EM Names Sue Cange New Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary DOE-EM December 8, 2016 WASHINGTON, D.C. – EM today announced that Sue Cange has been named its Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary.
“Sue is a trusted and effective leader with a deep understanding of EM’s cleanup mission and passion for advancing our mission,” EM Assistant Secretary Monica Regalbuto said. “With a strong track record of leading organizations to complete cleanup work safely and efficiently, she will be integral to our
progress.”
Cange has nearly three decades of DOE leadership experience, serving most recently as manager of EM’s Oak Ridge, Tenn. office. She was a founding member of Oak Ridge’s reindustrialization program, which transfers underutilized assets
to the private sector to accelerate cleanup and promote economic development. >>Continue reading
Note from ECA:
The ECA Executive Board would like to extend its congratulations to Sue Cange for her new role as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary. During her time at Oak Ridge, Cange demonstrated
an understanding of and regard for the interests of DOE host communities. ECA looks forward to working with Cange on future efforts to further engage local governments in the EM cleanup process.
WIPP anticipates reopening by end of year Albuquerque Jornal December 7, 2016 ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Managers of a closed southeast New Mexico nuclear waste repository say the site remains on track to reopen by year’s end after the U.S. Department of Energy identified a few dozen issues that need to be addressed.
Managers of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant outside Carlsbad said Wednesday that DOE briefed them on the results of an “operational readiness review” meant to determine whether WIPP is ready to receive drums of waste, nearly three years after one drum overheated and burst, releasing radiation into the
underground.
The review identified 21 issues that will need to be resolved before WIPP can dispose of waste in its underground chambers, carved from salt beds more than 2,000 feet below the
surface. Another 15 issues will need to be addressed but can be dealt with as waste emplacement gets underway. >>Continue readingWIPP requesting $54.5 million more in FY17
Current-Argus
December 2, 2016 CARLSBAD — The Department of Energy's Waste Isolation Pilot Plant needs more
than $54 million above its original budget request for Fiscal Year 2017.
A letter sent from New Mexico's U.S. Sens. Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich to
the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development requested an additional $54.5 million for WIPP's budget, which would bring the total budget to $325.5 million.
Ned Adriance, Udall's press secretary, said the figure came directly from the Department of Energy. Of the additional
$54.5 million, $26.8 million are designated for use on Supplemental Environmental Projects, which are projects imposed for violations in place of fines. >>Continue readingU.S. to build $1.6B Idaho facility for warships' nuclear waste Navy Times December 6,
2016 BOISE, Idaho — The Navy and U.S. Department of Energy have announced that they'll build a $1.65 billion facility at a nuclear site in eastern Idaho that will handle fuel waste from the nation's fleet of nuclear-powered
warships.
Officials on Tuesday said the new facility is
needed for keeping nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and submarines deployed.
The facility will be built at the Energy Department's 890-square-mile site that includes the Idaho National Laboratory, considered the nation's primary lab for nuclear research.
>>Continue
readingEnergy Department set to release nuclear repository plans, possibly affecting Savannah River
Site Aiken
Standard December 6,
2016 Nuclear waste material may soon have a new exit path away from the Savannah River Site and out of South Carolina under a
soon-to-be released plan, according to U.S. Department of Energy Officials.
Senior Advisor for Defense Waste Disposal Nancy Buschman presented the details to the Savannah River Site Citizens Advisory Board. The board is comprised of local community members with vested interest in SRS activities. Its primary purpose is to provide advice, information and recommendations on issues affecting the site and connected
communities.
A designated national repository would replace the now defunct Yucca Mountain site. According to board members at the meeting, Yucca Mountain didn’t have the capacity to store both defense waste materials and spent nuclear fuel from commercial sources; something the new draft plan aims to address. >>Continue readingUnited States Commits to IAEA Monitoring for the Verifiable Disposition of Six Metric Tons of Surplus
Plutonium DOE December 5,
2016 VIENNA -- In remarks to the delegates of an event hosted by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest J. Moniz today announced in Austria that the United States is beginning consultations with the IAEA to monitor the dilution and packaging of up to six metric tons of surplus plutonium at the Savannah River Site (SRS) in Aiken, South
Carolina.
“We are embarking on an effort at the Savannah River Site to dilute and dispose of approximately six metric tons of surplus plutonium -- additional to the 34 metric tons of material we have committed to dispose under the U.S.-Russia Plutonium Management and Disposition Agreement -- and are beginning consultations with the IAEA for the monitoring and verification of this process as yet another tangible commitment by the United States to ensure this material will not be
used again in nuclear weapons,” Moniz said in his remarks to the IAEA conference. >>Continue reading
60 toxic waste drums at LANL to be
repacked after investigation Los Alamos Monitor December 2, 2016 Los Alamos National Laboratory will repackage 60 drums filled with toxic waste after an investigation into a 2014 explosion at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in Carlsbad.
The investigation revealed 60 more drums at the lab contained similar packing material that the drum at WIPP contained. That drum was packed at LANL.
The 60 drums of waste, which are stored at LANL’s “Area G,” will be repackaged in preparation for their eventual
shipment to WIPP. The plant has been closed since the February 2014 explosion, but is due to be open by the end of this year. >>Continue reading |
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| February 2017 | | 23-24 | ECA Annual Meeting Washington,
DC
"Meeting the New Administration: Addressing Community Priorities and Securing Progress"
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| March 2017 | | 5-9 | Waste Management Conference Phoenix,
AZ
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| May/June 2017 | | 31-1 | INVITATION ONLY ECA Peer Exchange Richland, WA "Formalizing Host Communities' Role in the Manhattan Project National Historical Park" |
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Find the most recent ECA Bulletin here |
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