EM sets aggressive goals with 2022 priorities to advance cleanup mission
EM News Flash | 1/12/2022
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The Department of Energy (DOE) Office of
Environmental Management (EM) has established its key priorities for
calendar year 2022, covering planned cleanup, project construction, acquisition, and other important accomplishments to advance EM’s environmental and risk-reduction mission.
“Our many accomplishments in 2021 positioned EM to achieve an equally challenging slate of priorities in 2022,” EM Senior Advisor William “Ike”
White said. “Our 2022 priorities underscore our goals to accomplish cleanup that is safe and protective of our workforce, the public and the environment, and in a manner that is transparent to the communities that host and support our sites.”
The EM Calendar Year 2022 Priorities set objectives at sites across the nation and for the program, including:
- Completing cold commissioning of the first melter at the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant and beginning operation of the Tank-Side Cesium Removal system at the Hanford Site in Washington state, essential steps toward the treatment of tank waste at that site.
- Processing the first 100 liquid waste containers as operations begin at the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit, a major milestone at the DOE Idaho National Laboratory Site.
- Beginning construction of the Advanced Manufacturing Collaborative in Aiken, South Carolina, a key facility near the Savannah River Site that will enable the U.S. Department of Energy to partner with industry and academia on the development of technology to benefit environmental cleanup and national security
missions.
- Completing 30 shipments of transuranic waste from the EM Los Alamos Field Office to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico.
- Completing demolition of Building X-326 at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio, making the former uranium enrichment facility the first of three massive structures to be torn down at the site.
- Completing removal of another 1 million tons of uranium mill tailings from the Moab Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action Project in Utah, moving the site to a cumulative 13 million tons of tailings relocated away from the Colorado River and into an engineered disposal facility.
- Awarding the Hanford Integrated Tank Disposition Contract, the largest single contract that EM will award for cleanup activities.
- Updating climate vulnerability assessments at all EM sites, a commitment to the goal of reducing greenhouse gas impacts from EM facilities and activities, and managing the effects of climate change.
- Implementing the Justice 40 Initiative pilot project at the EM Los Alamos Field Office.
The full set of EM 2022 priorities can be accessed here.
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OPPORTUNITIES FOR ENGAGEMENT
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JANUARY 13, 2022
The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy (DOE-NE) published a Request for Information (RFI) Regarding Planning for Establishment of a Program to Support the Availability of High-Assay Low-Enriched Uranium (HALEU) for Civilian Domestic Research, Development, Demonstration, and Commercial Use in the Federal Register.
DOE is working to enable the development and deployment of advanced nuclear reactors as part of meeting the Administration’s job creation, energy security, and climate goals. Most advanced reactors, including several designs selected for the Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program, are designed to be fueled by HALEU. The RFI aims to gather information to consider in preparing a required report to Congress describing actions proposed to be carried out by DOE under the
HALEU program.
Responses must be received by January 13, 2022 and may be submitted online or via email.
JANUARY 15, 2022
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Undersecretary for Science and Energy and Office of Policy (OP) request information on energy sector supply chains. This request for information (RFI) seeks input from all stakeholders involved directly and indirectly in the supply chains of energy, energy systems and technologies, and energy efficiency technologies from raw materials, processed materials, subcomponents, final products, to end-of-life material recovery and
recycling—including but not limited to U.S. industry, researchers, academia, local governments, and civil society. This stakeholder input will inform the Department's efforts in building an energy sector industrial base that is diverse, resilient, and competitive while meeting economic, national security, and climate objectives.
MARCH 1 & 2, 2022
The U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board (Board) will hold a virtual public meeting on Tuesday, March 1, 2022, and Wednesday, March 2, 2022, to review information on the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) activities related to spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and high-level radioactive waste (HLW). Specifically, the meeting will cover research and development (R&D) on SNF and
HLW storage, transportation, non-site-specific disposal, DOE’s integrated waste management system, and its consent-based siting process to identify federal interim storage facilities.
Details for joining and viewing the meeting will be available on the Board’s website (www.nwtrb.gov) approximately one week before the meeting. The meeting will begin on both days at 12:00 p.m., Eastern Standard Time (EST) and is scheduled to adjourn at approximately 5:00 p.m. EST.
The meeting will be open to the public and there will be opportunities for public comments.
MARCH 4, 2022
The Department of Energy (DOE) has released a Request for Information (RFI) on how to site Federal facilities for the temporary, consolidated storage of spent nuclear fuel using a consent-based approach.
Responses to the RFI will inform development of a consent-based siting process, overall strategy for an integrated waste management system, and possibly a funding opportunity. DOE especially welcomes insight from people, communities, and groups that have historically not been well-represented in these discussions.
Responses must be received by March 4, 2022 by 5:00pm ET and may be submitted electronically to consentbasedsiting@hq.doe.gov, including “RFI: Consent-Based Siting and Federal Interim Storage” in the subject line of the email
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High court takes up Hanford site workers’ compensation case
Bloomberg Law | 1/10/2022
The U.S. Supreme Court will consider the federal government’s challenge to a Washington state workers’ compensation law in a case that could have costly consequences for U.S. government contracts involving hazardous work on federal property.
The justices agreed Monday to review a U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit decision upholding a Washington law that presumes certain worker health conditions linked to cleanup work at the Hanford Site, a decommissioned federal nuclear production complex, are occupational diseases that can trigger workers’ compensation benefits.
The Department of Energy since 1989 has overseen cleanup at the Hanford Site, which produced weapons-grade plutonium for use in the U.S. nuclear program during World War II and the Cold War. The cleanup of the Hanford site is expected to continue over the next six decades and involve roughly 400 department employees and 10,000 contractors and subcontractors.
In 2018, Washington lawmakers passed legislation, HB 1723, that amended the state’s workers’ compensation law exclusive to the Hanford site, covering at least 100,000 current and former federal contract workers who performed services there over the past 80 years. The law states that presumed
occupational diseases stemming from work at Hanford should trigger benefits eligibility, including cancers and other respiratory diseases.
The federal government argued the law exposes government contractors, and by extension the United States, to “massive new costs” that similarly situated state and private employers don’t incur.
The Justice Department had asked the Supreme Court to take up the case, arguing the 2018 law discriminated against the United States and that state law shouldn’t apply to federal contract workers at Hanford. The government warned that the logic applied by a panel of Ninth Circuit judges opened the door to other states passing legislation targeting work at federal facilities.
“Congress did not permit States to adopt laws that impose unique burdens on the United States and the firms that it engages to carry out federal functions,” Justice Department attorneys argued. “The practical consequences of the panel’s mistake are far-reaching. Even if the Hanford site is considered in isolation, the decision is likely to cost the United States tens of millions of dollars annually for the remainder of the 21st century.”
Attorneys for Washington state, however, responded that courts have allowed states to regulate workers’ compensation for injuries or illnesses suffered during work on federal land. They argued Washington state has “long tailored its workers’ compensation laws to the dangers faced by particular employees,” noting statutes that protect firefighters and other workers facing special hazards.
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POLICY & LEGISLATIVE
NUCLEAR WASTE
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Read about DOE's High Level Waste Interpretation
Have questions about DOE’s recent high-level waste (HLW) interpretation? Download ECA’s Key Points and FAQs on the issue to better understand what ECA believes are the potential benefits of implementation.
Interested in learning more? Read the ECA report “Making Informed Decisions on DOE's Proposed High Level Waste Definition” at www.energyca.org/publications
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Stay Current on Activities in the DOE World
Read the latest edition of the ECA Bulletin, a regular newsletter providing a detailed brief of ECA activities, legislative news, and major events from across the DOE complex. Have suggestions for future editions? Email bulletin@energyca.org.
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Learn More about Cleanup Sites with ECA's DOE Site Profiles
ECA's new site profiles detail DOE's 13 active Environmental Management cleanup sites and national laboratories, highlighting their history, missions, and priorities. The profiles are a key source for media, stakeholders, and the public to learn more about DOE site activities, contractors, advisory boards, and their surrounding local governments.
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