DOE PUBLISHES NEW OAK RIDGE
RESERVATION ENVIRONMENTAL REPORT 
 

OAK RIDGE, Tenn. - The Annual Site Environmental Report for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Reservation facilities is now available.  The analysis of the 2002 data shows that activities on the Reservation to be in compliance with air, water, and radiation limits established under federal and state environmental laws.

Each year, thousands of measurements are made of the air, water, and other environmental pathways on the 33,750-acre Oak Ridge Reservation (ORR) to track releases and the resulting effects on the environment and humans as compared with regulatory standards and requirements.  These results are compiled in the Annual Site Environmental Report (ASER) which provides a report on the overall ORR performance and its three facilities:  The Oak Ridge National Laboratory, East Tennessee Technology Park, and the Y-12 National Security Complex.

“This report shows that our facilities continue to operate well within the regulatory limits and therefore should not represent an unacceptable risk to the public,” said Robert Poe, Assistant Manager for Environment, Safety, Health and Emergency Management at DOE’s Oak Ridge Operations.

Some highlights from the report:

•     Radiation exposures are well below those permitted by law.  The potential maximum radiation dose any person could have received from exposure to emissions released from the Oak Ridge facilities was 1-12 millirem (mrem).  This is far less than the 360 mrem of radiation the average person in the United States receives each year.  A millirem is a standard unit of measurement for radiation.

•     Air emissions are in compliance.  All three facilities operated well below regulatory radiation dose limits and met the emission and test procedures of the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants for Radionuclides.

•     Water discharges are in compliance.  Each facility achieved a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit compliance rate greater than 99.9 percent.

•     There were no releases by any of the facilities of reportable quantities of hazardous chemicals or asbestos. 

Environmental samples of air, water, wildlife, soil, locally grown food crops and vegetation were collected on or near the Reservation and comprise the data source for the report. The report presents data from these samples in a variety of formats including maps, figures, data summary tables, charts and graphs while providing an interpretation of their results compared to the federal, state and DOE imposed limits.

The report is presented in two documents.  The ASER Summary document was written with the help of high school students for the public to easily understand DOE’s environmental commitments and responsibilities.  The technical document contains detailed data on environmental sampling and compliance activities for each facility.

Copies of both documents are available at the DOE Information Center, 475 Oak Ridge Turnpike, Oak Ridge, telephone (865) 241-4780 or 1-800-382-6938, option 6.  You may also view the report online at http://www.ornl.gov/aser.  Interested groups or organizations who wish to request a presentation on the document as a part of the DOE Speakers Bureau program may contact the DOE Public Affairs Office at (865) 576-0885. 

-DOE-

R-04-005