Deactivation & Decommissioning News

Crews are in the homestretch of achieving an EM 2021 priority to complete demolition of all DOE-owned buildings at the former Energy Technology Engineering Center (ETEC) site in Ventura County, California.

EM crews at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have removed highly radioactive components from a reactor pool in a facility slated for demolition.

EM Richland Operations Office contractor Central Plateau Cleanup Company has awarded two construction subcontracts worth about $9.5 million to Richland-based DGR Grant Construction Inc. to progress critical risk-reduction work along the Columbia River.

Workers at EM’s Paducah Site are set to begin constructing a state-of-the-art material sizing area (MSA) in the C-333 Process Building to downsize large components.

Collaboration between EM and the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) International has yielded five new standards and testing practices for fixatives — the latest being approved earlier this summer.

EM Acting Assistant Secretary William “Ike” White visited the Portsmouth Site last month to get a firsthand look at demolition and disposal progress as part of the ongoing decontamination and decommissioning of the site.

EM and the management and operations contractor at the Savannah River Site (SRS) have surpassed a major environmental restoration milestone by deactivating and decommissioning (D&D) 50 buildings — more than 1 million square feet of space — since 2008.

EM crews were recently at work upgrading the Molten Salt Reactor Experiment (MSRE) facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory when they encountered an unexpected challenge: they couldn’t obtain critical vendor services and parts needed for the project.

Once home to a massive power plant and oil tanks, the former Powerhouse Area at the East Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP) is now a clean, grassy field primed for future recreational use.

Successful collaborations have fueled EM’s progress over the past 18 months, enabling a series of achievements while emphasizing health and safety protections during the COVID-19 pandemic.