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2.6 Future Uses for Land, Facilities and Equipment

(Review Element #10)

Future Land Use

For nearly 40 years, the Department of Energy and its predecessor agencies produced nuclear materials for the nation's defense programs at the Savannah River Site. Today, the focus of the Department has shifted to waste management and environmental remediation. Decisions and planning for managing these activities will depend on the future use of the land and facilities at SRS. The stakeholder recommendations in the 1995 SRS Future Use Project Report to the Department of Energy will aid in those future decisions.

In 1972, the SRS was designated as the nation's first National Environmental Research Park (NERP). The NERP program is dedicated to the study of the interaction of human-managed environments with natural systems. The park contains portions of Aiken, Barnwell and Allendale Counties. The research park boundaries are coincident with those of SRS and offer numerous opportunities for conducting ecological research on interactions between industrial activities and the natural environment. Figure 2-5 shows the proposed National Environment Research Park. Within the park, DOE has set aside large land areas for ecological research that serve as natural reference areas because they are not directly affected by DOE operations. Figure 2-6 indicates the DOE research set aside areas, which totals 7% of the site. These areas preserve habitats for the flora and fauna of the SRS, including endangered, threatened and rare species. As part of a national project, SRS will be working with the SRS Citizens Advisory Board (CAB), the Savannah River Regional Diversification Initiative (SRRDI) and other stakeholders to develop stakeholder-preferred future use options for the site. These options will aid the DOE-SR Project Managers in the decision for the future land use for the site. The proposed Future Use Map for SRS, which is currently being developed, will depict possible future land management categories consistent with currently projected mission assessments.

¹Major activities that will be affected by future use decisions include:

Establishing acceptable risk and remediation levels (i.e., addressing "How clean is clean?" by deciding "Clean for what use?")
Planning and siting of new facilities necessary for DOE missions, including waste treatment storage and disposal facilities
Preserving land and facilities necessary for current and future DOE missions and other national research needs
Continuing to use land for environmental and ecological research and resource management
Identifying opportunities for transfer or lease of surplus land and buildings to other federal, tribal, state, local government or private sector use

²Possible land use categories under consideration for SRS include:

Industrial or Commercial
Residential
Agricultural
Recreational
Archaeological and Cultural
Resource Management

Citizens Advisory Board (CAB) Risk Management and Future Use Subcommittee Recommendation

The CAB is a group of 25 citizens from South Carolina and Georgia who have been chartered to provide DOE-SR, EPA-Region IV and SCDHEC with recommendations on ER, WM and other related issues. The CAB has issue-based subcommittees that investigate and develop motions for the full CAB to consider on programmatic issues at DOE-SR. These subcommittees are very active (the ER&WM;Subcommittee met 17 times in FY95), both in the number of times they meet, as well as the number of recommendations the full CAB adopts from motions developed by the subcommittees (in FY95, five of nine recommendations passed by the CAB had direct impacts on the ER Program).

The SRS CAB Risk Management and Future Use Subcommittee has considered the future use issue and has adopted a nine-part recommendation and vision statement. The full CAB passed this recommendation on September 25, 1995. The vision statement was adopted on at the January 23, 1996, meeting. The vision statement and recommendations contain all stakeholder input including the CAB. Public involvement was extensive.

The Savannah River Site should remain a national asset. It must be maintained and improved to meet government needs for both its historical defense capabilities and new nuclear and non-nuclear missions, and support commercial industrial initiatives that enhance the local and national economy. Of equal importance, as the first and most diverse National Environmental Research Park, the site must sustain and expand its internationally recognized ecological and environmental restoration research and maintain and improve its natural environment. These two interrelated concepts will ensure that new missions, industrial activities, remediation, research, educational programs and recreational opportunities are pursued in harmony.

Recommendations from All Stakeholders

SRS boundaries shall remain unchanged and the land shall remain under the ownership of the federal government; consistent with the site's designation as the first National Environmental Research Park.
Residential uses of SRS should be prohibited.
If DOE or the federal government should ever decide to sell any of the SRS land, then DOE shall seek legislation to permit former landowners (as of 19501952) and/or their descendants to have the first option to buy back the land they once owned.
All SRS land should be available for multiple use, except for residential use, (e.g., industry, ecological, natural resource management, research and technology demonstration, recreation, and public education) wherever appropriate and nonconflicting.
Some of the land should continue to be available for nuclear and non-nuclear industrial uses and commercial industrialization should be pursued.
Industrial and environmental research and technology development and transfer should be expanded.
Natural resource management should be pursued wherever possible with biodiversity being the primary goal.
Recreational opportunities should be increased as appropriate.
Future use planning should consider the full range of worker, public, and environmental risks, benefits and costs associated with remediation.

Based on these recommendations and DOE-SR's support for legislation to formalize the Atomic Energy Commission's designation of the site as the first National Environmental Research Park, there are no plans to release any of the land to the public. There may be private uses of the land using lease agreements. These private uses of the land will include commercial industrialization at various locations across the site.

Facility Reuse

The SRS Surplus Facility Reuse Program (in conjunction with the WSRC Economic Development Programs) identifies, facilitates and implements cost effective site, governmental, or commercial reuse of SRS surplus facilities. Reuse can be a cost effective alternative to decommissioning, long-term surveillance and maintenance, or demolition. These facilities can be used by local businesses for other manufacturing or light industrial purposes.

¹U. S. Department of Energy Savannah River Operations Office, Draft Savannah River Site Future Use Project Report, Stakeholder-Preferred Options for the SRS Land and Facilities, January 1996, page 1.
²U. S. Department of Energy Savannah River Operations Office, Draft Savannah River Site Future Use Project Report, Stakeholder-Preferred Options for the SRS Land and Facilities, January 1996, page 11.