Recent and ongoing analyses and environmental reviews conducted by ORNL’s Environmental Impact Analysis Team include:

Evaluation of hydroelectric developments and licensing actions for the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

River
  • Missouri-Madison River basin in Montana
  • Nooksack and Skagit River basins in Washington
  • North Umpqua River basin in Oregon
  • Warm Creek/Clearwater Creek in Washington
  • Irene Creek/Anderson Creek in Washington
  • Rocky Creek in Washington

Assessment of energy-research and waste-management projects for the U.S. Department of Energy

  • Clean coal conversion and demonstration projects
  • Disposition of plutonium residues from the Department of Energy’s Rocky Flats site
  • Site-specific disposal capabilities for mixed, low-level wastes (Joint effort between ORNL and Sandia National Laboratory)
Chemical Waste

Analysis of the proposed destruction of lethal chemical warfare agents and chemical weapons for the U.S. Army

  • Programmatic EIS for destruction of the entire U.S. stockpile of chemical weapons
  • Site-specific EISs for destruction of chemical agents and munitions stored at depots in Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Oregon, and Utah (including alternative technologies for the destruction process)
  • Remediation of “legacy wastes” associated with U.S. chemical weapons manufacture, testing, and storage
  • Review and update of existing environmental compliance documentation for chemical weapons storage depots

Evaluation of licensing actions for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission

  • Generic EIS for license renewal of existing U.S. nuclear power plants
  • Waste piles (e.g., “tailing piles”) from radioisotope mining and materials-processing in Arizona, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming
  • Privately-proposed Interim Spent Fuel Storage Facility in Utah for U.S. nuclear reactor fuel
  • Commercial processing of radioactive materials in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania
  • Evaluation of uranium mining using an in-situ leaching process in New Mexico
  • Export licensing of nuclear materials
Oil Rig

Analysis of proposed new road construction in the Great Smoky Mountains for the National Park Service

Assessment of safety, environment, and health initiatives in the U.S. Antarctic Program for the National Science Foundation

Evaluation of a proposed wind turbine facility to provide a reliable and selfsustaining power supply at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal Research Laboratory in New York.

Analysis of methods to accomplish the disposition of non-strategic inventories of thorium nitrate for the Defense Logistics Agency

Energy, environmental, and economic assessments in developing countries

For more information, contact:
Greg Zimmerman (zimmermangp@ornl.gov, 865-574-5815)