Reuse & Recycling

Beneficial Reuse

From adapting Cold War-era infrastructure to serve the missions of tomorrow, to recovering strategic materials for America's energy economy, EM's recycling efforts demonstrate that smart stewardship of federal resources and mission success go hand in hand

Reuse at EM cleanup sites spans a wide range of activity, from reclaiming tens of thousands of pounds of scrap metal normally destined for disposal, to unlocking the energy potential from legacy nuclear byproducts. What connects every effort, large or small, is a shared commitment: When federal assets have served their original purpose, the responsible and fiscally sound course is often to find an efficient and effective next use for them. That commitment reduces taxpayer costs, shrinks the environmental footprint of the cleanup program, and returns value directly to American communities. It also places EM at the center of the administration's broader agenda to maximize the productive use of federal resources, accelerate domestic energy production, and support supply chains that strengthen national security.

Assets vs. Waste

Some of the most consequential recycling happening across the EM complex involves not raw materials, but entire buildings, industrial systems, and legacy nuclear inventories. Rather than demolishing every Cold War-era structure outright or treating legacy byproducts purely as waste disposal challenges, EM and its contractors regularly assess whether aging assets can be adapted, upgraded or converted to serve new purposes, saving tens of millions of dollars in construction costs, accelerating mission timelines, and directly advancing the energy and national security goals set by the administration.

  • One of the most striking examples of asset repurposing is underway at the Hanford Site in Washington state, where 1,936 cesium and strontium capsules, sealed inside an aging, energy-intensive underwater storage basin since the mid-1970s, are being transferred to a modern passive dry-storage system. The transition is far more than a safety upgrade. By moving from a water-cooled facility to a passive, air-cooled dry-storage pad, Hanford stands to save an estimated $6 million per year in operating costs. More significantly, the strontium-90 inventory itself carries meaningful potential for beneficial reuse, with established and emerging applications in medical devices, remote power generation, and nuclear battery technology. The capsule transfer project actively enables future beneficial reuse of the strontium-90 inventory, positioning a Cold War-era liability to serve the energy and medical innovation missions of the 21st century, consistent with executive orders to maximize productive use of federal assets.

    Workers gather to guide a crane hook down to its target.
    The first engineered concrete cask filled with radioactive capsules is moved out of the Waste Encapsulation and Storage Facility and loaded for the quarter-mile journey to the Capsule Storage Area.

Reuse & Recycling

Every demolition project, facility deactivation, and cleanup operation across the EM complex generates large quantities of materials including metals, concrete, industrial equipment, and electronics that carry real economic value. Rather than routing these materials to landfill disposal at taxpayer expense, EM sites systematically recover and reuse or recycle them when possible, offsetting cleanup costs, generating revenue for community reuse organizations, and reducing the environmental footprint of the cleanup program itself.

  • The Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina has emerged as a model for the EM complex in converting cleanup materials into economic value. In fiscal year 2024, contractor Savannah River Nuclear Solutions recycled more than 26 million pounds of materials including 19.5 million pounds of concrete and asphalt, 5.3 million pounds of scrap metal, 881,000 pounds of office paper, and 383,000 pounds of office furniture.

    26M+

    Pounds of materials recycled at SRS in FY2024

    5.3M

    Pounds of scrap metal recycled at SRS in FY2024

    100,000

    Pounds each: five switchgear transformers donated to community reuse

    Among the standout projects is the recycling of five 115-kilovolt switchgear transformers, each weighing 100,000 pounds, which had reached the end of their 70-year operational lifespans. Rather than incurring landfill disposal and handling costs, the site donated the transformers to the Savannah River Site Community Reuse Organization, directing the proceeds toward attracting new industry and jobs to the Aiken, South Carolina region.

    “The recycling of these components mitigates safety and congestion issues in active construction zones and aligns with the Department of Energy's push for effective resource utilization. Given the transformers' large size and valuable components, they were perfect resources to allocate to SRSCRO (SRS Community Reuse Organization).”

    — Andrew Ellsworth, Savannah River Nuclear Solutions