Hazardous Waste Landfill (EMDF)

 DOE plans to build a new landfill on the Oak Ridge Reservation (ORR) for radioactive and hazardous  waste from ongoing cleanup. Because the landfill is classified as a remedial action under CERCLA (the Superfund law), it would be built and operated without public involvement and regulatory oversight that apply to ordinary landfills. AFORR would prefer that wastes go to licensed facilities in the arid west instead of wet, populous Tennessee. The proposed  landfill site is largely forested, in an area of the ORR that DOE agreed would  be kept uncontaminated and has hydrology unsuitable for waste disposal. AFORR has asked questions about waste acceptance criteria for the  landfill, comparative costs and jobs for onsite versus offsite disposal, the  environmental regulations that DOE wants to have waived, and plans for putting mercury waste in the landfill.

A final Record of Decision for the EMDF landfill was issued in 2022, authorizing its construction, but AFORR continues to have concerns.

Current Status of the Landfill