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January 1, 2013
Members of the team that helped safely close the Toxic Substances Control Act Incinerator at Oak Ridge gather for a photo. The team is from URS|CH2M, Oak Ridge, the prime contractor for the Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management.
One-of-a-Kind Facility Now in Safe Shutdown

OAK RIDGE, Tenn. – Oak Ridge’s East Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP) is home to many unique facilities, each constructed for a specific purpose. Today, almost all of the facilities at the site are in the process of being safely cleaned, shut down and removed.

November 1, 2012
Umatilla Tribes Department of Science and Engineering Director Stuart Harris, far right, explains the purpose of the Tribes’ greenhouses to Senior Advisor for Environmental Management David Huizenga, center, and Richland Operations Office Manager Matt McCormick.
Helping STEM Take Root: EM Tribal Partnership Looks To the Future of Science Education

RICHLAND, Wash. – Improving science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education in the United States can provide a path forward for national defense, economic prosperity and international competitiveness. Looking toward the future, the Office of Environmental Management (EM) is partnering with the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) to help STEM education take root in the Pacific Northwest.

October 1, 2012
U.S. Energy Under Secretary for Nuclear Security Thomas D'Agostino, left, South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control Director Catherine Templeton and U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) unveil a marker to commemorate the closing of waste tanks at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina.
Savannah River Site Celebrates Historic Closure of Radioactive Waste Tanks: Senior DOE Officials and South Carolina Congressional Leadership Gather to Commemorate Historic Cleanup Milestone

AIKEN, S.C. – Officials from the U.S. Department of Energy gathered with congressional and state leaders this month to celebrate the closure of two Cold War hazardous waste tanks at the Savannah River Site (SRS).

September 1, 2012
The Brookhaven Graphite Research Reactor’s bioshield, which contains the 700-ton reactor core, is shown prior to decommissioning.
Brookhaven Lab Completes Decommissioning of Graphite Research Reactor: Reactor core and associated structures successfully removed; waste shipped offsite for disposal

UPTON, N.Y. – The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) has reached a major milestone by decommissioning a research reactor, ending the DOE Office of Environmental Management (EM) legacy cleanup activities at the site.

August 1, 2012
For more than 50 years, the uranium-233 (U-233) supply has been stored at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s (ORNL) Building 3019. The facility, located near the center of the ORNL campus, is owned by EM and one of the nation’s few repositories for U-233 and other special nuclear materials dating back to the Manhattan Project.
EM Plan Accelerates Uranium-233 Disposal, Saves Taxpayers Half Billion Dollars

OAK RIDGE, Tenn. – EM is moving forward with a new plan to safely dispose of a large supply of a special nuclear material that cuts the project’s duration by a decade and saves taxpayers more than a half billion dollars when compared to a previous approach for the work.

July 2, 2012
New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez greets Terry Aguilar, governor of San Ildefonso Pueblo, while Frank Marcinowski (lower right), EM deputy assistant secretary of waste management, and Dan Cox, LANL associate deputy director for environmental affairs, look on.
Los Alamos National Laboratory Accelerates Transuranic Waste Shipments: Spurred by a major wildfire in 2011, Los Alamos National Laboratory’s TRU Waste Program accelerates shipments of transuranic waste stored aboveground to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plan

LOS ALAMOS, N.M. – A project to ship 3,706 cubic meters of transuranic (TRU) waste stored above ground at Los Alamos National Laboratory is ahead of schedule, on budget and has resulted in improved relationships among EM, the state of New Mexico and the National Nuclear Security Administration.

June 1, 2012
The Mobile Arm Retrieval System (MARS), the largest robotic arm ever inserted into a Department of Energy waste storage tank, is back at work in one of Hanford’s underground storage tanks where it has removed nearly 133,000 gallons of waste
Robotic Arm Back to Work at Hanford

RICHLAND, Wash. – A remotely operated robotic arm is back at work retrieving waste from one of Hanford’s underground waste storage tanks.

May 1, 2012
Workers use a lift to access part of the 200 West Groundwater Treatment Facility.
Hanford Treatment Facility Achieves First Gold Ranking for Sustainable Design in EM Complex: New groundwater treatment facility will be Hanford’s largest, greenest pump-and-treat system

RICHLAND, Wash. – A major facility for treating groundwater contaminated by plutonium production at the Hanford site has received the first Leadership for Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) gold certification for sustainable design in the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management (EM) complex of sites that conducted nuclear weapons development and government-sponsored nuclear energy research.

April 2, 2012
Neil Smith puts a trained eye on the pressure and flow of a food grade compound being injected into an underground plume of hazardous waste near the X-720 Maintenance Facility at the DOE Piketon Site. The sodium lactate compound promotes bacterial growth in the groundwater that turns hazardous waste into harmless end-products.
Portsmouth Site Feeds Bacteria to Render Hazardous Groundwater Waste Harmless

PIKETON, Ohio – The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Environmental Management’s Portsmouth site is using an environmentally friendly approach to reduce hazardous waste in a groundwater plume.

February 1, 2012
Oak Ridge Finds Ways to Remove K-25 Faster, Cheaper

OAK RIDGE, Tenn. — K-25, once the world’s largest building under one roof, reflects less of its former title every day. Due to the partnership between the U.S Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Environmental Management (EM) cleanup team and Oak Ridge’s prime environmental management contractor, URS | CH2M Oak Ridge, LLC (UCOR), the 44-acre, multi-level uranium-enrichment superstructure is in the advanced stages of demolition.