BNL conducts basic and applied research in a multitude of scientific disciplines, including experimental and theoretical physics, medicine, chemistry, biology, and the environment. BNL’s fiscal year 1996 budget was about $410 million. It employs about 3,200 people, including 900 scientists and engineers. As the operating contractor for BNL, AUI is responsible for day-to-day activities at the laboratory. Originally founded by nine universities, AUI has operated as a separate not-for-profit corporation since 1986. DOE’s Brookhaven Group and DOE’s Chicago Operations Office managed BNL for the Department. DOE’s Office of Energy Research is the principal headquarters’ organization responsible for BNL-wide programs, infrastructure, and environment, safety and health (ES&H). However, other DOE program offices, including the Office of Nuclear Energy and the Office of Environmental Management, have significant responsibilities for activities at BNL, as does the Office of Environment, Safety and Health, which also monitors and evaluates the laboratory’s activities. At the local level, the Suffolk County Health Department is responsible for ensuring that BNL and private industries operating within the county do not contaminate the underground aquifer that provides the only source of drinking water for its 1.3 million residents. As a consequence of local citizens’ sensitivity to possible contamination of the aquifer, the county has developed regulations that require underground tanks that contain potential contaminants to be lined to prevent the tanks from leaking. In 1987, after local hearings on chemical and radioactive releases at the laboratory, officials representing the county health department, DOE, and BNL signed an agreement that the laboratory would meet the county’s requirements and would strive to minimize contamination of the aquifer. The agreement also allowed county health department officials access to BNL to inspect facilities and to identify tanks and other facilities that did not adhere to the county’s requirements. The laboratory’s High Flux Beam Reactor is the larger of the laboratory’s two research reactors and is regulated by and must conform to standards that DOE and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) establish.Although its main purpose is to produce neutrons for scientific experiments, the reactor’s cooling water becomes contaminated with the radioactive element tritium during operations. Tritium has many uses in medicine and biological research and is commonly used in self-illuminating wrist watches and exit signs. However, tritium is a health concern if ingested or absorbed into the body in large quantities. The reactor’s 68,000-gallon spent-fuel pool has high concentrations of tritium stemming from the reactor’s operations. Built in the early 1960s, the reactor’s spent-fuel pool is made of concrete but does not have a secondary containment, such as a stainless steel liner, to protect against possible leaks. Newer reactor fuel pools must have secondary containment systems to protect against such leaks. In January 1997, the laboratory’s analysis of water samples taken near the reactor revealed concentrations of tritium that greatly exceeded EPA’s drinking water standards (some samples taken later were 32 times the standard). Laboratory officials attributed the leak to the reactor’s spent-fuel pool. Although the tritium posed little threat to the public, a firestorm of public concern erupted because BNL had delayed until 1996 installing monitoring wells near the reactor despite a 1994 agreement by laboratory staff with Suffolk County officials to do so, and BNL officials reported that the tritium had probably been leaking for at least 12 years without the laboratory’s or DOE’s knowledge. Shortly after the tritium levels were made public, DOE’s Office of Oversight, which reports to the Assistant Secretary for Environment, Safety and Health, launched an investigation of the incident. On February 14, 1997, it released a report highly critical of both BNL’s actions and DOE’s oversight performance. A second report was issued in April 1997. In addition, the Attorney General of New York State issued a report on October 16, 1997, which was critical of BNL’s and DOE’s environmental performance. The Attorney General recommended that BNL’s reactor remain idle until significant improvements are made in the laboratory’s and DOE’s environmental management practices. Nov. Jan. County tells lab that its fuel pool needs to be registered as a tank and subject to County inspection. DOE issues order requiring groundwater monitoring system. Fuel pool passes leak test. Lab disagrees that fuel pool should be listed as a tank. June DOE inspection team reports many weaknesses in lab's groundwater monitoring program. Nov. DOE report notes fuel pool may leak and there is no acccurate system for leak testing. The report does not declare pool "vulnerable" to leaks. Nov. Lab agrees to drill monitoring wells. Jan. Fuel pool passes leak test. Jan. Lab engineer recommends wells be installed and given highest priority. July Wells are installed. Jan. Tritium found at twice EPA standards from new well samples. Some samples show tritium 32 times drinking water standards. May The Secretary terminates contract with AUI. Oct. County informs lab that fuel pool must be removed or abandoned. Dec. Funds found to install wells. June Wells not funded due to budget cuts. Feb. Lab tells County wells will be installed. Mar. Fuel pool passes leak test. Jan. Fuel pool leak test performed using different technology and shows 6-9 gallons leaking per day. The series of events that led to the discovery of a tritium leak started in the mid-1980s when rising levels of tritium were first detected in groundwater on BNL. The key events are as follows: Higher than expected levels of tritium were first discovered in a drinking water well about 500 feet from the reactor in 1986. BNL officials at the time reasoned that the tritium came from local sewer lines and did not suspect the reactor’s spent-fuel pool as a source. Sewer lines were a known source of tritium. Tritium originated from condensation that forms inside the reactor building and eventually reached the laboratory’s sewer system. No further samples were taken from this well, which was closed because of high levels of other nonradioactive contaminants. In 1987, DOE and BNL officials signed an agreement with Suffolk County which stated that the laboratory would conform to the environmental provisions of the county’s sanitary code and allowed county officials to inspect BNL property for the first time. In 1988, Suffolk County, which was registering BNL’s underground tanks for eventual regulatory compliance, told the laboratory that it wanted the reactor’s spent-fuel pool listed as a tank. In 1989, BNL disagreed with the county’s position. To allay the county’s concerns, BNL said that the pool did not leak because it had successfully passed a leak test in 1989. BNL also said that two monitoring wells that were installed in 1989 near the reactor did not indicate any leaking from the reactor’s spent-fuel pool. Although BNL officials later told us that the leak test was not accurate and that the two monitoring wells they installed earlier were in the wrong location to detect the tritium contamination, BNL officials relied on these data as the basis for their confidence that the spent-fuel pool did not leak. During the late 1980s, the laboratory was coming under increasing environmental scrutiny. A 1988 DOE environmental survey reported weaknesses in BNL’s groundwater monitoring program and noted that local citizens were concerned about groundwater contamination at the laboratory. In 1989, the EPA listed BNL as a Superfund site because of an old landfill problem. New York State had listed BNL as a state Superfund site 3 years earlier. In 1990, a special DOE headquarters inspection concluded that BNL did not have an adequate groundwater monitoring program. By 1993, BNL had begun discussing the need for additional monitoring wells near the reactor. In 1993, a BNL reactor official discussed with other BNL staff the need for additional monitoring wells near the reactor. This discussion was prompted by a Nuclear Regulatory Commission information bulletin that emphasized the need to monitor potential leaks from old equipment. Using BNL’s data as support, a 1993 DOE report noted that the spent-fuel pool was not leaking. The report also noted, however, that there was no reliable means of determining if the spent-fuel pool was leaking. In early 1994, a BNL engineer proposed that monitoring wells—at a total cost of $15,000 to $30,000—be drilled near the reactor, citing the reason as “good management practice.” The proposal was given a low priority by a team of BNL and DOE officials that reviewed environment, safety and health proposals. The well proposal did not rank sufficiently high, compared with other ES&H proposals, to receive funding. BNL officials continued to believe that the spent-fuel pool was not leaking. By late 1994, Suffolk County advised the laboratory that, under its regulations, the spent-fuel pool must be upgraded or abandoned. County officials told us that their demand on the laboratory to upgrade the spent-fuel pool was part of a general effort to upgrade all tanks that were still out of compliance with their sanitary code. The officials told us that they did not suspect that the spent-fuel pool was leaking. However, in their November quarterly meeting with Suffolk County, BNL and DOE staff agreed to install monitoring wells. The agreement was made at the staff level with no apparent senior management involvement in, or knowledge of, the agreement. In late 1994, plans were begun for installing the monitoring wells. However, because of a subsequent budget cut, the wells were not funded. In early 1996, the wells were again approved for funding and were installed that July. The first samples from the new wells were taken in October and results returned in December. Additional samples were taken that month and were returned in January 1997.