WASHINGTON, D.C. - DOE officials highlighted major EM accomplishments and said they’re “reinvigorating a completion mindset" as they tackle cleanup and enable enduring site missions during addresses at the Energy Communities Alliance’s annual conference last week.
“We’re laser-focused on getting things done," DOE Under Secretary for Science Paul Dabbar said after noting the Department’s emphasis on removing roadblocks to success in projects such as the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant at the Hanford Site.
The conference’s theme was “Securing Progress at DOE." ECA is the only non-profit, membership organization of local governments adjacent to or impacted by DOE activities. Members share information, establish policy positions, and promote community interests to address an increasingly complex set of constituent, environmental, regulatory, and economic development needs.
Among EM achievements, Dabbar highlighted advancements in Hanford’s Direct-Feed Low-Activity Waste approach and noted that workers completed waste retrieval activities at the last tank at the site’s C Tank Farm.
“These are very positive accomplishments that we feel great about," he said.
Dabbar discussed the Department’s efforts to ensure opportunities for businesses of all sizes, enable public-private partnerships, and advance EM’s cleanup.
“We want to move things forward. We want to identify where things were a challenge in the past and figure it out together," he said. “Everyone’s on the same page. Everyone wants to get risk reduction done."
Mark Gilbertson, Associate Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Regulatory and Policy Affairs, noted the support for EM's cleanup from the EM National Laboratory Network, a cadre of labs that includes the Savannah River National Laboratory.
“We want to enable laboratories to continue to put good ideas on the table to solve those problems at individual sites," he said. “Things the sites can do and communities can do to encourage the development of lab-enduring missions are important."
Gilbertson discussed how EM is working to improve its contracting process, reviewing waste classifications to ensure safe waste disposal, and updating packaging and transportation measures.
EM completed 7,700 shipments of hazardous materials over more than 2.6 million miles with no U.S. Department of Transportation recordable accidents in fiscal year 2017.
“That’s a pretty good record. We don’t stand on our laurels, and we want to be diligent and vigilant as we move forward," Gilbertson said. “It’s a very important part of our program overall."
Kirk Lachman, EM Deputy Chief for Field Operations, said EM is focused on risk reduction across the complex. He pointed to progress at several sites, including:
* Los Alamos National Laboratory, where workers safely completed the treatment of nitrate salt drums. “That was a great, fantastic effort by the folks at Los Alamos. The team there worked together - headquarters, field feds, and contractors," Lachman said.
* Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office, which successfully set the stage for the transfer of 80 acres of land to the Southern Ohio Diversification Initiative, led robotics development to improve worker safety and health, continued major deactivation work, and optimized groundwater monitoring and treatment systems.
* Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), which has received over 12,100 shipments of transuranic waste for safe, permanent disposal. “I don’t have to tell you how important WIPP is to the complex," Lachman said. “It is vital that we invest in WIPP and keep the cleanup mission going by keeping that facility operational and improving."
* Oak Ridge Office of EM, which broke ground last year on the Mercury Treatment Facility to carry out cleanup at the Y-12 National Security Complex.
* Savannah River Site, where crews completed work on a key Saltstone Disposal Unit and replaced the melter at the Defense Waste Processing Facility.
* Hanford, where crews completed cleanup at the 618-10 burial ground, disposing 500,000 tons of contaminated soil and debris in an onsite engineered landfill - a “staggering statistic," Lachman said.
“As these individual successes accumulate year after year, we build the momentum to clean this complex up," Lachman added.
Source: U.S. Dept. of Energy, Office of Environmental Management
