EM’s Todd Shrader: Build on Closure Sites' Lessons Learned

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – EM Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Todd Shrader reflected on the magnitude of the cleanup program’s past 30 years of achievements at this year's National Cleanup Workshop and emphasized the importance of building on the lessons learned from those victories as EM works to close more sites in the years ahead.

“I often say that I’ve been in DOE for 20 years roughly. I’ve never packaged one drum of waste; I have never picked up one contaminated piece of equipment,” Shrader said. “It is you guys that do the work. It’s the contractors, it’s the federal staff that works with them. This is your progress that we celebrate today.”

Shrader said EM is applying lessons from its closure sites to make more progress on its mission. EM has completed cleanup at 91 sites, and 16 sites remain where work is ongoing.

Shrader highlighted the success of the Rocky Flats site closure.

“It was a great example of teaming among regulators, the Department, and contractors, and putting in place the right contracting structures — an early version of end-state contract called closure contracts,” he said.

Shrader also focused on accomplishments at smaller closure sites such as the Mound Site in Ohio, which is now a successful business park, as an illustration of what cleanup meant for communities at some of the completed sites.

“Our goal is to turn these sites back over to communities, to work with stakeholders, determine end states, and to continue outreach with our stakeholders and our communities moving forward,” he said.

Sandia National Laboratories, the Separations Process Research Unit, and Brookhaven National Laboratory were highlighted as among the sites where the EM mission will soon be completed and the cleaned-up areas turned over for other uses. He showed a map displaying 10 dots representing EM sites in 2029 rather than today’s current map with 16 sites, challenging federal and contractor workshop attendees to achieve this goal in the next 10 years.

By building on the lessons learned from Rocky Flats, Mound, and the Fernald site in Ohio, and the near-term anticipated completions at Sandia and Brookhaven, Shrader emphasized the need for an operations and completion mindset.

Shrader acknowledged that the remaining sites are the most challenging. However, he said he’s encouraged by having the best scientific and engineering resources on the tasks and believes ways can be found to reduce risk, lower cost, and accelerate completion.

Shrader said he also sees opportunity to increase accountability through strengthened project management and through a shift to end-state contracting. This will be achieved by defining the work by segments that are easier to track and accomplish, and improving incentives to drive costs down.

Completion is also dependent upon productive relationships with regulators, communities, tribal nations, and stakeholders, Shrader said. He emphasized the importance of expanding stakeholder engagement and partnering with regulators to collaborate on the best solutions to reach completion.

To move forward, EM must build collaboration, enable decisions at the appropriate levels, ensure work is carried out in a manner protective of human health and the environment, and increase communications and engagement of stakeholders.