The purpose of this website is to facilitate information exchange among DOE program managers, the public, contractors, regulators, and industry on the topic of buried waste retrieval in the DOE nationwide complex. This website provides detailed information on a number of DOE sites with buried waste retrieval experience and provides the status for DOE sites currently planning buried waste retrieval. As the name indicates, it is the recovery via excavation of waste material previously buried in the ground. Buried waste retrieval can be a challenging proposition at DOE facilites.
Buried waste can be toxic, radioactive, combustible, pressurized, chemically reactive, or corrosive.
All of these characteristics pose hazards to remediation workers, and releases could pose hazards to workers, the public, and the environment. Adequate characterization of waste buried underground is extremely difficult and adds to the challenge of safely recovering this material. Compounding the problem, buried waste is generally extremely heterogeneous in shape, size, and composition. DOE has made substantial progress in the area of buried waste retrieval, and engineering solutions are being developed to tackle this difficult task. This website contains retrieval experience, planned or potential retrievals, retrieval technology demonstrations, summary information, and links to other websites, vendor information, and related information.