This special wrap-up section of the weekly EM Update focuses on the National Cleanup Workshop, held Sept. 16-18 in Arlington, Virginia.
Office of Environmental Management
September 24, 2024
minute read time
Editor's Note
This special wrap-up section of the weekly EM Update focuses on the National Cleanup Workshop, held Sept. 16-18 in Arlington, Virginia. The annual event, which celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2024, drew 780 in-person and 39 virtual attendees this year. Hosted by Energy Communities Alliance with the cooperation of the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management (EM) and the Energy Facility Contractors Group, it's the premier annual gathering to discuss progress in environmental cleanup of former government weapons sites and nuclear research facilities.
Click here to read EM Update coverage of the National Cleanup Workshop addresses by Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm and EM Senior Advisor Candice Robertson, who spoke of the importance of public service and partnerships in EM's cleanup.
The National Cleanup Workshop panel titled, "Highlighting the Next Phase of EM Successes" included, from left, Ken Rueter, president and CEO, UCOR; Jay Mullis, manager, Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (EM); moderator Jeff Avery, U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management principal deputy assistant secretary; Matt Irwin, acting assistant manager, Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) Project, EM Office of River Protection; and Brian Hartman, WTP project director, Bechtel National Inc. Additional panelists not pictured included Jessica Kunkle, manager, EM Los Alamos Field Office, and Brad Smith, president and general manager, Newport News Nuclear BWXT. Photo by Matt Roberts
Members of the panel titled, "Reusing EM Sites to Support Clean Energy and Economic Opportunities," are pictured from left: Mike Budney, manager, Savannah River Operations Office; Joel Bradburne, manager, Portsmouth Paducah Project Office; Diahann Howard, executive director, Port of Benton; Kirt Marlow, executive director, Idaho Advanced Energy Consortium, and senior vice president, Boston Government Services; and Wiley Rhodes, CEO of Newpoint Gas LLC. Photo by Matt Roberts
Transparency, Public Engagement Central to Economic Development, Panelists Say
Transparency and the importance of community participation were the top themes during the economic development discussion with industry and U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management (EM) leaders at the 2024 National Cleanup Workshop.
Taking place shortly after Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm’s keynote address, the panel explored how the private sector can reuse EM sites to support clean energy initiatives and generate economic growth — two priorities Granholm highlighted in her remarks.
Throughout the hourlong conversation, panelists emphasized the need for community-driven ideas and processes to ensure a successful outcome for all parties involved.
“Having a shared community vision for reusing EM sites and surrounding land is critical,” said Diahann Howard, executive director for the Port of Benton and administrator for the VERTical innovation cluster. “The Northwest Clean Energy Park is our community’s collective vision.”
Howard cited the Northwest Clean Energy Park as a positive example of how the local community and businesses can transform a former DOE site into an advanced clean energy manufacturing and industrial hub.
The park, which sits on Port of Benton property within the city of Richland and on Energy Northwest land, was formerly part of DOE’s Hanford Site. The park is now home to leading research, technology and manufacturing industries with a global impact.
Nearly 200 individuals and 60 companies came together to champion the park. To date, there are about $4.5 billion in projects with more than a thousand jobs under contract or pending at the Northwest Clean Energy Park.
To replicate the success of projects like the Northwest Clean Energy Park in other areas, panelists agreed that open dialogue between communities, DOE and industry is crucial.
Joel Bradburne, manager of EM’s Portsmouth Paducah Project Office, spoke about the possibilities for DOE site reuse.
“A lot of this stuff is site centric and that’s why the communities are so focused,” he said. “When it comes to energy alternatives, it’s not one size fits all.”
Several panelists commended EM for its commitment to community engagement.
“The bottom line is that EM has been very open and honest and transparent and tried very hard to make sure that at any of these sites, that people understand what is happening, and if they don’t, that there is a pathway to get there,” said Kirt Marlow, executive director, Idaho Advanced Energy Consortium, and senior vice president, Boston Government Services.
Wiley Rhodes, CEO of Newpoint Gas LLC, echoed Marlow’s sentiment: “From my standpoint, I have been extremely impressed with what the Department of Energy and the whole team have done.”
-Contributor: Melissa Sullivan
Workshop Taps EM, Industry Experts for Insight on Reuse of DOE Materials
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Kristen Ellis, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Environmental Management (EM) associate principal deputy assistant secretary for regulatory and policy affairs, joined five industry experts for a panel discussion of the potential for the beneficial reuse of DOE materials. Jennifer Chandler, a member of the Village Council for Piketon, Ohio, near EM’s Portsmouth Site, served as moderator, guiding the panelists through discussions on how EM, its contractors and local communities can work together to help local communities near EM sites achieve maximum economic benefits. Pictured from left: Scott Claunch, president of TerraPower Isotopes; Harsh Desai, chief commercialization officer for Zeno Power; Ellis; Chandler; Kirt Marlow, executive director of the Idaho Advanced Energy Consortium and senior vice president of Boston Government Services; Marcie Haber, director of Federal Affairs for Oklo; and Ashley Saunders, chief program and sustainability officer for UCOR. Photo by Matt Roberts
-Contributor: Keir-Kevin Curry
From left: Tom Burns, chief engineer, Savannah River Mission Completion; Vahid Majidi, director, Savannah River National Laboratory; moderator Mark G. Arnone, manager, Energy Innovation and Defense, Amazon Web Services; Ken Rueter, president and CEO, UCOR; and Angela Watmore, deputy assistant secretary for acquisition and project management, U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management. Photo by Matt Roberts
Panelists Consider How AI, Other Technologies Can Move Cleanup Mission Forward
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been a dominant topic in recent years with platforms like Meta AI, Apple Intelligence and Google AI gaining attention for their advancements in virtual assistants.
The rise of ChatGPT, a large language model developed by OpenAI, further propelled the AI boom by demonstrating its capability to understand and generate human-like text. ChatGPT can produce content, answer questions and engage in conversations with a high degree of fluency. Beyond text, newer AI technologies now enable users to create images and videos with minimal input, expanding AI’s creative applications.
In a Sept. 18 session at the National Cleanup Workshop, experts from the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management (EM), Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL), Savannah River Mission Completion, UCOR, and Amazon Web Services gathered to discuss how AI, machine learning and data analytics can revolutionize the environmental cleanup mission.
The central theme of their discussion? Data.
“We work in an industry that’s extremely data-rich, and we’re figuring out how to use machine learning, data analytics and AI in practical ways to make that data work for us,” said Vahid Majidi, director of SRNL. “What is most important for us is to improve worker safety and secondly improving productivity.”
While generative AI tools like ChatGPT can deliver quality content such as code or music, the complex and vast datasets produced by EM’s operations offer a broader, largely untapped potential for AI applications.
“Part of this journey is understanding how to implement these technologies,” said Ken Rueter, president and CEO of UCOR. “People will remain the decision-makers, but AI can expand our range of options and improve decision-making processes. It all starts with data.”
The panelists expressed optimism about AI and machine learning’s potential to enhance the EM mission, but they acknowledged that it’s too early to fully harness these technologies.
“We have so much data, but I don’t know that we always know what that data means,” said Angela Watmore, deputy assistant secretary for acquisition and project management for EM. “We have to get to a place where we can crunch that data and create new information that we can use to make better, more informed decisions.”
-Contributor: Lee Tucker
Panelists Note Importance of Collaboration as Hanford Prepares for 24/7 Operations
Brian Vance, manager of the Office of River Protection and Richland Operations Office, moderated a panel titled, “A New Phase for Hanford Cleanup,” at the National Cleanup Workshop on Sept. 18. The panel highlighted the complex integration taking place among six cleanup contractors at Hanford while they focus on achieving safe cleanup on their respective projects. The One Hanford leadership team, which includes U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management and contractor leaders, explained how their work on tank waste treatment, risk reduction and base operations continues to benefit from their close working relationships and their adoption of a sitewide governance model. The leaders explained current efforts in preparing to treat low-activity waste and plans for the future of high-level tank waste, as Hanford prepares in earnest for the site to be in a 24/7 operations posture. Vance is pictured with Mat Irwin, acting assistant manager for the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant, at right. Photo by Matt Roberts
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