Environmental Science Division (EVS)
Advancing informed environmental decision making

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EVS Program Areas

	Advanced Tool Development
	Atmospheric/Climate Research
	Environmental Policy/Planning
	Integrated Assessments
	National Security
	Risk-Based Assessment/Mgmt.
	Site Restoration/Stewardship

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Long-Term Stewardship and Monitoring of Cleanup Sites

In the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the terms "environmental stewardship" and "long-term stewardship" refer to the mechanisms necessary to ensure both short- and long-term protection of the public and the environment after initial cleanups at facilities in the DOE Complex have reached closure. These mechanisms include physical and institutional controls, information management, environmental monitoring, and risk assessment. The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) faces similar issues in the post-closure period of its cleanups. The emergence of "stewardship" reflects a shift in the federal view from the short-term cleanup perspective of the past decade to a focus on the long-term performance of remedies and the effects of residual contamination at cleanup sites decades from now. Stewardship encompasses many daunting technical issues, including:

Understanding and monitoring material deterioration in barriers and closure systems,

Managing and maintaining critical information systems with access for future generations, and

Sensing and accessing changes in site risks over decades.

The need to reduce the costs of stewardship, while providing acceptable risks to the public, drives EVS to create new approaches.