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December 2001 LLNL Environmental Community Letter Vegetation and Foodstuff Monitoring for Tritium AIR, WASTEWATER, AND WATER COMPLIANCE In general, monitoring showed values not significantly LLNL must meet federal, state, regional, county and local different from those for the past few years. environmental requirements. For example, in 2000, the Bay Area Quality Management District issued or renewed As usual, there was slightly more tritium near the 129 operating permits for the Livermore site. The San Livermore site than was found at more distant locations. Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District issued or Potential ingestion dose estimates were well below regu- renewed permits for 42 air emissions sources at Site 300. latory levels of concern, even when organically bound LLNL has permits for underground and aboveground tritium was taken into account. storage tanks and for discharge of treated groundwater, industrial and sanitary sewage, and storm water. Site 300 has additional permits for inactive landfills, cooling tower GROUNDWATER REMEDIATION discharges, operation of the sewer lagoon, septic tanks, In 2000, treatment facilities at the LLNL Livermore site and leach fields. The Laboratory complies with all require- processed over 1 billion liters of groundwater. Nearly ments for self-monitoring and inspections conducted by 270 kilograms of VOCs were removed during treatment. the regulatory agencies issuing these permits. More than 27 kilograms of VOCs were removed from soil and groundwater in five treatment areas at Site 300. ENDANGERED SPECIES These efforts reduced the length of the previously off-site The Laboratory meets the requirements of the U.S. trichloroethylene plume to where it is now inside the site Endangered Species Act and the California Endangered boundary. There is no longer an off-site plume of conta- Species Act. In 2000, biological assessments were mination. conducted for 82 Laboratory projects with the potential to disturb special-status species.At Site 300 there were no active San Joaquin kit fox dens but three occupied WASTE MINIMIZATION AND POLLUTION American badger dens were found.Also, 11 active PREVENTION burrowing owl dens were discovered. The owls were Waste generation at LLNL continues to drop dramati- marked for long-term studies.A population of California cally. There were reductions in three categories: radioac- tiger salamander continued to be monitored. Several rare tive, hazardous, and sanitary. Mixed waste (radioactive plant populations were also monitored at Site 300: the and hazardous waste combined) did not diminish. Total large-flowered fiddleneck (Amsinckia grandiflora), the LLNL waste diverted from landfills in 2000 was 26,000 big tarplant, the diamond-petaled poppy, and gypsum- tons. That means the Laboratory recycled 85%of its loving larkspur. In 2000 the Amsinckia grandiflora nonhazardous waste. Reserve was declared a critical habitat area by the Secretary of the U. S. Department of Energy. LLNL has established an experimental population within the RADIOLOGICAL DOSE ASSESSMENT Reserve. It is working with the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Every year a theoretical dose to the public is calculated Service on the continued monitoring of the native and based upon what an individual would receive if he/she lived experimental populations. fora year where the highest radiation dose from releases to the air would occur. For the Livermore site that dose is 0.038 millirem. For Site 300, it is 0.019 millirem.These INTEGRATED SAFETY MANAGEMENT values are well within the range of those estimated over the The Laboratory has an Integrated Safety Management past decade and are very small compared with an average (ISM) System to ensure systematic integration of envi- radioactive dose of 360 millirem received from all sources, ronment, safety, and health considerations. This allows mostly natural background sources. Federal radioactivity management and work practices to be accomplished exposure standards are highly protective of the public and while protecting the public,workers, and the environ- limit the annual dose an individual can receive.LLNL has ment.Work Smart Standards are an important part of never exceeded the federal standards for the public. the ISM System. Safety and environmental professionals identify hazards and establish standards of operation for continued on page 4 3