DOE Leaders to Headline 12th Annual National Cleanup Workshop

ARLINGTON, Va. — Under Secretary for Science Darío Gil and Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management (EM) Tim Walsh are among the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) officials set to address the 12th Annual National Cleanup Workshop Sept. 14–16 at the Marriott Crystal Gateway in Arlington, Virginia.

This year’s workshop theme, “Powering and Securing the Future Through Restoration and Revitalization,” reflects the significant evolution underway in how EM approaches its mission — one that continues to prioritize safe environmental cleanup while leveraging more than 35 years of hard-won progress to build lasting economic opportunity for communities across the country.

Gil and Walsh are expected to deliver opening keynote addresses. While Gil will focus on how DOE’s Genesis Mission will accelerate science through artificial intelligence (AI), Walsh gives an inside look at the bold new direction EM has charted under the Trump administration. He has described that direction plainly: “We aren’t just managing the past; we are powering the future.”

In his remarks, Walsh will draw on a year of accomplishments across EM’s cleanup sites, from record-setting tank waste processing at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina to a landmark new strategy for the Hanford Site in Washington state that could save tens of billions of dollars and accelerate completion of the nation’s most complex radioactive tank waste challenge by decades. Walsh will also highlight EM’s growing role in closing the nuclear fuel cycle, turning assets once considered waste into materials to support America’s next-generation nuclear power, cancer treatment and energy technology.

The three-day workshop will feature several panel sessions bringing together DOE officials, contractors, regulators, state and local leaders and industry representatives. They will focus on new energy development on DOE sites, the backend of the nuclear fuel cycle, AI’s role in accelerating the cleanup mission, acquisition and contracting strategies, next-generation workforce development, national security and the future of advanced nuclear at former weapons production sites. U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, chair of the House Appropriations Energy and Water Development Subcommittee, will provide perspectives from Capitol Hill.

The workshop serves as a critical forum for EM officials to share progress with the communities that have hosted the nation’s nuclear missions for decades while engaging those communities in dialogue. This year’s program includes dedicated time for local elected officials, EM Site-Specific Advisory Board representatives and intergovernmental partners to talk with EM senior leadership, reinforcing the program’s commitment to transparency and partnership at every stage of the cleanup mission.

With the nuclear energy landscape shifting rapidly and EM’s cleanup mission producing results at every active site, this year’s workshop comes at a pivotal moment. Whether attendees are cleanup professionals, community advocates, energy industry leaders or policymakers, the event offers unmatched opportunity to hear from the people shaping the future of America’s nuclear cleanup and energy renaissance.

Registration and additional information, including the full conference agenda, are available here.