EM Year in Review highlights ECA, progress made at sites across the complex
As 2022 comes to a close, the Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management (DOE-EM) has released a “Year in Review” summarizing work performed across the complex over the past year and specifically highlighting ECA.
ECA Chair Mayor Brent Gerry is quoted in the document alongside DOE Secretary Granholm and NNSA Administrator Hruby:
“We reopened after pandemic shutdowns, EM engagement with communities has been stronger than ever. EM updated its budget policies to emphasize the need to reach out to local governments and our communities, next came several discussions on community input into the Strategic Vision, as well as workforce solutions, and we ended the year meeting with intergovernmental groups about prioritizing our community issues in the cleanup program, progress to date, and the large task ahead. 2022 showed that engagement with communities is a priority DOE shares and we look forward to our continued partnership with the EM program.” – Mayor Brent Gerry
2022 Year in Review Highlights Progress
Waste Isolation Pilot Plant
Received 235 transuranic waste shipments from five generator sites.
Reached a depth of more than 700 feet for a new utility shaft towards the targeted depth of 2,275 feet.
Increased stakeholder engagement activities in northern New Mexico.
EM Los Alamos Field Office
Completed 52 transuranic waste shipments to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, surpassing an EM 2022 priority.
Began an EM Los Alamos strategic vision plan with stakeholder input for remaining legacy cleanup campaigns at the Los Alamos National Laboratory site.
Idaho Cleanup Project
Completed exhumation of 5.69 acres of the Radioactive Waste Management Complex Subsurface Disposal Area — an EM 2022 priority.
Hanford Site
Began the first large-scale treatment of waste from large underground storage tanks with the start of Tank-Side Cesium Removal System operations — an EM 2022 priority.
Completed construction of a protective enclosure, or “cocoon,” around K East Reactor —an EM 2022 priority.
Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office
Completed demolition of the 2.6 million-square-foot X-326 process building at the Portsmouth Site — an EM 2022 priority.
Transferred 200 acres of land from the Portsmouth Site to the Southern Ohio Diversification Initiative, reducing the federal footprint and expanding opportunities for reindustrialization.
Completed the disposition of an additional 1 million pounds of refrigerant currently stored at the Paducah Site — an EM 2022 priority.
West Valley Demonstration Project
Launched Main Plant Process Building demolition — an EM 2022 priority.
Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management
Completed cleanup and transfer of the Biology Complex area — an EM 2022 priority.
Began processing uranium-233 material in hot cells — an EM 2022 priority.
Savannah River Site
Treated more than 2.1 million gallons of tank waste and removed over 3.7 million curies from the waste.
Small Site Progress
Continued characterization and hazard reduction activities to prepare for demolition and closure of two legacy facilities at the Nevada National Security Site.
Disposed a cumulative 13 million tons of the estimated 16 million tons of uranium mill tailings at the Moab Site in Utah ― an EM 2022 priority.
Completed disposal of building demolition debris at the Energy Technology Engineering Center site in California.
Completed the Building 280 Reactor Removal Project and finished waste disposal from the demolition of Building 175 at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory