REGISTER NOW! ECA WEBINAR: CLEANUP TO CLEAN ENERGY: HOW TO DEVELOP A PROJECT ON FEDERAL LAND
Join ECA on Tuesday, October 31 at 2pm for an engaging discussion on DOE's Cleanup to Clean Energy Initiative "Cleanup to Clean Energy: How to Develop a
Project on Federal Land". Register to learn more from experts, Candice Robertson, Senior Policy Advisor, DOE-EM, Seth Kirshenberg, ECA Executive Director, and Peter Flynn, Bostonia Partners.
Following Secretary Granholm's announcement of the Cleanup to Clean Energy initiative this summer. ECA will be hosting a webinar to explain how the development of these projects will unfold. The Cleanup to Clean Energy initiative will increase clean energy production by leasing DOE-owned land at several of its sites for new carbon emissions-free energy project. This initiative will use 70,000 acres of land at five of DOE's sites for potential large-scale clean energy projects, or storage projects. The five sites include: - Hanford Site, Richland, WA
- Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho Falls, ID
- Nevada National Security Site, Nye County, NV
- Savannah River Site, Aiken, SC
- Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, Carlsbad, NM
GAO REPORTS ARMY CORPS PRACTICES FOR FUSRAP SITES
ECA staff | 10/20/2023 On October 17, 2023, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) publicly released Nuclear Waste Cleanup: Army Corps Could Benefit from Following Leading Practices for Program Management for Contaminated Sites. This report comes after the GAO was asked to provide information about the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) effort to clean up contamination under the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program
(FUSRAP). The Corps reported $2.6 billion in environmental liabilities in fiscal year 2022 for the estimated future costs to investigate and clean up contamination under FUSRAP. FUSRAP was first established in 1974 to identify, investigate, and cleanup sites that were potentially involved in early atomic weapons and energy activity. DOE began cleanup projects in 1979 and completed 25 sites out of the 46 sites identified that needed cleanup. In 1997, Congress gave the Corps the responsibility of cleanup and DOE was no longer left with that task. In a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between DOE and the Corps,
it states that the Corps are responsible for the cleanup of FUSRAP sites. The MOU then states that the Corps maintain responsibility of the site for two years. After those two years, the site is transferred to DOE for long-term stewardship. The DOE Office of Legacy Management (LM) was created in 2003, and it has the responsibility of DOE's FUSRAP activities per the MOU. Since 2016, FUSRAP’s environmental liability has risen nearly by $1 billion. Officials say inflation is partly to blame for the cost increase, however, uncertainties about cleanup also make up that increase. While there are 19 sites left to
cleanup that are contaminated by nuclear waste from the Cold War era, the GAO report found that four sites are responsible for about three-fourths of the cost increase. These four sites have “complicated cleanup remedies or large amounts of contamination”. These sites are: These four sites are identified to either require complex cleanup remedies or have
a large geographical area that requires cleanup. For example, the Niagara Falls Storage Site includes an Interim Waste Containment Structure housing several kinds of buried wastes with higher levels of radioactivity than the contamination at other FUSRAP sites, according to Corps officials. The Corps has proposed to design and build special systems and technology to exhume, package, and ship this waste offsite to an appropriate disposal area. Concluding GAO’s investigation, they have five recommendations for the Corps: - Program Management
Practices: GAO recommends that the Corp update the FUSRAP Program Management Plan to follow leading practices for program management. As an example, they recommend including details on how to allocate resources shared among project sites, like staffing.
- Program Roadmap: GAO recommends that the Corp create a program roadmap for the FUSRAP that follows leading practices for program management. Such as,
tracking CERCLA phases for each site and projecting when sites would need contracting support or technical expertise.
- Life cycle Cost: GAO recommends that the Corp develop a comprehensive life cycle cost estimate for FUSRAP that follows leading practices for program management.
- Risk Management: GAO
recommends that the Corp conduct risk management for FUSRAP at the program level that follows leading practices for program management.
- Justice40 Initiative: GAO recommends that the Corp include the specific needs of FUSRAP communities in district level outreach strategies being developed in support of the Justice40 Initiative.
Department of Defense agreed to work to implement these recommendations. "The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers remains committed to cleaning up and completing projects being executed under the
Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP) to protect the health and well-being of communities and the environment," a statement from the agency said. "We have received the Government Accountability Office's report and we are currently working to address their recommendations."
DOE AWARDS $3.9 MILLION FOR ADVANCED REACTOR EXPERIMENT DESIGNS
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), through the National Reactor Innovation Center (NRIC), today awarded $3.9 million to three advanced nuclear energy developers to design experiments to test
microreactor designs in the Demonstration of Microreactor Experiments (DOME) test bed at Idaho National Laboratory. Radiant Nuclear, Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation, and Westinghouse will further their microreactor designs through a front-end engineering and experiment design (FEEED) process. The FEEED process supports developers in planning for the design, fabrication, construction, and testing of fueled reactor experiments. “The FEEED process will bring three microreactor designs—Kaleidos, Pylon, and eVinci—one step closer to reality” said Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy Dr. Kathryn Huff. “These technologies will give choices to diverse communities looking to transition to a clean energy future.” Microreactors are compact nuclear reactors typically capable of producing 1 to 20 megawatts of thermal energy that could be used directly as heat or converted to electric power. They are the right size to power
independent microgrids, restore power in emergency situations, or supply remote communities that currently rely on diesel generators. DOME is a new test bed intended to speed up microreactor development. DOME will repurpose the Experimental-Breeder Reactor-II containment structure, lessening the environmental footprint, saving companies money in the testing process, and reducing overall project risk. Testing in DOME could start as early as 2026. DOE is also developing the Laboratory for Operation and Testing in the U.S. (LOTUS) test bed, which will host smaller reactor experiments to support the development of advanced reactors. NRIC is developing the DOME and LOTUS test beds. NRIC developed the FEEED process to help industry partners progress more quickly toward first-of-a-kind testing of advanced reactors. Learn more about NRIC at nric.inl.gov.
Adding Nuclear to the Mix: NEI, EPRI, NETL, WVU, AND GAIN
This event serves as a platform to bring together diverse stakeholders including local communities, policymakers, utility companies, and energy innovators to delve into the dynamic landscape of enhancing
energy portfolios. Attendees will gain valuable insights into the evolving energy industry, focusing on the integration of innovative value-added energy solutions. By participating, you'll have the opportunity to learn about the current developments and opportunities in the nuclear and sustainable energy generation space. Whether you're seeking to better understand the future of energy, explore ways to support local economies, or foster resilient energy practices, this conference offers a unique
chance to connect, learn, and contribute to the ongoing transformation of our energy systems. The conference registration is live: https://gain.inl.gov/SitePages/2023.11.1415_AddingNuclearToTheMix.aspx
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Check out ECA's latest
report! DISPOSAL DRIVES CLEANUP: RE-ENERGIZING MOMENTUM FOR DISPOSAL SOLUTIONS FOR RADIOACTIVE WASTE
This report calls on the Department of Energy to launch the initiative to develop the actual waste disposition approaches. The Department could potentially save hundreds of billions of dollars in cleanup costs by using its available tools and implementing the report’s recommendations.
Interactive guide for communities and governments to help navigate nuclear waste cleanup The Energy Communities Alliance (ECA) recently released the Guide to Successful Environmental Cleanup, an interactive online resource that provides frequently asked questions, case studies, and recommendations regarding nuclear waste cleanup. To assist local government officials, their communities, and federal agencies in deciphering
the complexities of the environmental cleanup process, ECA developed this guide to facilitate future successful cleanups.
NEW MEDIANucleCast: Admiral Hyman Rickover: Establishment of the U.S. Navy's Nuclear Submarine Program Marc Wortman, PhD, is an independent historian and freelance journalist. He is the author of four books on American military and social history, most recently Admiral Hyman Rickover: Engineer of Power (Yale University Press, 2022), which was named a
National Review Book of the Year and received an honorable mention for the John Lyman Award in biography from the North American Society for Oceanic History. His other books are 1941: Fighting the Shadow War, A Divided America in a World at War (Atlantic Monthly, 2016); The Bonfire: The Siege and Burning of Atlanta (PublicAffairs, 2009), and
The Millionaires’ Unit: The Aristocratic Flyboys Who Fought the Great War and Invented American Air Power (PublicAffairs, 2006). A multi-prize-winning feature-length documentary based on The Millionaires’ Unit is available on streaming services.
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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. |
Learn More about Cleanup Sites with ECA's DOE Site Profiles ECA's new site profiles detail DOE's 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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