, Pennsylvania, area

'The collection of costs at the Belfield and Bowman sites was not consistent during fiscal years 1980-94, sometimes the costs for both sites were included in the totals for one site, and sometimes the costs were split. However, the combined costs are correct

*The UMTRA project is responsible for cleaning up the vicinity properties only-the former uranium mill site in Edgemont is owned and was cleaned up by the Tennessee Valley Authority in the late 1980s.

As the table shows, among all of DOE'S cleanup sites, the Grand Junction, Colorado, location stands out in several respects. Its projected cleanup costs are by far the highest, as would be expected since it had the second greatest volume of contaminated material and the greatest number of vicinity properties that needed cleanup.

The table also shows that the cost of cleaning up the high-priority
locations was generally higher than the cost of cleaning up the
medium-priority locations, which in turn was higher than the cost of
cleaning up the low-priority locations. About 70 percent of the total
projected costs will be incurred at the high-priority locations, about 18
percent at the medium-priority locations, and about 12 percent at the
low-priority locations. On average, the projected cleanup cost is
$179.1 million for a high-priority location, $68 million for a
medium-priority location, and $31.4 million for a low-priority location.

In general, at those locations where the tailings were taken off-site for disposal, the costs were greater than they were at the sites where the

Chapter 2

UMTRA Project Has Grown in Size and Cost

Several Factors
Increased Cost of
DOE's Surface
Cleanup

Compliance With EPA's
Groundwater Standards
Required Changes in
Surface Cleanup Strategies

tailings were kept on-site. Averaged over all locations, the estimated cost of off-site disposal is about $130 million per location, compared with about $55.6 million per location for on-site disposal.

With work completed at 15 of the 24 Title I sites, the bulk of the expenditures for surface cleanup have already been made, as shown in table 2.1. The estimated remaining costs make up only 13 percent of the projected total cost. For the most part, DOE has completed the surface cleanup at those sites that posed the greatest potential health risk to the public (e.g., sites located near major population centers). At most of the other sites, DOE's cleanup efforts are well under way.

6

AS DOE's surface cleanup at the Title I sites grew in size and complexity, its
costs increased. In 1982, DOE estimated that the entire cleanup effort
would cost about $1.7 billion, but by 1992, its estimate had risen to
$2.3 billion. On the basis of studies it conducted in 1990 and 1992, DOE
identified several factors that contributed to the cost increases. Among
these factors were the (1) development of EPA's new standards to protect
groundwater, (2) establishment or revision of other federal standards
addressing such things as the transport of the tailings and the safety of
workers; (3) unexpected discovery of additional tailings, both at
processing sites and at newly discovered vicinity properties; and
(4) changes made in cleanup strategies in response to state and local
concerns. DOE has concluded that to varying degrees, each of these factors
caused additional work, thus increasing costs.

One of the major factors that DOE identified as driving up the cost of its surface cleanups was EPA's establishment of groundwater standards, which were proposed in 1987 and finalized in January 1995. EPA developed these standards specifically for the UMTRA project.' The standards addressed the likely types and levels of contamination associated with all

"The 1982 estimate assumed that the cleanups would be completed in 7 years and that only one pile of
tailings would need to be relocated. However, the 1992 estimate assumed that the surface cleanup
would be completed in 1998 and that 13 piles of tailings would need to be relocated. The two
estimates, while different in some respects, are the best cost estimates that DOE had available.
'According to DOE, until the standards were finalized, it treated the proposed standards as final after
1987, as directed by section 275 of the Atomic Energy Act.