Deactivation & Decommissioning (D&D) News

A large yellow hybrid excavator
Developing more sustainable ways to perform work is a continuous focus on DOE’s Oak Ridge Reservation. The Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM) and contractor UCOR made major contributions to help EM reach last year’s goal to bring at least 150 electric vehicles to the cleanup program’s fleet.
A building being demolished by large equipment machines
An EM team safely demolished a structure at West Valley Demonstration Project used during former spent nuclear fuel reprocessing operations as well as cleanup, including solidification of liquid high-level waste and deactivation of one of the last major facilities remaining at the site.
A large group of people pose for a picture standing in a field site wearing neon yellow safety vests
Envisioning a future for EM sites can be challenging for communities given the longevity of cleanup activities. However, when two sites have an almost identical footprint — in this case Portsmouth in Ohio and Paducah in Kentucky — the opportunity to see potential becomes clearer.