Design Approach for the U.S. Department of Energy CERCLA Waste Disposal Facilities

In recent years, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has constructed waste disposal facilities (WDFs) at a number of their sites for the management and disposal of waste generated during Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) remediation activities, including environmental remediation (ER) generated wastes and decontamination and decommissioning (D&D) wastes. DOE has used the CERCLA process at a number of these facilities for decision making on whether to dispose of CERCLA wastes at an off-site disposal facility or in a newly constructed on-site WDF. Somewhat unique to these WDFs is the number of federal regulations, orders, and other potentially applicable or relevant and appropriate requirements (ARARs) that drive the design approach. This paper discusses differences between the various requirements and describes how they are integrated to develop a coherent design philosophy and package of design criteria.