Kelvin J. Kelkenberg
Acting Director, Office of Transportation and Emergency Management
Office of Environmental Management
United States Department of Energy

Paul T. Dickman
National Transportation Program Albuquerque
United States Department of Energy

Judith A. Holm
National Transportation Program Albuquerque
United States Department of Energy

Glenda E. Oakley
Science Applications International Corporation

Transportation and packaging stand out as major elements in decisions regarding treatment, storage, and the ultimate disposition of nuclear materials and radioactive wastes resulting from cleanup of the Department of Energy's (DOE) sites. The mode of shipment (rail versus truck), scheduling shipments, packaging performance, routing schedules, and issues of emergency preparedness and response along the shipping corridors are of great interest and concern to Tribal Nations, State and local governments, regulators, and the public. This paper will discuss the efforts of DOE's National Transportation Program (NTP) to identify, evaluate, and implement opportunities for program efficiencies and cost savings for effective transportation management using the "Three Tier" resolution approach for transportation issues. The first tier identifies issues relating to the treatment, storage, and disposal of DOE's waste, and interfaces with national transportation stakeholder groups and Tribal Nations. The second tier institutionalizes the transportation planning process by developing a National Transportation Plan for each material waste type. The third tier develops site and material specific transportation plans concurrent with the overall National Transportation Plan developed during the second tier. Issues, such as incorporation of risk assessment and emergency preparedness into the process and addressing stakeholder equity concerns, will also be discussed.

The implementation plan for the establishment of the National Transportation Program (NTP) was approved by a Memorandum of Understanding, signed on July 2, 1997, by the Department of Energy's (DOE) Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management. The National Transportation Program is managed within the Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Environmental Management. It supports the infrastructure and coordinates transportation activities for all non-classified shipments of hazardous materials, including radioactive materials, mixed wastes, and other commodities; such as, coal, other fuels, maintenance materials, supplies, etc. The NTP is responsible for providing the availability of safe, secure, and economical transport services, consistency in regulatory implementation, coordinated outreach, and emergency preparedness. This paper describes the functions and activities of the NTP and a planning process being advocated for use by shipping programs within the DOE.

The NTP is managed by a joint Headquarters, Albuquerque and Idaho Operations Office Team through the establishment of the National Transportation Program Operations Office located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and the Transportation Systems Engineering Program Office in Idaho Falls, Idaho. The DOE Headquarters NTP Office manages policy and coordinates regulatory interfaces for the NTP. The NTP has developed an integrated program structure with three major program elements: (1) Program Integration, (2) Operations Support, and (3) Packaging and Technology Services. The National Transportation Program has identified key goals for the program, which are listed below:

• Significantly reduce future costs by leveraging our national transportation resources.
• Provide centralized corporate support to program and field offices.
• Maintain corporate support of the DOE complex infrastructure for logistics, training, packaging certification, transportation development and application, and standardized automation methods.
• Sustain safety and efficiency in transportation and packaging for DOE materials.

Program integration provides policy and program coordination; systems engineering activities help define the infrastructure needs, identify packaging and shipping requirements, as well as forecast future opportunities for operational efficiencies and cost savings; and supports institutional and outreach activities with State, Tribal, and local governments, industry and professional associations to both inform and involve them in transportation planning activities and specific shipments. As part of the information dissemination activities, the NTP maintains a public web site that provides general shipment, packaging, and regulatory information for DOE unclassified materials.

Operations support provides a cross-cutting safety program to assist DOE program offices and sites with regulatory compliance and lessons-learned programs that are based on performance requirements; provides general oversight and information about complex-wide shipments in order to enhance program planning and execution; and provides a national transportation information management system that collects, disseminates, and archives reliable transportation data on numbers of shipments, costs, modes, packaging and other critical data. This data is used to satisfy information needs of DOE senior management, as well as State, Tribal, and local officials and other Federal agencies. Key data bases and their information are described below:

• TIN: Transportation Information Network

• PSM: Prospective Shipment Module

• ATMS: Automated Transportation System

• TRAGIS: Transportation Routing Analysis Geographic Information System

• TRANSCOM: A Transportation Tracking and Communications System

• SMAC: Shipment Mobility/Accountability Collection System

• PTMS: Packaging Management Tracking System

Packaging and Technology Services provides mechanisms for identification, analysis and resolution of technical regulatory and packaging issues to support DOE programmatic needs; provides packaging and material testing facilities and analytical capabilities; and establishs regulatory basis and positions with regulatory bodies both within the U.S. and in the international arena.

By building good interpersonal relationships, the National Transportation Program creates trust in DOE transportation activities inside and outside the DOE. Internal relations provide an integrated DOE approach to transportation. External relations provide the opportunity for stakeholder involvement in transportation planning and execution. Policy analyses provide baseline information on which to build effective communications and relationships with stakeholders and to structure program options.

The DOE has established several forums to involve key internal and external stakeholders in transportation activities. Internal coordination is accomplished through the Senior Executive Transportation Forum, which is composed of senior managers from all DOE programs responsible for transportation activities and the Office of Congressional and Public Affairs, reports to the Deputy Secretary of Energy. The Forum has been established within the DOE to serve as the coordinating body to address and resolve common policy issues the Department must face to successfully communicate about transportation activities, to coordinate programmatic issues, and to implement programs . Some of the issues currently before the Forum are (1) how to enhance communication within and outside the Department; (2) coordinated and consolidated funding for States and Tribes for transportation planning, establishing protocols to address operations and become more consistent in DOE shipment planning and execution; and (3) better coordination of transportation emergency preparedness training for local responders.

External Coordination is achieved through several forums including the Transportation External Coordination Working Group (TEC/WG), which is composed of State, Tribal and local organizations, industry, and professional technical associations. The TEC/WG meets twice a year, in January and July, to identify and discuss issues of concern regarding DOE transportation activities. TEC/WG is composed of national and regional associations of State, Tribal and local organizations, industry and professional and technical associations. Issues being discussed and evaluated include planning for transportation, routing, emergency preparedness and training, and technical assistance:

• General Planning - Funding assistance, long-range planning, 180 (c) of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act and environmental justice
• Transportation Operations - Operational "guidance," routing, and shipment notification
• Emergency Management - Response roles and capabilities with focus on first responders
• Training (that is needed or requested) - Content, delivery, and performance versus shipment based
• Technical Assistance - Definition, delivery mechanism, and program coordination
• Information and Education - Risk studies, development, and dissemination

Topic groups composed of members of the TEC/WG address specific issues such as the use of rail, regulatory issues related to highway and rail, routing, emergency response training and equipment, communications, Tribal issues, and funding and technical assistance. The process is to bring issues into the TEC/WG discussion through the topic groups, as well as, provide opportunities to discuss background and research with the group's membership. The members then take these issues back to their respective organizations for broader discussion and input. DOE then briefs the Senior Executive Transportation Forum of the TEC/WG issues and sentiments. TEC/WG is co-chaired by two DOE program offices, Environmental Management (EM) and Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (RW).

Regional Associations of States, such as the Western Governors' Association, work with programs, sites, and the NTP on detailed planning for high visibility shipments. A working group is formed with DOE to develop a transportation plan for specific shipments. The Transportation Plan details roles and responsibilities of all parties, including the State, Tribal or local government, the DOE and the carrier, and other Federal agencies. Information plans are developed as part of the Transportation Plan and details how the general public will be informed. The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) program has engaged the regional organizations to establish a set of protocols and agreements on how the transportation activities will be conducted and how DOE and the states will work together.

The Local Government Network (LGN) enables local officials to meet with DOE program and field offices to discuss how DOE ships its materials and inform them of technical assistance and information, including training, available to support local needs. The LGN also issues a quarterly newsletter to about 5,000 local officials nationwide. The newsletter and other information products are available and distributed through the web as a homepage on the Internet.

Potential transportation emergencies are a fundamental part of planning for the transport of

DOE's radioactive and hazardous materials. The DOE Transportation Emergency Preparedness Program (TEPP) addresses this need by assisting affected governments in preparing for potentially critical situations. The TEPP provides Federal, Tribal, State, and local responders with access to the training and technical assistance necessary to safely, efficiently, and effectively respond to DOE transportation incidents involving radioactive materials. TEPP is part of DOE's department wide Emergency Management System (EMS). TEPP has four goals:

• Address State, Tribal, and local government concerns about emergency preparedness for DOE shipments.
• Coordinate DOE-wide transportation emergency planning and preparedness activities for non-weapons-related radioactive material shipment.
• Support emergency responders at all levels of government.
• Responsible for DOE meeting its transportation emergency requirements under Federal regulations, the National Contingency Plan, and the Federal Radiological Emergency Response Plan.

To meet these four goals, TEPP has three basic program elements: planning, training, and technical assistance. These program elements were established so that States, Tribes, and local governments are better prepared to meet their emergency preparedness requirements.

In addition, DOE has eight regional Radiological Assistance Program (RAP) teams available to respond to any incidents associated with the shipment of nuclear material and radioactive waste.

The National Transportation Program supports and plays an active participating role in DOE's complex-wide "program integration" efforts to identify and act on opportunities to do more with less, thus working to achieve the vision of DOE's 2006 Plan. Program integration efforts are currently underway, with the involvement of DOE managers, contractors, and stakeholders, to identify and begin implementing program efficiencies in the treatment, storage, and disposal of waste across the complex and in site cleanup and closure. DOE's cleanup endeavor via the 2006 Plan involves the inter-site transfer of HLW, MLLW, LLW, TRU Waste, and hazardous waste. Transportation is an integral part of DOE's plan to implement and achieve inter-site transfer of waste. The volumes of waste to be transported, the availability of certified packaging, routing and preferred mode of shipment are all part of the integration planning process being addressed by the NTP Systems Engineering program component. For example:

• Collect requirements for current transportation activities.
• Identify major new transportation and packaging needs, such as, analysis of complex-wide material flows, sensitivity analysis of packaging types, and development and assessment of major transportation systems implementation options, including privatization.
• Participate in development of corporate policy and performance objectives.

As part of the DOE Office of Environmental Management's overall planning for management of DOE wastes and materials, NTP has outlined a "National Transportation Program Planning Process" with a three-tier resolution approach for transportation issues. The first tier, defined by the interface with national stakeholder groups and Tribal Nations would identify transportation issues and concerns related to the shipment and management of DOE materials. National forums of State, Tribal and local officials and the general public would be convened as part of decision-making processes related to DOE programs. Each program would develop a broad-based view of how it planned to ship materials based on long term plans and analyses; such as, the Environmental Management 2006 Plan, systems integration efforts and information, National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) reviews, and other program activities.

The second tier is defined by the institutionalization of DOE's transportation planning process that has been used by various DOE Program Offices for the past several years. A National Transportation Plan, utilizing transportation recommendations adopted during the first tier, would be developed for each material type, such as, HLW, MLLW, LLW, and TRU Waste. DOE will directly consult with key Tribal Nations, State and local officials, and stakeholders near DOE sites and along transportation corridors, as these national transportation plans are developed. These national plans would be developed within 6-9 months after issuance of the relevant NEPA document (e.g., ROD) or key program decision-making activities. Features of the plan would include implementation information, such as the responsible DOE organization, schedules for activities, processes to involve stakeholders, and a description of packaging and general logistical information about shipment mode, routing, and timing.

The third tier of the process is concurrent with the development of the national transportation plan in the second tier. Site-specific and material-specific transportation plans would be developed by the site with programmatic responsibility for the shipment 6-12 months post relevant NEPA decision or other management decision. These specific plans would be consistent with the national transportation plan and its overall procedures developed during the second tier process. The site and material specific plans are developed by convening a working group of the appropriate regional and Tribal Nations. Organizations, such as, the Southern States Energy Board, Western Governors Association, Western Interstate Energy Board, and the Council of State Governments (Midwest and Northeast) and individual Tribal governments would be consulted and participate in development of transportation plans. The planning process includes State, Tribal and local officials, shipping agents and/or carriers, and other cognizant Federal agencies directly impacted by the shipping campaign. The site and material specific transportation plans include operational protocols and agreements on: roles and responsibilities of DOE; shipping agent, carrier and State, Tribal and local officials; shipment mode, routing, and tracking; general schedules; communication and public information arrangements; security and emergency plans and contacts; and any needed training or assistance related to the shipments.

The National Transportation Program is in the first stage of ramping up to enable the Department to better manage the large volumes of shipments expected to be generated as part of the overall clean up of the weapons complex legacy. Initial plans recognize needed additional infrastructure, including expanding the system to address the role of citizens and State, Tribal and local officials. The transportation industry also plays a role in the solution of DOE's clean up and continuing mission. By planning early and anticipating transportation needs, DOE's clean up mission can be accomplished by the inter-site transfer (transportation) of its waste materials. This is an option that replaces treatment, storage, and disposal of materials at multiple sites, thus saving the taxpayer millions of dollars in capital costs. If the Department properly engages its constituents, provides safe operations, and is more integrated and efficient with its infrastructure, then "transportation" will provide the key to accomplish DOE's clean up mission in a timely fashion, and continuing missions will be well served.