The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management (EM) has authorized the newest mega-size disposal unit to begin operating at the Savannah River Site (SRS), completing a 2024 priority for the cleanup program.

In the half century since the inception of the Waste Management Symposia, many EM sites have come full circle, cleaned and transformed into wildlife refuges, wetland preserves and national parks, U.S. Deputy Energy Secretary David Turk remarked in a prerecorded video message to the audience at the annual conference.

EM has released its program priorities for calendar year (CY) 2024, covering key cleanup actions, project construction, acquisition and other important activities that will further EM’s environmental mission.

The axiom that a picture is worth a thousand words is especially true when communicating the complex work at DOE cleanup sites, according to Dylan Nichols, photographer for EM’s Paducah Site.

U.S. Deputy Energy Secretary David Turk and other DOE leaders joined community members and other stakeholders last week to mark the attainment of an EM 2023 priority at the Moab Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action (UMTRA) Project earlier this year.