EM’s annual Mission and Priorities list sets a clear path to success across the DOE complex, site managers said last week at the Waste Management Symposia 2021.
Office of Environmental Management
March 17, 2021
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Workers prepare rebar for another concrete pour atop the shear walls of the Salt Reduction Building, which is part of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) Safety Significant Confinement Ventilation System. The building will use misters and filters to extract salt from the airflow before the air heads to the high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filtration of the New Filter Building, which uses 1,000-horsepower fans to pull air through the mine and to the surface. Completion of construction of the Salt Reduction Building is among EM's Calendar Year 2021 Mission and Priorities.
EM’s annual Mission and Priorities list sets a clear path to success across the DOE complex, site managers said last week at the Waste Management Symposia 2021.
The Mission and Priorities list “gives real, actionable goals and demonstrates to all stakeholders that EM wants to make progress,” EM Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Todd Shrader said in leading a panel discussion on the newly released 2021 priorities.
Shrader joined West Valley Demonstration Project Director Bryan Bower, Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management Manager Jay Mullis, Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office Manager Robert Edwards, and Carlsbad Field Office Manager Reinhard Knerr for a discussion on how EM sites view the priorities.
“The goals set us up for future viability to successfully fulfill our mission,” Knerr said.
Mullis noted how the Mission and Priorities reach employees across the workforce.
“The headquarters priorities flow into Oak Ridge’s strategic plan, which flows to site plans, then into people’s performance plans, and onto contractor incentives,” he said.
Portsmouth Site workers survey a transite panel from the X-326 uranium enrichment process building. This is one of the many steps taken to ensure a safe demolition. EM's Calendar Year 2021 Mission and Priorities call for transitioning from deactivation to demolition at Building X-326.
Crews at the West Valley Demonstration Project (WVDP) installed a tilt cab to an excavator, which will enable the operator to view high-reach areas by tilting the cab upward during demolition, improving safety, efficiency, and productivity. Beginning demolition of the Main Plant Process Building at WVDP, the last major facility at the former commercial nuclear fuel reprocessing center, is one of EM's 2021 priorities.
Last year’s Mission and Priorities list was ambitious, and while EM accomplished the bulk of what was planned, it did not meet every goal it set for 2020, Shrader noted. However, if EM had set easy goals, the cleanup program and its sites would not have been challenged — and that wouldn’t benefit the communities near EM sites, he said.
Edwards agreed, saying, “The priorities set the stage for everything else, and they also help us challenge ourselves and keep us from complacency.”
EM’s 2021 Mission and Priorities are equally ambitious, and the site managers serving on the panel agreed they are ready to meet the priorities head-on.
The panelists also reflected on the unforeseen challenges brought by the pandemic in the past year. They agreed that those challenges provided EM sites valuable lessons learned. Edwards said that COVID-19 taught the sites he manages how to do more with less meetings. That’s a lesson that will pay off in the long run and help the sites be more efficient, he said.
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