Deactivation & Decommissioning News

Leadership from the United Kingdom’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) and Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM) came together recently to exchange best practices for decommissioning facilities and a host of other cleanup topics.

Demolition is underway on several former chemical storage tanks and associated infrastructure as risk-reduction activities continue at a former plutonium processing facility at the Hanford Site.

A Hanford Site building that was critical to transferring radioactive sludge away from the Columbia River is coming down.

Employees with Fluor-BWXT-Portsmouth (FBP), EM’s decontamination and decommissioning contractor for the Portsmouth Site, were recently treated to a luncheon, celebrating the completion of 4 million safe work hours.

EM crews have completed major deactivation efforts on a Manhattan Project-era facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex scheduled for demolition next year.

The Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM) and contractor UCOR accomplished an EM priority four months ahead of schedule when they broke ground on the Environmental Management Disposal Facility (EMDF) last week.

One of two new raw water pumps EM workers recently installed at the Paducah Site’s water treatment facility has reduced energy consumption for pumping water by approximately 63% and lowered water usage by about 1 million gallons per day.

The skyline of the West Valley Demonstration Project is forever changed after EM crews recently removed the remaining portion of the Main Plant Process Building’s iconic ventilation stack.

This EM story focuses on the Manhattan Project, the origin of EM’s nuclear cleanup mission.

Recent figures from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) show the Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM) and its contractors are conducting cleanup at a rate leading the nation among federal facility sites.