EM News Flash | Dec. 22, 2016

Workers this year began tearing down a key facility — the Plutonium Finishing Plant — to reduce risks and save money. This major EM Richland Operations Office achievement is highlighted in EM's 2016 Year-in-Review.  EM Captures 2016 Cleanup Accomplishments in Year-in-Review Publication  WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today EM released its 2016 Year-in-Review outlining the vast amount of work conducted in the nuclear cleanup program across the DOE complex this year.    “Major cleanup progress achieved this year, combined with our focus at EM headquarters on supporting work in the field, expanding technology development, strengthening partnerships and maximizing cleanup dollars, will enable EM to build upon this momentum in the years to come,” EM Assistant Secretary Monica Regalbuto said.      The Year-in-Review highlights major accomplishments at each EM site and at EM headquarters, including: Implementation of a new management structure to strengthen support for work at EM’s active cleanup sites, putting them at the center of daily activities to address inefficiencies and help them perform work in a safe, efficient and cost-effective manner; Demolishing a gaseous diffusion plant for the first time at the East Tennessee Technology Park at Oak Ridge, Tenn. — increasing safety, reducing monitoring costs and paving the way for economic development; Completing construction of the Salt Waste Processing Facility at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, which, once operational, will significantly accelerate EM’s ability to treat tank waste; Starting demolition of the Plutonium Finishing Plant at Hanford in Washington state, once one of the most dangerous buildings in the DOE complex; Relocating solidified high-level waste to safe storage at the West Valley Demonstration Project in New York; and Passing the halfway point in remediating uranium mill tailings at the Moab Site in Utah.        A PDF of the full 2016 EM Year-in-Review, including graphics and photos, can be accessed here.    As the largest environmental cleanup program in the world, EM has been charged with the responsibility of cleaning 107 sites across the country, totaling a combined area equal to that of Rhode Island and Delaware.