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EM Releases New Site-Specific Infographics on Cleanup Progress

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WASHINGTON, D.C. – EM recently updated its “By the Numbers” infographics filled with quick and clear metrics demonstrating EM’s cleanup progress.

   A total of 14 infographics — one for each major cleanup site and EM’s Savannah River National Laboratory — are available on this EM webpage.

   The easy-to-read, one-page infographics summarize each site’s history before delving into eye-catching statistics. For example, the Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management’s infographic points out that crews there prevented 5,000 pounds of mercury from entering the environment.

   Other highlights include: 

• Energy Technology Engineering Center — The DOE, California Department of Toxic Substances Control, and Environmental Protection Agency completed soil characterization for about 300 acres of land, taking more than 3,600 radionuclide samples, 6,500 chemical samples, and 100 soil vapor samples.
• Hanford Site — Workers have demolished 889 facilities, many contaminated.
• Idaho Site — Crews retrieved 65,000 cubic meters of stored transuranic waste, 50,000 meters of it from under a soil berm inside a building large enough to house an aircraft carrier.
• Los Alamos National Laboratory Site — The Los Alamos Field Office completed treatment of 60 remediated nitrate salt drums in November 2017 and finished treatment of 27 unremediated nitrate salt drums in March 2018.
• Moab Site — 9.1 million tons of uranium mill tailings have been shipped to a dedicated disposal cell, amounting to 57 percent of the total tons.
• Nevada National Security Site — Since 1961, nearly 49 million cubic feet of classified, low-level and mixed low-level radioactive waste have been disposed at the Area 3 and Area 5 Radioactive Waste Management Sites.
• Oak Ridge Site — 1,067 acres of land have been transferred to the community for industrial growth and economic redevelopment.
• Paducah Site — More than 66 million pounds of contaminated scrap metal — enough to build a World War I battleship — have been removed from storage yards and shipped off-site for disposal. Contaminated scrap metal was a major contributor to surface water contamination.
• Portsmouth Site — More than 119 million pounds of waste have been shipped and disposed off-site to date.
• Savannah River Site — More than 4,160 canisters of glassified radioactive waste have been produced at the Defense Waste Processing Facility since it began operating in 1996.
• Savannah River National Laboratory — Over $5 billion in complex-wide savings have been achieved for the EM program due to innovations developed at the laboratory in the past 5 years.
• Separations Process Research Unit — More than 9,700 gallons of residual liquid from tanks have been treated through solidification.
• Waste Isolation Pilot Plant — 172,721 containers have been emplaced in the WIPP underground.
• West Valley Demonstration Project — More than 6.5 miles of piping and over 50 tons of vessels and equipment have been removed from predominantly high-hazard areas of the former reprocessing plant.

-Contributor: David Sheeley