 
EMTV: Watch a
video on Portsmouth Paducah
Project Office 2025
accomplishments. In this
photo, a heavy equipment
operator uses a 75-ton
high-reach excavator to cut
and remove roofing material
and steel beams on the
southwest end of the
Portsmouth Site’s X-333
Process Building. Starting
demolition of this building
was a U.S. Department of
Energy Office of Environmental
Management priority.
LEXINGTON,
Ky. — Thanks to
their safe and successful
cleanup work in 2025, the Portsmouth
and Paducah
sites demonstrated the strong
role the U.S. Department of
Energy (DOE) Office
of Environmental Management
(EM) plays in advancing
American energy dominance and
innovation.
“Looking back at
the progress we made in 2025,
I can’t help but be excited
about the future,” Portsmouth
Paducah Project Office
Acting Manager Reinhard Knerr
said. “The Portsmouth and
Paducah sites played a
significant role in American
energy and security during the
Cold War. Now, thanks to our
cleanup progress and what we
will achieve going forward,
these sites will again be
important contributors to
American prosperity.”
This year saw the
Paducah Site in western
Kentucky continue to grow as
an attractive location for new
nuclear energy development. In
August, DOE reached an
innovative lease agreement
with advanced nuclear firm General
Matter for reuse of a
100-acre parcel to construct a
new domestic uranium
enrichment facility to provide
fuel for nuclear reactors. The
planned project is a $1.5
billion investment, expected
to create approximately 140
full-time jobs and generate
more than $70 million in
annual regional economic
benefits.
Notably, the
agreement helps EM to continue
cleanup progress. The pact
provides General Matter with
cylinders of existing depleted
uranium hexafluoride
(DUF6) from past enrichment
operations to use as supply
fuel for the new facility.
Combined with an agreement
with Global Laser Enrichment,
the partnerships
allow both companies to access
a portion of the Paducah
Site’s remaining 40,000 DUF6
cylinders, turning liabilities
into assets and accelerating
production of domestic energy
supplies.
General Matter
CEO Scott Nolan addresses the
crowd during a groundbreaking
ceremony at the Paducah Site
in August. The domestic
private-sector uranium
enrichment facility will sit
on a leased 100-acre parcel of
land at the Paducah Site.
This year, DOE
also selected the Paducah Site
as one of four
Department locations to
move forward with plans to
invite private-sector partners
to develop cutting-edge
artificial intelligence (AI)
data center and energy
generation projects. As Energy
Secretary Chris Wright said in
announcing the selection of
Paducah and the other DOE
sites, “By leveraging DOE land
assets for the deployment of
AI and energy infrastructure,
we are taking a bold step to
accelerate the next Manhattan
Project — ensuring U.S. AI and
energy leadership.”
The Portsmouth
Site, in southern Ohio, is
already home to a variety of
firms working to drive
American energy dominance.
This year, DOE continued to
make land at the Portsmouth
Site available for
redevelopment by providing a
third parcel of land to the
Southern Ohio Diversification
Initiative, a local community
reuse organization, bringing
the total to more than 350
acres transferred for
reindustrialization.
State officials
in Kentucky and Ohio are
increasingly interested in
additional ways the Paducah
and Portsmouth sites can drive
American energy. State nuclear
authorities from Kentucky
and Ohio
visited the sites this year,
underscoring their prime
locations for
reindustrialization in
conjunction with the local
communities’ visions.
Members of the
Kentucky Nuclear Energy
Development Authority tour the
Paducah C-300 Central Control
Building during a site tour.
The group visited the Paducah
Site to explore its potential
role in the state’s nuclear
energy future.
‘First Bite’
of Second Enrichment
Building Among Cleanup
Accomplishments
DOE’s success in
reusing the Portsmouth and
Paducah sites for American
energy and innovation stems
from the successful cleanup
underway at both locations.
This year, EM achieved
a priority by taking the
“first bite” of the massive
X-333 Process Building at
Portsmouth. This 33-acre
facility is the second of the
site’s three former uranium
enrichment process buildings
to be demolished.
Portsmouth
workers also continued
excavating contaminated
areas at the site and made progress
constructing the next
cells for the On-Site Waste
Disposal Facility to hold
demolition debris.
Working with
federal and state
environmental regulators, EM
continued to advance an
initiative dubbed “Decision
2029” at the Paducah Site. The
initiative seeks to accelerate
regulatory decision-making,
and ultimately, enable more
cleanup to begin sooner.
Crews also
continued to prepare the
Paducah Site’s former uranium
enrichment process buildings
for eventual demolition. At
the C-333 Process Building,
workers safely completed
segmentation activities for
more than 450 large pieces of
equipment called converters.
Deactivation activities also
began in the C-337 Process
Building. In addition, crews safely
demolished unused facilities
at the Paducah Site, reducing
the cleanup footprint by
approximately 19,000 square
feet.
At the DUF6
conversion facilities at the
Paducah and Portsmouth sites,
the team checked off an EM
priority by converting
more than 1,000 cylinders of
DUF6 into a safer, more
stable oxide form.
“Everything we
have achieved at Portsmouth
and Paducah, and what we will
continue to achieve, is based
on a foundation of strong
partnerships with all those
who play a role in the cleanup
and future of these sites,”
Knerr said. “Our partnerships
with state and local leaders
and private industry ensure
that as they see cleanup is
accelerating, it will drive
future use of these sites.”
-Contributor:
Sarah Marko
An aerial view of
the Savannah River National
Laboratory in Aiken, South
Carolina.
AIKEN,
S.C. — As the U.S.
Department of Energy (DOE)
moves forward with its
recently launched Genesis
Mission — a national
effort to use artificial
intelligence (AI) and advanced
computing to accelerate
American discovery — Savannah
River National Laboratory
(SRNL) is set to play a unique
and critical role alongside
its fellow national
laboratories.
Highlighting the
mission's momentum, DOE Under
Secretary for Science Darío
Gil testified on its
objectives and impact during a
hearing
of the House Science, Space
and Technology Committee.
SRNL Director Johney Green,
alongside directors from the
other 16 national
laboratories,
demonstrated a unified
commitment to transforming
scientific discovery and
problem-solving through
Genesis.
The Genesis
Mission, a top DOE priority,
unites national labs, private
industry and academia to
develop a discovery platform
aimed at doubling the
productivity and impact of
U.S. science and engineering
over the next decade. This
mission aims to accelerate
solutions to some of the
world’s most consequential
grand challenges in energy,
scientific discovery and
national security.
Collaborative
Efforts and Innovative
Approaches
“The Genesis
Mission represents a bold
shift in how the nation
approaches discovery,” Green
said. “By applying modern AI
and advanced analytics to the
vast data already generated
across DOE, we can uncover
insights that dramatically
improve how we tackle legacy
waste and support
environmental cleanup. SRNL is
excited to contribute our
expertise and advanced
capabilities to the mission’s
overall success.”
In line with this
vision, SRNL has developed a
concept using AI to accelerate
the cleanup at the Savannah
River Site (SRS) and
across the DOE complex,
potentially saving billions of
dollars. By leveraging
subsurface characterization
data collected at federal
sites like SRS and Hanford,
SRNL aims to use this data as
a national asset to fast-track
environmental cleanups,
enhance domestic energy
production and boost the
extraction of critical
minerals and materials.
Advanced
Manufacturing and Integrated
AI
Using SRNL’s Advanced
Manufacturing Collaborative
facility, the lab is uniquely
positioned to integrate
cutting-edge AI technologies,
enhancing the efficiency of
defense-ready material
production. SRNL’s leadership
in chemical processing,
nuclear materials management
and computing underscores its
significance in ensuring the
mission’s success,
particularly in closing the
fuel cycle.
As the sole
EM-sponsored national
laboratory, SRNL has access to
extensive data from decades of
cleanup of former nuclear
weapons production sites,
offering invaluable insights
for novel materials
development, isotope recovery,
advanced manufacturing and
subsurface sciences. By
combining this data with AI
tools, SRNL, in collaboration
with other labs, aims to
significantly improve DOE’s
cleanup efforts of legacy
waste from the Cold War and
Manhattan Project eras,
thereby supporting the Genesis
Mission’s research objectives.
The Genesis
Mission will launch a set of
inaugural Model Teams,
spanning the national
laboratories in collaboration
with industry partners, to
begin developing AI models
that will accelerate discovery
and innovation, advance
American energy dominance and
bolster national security.
SRNL will support teams
focused on:
- Using
vast amounts of grid data to
incorporate AI and
autonomous systems into
power system planning and
operations
- Securing
the domestic supply chain of
critical minerals and
materials through new
discovery, extraction and
processing methods
- Reducing
timelines for design and
engineering studies in
magnetic confinement fusion
- Advancing
next-generation nuclear
fission technologies
Together, these
collaborative efforts will
drive groundbreaking
discoveries and expedite
solutions to national
priorities, reinforcing SRNL’s
crucial role in advancing
scientific frontiers and
ensuring national security.
Savannah River
Mission Completion installed
three larger, higher-capacity
cross flow filters used in the
decontamination process at the
Salt Waste Processing Facility
to achieve the facility’s
optimum production rates.
Pictured are personnel
conducting a mock-up trial of
the filter changeout before
executing the work in a highly
radioactive area.
Innovation
central to the site’s
achievement of an EM
priority to help execute key
cleanup projects to address
risk safely
AIKEN,
S.C. — A trio of
new and improved filters in a
key operating facility at the
Savannah
River Site (SRS) has
optimized efficiency and
accelerated production of the
radioactive waste tank cleanup
mission — marking the
completion of a U.S.
Department of Energy Office
of Environmental Management
(EM) priority to execute key
cleanup to safely address the
risk associated with legacy
waste.
EM’s liquid waste
contractor at SRS installed
larger, higher-capacity cross
flow filters at the Salt
Waste Processing Facility
(SWPF) during a planned
system-wide operational outage
this year to conduct repairs
and upgrades across all SRS
liquid waste facilities.
Tony Robinson,
DOE-Savannah River acting
assistant manager for waste
disposition, said increasing
the processing rate at SWPF
was critical to advancing the
cleanup mission at SRS.
“Salt waste is
the majority of the volume
that remains in the tank waste
at SRS,” Robinson said.
“SWPF is the key facility to
remediate the remaining tank
waste. The increased
processing rate and improved
operational reliability of
SWPF will accelerate the tank
waste mission and reduce the
risks of this legacy waste.”
In a significant
feat of innovation, Savannah
River Mission Completion
(SRMC) engineers devised a
novel way to double the
available surface area of the
filters. The previous
10-foot-long filters,
containing 234 filter tubes,
were replaced with
16-foot-long filters,
containing 288 filter tubes.
SWPF receives
salt waste from the tank
farms, a grouping of
underground waste tanks, and
decontaminates the waste by
removing the highly
radioactive contaminants using
filters and a
solvent-extraction process.
The cross flow
filters at SWPF are used in
the decontamination process to
separate the radioactive
materials, such as strontium,
uranium, and plutonium, and
solid particles from the
less-radioactive salt waste
stream. Filtration is the
first step before the liquid
waste undergoes a
solvent-extraction process to
then remove the cesium from
the waste.
Since restarting
the plant post-outage with the
new filters, SWPF continues to
set new processing records.
SWPF set a new 30-day
processing record in November
of over 600,000 gallons.
When operating
only one filter, SWPF can
process at a rate of 18.5
gallons per minute, providing
the throughput to meet mission
needs.
Operating a
first-of-a-kind and highly
integrated nuclear facility
does not come without unique
challenges that require
innovative solutions,
according to Thomas Burns Jr.,
SRMC president and program
manager.
“SRMC has had
transformative success with
the targeted effort to
increase throughput
capabilities at SWPF,” Burns
said. “This is a world-class
team that leans into ingenuity
to apply breakthroughs to any
challenge that comes our way.”
A display of a
cross flow filter, a contactor
and coalescer media in front
of the Salt Waste Processing
Facility at Savannah River
Site.
The installation
of cross flow filters is just
one of the ways SRMC is using
innovation and technology for
critical tasks associated with
the cleanup mission.
Recently, SRMC
successfully demonstrated
ultrasonic cleaning of the
SWPF contactors. These
mechanical mixers remove
radioactive cesium from the
liquid salt waste. During
operation, solids build up
inside the contactors. The
accumulated solids are removed
by a manual process.
Ultrasonic cleaning is a
faster, more thorough cleaning
that minimizes downtime and is
safer for workers.
Additionally, drones
are being used to perform
internal inspections of waste
tanks, generating precise
mapping of the tank and its
waste.
Other SWPF
optimizations completed by
SRMC over the last three years
include streamlining the
strategy for contactor
cleaning and repair,
improving the cleaning process
of the strip
effluent coalescer and
acquiring a bank of 16
spare contactors. All of
these improvements increase
plant availability to process
waste.
-Contributor:
Colleen Hart
LOS
ALAMOS, N.M. — In
2025, the U.S. Department of
Energy (DOE) Office
of Environmental Management
Los
Alamos Field Office
(EM-LA) and its contractor
achieved substantial progress
in the legacy cleanup mission
underway at Los Alamos
National Laboratory (LANL)
matched by strong safety
performance, federal and
contractor leaders said here
last week.
“EM-LA and N3B
made excellent progress in its
goals for fiscal year 2025,
including meeting all Appendix
B milestones, and we look
forward to a productive 2026,”
EM-LA Field Office Manager
Jessica Kunkle said at this
quarter’s Environmental
Management Cleanup Forum,
hosted in conjunction with
LANL legacy cleanup contractor
Newport News Nuclear-BWXT Los
Alamos LLC (N3B).
A highlight of
the LANL
legacy cleanup mission in
2025, officials said, was the
increased progress made in
reducing inventories of legacy
radioactive waste. EM-LA and
N3B shipped more than 190
cubic meters of transuranic
(TRU) waste to the Waste
Isolation Pilot Plant
(WIPP) near Carlsbad, New
Mexico, for disposal — more
than three times the fiscal
year 2025 goal of 62 cubic
meters.
Efforts to
dispose of a set of corrugated
metal pipes (CMPs) containing
cemented TRU waste also took a
major step forward, with
completion of size-reduction
activities and commencement of
shipments of the CMP
waste to WIPP.
In
addition, EM-LA and N3B
finished disposing of
remaining legacy containers of
low-level and mixed low-level
waste containers stored at
Area G. Kunkle noted over
28,500 containers of legacy
TRU waste have been shipped
from LANL to WIPP for final
disposal since 2000,
demonstrating DOE’s commitment
to safely and effectively
removing legacy waste from
LANL.
“We made
substantive progress in all
aspects of the LANL legacy
cleanup mission,” said Brad
Smith, N3B president and
project manager. “We look
forward to another year of
collaborating with our various
cleanup partners, including
the Department of Energy, area
stakeholders, pueblos and the
state of New Mexico.”
This year also
saw EM-LA and N3B continue
their strong track record in
meeting annual cleanup
commitments under the New
Mexico Environment Department
(NMED) Compliance Order on
Consent, which governs some
legacy cleanup activities at
LANL. EM-LA and N3B met all 11
fiscal year 2025 milestones on
or ahead of schedule, bringing
the total met since the N3B
contract began in 2018 to 115
out of 116.
EM-LA Working
with State Agencies to
Address Chromium Concerns
Kunkle provided
an update on one of the
highest priorities in the LANL
legacy cleanup mission —
addressing hexavalent chromium
groundwater contamination.
While the contamination plume
does not pose an immediate
threat to public or private
drinking water wells, EM-LA
has a strong history of
collaborating with NMED,
Pueblo de San Ildefonso and
Los Alamos County to monitor,
control and address the
contamination, Kunkle said.
EM-LA and N3B are
working to expeditiously
complete the installation of a
new monitoring well to
increase understanding of the
boundaries of the
contamination plume, according
to Kunkle. She also noted work
is underway to evaluate and
refine the conceptual site
model and to analyze potential
enhancements for the interim
pump-and-treat system in place
to control the spread of the
plume.
“EM-LA remains
committed to addressing the
hexavalent chromium plume and
we are excited to establish an
adaptive site management
approach with NMED, the Office
of the State Engineer, Pueblo
de San Ildefonso and Los
Alamos County,” Kunkle said.
Adaptive site
management is a systematic and
iterative approach used to
manage complex cleanup
projects, allowing for
flexibility and adjustments
based on new information and
changing conditions.
Best Safety
Performance in Five Years
Smith said that
N3B also realized one of its
strongest years for safety
performance in 2025.
Based on the
company’s most up-to-date
injury rate information
published by the Bureau of
Labor Statistics for 2025, N3B
had 60% fewer injuries and
nearly 75% fewer serious
injuries compared to the
average high-hazard cleanup
company.
“Employee
engagement and ownership is
the key factor in our safety
performance,” Smith said.
One project that
contributed greatly to Oak
Ridge’s waste total this year
was the demolition of Alpha-2
at the Y-12 National Security
Complex. Here, crews remove
lead and work to complete
demolition on the west side of
the 2.5-acre facility.
Waste haul
highlights marked progress
to eliminate risks, enable
modernization and open space
for national security
missions and future research
and innovation
OAK
RIDGE, Tenn. —
Crews removed 64 million
pounds of waste from Oak
Ridge’s cleanup sites in
2025, a tally showcasing the
pace and progress of projects
clearing away old
infrastructure and preparing
numerous buildings for
demolition.
“This remarkable
number puts the scale of our
work in perspective,” Oak
Ridge Office of
Environmental Management
(OREM) Deputy Manager Teresa
Robbins said. “It also
highlights how much of our
progress is often unseen but
is equally important to
mission success. A
considerable amount of this
material was generated by
deactivation crews inside
buildings at the Y-12
National Security Complex
and Oak
Ridge National Laboratory
(ORNL) being prepared for
near-term demolition.”
The 64 million
pounds of waste compares in
weight to about 15,000
average-sized automobiles. Deactivation
and demolition (D&D)
projects at Y-12 contributed
the lion’s share of the
overall waste total,
generating approximately 59
million pounds of waste. Most
of that debris came from
tearing down the
325,000-square-foot Alpha-2
building. It marks the
largest demolition yet at
Y-12, and the first removal of
a former uranium enrichment
facility at the site.
Adding to the
count was waste generated from
readying the
300,000-square-foot Beta-1
facility for demolition and
disposing of legacy containers
from inside Alpha-4,
a sprawling facility covering
13 acres of land. Both are
former Manhattan Project-era
uranium enrichment facilities
whose removal will eliminate
risks, enable modernization
and open space for national
security missions.
Workers remove a
hot cell from Building 3038, a
former radioisotope processing
facility, located in Isotope
Row in the central campus area
of Oak Ridge National
Laboratory.
Crews at ORNL
advanced multiple D&D
projects this year that
boosted the waste total.
Workers completed
deactivation, demolition and
disposal of Building
3003, a structure that
had supported the historic
Graphite Reactor. They also
made strides deactivating and
removing portions of the
former Radioisotope
Development Laboratory’s
remaining hot cell.
Teams advanced
deactivation inside the Oak
Ridge Research Reactor
and at 11 highly contaminated
former radioisotope processing
facilities, collectively
referred to as Isotope
Row.
Together, these
projects at ORNL resulted in
more than 2 million pounds of
waste, and they support the
continued transformation of
the site’s central campus area
to open space for future
research and innovation.
The Environmental
Management Waste Management
Facility is a key piece of
infrastructure that supports
timely, efficient cleanup
across the Oak Ridge
Reservation. The facility has
strict waste acceptance
criteria, only taking
low-level waste comprised
mostly of debris, concrete and
soil from building demolition
and soil excavation projects.
At the East
Tennessee Technology Park
(ETTP), teams downsized and
disposed of more than 100
pieces of excess heavy
equipment, small support
structures and excess
materials totaling
approximately 3 million
pounds. These projects
supported closure activities
to help OREM transition the
site from federal ownership
into a private industrial
park.
OREM contractor
UCOR also identified
opportunities to recycle
17,835 feet of fencing from
ETTP, reducing impact to the
onsite landfills’ capacity and
demonstrating continued
commitment to minimizing
waste.
“We are committed
to more than just performing
cleanup operations, performing
them in ways that maximize the
investment of tax dollars and
find the best solution to
continue our mission on the
Oak Ridge Reservation,” said
UCOR Waste Management &
Operations Director Sean
Dunagan.
Nearly 95% of
generated waste is disposed of
onsite at the Oak Ridge
Reservation Landfills or the Environmental
Management Waste Management
Facility. That includes
debris, concrete and soil with
little or no contamination.
Highly contaminated waste,
accounting for 99.8% of the
generated waste’s total
radioactivity, is shipped out
of state for permanent
disposal.
-Contributor:
Ryan Getsi
Before and after
photos show the successful
demolition of the 720-F
Central Alarm Station down to
a slab.
AIKEN,
S.C. — Crews
recently reduced the legacy
footprint at the Savannah
River Site (SRS) by
demolishing two structures
surrounding a facility that
once helped power deep-space
missions such as Galileo,
Ulysses and Cassini.
The achievement
marks a U.S. Department of
Energy Office
of Environmental Management
(EM) priority, implementing
common sense solutions that
meet cleanup responsibilities
while delivering more value
for American taxpayers.
The EM crews tore
down key ancillary structures
of the F-Area Material Storage
Building (235-F) called the
701-4F Entry Control Facility
and the 720-F Central Alarm
Station. This initiative, in
the works for over a decade,
supports EM’s mission to
safely decommission legacy
facilities while strategically
reducing the number of
structures requiring
management and oversight, with
the ultimate goal of safely
decommissioning 235-F and
associated structures.
“This demolition
project is a perfect example
of how the EM mission at SRS
is meeting our cleanup
commitments while being smart
stewards of taxpayer dollars,”
said Edwin Deshong, Savannah
River Operations Office
manager. “By safely
decommissioning these legacy
structures around 235-F, we
are reducing our legacy
footprint and positioning the
facility for final in-situ
decommissioning.”
Views of 701-4F
Entry Control Facility
demolition progress from start
to finish.
The crews also
dismantled two layers of
perimeter security fencing and
removed electronic security
components located between the
fences.
“This ongoing
work serves as another
testament to our commitment to
making the world a safer
place,” said Jeff Griffin,
president and CEO of EM
contractor Savannah River
Nuclear Solutions (SRNS). “We
pride ourselves on the
progress achieved so far and
remain steadfast in our
efforts to see this vital
project through to
completion.”
Workers produced
the fuel spheres and pellets
from plutonium-238 for the
deep-space missions at 235-F,
constructed in the early
1950s. The two-story,
reinforced concrete structure
has been inactive for more
than 25 years. Deactivating
235-F in 2023 positioned it in
a safe condition for continued
surveillance and maintenance
until in-situ
decommissioning, which
involves permanently entombing
the facility in place, can
proceed.
“This isn't just
about dismantling structures;
it's about building a safer
future,” 235-F Decommissioning
Project Manager Pat O'Neill
said. “With the Department,
SRNS and our state and federal
regulatory partners, we remain
dedicated to fulfilling our
environmental commitments,
ensuring safety and compliance
at every step.”
SRNS Design
Engineering completed the
conceptual design for the
235-F decommissioning in
August. The project team is
now developing the detailed
design, revised safety basis
documents to support final
decommissioning and a detailed
project schedule and estimate.
In-situ decommissioning field
work is scheduled for the
fiscal year that begins in
October.
-Contributor:
Fallan Flatow
Before and after:
Idaho Cleanup Project crews
have finished deactivation and
demolition of the Submarine
1st Generation Westinghouse
prototype. The first photo
shows the prototype building
before demolition and the
second photo shows the site of
the building after demolition
in the foreground, with new
Naval Reactors Facility
construction pictured in the
background.
IDAHO
FALLS, Idaho — The
Idaho
Cleanup Project (ICP)
has closed the first chapter
of cleanup of three legacy
nuclear propulsion prototypes
at the Naval
Reactors Facility (NRF)
by completing deactivation and
demolition (D&D) of the
defueled Submarine 1st
Generation Westinghouse (S1W)
— the historic Navy prototype
that helped develop the first
nuclear-powered submarine, USS
Nautilus.
The site of the
S1W now sits bare for the
first time in nearly 75 years.
Crews have worked diligently
since May to size-reduce,
recycle and remove debris from
the S1W prototype’s footprint
after ICP used explosive
charges to bring
down the prototype’s
high bay building.
A major part of
this effort involved cutting
the remaining hull pieces and
transporting them to the Idaho
National Laboratory Site
CERCLA disposal facility. Each
piece weighed several hundred
thousand pounds and took
several weeks to cut using
specialized saws and cutters.
CERCLA
stands for Comprehensive
Environmental Response,
Compensation, and Liability
Act, a law enacted by Congress
in 1980. As a result of the
CERCLA regulatory process, the
disposal facility has
stringent waste acceptance
criteria.
With the S1W
project complete, cleanup
crews have turned their
attention to D&D of the
Aircraft Carrier 1st
Generation Westinghouse (A1W)
and Submarine
5th Generation General
Electric (S5G)
prototypes.
Workers have
prepared for large-scale D&D
at A1W by removing targeted
hazardous materials like
asbestos and polychlorinated
biphenyls (PCBs) from the
prototype. They also removed
ancillary buildings around
A1W.
Deactivation
progress at the S5G prototype
continues since NRF turned the
site over to the U.S.
Department of Energy Office
of Environmental Management
(EM) in October 2024.
With D&D of
S1W now in the past, ICP
D&D Projects Operations
Director Shawna Burtenshaw
recognizes the benefit
experience will provide as the
team looks to tackle the
difficult work ahead.
“Many of the
challenges we will face moving
forward will be similar to
those we experienced by
completing D&D at the S1W
prototype,” said Burtenshaw.
“Thanks to a talented and
experienced crew, we are
prepared to effectively meet
these challenges.”
ICP has managed
D&D of the three legacy
nuclear propulsion prototypes
since 2022 as a result of an
agreement signed by EM and the
U.S. Navy in 2019. These
prototypes were constructed to
support the Naval Nuclear
Propulsion Program and
provided training ground for
prospective nuclear fleet
operators.
ICP crews are
scheduled to complete D&D
of A1W and S5G over the next
six years.
-Contributor:
Carter Harrison
Workers with
contractor Central Plateau
Cleanup Company recently
completed excavation for Super
Cell 11, left, at the Hanford
Site’s Environmental
Restoration Disposal Facility,
right. The expansion will add
about 2.8 million cubic yards
of disposal capacity to
support Hanford cleanup
efforts through at least 2040.
RICHLAND,
Wash. — Hanford
Site crews recently
finished digging a new
disposal area at the Environmental
Restoration Disposal
Facility (ERDF), the
site’s engineered landfill.
Excavation began
last summer on the facility’s
11th disposal cell — called a
“super cell” because it is
twice the size of the
facility’s original cells. The
new cell, which was dug 80
feet deep and measures 500
feet wide by 1,000 feet long,
will add about 2.8 million
cubic yards of disposal
capacity to support Hanford’s
ongoing cleanup mission
through at least 2040.
“ERDF has been a
cornerstone of our waste
disposal strategy for nearly
30 years, and this expansion
is essential to provide
uninterrupted, efficient and
safe disposal for years to
come,” said Kelly Ebert,
director for the Projects and
Facilities Division with the
U.S. Department of Energy Office
of Environmental Management’s
Hanford
Field Office.
Next spring,
workers with contractor
Central Plateau Cleanup
Company (CPCCo) will complete
the expansion project by
installing an engineered
liner. The liner is designed
to collect potentially
contaminated water from rain
and dust-suppression
activities to ensure the
protection of groundwater.
ERDF is located
near the center of the
580-square-mile Hanford Site.
It accepts low-level
radioactive and hazardous
chemical waste generated from
Hanford cleanup operations.
Since opening in 1996, ERDF
has received nearly
20 million tons of
waste. This is the fifth
expansion following additions
in 1999, 2003, 2007 and 2011.
“Our team remains
committed to safe and
efficient operations at ERDF,
and our experienced crews are
excited about the progress
being made on this important
project to support continued
risk reduction at Hanford,”
said CPCCo President and
Project Manager Bob Wilkinson.
LIVERMORE,
Calif. — Crews
with the U.S. Department of
Energy Office
of Environmental
Management (EM) have
made steady progress
removing a legacy research
reactor dome, Building 280,
located on the Lawrence
Livermore National
Laboratory site. EM,
in coordination with the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
and other partners, is
performing radioactive waste
management and excess
facility demolition at the
laboratory site to open
space for new opportunities
on the laboratory’s small
footprint. The first photo
shows the dome on Nov. 19.
It compares with the second
photo taken Dec. 8,
following work to remove it.
-Contributor:
Stephanie Shewmon
Paducah Site
Security Police Officer Joe
Molinaro conducts an
inspection of a Protective
Force vehicle before starting
his shift. Routine vehicle
inspections played a
significant role in the force
achieving 106,000 miles
accident-free during fiscal
year 2025.
PADUCAH,
Ky. — The Paducah
Site Protective Force
has marked 106,000 miles of
driving without any accidents
in one year.
It was the first
time members of the force
exceeded 100,000 miles for a
fiscal year, and the second
consecutive fiscal year they
drove accident-free, with
nearly 195,000 miles driven
combined for the two years.
“The Protective
Force are always in constant
patrol,” U.S. Department of
Energy Office
of Environmental Management
Portsmouth
Paducah Project Office
Security Team Lead Mark Allen
said. “They ensure the Paducah
Site and its employees are
provided around-the-clock
protection, and it’s proven
with the miles driven.”
The Protective
Force primarily attributed the
fiscal year 2025
accomplishment to the
diligence of its security
police officers through an
enhanced vehicle maintenance
program and a heightened sense
of responsibility for their
vehicles.
“At the Paducah
Site, the security police
officers take ownership, pride
and accountability for their
patrol vehicles 24 hours a
day, seven days a week and 365
days a year,” Paducah Site
Protective Force Security
Director Eddie Gray II said.
“Reaching this accomplishment
shows they take their job
seriously to ensure the
Paducah Site and the community
are safe in any type of
security event.”
A Protective
Force vehicle sits at the
ready for Paducah Site
security police officers.
Recent upgrades have provided
them a new sense of pride and
responsibility for their
vehicles.
Reaching this
landmark is especially notable
considering the officers add
about 1,500 to 2,000 miles to
each patrol vehicle odometer
each week at a site with
around 19 miles of road.
Driving 106,000 miles is
equivalent to traveling around
the world five times.
Due to the high
mileage, the Protective Force
implemented a program to track
routine maintenance and ensure
the vehicles are up to U.S.
General Services
Administration standards.
“A good, safe
vehicle allows us to get that
kind of mileage,” Paducah Site
Protective Force Security
Manager Mike Turner said.
“Before the tracker tool was
in place, we would catch tires
not to General Services
Administration standards and
oil changes past due. We keep
them maintained for a level of
safety for the security police
officers and their response
capability.”
Part of this
program includes oil changes
every 3,000 miles instead of
the standard 6,000 miles.
Additionally, the officers
perform internal and external
vehicle inspections at the
beginning and end of each
shift. They also clean their
vehicles inside and out at
least weekly.
“The security
police officers understand
it’s important for them to
have these vehicles,” Paducah
Site Protective Force Capt.
Shawn Craven said. “They show
more dedication to their
vehicles. Many of them will
wipe down their patrol car
before entering, which keeps
it extra clean and organized,
helping prepare them for each
shift.”
-Contributor:
Zachary Boyarski
RICHLAND,
Wash. — Crews used
cranes and lifts to install
heavy steel beams nearly 60
feet above the Waste
Treatment and Immobilization
Plant’s High-Level
Waste Facility on the Hanford
Site. The work,
performed by contractor
Bechtel National Inc., is a
key step to completing the
facility’s roof. Once the roof
is in place, crews can begin
installing systems that will
turn highly radioactive waste
into glass for long term
storage.
Before
installation, each beam was
cleaned, coated with
fire-resistant material and
inspected to ensure it can
withstand extreme conditions.
Watch
this video to see the
scale and precision of the
work.
Workers with
Hanford Tank Waste Operations
& Closure use long-reach
tools to tighten nozzle
connectors while installing
the final piece of piping
needed to connect the tank
farms to the Waste Treatment
and Immobilization Plant.
Cleanup
program recently awarded
performance-based fee
payments to 12 of its
contractors at sites across
the DOE complex
The U.S.
Department of Energy Office
of Environmental Management
(EM) recently awarded
performance-based fee payments
to 12 of its contractors at
sites across the cleanup
complex, including Hanford,
Savannah River, Paducah,
Portsmouth, Waste Isolation
Pilot Plant, Idaho, Nevada,
Los Alamos, and Savannah River
National Laboratory.
EM releases
information relating to
contractor fee payments —
earned by completing work
called for in the contracts —
to further transparency in its
cleanup program.
Following are the
fee payments for the
contractors over varying
performance evaluation periods
within fiscal year 2025, which
ended Sept. 30:
- Hanford
Tank Waste Operations &
Closure LLC, the Hanford
Field Office (HFO)
tank operations contractor,
was awarded nearly $26.3
million, or 94% of the
available fee of about $28.1
million for the period of
Feb. 24, 2025, through Sept.
30, 2025.
- HFO
cleanup contractor Central
Plateau Cleanup Company LLC
was awarded close to $18.6
million, or 96% of the
available fee of almost
$19.3 million for fiscal
year 2025.
- HFO
222-S
Laboratory contractor
Hanford Laboratory
Management and Integration
LLC received nearly $5.1
million, or 95% of the
available fee of $5.3
million for fiscal year
2025.
- Hanford
Mission Integration
Solutions LLC, HFO mission
support contractor, was
awarded close to $21.9
million, or 96% of the
available fee of nearly
$22.9 million for fiscal
year 2025.
- Savannah
River Mission Completion
LLC, the liquid waste
contractor at Savannah
River Site, received
about $966,100, or all of
the available fee for Task
Orders 10, 11 and 12 for
fiscal year 2025.
- At
Savannah
River National Laboratory,
management and operations
(M&O) contractor
Battelle Savannah River
Alliance LLC was awarded
about $5.7 million, or 94%
of the available fee of
nearly $6.1 million for
fiscal year 2025.
- Four
Rivers Nuclear Partnership
LLC, the Paducah
Site deactivation and
remediation contractor,
received close to $15.7
million, or 98% of the
available fee of almost
$16.1 million for fiscal
year 2025.
- Mid-America
Conversion Services LLC
earned nearly $4.9 million,
or 88% of the available fee
of more than $5.5 million
for the period of Oct, 1,
2024, to May 31, 2025, for
its operation and
maintenance of the depleted
uranium hexafluoride
(DUF6) conversion
facilities at the Portsmouth
and Paducah sites.
- Salado
Isolation Mining Contractors
LLC, the Waste
Isolation Pilot Plant
M&O contractor, received
close to $15.4 million, or
97% of the available fee of
about $15.8 million for
fiscal year 2025.
- Idaho
Environmental Coalition LLC,
the Idaho
Cleanup Project
cleanup contractor, received
over $27.6 million, or 96%
of the available fee of more
than $28.7 million for
fiscal year 2025.
- Navarro
Research and Engineering
Inc., the EM Nevada Program
cleanup contractor at the Nevada
National Security Site,
was awarded more than $1.7
million, or 95% of the
available fee of nearly $1.8
million for fiscal year
2025.
- Newport
News Nuclear BWXT-Los Alamos
LLC, the EM
Los Alamos Field Office
legacy cleanup contractor at
Los Alamos National
Laboratory, earned over
$15.8 million, or 95% of the
available fee of more than
$16.7 million during fiscal
year 2025.
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