“Along with delivering on environmental cleanup, Hanford is ideally positioned to help meet our nation’s clean energy goals,” said William “Ike” White, senior advisor for the DOEOffice of Environmental Management (EM). “Under the leadership of Secretary Granholm, EM will continue working
with local communities to leverage opportunities like the Cleanup to Clean Energy initiative that will lead us into a clean energy future.”
Building on the draft issued in December, the purpose of the final RFQ is to receive proposals from parties interested in utilizing land at the Hanford Site in Washington state to develop utility-scale,
carbon-pollution-free electricity projects (CFE) that interconnect with the local public electric utility system. Comments and questions on the final RFQ are due by March 15, and proposals are due by April 15.
America’s energy security, economic resilience and climate leadership require the nation to dramatically increase clean energy production over the next several decades. DOE is playing a critical leadership role in achieving this goal, not only through policy implementation but also the strategic use of DOE federal facilities and lands.
Working with a diverse range of stakeholders, including industry, federal entities, tribes, and state and local officials, DOE is exploring opportunities to utilize federal land for the buildout of large-scale
clean energy projects. The Cleanup to Clean Energy initiative will help achieve President Joe Biden’s ambitious climate goals and the directive in Executive Order 14057 for agencies to use their properties for the development of new clean electricity generation.
The Hanford Site, which is one of several EM sites engaged in environmental cleanup across the United States, is supporting
efforts to reach CFE goals as well as supporting the local community’s vision of becoming a center of excellence in clean energy generation and storage.
Through the RFQ, DOE is conducting a competitive, qualifications-based process for evaluating and ranking proposals. Following project selection, negotiations will commence for the intended execution of a realty agreement covering the development, construction and operation of a CFE project.
DOE will continue to communicate and partner with industry, tribal nations, communities, stakeholders, regulators and others regarding this initiative.
More information on Cleanup to Clean Energy can be found here. Read full release here.
NEW NUCLEAR FORUM
REGISTRATION IS LIVE FOR ECA's New Nuclear Forum: Building Nuclear Partnerships and Projects, May 8-9, 2024 in Kennewick,
WA
ECA is excited to be hosting its third New Nuclear Forum, the only meeting designed to bring together DOE, federal, state, local and tribal governments and policymakers with developers, utilities,
regulators, industry, and academia to identify opportunities, challenges and to build the partnerships necessary to support nuclear development.
Communities across the country are considering nuclear projects for many reasons - from diversifying regional economies, creating clean energy jobs or meeting carbon reduction goals, to increasing energy security and rebuilding the U.S. supply chain. Some communities have a familiarity with nuclear energy projects, while others are just beginning to evaluate potential interest. The ECA
Forum is designed to enable shared learning so that local, State and Tribal governments evaluating nuclear projects can be meaningfully engaged - and prepared - to match the strengths and needs of their communities with new nuclear opportunities.
QUESTIONS? For any questions, comments, or to learn more about the ECA New Nuclear Forums, please contact Kara Colton,
ECA Director of Nuclear Policy, at kara.colton@energyca.org or Faith Sanchez, ECA Program Director, at faiths@energyca.org.
ACCIDENTS & EMERGENCIES
TEXAS WILDFIRES FORCE MAJOR NUCLEAR WEAPONS FACILITY TO BRIEDLY PAUSE OPERATIONS
The plant resumed normal operations on Wednesday, officials
said.
“Thanks to the responsive actions of all Pantexans and the NNSA Production Office in cooperation with the women and men of
the Pantex Fire Department and our mutual aid partners from neighboring communities, the fire did not reach or breach the plant’s boundary,” Pantex said in a social media post on Wednesday afternoon.
At a press conference Tuesday evening, Laef Pendergraft, a nuclear safety engineer with the National Nuclear Security Administration production office at Pantex, said the evacuations were out of an “abundance of caution.”
“Currently we are responding to the plant, but there is no fire on our site or on our boundary,” Pendergraft told reporters.
The 90,000-acre Windy Deuce fire burning four to five miles to the north of the Pantex plant was 25 percent contained as of late Wednesday afternoon.
Until the fire is fully contained, it will continue to pose a threat to the nearby Pantex plant, says Nickolas Roth, the senior director of nuclear materials security at the Nuclear Threat Initiative. “I think the
sign that the coast is clear is that the fire is no longer burning,” he told the Bulletin. “One can imagine many reasons operations would resume.”
HANFORD HISTORIC B REACTOR TOURS REOPENING FOR A SHORT TIME; HOW, WHEN TO GET A SEAT
Tri-City Herald | 02/27/2024
The public will get a chance to tour B Reactor, the main attraction of the Manhattan Project National Historical Park’s Hanford site, before it is shut down for repairs later this year.
The Department of Energy announced last year that 2023 would be the last opportunity to tour the reactor for at least two years as planned work is carried out, including replacing the roof.
That August announcement, combined with the popularity of the movie “Oppenheimer,” led to all seats for the remainder of the 2023 tour season being booked within two days as people rushed to reserve the remaining seats through mid November, said Colleen French, DOE program
manager.
The visitor center in Richland was swamped with phone calls asking about walk-on spots if there were no-shows for the
tours or asking to be placed on standby lists.
It was the first time since the national park opened and began a regular
tour schedule in 2016 that people who wanted to see B Reactor could not get a seat on a tour, French said.
The number of
people stopping by the visitor center had been 1,974 in the last year before the COVID pandemic. That jumped to 3,900 in 2023, including almost 700 visits in July, the month that “Oppenheimer” was released.
In coordination with the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Nuclear Energy (DOE-NE) and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), ECA hosted the first in a new series of educational webinars, "Advanced Nuclear Technology Deployment: An Introductory Conversation with U.S. DOE & U.S. NRC". ECA's Director of Nuclear Policy, Kara Colton, along with Dr. Kathryn
Huff, Assistant Secretary, Office of Nuclear Energy, DOE and John Lubinski, Director, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, NRC discussed advanced reactor development, demonstrations, and deployments.
As we near the end of Black History Month, this week’s podcast features the story of the Scarboro 85. In August 1955, 85 young African American students entered all-white classrooms in the Oak Ridge High School and the Robertsville Junior High School in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. This desegregation
stands as an important milestone in American civil rights history.
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.
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.
