WASHINGTON, D.C. - EM Associate Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Field Operations Stacy Charboneau outlined several initiatives underway or planned to reduce costs and direct more resources to cleanup during the Energy Facility Contractors Group (EFCOG) annual meeting June 8.
“We have a lot happening both in terms of ongoing cleanup and preparing the program to make sustained progress in the future," Charboneau said. “We’re challenging our federal workforce and engaging with our contractors to find innovative and more efficient ways to perform their work and generate cost savings and provide more resources for the cleanup."
Partnering with its contractors, EM is currently working to streamline contract changes. Other initiatives focus on:
* Establishing a network of resources for providing necessary “assist and assess" field support;
* Identifying contractor representatives to participate in regulatory reform teams; and
* Creating an EM best practices program.
“We plan to be working with EFCOG in establishing the EM best practices program, modeling it after the larger DOE best practices program," Charboneau said.
Charboneau also detailed the $6.5 million fiscal year 2018 budget request - EM’s largest in a decade - calling it a “strong demonstration of the Administration’s support and the value it places on the EM mission."
The request enables EM to continue progress with large waste treatment capabilities to address EM’s biggest challenges, such as the Salt Waste Processing Facility at the Savannah River Site (SRS), Direct Feed Low-Activity Waste Treatment at the Hanford Site and the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit at the Idaho Site.
The request also allows EM to finish deactivation and begin demolishing the C-400 Cleaning Building at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant; continue EM’s plutonium downblending mission at SRS; and make progress addressing groundwater plumes at many sites, including the chromium plume at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
“As this budget process unfolds, we all need to keep doing the solid work to demonstrate the value of this investment and this program," Charboneau said.
In December 2016, Charboneau visited EM’s West Valley Demonstration Site to recognize site achievements, including employees crossing the 2-million safe work hours mark. In March, she joined workers at EM’s Idaho site to celebrate the completion of transuranic waste retrieval activities at the Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project. She noted the cold weather at both worksites, which can be a challenge for workers.
“It really drives home the tremendous efforts and dedication of our workforce to safely perform work in all kinds of work environments and all kinds of work conditions," she said.
Source: U.S. Dept. of Energy, Office of Environmental Management
