Hanford�s Long-Term Stewardship (LTS) Program has evolved from a small, informal process, with minimal support, to a robust program that provides comprehensive transitions from cleanup contractors to long-term stewardship for post-cleanup requirements specified in the associated cleanup decision documents. The LTS Program has the responsibility for almost 100,000 acres of land, along with over 200 waste sites and will soon have six cocooned reactors. Close to 2,600 documents have been identified and tagged for storage in the LTS document library. The program has successfully completed six consecutive transitions over the last two years in support of the U.S. DOE Richland Operations Office�s (DOE-RL) near-term cleanup objectives of significantly reducing the footprint of active cleanup operations for the River Corridor. The program has evolved from one that was initially responsible for defining and measuring Institutional Controls for the Hanford Site, to a comprehensive, post remediation surveillance and maintenance program that begins early in the transition process. In 2013, the first reactor area―the cocooned 105-F Reactor and its surrounding 1,100 acres, called the F Area was transitioned. In another �first,� the program is expected to transition the five remaining cocooned reactors into the program through using a Transition and Turnover Package (TTP). As Hanford�s LTS Program moves into the next few years, it will continue to build on a collaborative approach. The program has built strong relationships between contractors, regulators, tribes and stakeholders and with the U.S. Department of Energy�s Office of Legacy Management (LM). The LTS Program has been working with LM since its inception. The transition process utilized LM�s Site Transition Framework as one of the initial requirement documents and the Hanford Program continues to collaborate with LM today. One example of this collaboration is the development of the LTS Program�s records management system in which, LM has been instrumental. The development of a rigorous data collection and records management systems has been influenced and built off of LMs success, which also ensures compatibility between what Hanford�s LTS Program develops and LM. In another example, we are exploring a pilot project to ship records from the Hanford Site directly to LM for long-term storage. This pilot would gain program efficiencies so that records would be handled only once. Rather than storage on-site, then shipment to an interim Federal Records Center in Seattle, records would be shipped directly to LM. The Hanford LTS Program is working to best align programmatic processes, find efficiencies, and to benchmark site transition requirements. Involving the Hanford LTS Program early in the transition process with an integrated contractor and DOE team is helping to ensure that there is time to work through details on the completed remediation of transitioning areas. It also will allow for record documentation and storage for the future, and is an opportunity for the program to mature through the experiences that will be gained by implementing LTS Program activities over time.
