DOE: final status surveys continue; ORISE to return for independent verification in June

Kenny Schafer told the Steering Committee that final status survey and radiological activities are focused on sub-pile and off-pile remediation areas. He said remedial action contractors remove material and conduct scans and soil sampling until cleanup criteria are met, after which the final status survey crew completes the final survey. "ORISE, the Oak Ridge Institute of Science and Education, performs independent verification using its own sampling plans and instrumentation and compares its results with contractor data," Schafer said, and ORISE is expected to return during the first week of June for a second round of independent verification.

Schafer said five properties adjacent to the site—some BLM-related properties and utility areas—will be evaluated under supplemental standards because removal poses potential hazards in certain locations, such as around power poles. He said one in-town vicinity property remains to be scanned and evaluated to close out the vicinity properties program. He clarified that stockpiled soils visible onsite are remediated materials staged for loading into containers and that some off-pile areas have already been remediated and final status surveyed.