Staff presents papers on beneficial reuse, management of remediated sites
December 14, 2023
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U.S. Department of Energy Office of Legacy Management representatives participated in the International Atomic Energy Agency conference on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management, Decommissioning, Environmental Protection, and Remediation: Ensuring Safety and Enabling Sustainability. The conference was at IAEA headquarters in the United Nations complex in Vienna, Austria, from Nov. 6-10.
The international conference focused on safety and how to address existing relationships between sustainability and safety in an integrated way. The event’s topics also helped participants identify approaches for managing these relationships in practice. The conference provided a forum for attendees to exchange ideas, experiences, and share future developments for meeting the highest safety standards.
Government officials, regulators, and industry leaders attended the conference, as did representatives of nongovernmental organizations and academic institutions. The event featured oral presentations, exhibits, poster sessions, panel discussions, and networking opportunities.
LM Asset Management Supervisor Bud Sokolovich and LM Beneficial Reuse Asset Manager Diana Kamenel Trettin attended the conference and presented papers on beneficial reuse and legacy management of impacted sites.
In his paper titled “Commitment of Long-Term Stewardship: An Overview of Safe and Sustainable Management and Reuse of Legacy Sites,” Sokolovich gave a brief history of LM and site use and stewardship examples.
Kamenel Trettin’s paper, titled “Beneficial Reuse of Environmentally Impacted Sites,” outlined a brief history of beneficial reuse at LM sites. She described several beneficial reuse examples occurring at LM’s 102 sites across the United States and Puerto Rico.
Sokolovich and Kamenel Trettin both found the experience and conference rewarding.
“The information exchanged at the IAEA conference was enlightening, and LM gained a proper perspective into how the international community is exploring opportunities for managing environmentally impacted nuclear sites,” Sokolovich said.
Kamenel Trettin said she appreciated the helpful tools she learned about at the conference and expressed her admiration for LM’s international colleagues.
“Participation in the IAEA conference opened my eyes to the vast number of these sites situated around the world, and how each one is approached and handled individually. I am truly amazed at the accomplishments we will be able to recognize as we continue to work together with our international colleagues and share our wins and mistakes,” Kamenel Trettin added.
