Year in Review: Numerous Cleanup Achievements Build Foundation for Broader Success in Future

EM set the stage for even greater success in the future following substantial progress in 2023 that saw the cleanup program advance priorities to treat liquid tank waste, carry out deactivation and decommissioning, remediate groundwater and soil contamination and reduce risk.

Such cleanup accomplishments across the complex, including major program priorities, are chronicled in EM’s 2023 Year in Review released today.

“EM realized numerous accomplishments in 2023 that not only reduce risks but help position cleanup sites for the next phase of progress,” EM Senior Advisor William “Ike” White said. “In addition, our workforce’s efforts over the past year led to a cleaner environment, while also boosting DOE’s national security missions, supporting scientific innovation and enabling a better future.”

The 2023 Year in Review highlights progress and accomplishments at each EM site, including:

Waste Isolation Pilot Plant

• Received 473 waste shipments from generator sites and began commissioning the new Safety Significant Confinement Ventilation System.

Idaho Cleanup Project

• Completed transfer of all spent nuclear fuel from wet-to-dry storage.

Hanford Site

• Heated up the first melter and poured the first test glass at the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant.

Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office

• Completed waste placement of 163,000 cubic yards from the X-326 Process Building demolition in the On-Site Waste Disposal Facility at the Portsmouth Site.
• Removed an additional 1 million pounds of hazardous R-114 refrigerant at the Paducah Site.

Oak Ridge

• Completed demolition on the Low Intensity Test Reactor and began early site preparation for the Environmental Management Disposal Facility.

Savannah River Site

• Completed construction of Saltstone Disposal Unit 8.

EM Los Alamos Field Office

• Exceeded transuranic waste shipment goal for planned shipments to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant.

West Valley Demonstration Project

• Demolished and disposed of 9,000 tons of Main Plant Process Building waste.

Small Site Progress

• Completed removal of a cumulative 14 million tons of material from the Moab Site.