Decommissioning projects at Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) sites are conducted under project-specific decision documents, which involve extensive preparation time, public comment periods, and regulatory approvals. Often, the decision documents must be initiated at least one year before commencing the decommissioning project, and they are expensive and time consuming to prepare. The Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site (RFETS) is a former nuclear weapons production plant at which hazardous substances and wastes were released or disposed during operations. As a result of the releases, RFETS was placed on the National Priorities List in 1989, and is conducting cleanup activities under a federal facilities compliance agreement. Working closely with interested stakeholders and state and federal regulatory agencies, RFETS has developed and implemented an improved process for obtaining the approvals. The key to streamlining the approval process has been the development of sitewide decision documents called Rocky Flats Cleanup Agreement Standard Operating Protocols or 'RSOPs.' RSOPs have broad applicability, and could be used instead of project-specific documents. Although no two decommissioning projects are exactly the same and they may vary widely in contamination and other hazards, the basic steps taken for cleanup are usually similar. Because of this, using RSOPs is more efficient than preparing a separate project-specific decision documents for each cleanup action. Over the Rocky Flats cleanup life cycle, using RSOPs has the potential to: (1) Save over 5 million dollars and 6 months on the site closure schedule; (2) Eliminate preparing one hundred and twenty project-specific decision documents; and (3) Eliminate writing seventy-five closure description documents for hazardous waste unit closure and corrective actions.
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