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The mission of the Office of Environmental Management (EM) is to complete the safe cleanup of the environmental legacy
brought about from five decades of nuclear weapons development and
government-sponsored nuclear energy research.
The EM program has made significant progress in the last four years in shifting
away from risk management to embracing a mission completion philosophy based on
reducing risk and reducing environmental liability. As an established operating
cleanup completion and risk reduction program, EM is demonstrating the
importance of remaining steadfast to operating principles while staying focused
on the mission. For example:
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EM is constructing and operating facilities to treat radioactive liquid tank
waste into a safe, stable form to enable ultimate disposition.
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EM is securing and storing nuclear material in a stable, safe configuration in
secure locations to protect national security.
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EM is transporting and disposing of transuranic and low-level wastes in a safe
and cost effective manner to reduce risk.
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EM is decontaminating and decommissioning facilities that provide no further
value to reduce long-term liabilities and maximize resources for cleanup.
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EM is remediating soil and ground water contaminated with the radioactive and hazardous
constituents.
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EM is fulfilling its commitments to reduce risk and complete cleanup across all
sites for the generations to come.
Safety:
With this focus on cleanup completion and risk reducing
results, safety still remains the utmost priority. EM will continue to maintain
and demand the highest safety performance. All workers deserve to go home as
healthy as they were when they came to the job in the morning. There is no
schedule or milestone worth any injury to the work force.
Project Management:
EM is increasing its concentration on project management to improve its overall
performance toward cost-effective risk reduction. This will involve
review of validated project baselines, schedules, and assumptions about
effective identification and management of risks. Instrumental in refining the
technical and business approaches to project management are the senior
leadership and staff. EM is ensuring that leaders, project managers, and staff
are trained to meet its project management and mission objectives. Another tool
that will assist EM project management is the cleanup contracts. The contracts
define EM workscope. The EM contracts also set expectations and standards,
which in turn delineate the operating principles and requirements. EM’s goal is
to ensure that the site contracts are designed to drive outstanding
performance. Finally, EM will strive for constant, real-time feedback of
lessons learned to improve project planning and execution.
Site Closure:
EM will continue to maintain a focus on completing site cleanup, with an additional
eleven sites or areas (Argonne National Laboratory – East, Brookhaven National
Laboratory, East Tennessee Technology Park at Oak Ridge, Energy Technology
Engineering Center, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory-Site 300; Inhalation
Toxicology Laboratory, Pantex Plant; Sandia National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley
National Laboratory, Miamisburg, and the Stanford Linear Accelerator
Center) projected to be completed in the 2007 to 2009 timeframe.
Benefits:
As indicated above, EM’s mission is to cleanup the environmental legacy of
nuclear weapons production and nuclear energy research. Through its accelerated
cleanup approach, EM is remediating sites and reducing the risks of the
environmental contamination for future generations. Over the next five years,
EM’s goal is to continue to reduce the environmental liability associated with
the EM program, consistent with the ideals previously discussed above in the
Mission section.
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