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.
Legacy Management Sites
Legacy Management Case Studies
Legacy Management Tribal Collaboration
LM works closely with Native American and Alaska Native stakeholders who are partners in our commitment to LTS&M. We routinely collaborate on-site inspections and environmental monitoring, document review, natural resources management, community outreach, STEM education, and more.
Fernald Citizens Advisory Board (FCAB)
Rocky Flats Closure Legacy Report
The Rocky Flats Closure Legacy Report was created to capture and preserve groundbreaking analyses, strategies, and decisions carried out at Rocky Flats, in support of the accelerated closure effort. This lessons-learned report is designed to chronicle the full history of the closure effort, covering not only the technical and scientific matters typically addressed in lessons learned arenas, but also the policy and programmatic issues that were addressed during the course of accelerated closure.
2010 Long-Term Stewardship Conference
The conference provided technical information, education, and networking opportunities for representatives from government agencies, regulatory agencies, political offices, tribal groups, and other stakeholders involved in LTS&M of remediated sites and facilities. LTS&M includes activities necessary to protect human health and the environment following cleanup and disposal of radioactive and chemical wastes.
2014 Mound, Ohio, Site Reindustrialization Workshop
Workshop presentations emphasized the challenges of reindustrializing former DOE sites and the importance of involving local government and the community in decision-making processes. Topics included government property transfer rules, revitalization and reuse initiatives, property divisions and potential reuses, cleanup levels based on end-use scenarios, and lessons learned from Mound reindustrialization efforts and those of other redeveloped sites.
Selected Presentations:
- ECA Mound Opportunities and DOE Processes, Seth Kirshenberg, Executive Director of Energy Communities Alliance.
- Asset Revitalization Initiative, Tania Smith, Co-Leader of DOE Asset Revitalization Initiative Task Force.
- Hanford Tri Cities Case Study, Carl Adrian, President/CEO of Tri-City Development Council (TRIDEC).
2018 Long-Term Stewardship Conference
The conference provided technical information, education, and networking opportunities for representatives from government agencies, regulatory agencies, political offices, tribal groups, and other stakeholders involved in LTS&M of remediated sites and facilities. LTS&M includes activities necessary to protect human health and the environment following cleanup and disposal of radioactive and chemical wastes.
Selected Presentations:
- Stakeholder Involvement in Uranium Facilities—Lessons Learned: Brazil, Arnaldo Mezrahi, Brazilian Nuclear Energy Commission.
- Institutional Controls: The Interplay of Real Estate Law, Regulatory Requirements, and Local Code, Randy Tormey, DOE Office of Environmental Management.
- Transition of the Former Mound, Ohio, Site to a Commercial Business Park, Sue Smiley, DOE Office of Legacy Management.
- U.S. Department of Energy Office of Legacy Management Uranium Leasing Program: A Seventy-Year Heritage, Edward Cotter, Navarro Research and Engineering, Inc.
- Uranium Leasing Program: Reclamation of Legacy Mine Sites William Dam, Navarro Research and Engineering, Inc.
- Vicinity Property Assessments at Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program Sites (FUSRAP), Ann Ewy, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
- Evaluating Vulnerability of Closed Uranium Mill Tailing Sites to Event-Triggered Surface Erosion, Jenny Chapman, Desert Research Institute.
- Erosion Control at the L-Bar Disposal Site, William Frazier, DOE Office of Legacy Management.
OPEXShare
OPEXSHARE (doeopexshare.doe.gov) supports the implementation of the DOE Corporate Operating Experience Program. This information and collaboration resource supports DOE-wide management of operating experience to prevent adverse operating incidents and facilitate the sharing of good work practices among DOE sites.
Legacy Management-Related Lessons Learned on OPEXShare:
OSTI.gov
The DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI), a unit of the Office of Science, makes more than 70 years of research results from DOE and its predecessor agencies accessible. Research results include journal articles/accepted manuscripts and related metadata; technical reports; scientific research datasets and collections; scientific software; patents; conference and workshop papers; books and theses; and multimedia. OSTI.GOV contains over 3 million records, including citations to 1.5 million journal articles, 1 million of which have digital object identifiers linking to full-text articles on publishers' websites.
Legacy Management Lessons Learned on OSTI:
- Lessons Learned from FUSRAP
- Long Term Stewardship Challenges at the St. Louis District FUSRAP Sites (United States Army Corps of Engineers)
- Process for Transition of Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act Title II Disposal Sites to the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Legacy Management for Long-Term Surveillance and Maintenance
- Treatment of Chlorinated Solvents in Groundwater Beneath an Occupied Building at the Young-Rainey STAR Center, Pinellas, FL
Annual Waste Management Symposia
The Waste Management Symposia (WMS) is an annual forum for discussing and seeking safe, cost-effective solutions to the management and disposition of radioactive wastes and the decommissioning of nuclear facilities. Many LM presentations from past conferences are available on the WMS website.
Additional Resources
- GAO Report - Environmental Liabilities: DOE Needs to Better Plan for Post-Cleanup Challenges Facing Sites (2020).
- LM Site Management Guide.
- Long-Term Stewardship Resource Center.
- Memorandum of Understanding on Long-Term Stewardship at Federal Facilities in the United States (2003).
- Closure for the Seventh Generation (2017 Edition) - A Report from the State and Tribal Government Working Group’s Long-Term Stewardship Committee.
- State and Tribal Government Working Group.
- Transitioning Sites.
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