Defining Science and Technology (S&T) Needs for Long-Term Stewardship of U.S. Department of Energy Sites and Development of an S&T Plan

A definition of Long-Term Stewardship (LTS) is: "all activities required to protect human health and the environment from hazards remaining after cleanup is complete". "Cleanup" in this sense may mean completion of a prescribed remedy for contaminated soil or buried waste, or it could mean entombment of a nuclear facility or placing nuclear materials in safe, long-term storage. Among the activities included in this definition are long-term monitoring and surveillance, maintenance of engineered barriers, operation and maintenance of long-term remedies (such as groundwater pump and treat operations), institutional controls (e.g., deed restrictions, land use restrictions, permanent markers, etc.), and information management (including intergenerational transfer of data on residual hazards). The magnitude of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) LTS commitments, in terms of scope, cost, and time, is beginning to be better understood