Guy E.R. Collard
SCK•CEN, Mol, Belgium
Tel.:+32-14-33 34 32

Olga Yu Bitchaeva
Russian CBNIP
c/o SCK•CEN, Mol, Belgium
Tel.: +32-14-33 34 47

Many human activities have led to a residual contamination of the operational site and their closed surroundings by routine operations and by small or more important incidents. All activities aiming to reduce the need for survey or the risk for workers or members of the public due to sources that are not any more related to practice, are covered by the label of "Site Remediation".

When the remediation of a site is envisaged, a key question to be answered at this stage is: should a localized or global remediation approach be used? Experience shows that immediate (restricted) actions have generally to be devised and implemented. During the execution of these actions, the contaminated system comes to a semi-stable state (dynamic equilibrium) and the responsible parties (scientists, politicians, technicians, the public, etc.) can then prepare for large-scale action. Following the completion of emergency response measures, an adequate remediation program can be prepared.

Environmental remediation programmes are now underway in the United States and in CIS countries but these programmes have accomplished far less than many wish.

Being aware of the problems delaying effective site remediation and of the needs in site remediation, some scientific institutions decided to create a structure allowing and promoting a collaboration between potential partners in site restoration as well as the development and/or the demonstration of emerging technologies suitable for extended contaminated areas and for the treatment of the waste already present in these zones or which would result from remediation actions.

ECOPROGRESS INTERNATIONAL, the so created international non-profit organization has as main objective to "devise, elaborate, develop, coordinate, execute and monitor programmes and projects both national and international, in respect of scientific and technological research in the area of advanced or promising technology, to manage waste and site restoration"

Many human activities have led to a residual contamination of the operational site and their closed surroundings by routine operations and by small or more important incidents. The nuclear and radiological industry is no exception at this point. Substantial contamination of air, soils, water, vegetation, and structures (e.g., buildings, roads, etc.) has occurred due to activities related to the application of nuclear energy and the use of radioactive substances such as 1) the fabrication and testing of nuclear weapons, 2) nuclear power production and its fuel cycle, 3) processing of ores and radionuclides for industrial and medical applications, and 4) waste management practices and accidents. The principal contaminant radionuclides of concern are those of the naturally occurring uranium and thorium series and man-made radionuclides (e.g. ⁶⁰Co, ¹³⁷Cs and daughters; ⁹⁰Sr, ²³⁹Pu, ²⁴¹Am). The primary public health threats from these radioactive elements are through inhalation, external whole body exposure to gamma radiation; and ingestion of radionuclides through food and water. These hazards could include the increased risk of cancers and may also increase the risk of genetic damage that may continue to cause inheritable defects in future generations.

Some contamination or potential hazards have been accepted during the operational phase.

In the past years many important changes, which had considerable impact on the reaction of the authorities and the population towards radioactively contaminated sites, have taken place in the world.

These include:

• the collapse of the former Eastern and Western military blocks,
• the "declassification" of documents and archives on military and civilian nuclear sites,
• the "discovery" of the largeness of contaminated sites and territories,
• the awareness of the costs of remediation programmes.

The environmental challenges at many radioactively contaminated sites are similar to those at industrial sites that are contaminated with toxic substances. Although, radioactively contaminated sites often differ substantially in size, in complexity and forms of contamination. Remediation is complicated by the presence of both radioactive and toxic substances, and a combination of the two (mixed wastes) may have entered the air, soil, surface water, sediments, and ground water. Through natural processes, contaminants have sometimes moved off site, and some continuing releases to the air and water may be recorded.

Potential sources of materials which contain chemical, biological and radioactive contaminants can be derived from medical, industrial and research applications. Examples of organic wastes which could result in contamination are scintillation liquids result from radiochemical analysis, solvent extraction liquids, uranium extraction chemicals associated with the production of yellow cake from extracted ores. The methodologies and the technologies to be used in for the remediation of radioactively contaminated sites and environments must be adequate for these mixed contaminations.

The application of nuclear energy and the use of radionuclides for industrial, medical and research purposes have caused significant contamination of certain sites and their environment. Table 1 gives a summary of the types of contaminated site encountered and the radionuclides present.

Huge environmental remediation programmes are now underway in the United States and in CIS countries. Citizens groups and state governments have demanded immediate and visible actions to cleanup contaminated sites en environments.

Although large cleanup programmes have been decided, the responsible authorities are criticized for inefficiency and inaction in their cleanup efforts and severely criticized because of the small amount of visible cleanup that has been accomplished ^[2] . The remediation programmes have accomplished far less than many wish.

There are disconnects in three areas of major importance to the programmes: (1) regulatory, oversight and compliance, (2) science/engineering and applications and (3) goals, objectives and means, the last involving the public acceptance.

The host of self-inflicted, complex and frequently contradictory or redundant regulations and requirements that the laboratories and remediation efforts are subject to has become an enormous obstacle. Compliance can be quite burdensome, expensive and frequently fails to improve the affected activities.

One example of these contradictions is the presence of mixed polluting substances. The simultaneous presence of radioactive and toxic or chemical pollutants (mixed pollution) leads to the application of different regulations for the remediation actions and for the subsequent management of the waste produced.

If cleanup of contaminated sites and environments were to proceed using existing technologies, most experts believe that the task could continue indefinitely without success ever being achieved. That is because some problems on the sites - in particular the ground and water contamination caused by toxins and radionuclides (mixed contamination) - simply cannot be fixed using available technology. Others, such as the need to dispose of large volumes of mixed wastes, can be handled with existing technology, but only at extraordinary high cost.

Many scientists believe that more basic research could provide the progress that would break the impasse [2].

In most cases, the goals they should pursue, nor the standards to be met in the environmental remediation programs have not been determined and the public has not been consulted in the right way. There is a disconnect with the customer base and the public. Are waste-contaminated soils to be removed, remedied, left in place? What exactly is to be done to and with low-level waste? What is clean?

Decisions have to be made at two levels:

• Is a given situation, as characterized without or after a remediation action, acceptable for all uses?
• What kind of administrative restriction and/or remediation technic has to be applied?

Trained staff working at various levels of remediation action is of vital importance for the success of operation. Possible groups are as follows ^[1] :

• programme managers and designers
• supervising staff
• health physics and health protection personnel
• equipment operators
• labor force

Because of its complexity, workers on a remedial action needs a wide range of skills and experience. Laborers should be able to critically analyze the situation for both individual safety and the general success of the operation. Equipment operators should be empowered to make decisions about the depth of excavation etc. Supervising staff must be able to modify the plan according to changing conditions (e.g. weather). Project designers and managers should be able to prepare a holistic approach to the problem, including technical, legal, economic and natural science issues. They also need to determine the education level required from their staff.

Formal recognition of qualifications is a problem. The existing trend is to create international levels of professionals recognition, promoted in most cases, by professional organizations. In some countries special exam after years of practice is required to confirm the qualifications.

Although many private companies and scientific institutions are dealing with environmental remediation, few of them combine the knowledge of radioactive environments, remediation strategy and remediation applications.

Being aware of the problems and needs mentioned previously, some scientific institutions decided to create a structure allowing and promoting a collaboration between potential partners in site restoration as well as the development and/or the demonstration of emerging technologies suitable for extended contaminated areas and for the treatment of the waste already present in these zones or which would result from remediation actions. This led to the creation of ECOPROGRESS INTERNATIONAL, an international non-profit organization. These institutions have already collaborated for many years in the frame of international programmes dealing with waste management and site restoration ^[3].

The mission of ECOPROGRESS INTERNATIONAL is to promote the development and the application of advanced technologies for management and disposal of waste and for site restoration in the frame of national and international coordinated programs.

The primary objectives of ECOPROGRESS INTERNATIONAL are:

1. to devise, elaborate, develop, coordinate, execute and monitor programmes and projects both national and international, in respect of scientific and technological research in the area of advanced or promising technology, to manage waste and site restoration in the countries from which the members of the Association come;
2. to assist the national headquarters in respect of development and improvement of their infrastructure necessary for the realisation of national programs in waste management and site remediation;
3. to further the progress of advanced or promising technology on the subject of management and disposal of waste and site restoration in Russia, members of the Community of Independent States, countries in Eastern Europe and Central Europe, by means of research programmes and financing from various different sources;
4. to work on solutions to problems in relation to the management of waste, its prevention, its storage, its disposal at every stage of its life cycle, as well as in relation to site restoration, from the research and development stage through to technical projects, taking account of progress in advanced or promising technology;
5. to promote international cooperation between other scientific institutions and universities on the subject of management and disposal of waste, site restoration and development of appropriate technology;
6. to provide scientific and technical support to owners or managers of site remediation problems;
7. to be an international channel for communication and collaboration between experts in site remediation as well as between these experts and national or international organizations dealing with remediation problems.

Founding members are the Belgian Nuclear Research Centre, SCK·CEN (Belgium), the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology, IGB (Germany), the "Commissariat à l’Energie Nucléaire", CEA (France), the Russian CBNIP (a consortium of research institutions), the Université Catholique de Louvain, UCL (Belgium), Westlakes Research Institute (United Kingdom), the Flemish Technology Institute, VITO (Belgium). More than 30 institutions from 12 countries are presently members or candidates for membership.

The competences and activities of the members cover most of the fields of site remediation where needs have identified:

1. Radiological characterization
2. Non-radiological characterization

1. Application of existing technologies (eventually after improvement) to in situ and ex situ remediation
2. Development of new and promising technologies (biotechnologies, ¼ .)

1. Treatment and conditioning
2. Storage
3. Disposal

To achieve its mission, ECOPROGRESS INTERNATIONAL defined a working program comprising the following main actions:

• to establish and maintain relations with national and regional organizations which have a similar aim to the Association;
• to organize training courses and seminars at an international level and to develop action plans in respect of the joint projects, to facilitate and develop opportunities for students and to promote public understanding of the work of the Association;
• to promote collaboration between scientific project managers and pilot project managers in the realization of pilot installations, of technological stands, constructions and technological equipment;
• to promote the qualification of products and processes by recommending the development of systems of certification of technology, standardization and unification of terminology, the analysis and testing methods used in the management and disposal of waste and in site restoration;
• to produce technological documentation in relation to complex questions of advanced or promising technology in order to facilitate their evaluation;
• to promote, in conformity with all recognized legal methods, the protection of intellectual and industrial property rights of the members of the Association resulting from the development of scientific research and of technological solutions in the field of advanced or promising technology in the areas of competence of the Association;
• to promote the disclosure of activities and achievements of the Association through organising congresses, conferences, meetings, seminars, summer courses and by the publication of books, documents, technical material and reviews and newsletters of the Association, regarding its activities;
• to develop common concepts at an international level, concerning the application of advanced or promising technology to the management of waste and to site restoration, and to present them to the decision-makers at a national and international level;
• to create, develop and improve a modern scientific resource in relation to advanced or promising technology in order to resolve problems in relation to the management and disposal of waste and site restoration, enabling a response to the international demand in this field;
• to undertake the management of this scientific resource at every stage of its development;
• to create specialized committees in areas of specific competence;
• to organize specific projects financed independently;
• to make specialists available in the areas of competence of the Association;
• generally, to undertake everything which has direct or indirect relevance to the aims of the Association as described above, or which by its nature will facilitate the realization of these aims.

The international scale of ecological problems of the nuclear industry points to priority needs in international collaboration.

When needed, ECOPROGRESS INTERNATIONAL will create a international laboratory for "Advancement of perspective technologies for management and disposal of wastes and site restoration".

The program of the Centre would be aiming in: "The creation of a modern park of biotechnologies and environmental technologies for nuclear and industrial power, suitable to international demands to technologies and providing a management with developed technologies and products on external and internal markets on all stages of their developments, improvements, tests and innovations". These actions would be oriented on the coordination and promotion of scientific-technical policy and the optimal use of the potentialities of different countries-executors of the program ^{[4 ]}

There is a common understanding by governments and communities, of the urgency, complexity and social significance of the problems related to the remediation of contaminated sites and to the management of the waste these site host or will generate.

Some techniques are readily available and relatively inexpensive to employ, while others still require further refinement and development. A great effort must be given to organizing the remediation work to best utilize available resources and give greatest advantage to technology research and development.

"Technology is not a separate part of environmental remediation activities, and complete cleanup of contaminated sites should never be considered as the end in itself. The primary and, perhaps, the only aim of environmental restoration is reduction or elimination of the risk to human health including ethical, social, psychological and economic impacts. Objectives of the so called "green" technologies should be (1) to decrease radiation hazard, (2) do not add new chemicals or other toxicants which can create potentially worse problems, and (3) able to be cost-effectively operated in low cost facilities, if not in situ." ^[1]

Work must continue on improving technologies to remediate contaminate sites, with a special attention to:

• increasing effectiveness of environmental restoration projects through systematic approaches and careful justification of the necessity of environmental intervention;
• minimizing hazardous and radioactive waste;
• eliminating the probability of recontamination; and introducing low cost, low waste, safe and productive clean-up technologies and techniques ^[1].

Scientific institutions grouped their competences in ECOPROGRESS INTERNATIONAL in order to face the problems encountered in site remediation. ECOPROGRESS INTERNATIONAL ambitions to devise, elaborate, develop, coordinate, execute and monitor programmes and projects both national and international, in respect of scientific and technological research in the area of advanced or promising acceptable technology, to manage waste and site restoration

1. Technology For Cleanup and Remediation of Radioactively Contaminated Sites, Technical Document IAEA in preparation.
2. C. MacLlwain, "Nature", volume 383, 3 October 1996, 375-379.
3. O. Bitchaeva, N. Egorov, H. Brunner, G. Collard, J. Diaz, J. Duarte, C. Duggleby, N. McKenzie, C. Sahut, A. Francis, G. Page, R. Ragaini, J. Wolfram, "Biotechnology for Waste Management and Site Restoration: Technological, Educational, Social, Business, Economical, Political Dimensions. An International Experience", WM’98, Session 18, ER, D&D.
4. O. Bitchaeva et al., "Biotechnology for the Nuclear Industry. An International Experience", Proceeding of the Int. Symp, Environmental Biotechnlology, Oostende 1997, part 1, 295-301 (1997).

G. Collard (SCK·CEN): e-mail: gcollard@sckcen.be
Bitchaeva (Russian CBNIP): e-mail: obitchae@sckcen.be

SCK·CEN
Boeretang 200
B-2400 MOL
BELGIUM

BACK