WASHINGTON, D.C. – With cleanup sites beginning to ramp back up to full operations in a phased and deliberate approach, EM remains poised to complete many of its top priorities this year, Senior Advisor William “Ike” White told an industry group last week.

While some impacts from the pandemic will be unavoidable, “I believe we remain on track to realize a significant set of accomplishments across EM that will position this program for success in the decade to come,” White told members of the Energy Facility Contractors Group (EFCOG) on June 3 during its annual meeting conducted virtually due to the coronavirus.

White noted that earlier this year, EM laid out an ambitious set of priorities it planned to accomplish. Many remain on track to be completed this year, including startup of the Salt Waste Processing Facility at the Savannah River Site, the last major piece of the site’s liquid waste system, and the completion of deactivation and decommissioning activities at the East Tennessee Technology Park at Oak Ridge.

Demolition of the High Flux Beam Reactor stack at Brookhaven National Laboratory is expected to be completed, the last of the legacy cleanup work to be performed there. And the Moab Site, which largely was not impacted by the pandemic response, is moving to the goal of disposing of another million tons of uranium mill tailings by the end of the year.

White also noted progress continues toward startup of the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit at the Idaho National Laboratory Site, and the Direct-Feed Low-Activity Waste (DFLAW) system at Hanford — both projects to enable EM to better tackle tank waste treatment at those sites.

While most EM sites reduced their operating posture this spring as a result of the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, White stressed EM remained productive, moving forward with a number of regulatory and policy actions that help drive cleanup. Likewise, EM’s acquisition team has not slowed down in competing and awarding new contracts that will accelerate progress.

“When I first came to EM almost exactly a year ago, I had heard about the cleanup challenges, but it’s safe to say that I didn’t expect it would be done in the middle of a pandemic environment,” White said. He thanked EFCOG and the contracting community for the role they have played in ensuring the workforce at EM sites adapts safely to the pandemic environment while continuing to make progress.

For instance, EM reached a path forward with the State of California to resume long-stalled cleanup at the Energy Technology Engineering Center site with demolition of 10 of the remaining DOE-owned buildings there. EM has also prepared a draft waste incidental to reprocessing evaluation for vitrified low activity waste at Hanford, and completed a real estate transfer agreement to help move forward with new disposal capability.

On acquisitions, White noted EM has awarded the new Hanford Tank Closure Contract. The program also continues to move forward with competing a new standalone management and operations contract for the Savannah River National Laboratory.

White also noted EM has issued the final request for proposals for a new Idaho Cleanup Project contract, while a draft request for proposals for the Savannah River Integrated Mission Completion Contract is also before potential job bidders.

“In terms of contracting, this was always going to be a busy year,” White said.

Most major EM sites have moved into early-phase restart activities, with remaining sites expected to follow suit soon, White said. As decisions are made about how, when, and where to ramp back up site operations, the top priority of senior DOE and EM leadership is the health and safety of all employees at EM sites.

With EM ramping back up, White noted the sense of collaboration and teamwork across DOE, the sites, and industry partners are as good as he’s ever seen, and he’s “never been prouder to be a part of the EM enterprise.”