Long-Term Stewardship: Lessons Learned

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Legacy Management (LM) is responsible for ensuring that DOE’s post-closure responsibilities are met at cleaned-up sites once associated with the legacy of World War II and the Cold War.

Long-Term Stewardship (LTS) is defined by DOE as the physical controls, institutional controls, and other mechanisms needed to ensure protection of people and the environment at sites where DOE has completed or plans to complete cleanup (e.g., landfill closures, remedial actions, removal actions, and facility stabilization). This concept includes land-use controls, monitoring, maintenance, and information management.

Long-Term Surveillance and Maintenance (LTS&M) is defined by LM as site-specific physical or engineering controls, institutions, information, and other mechanisms that ensure protection of people and the environment at LM sites where cleanup (landfill closures, remedial actions, removal actions, facility stabilization) has occurred. The LTS&M scope includes land-use controls, monitoring, maintaining in-place remedies, monitoring systems and information management, and requesting adequate funding to implement the specific plans. “Long-term stewardship” is often used synonymously with LTS&M. The duration of activities is defined in site-specific Long-Term Surveillance and Maintenance Plans. LM provides LTS&M for sites that are transferred to the federal government for custodial care.

Lessons learned from LM’s LTS&M progress can inform activities and decisions across the DOE complex. This webpage communicates the lessons learned so that it improves LM’s knowledge and understanding as we protect human health and the environment through effective and efficient LTS&M.