Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, July 5, 1990 TAG: 9007050068
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
The job is challenging, with plenty of time outdoors. And officials guarantee a career for just about any college science student.
The Department of Energy said it will take 50 percent more money and twice as many people as previously estimated to carry out a five-year cleanup plan at the waste sites.
"We've got to convince the people in the colleges to go and look at this as the career of the future . . . It's an exciting career, an interesting career, one that is involved with new technology," said Leo Duffy, head of DOE's cleanup office.
He said there are at least 20,000 job openings and an annual budget in billions of dollars.
Duffy said the department intends to do a better job of publicizing the benefits of working as an environmental scientist, seeking better ways to contain and dispose of radioactive waste.
"Environmentally, they are going to be out there in the wide open spaces of the West . . . the sage brush, the rabbits and the elk and the antelope," he said.
In a typical day, he said, a scientist would "go to work in the morning in a jeep pulling a boat . . . go fishing for awhile, picking up samples of fish, trapping some animals and taking them back to the laboratory."
As the department tries to lure workers into the field, Duffy said it will face the same image problems it faces every day.
"Technology does not always interest every man and woman," he said. "Distrust in Department of Energy past practices is a problem. The fact you've got radioactivity is a major problem,"
Duffy said the lack of scientists and adequate technology are the biggest hurdles to cleaning up weapons plants that have dumped high-level radioactivity into the soil and water.
"We've got a problem," he said. "We have a major program initiated for fiscal year 1990 of approximately $2.6 billion . . . and we don't have the capability . . . to support it."
The government estimates cleanup costs for 1991-1995 will be $28.6 billion, nearly 50 percent more than the $19.5 billion projected last fall.
The General Accounting Office predicts costs will total $150 billion to $200 billion over the life of the 30-year project.
"The worst thing we can do is go out and throw money at this program and wind up with a scandal in three years that will damage both the department's credibility and the ability to clean up our sites," Duffy said.
In addition to recruiting and training workers, Duffy said the DOE has to do a better job of persuading private entrepreneurs to get into the business.
The department said the fear of being sued is deterring businesses from getting involved in the cleanup.
"Anybody who makes a mistake in those kind of areas is betting on their company," Duffy said. "When we are talking about the kind of money to clean up an individual site - anywhere from $1 billion to $25 billion - there are not too many companies in the United States that are willing to bet their assets on that."
by CNB