White Says Next Decade Will Be Transformational for EM Mission Following 2021 Successes

EM is on track to complete the vast majority of its program priorities for 2021 and is well positioned for the future, EM Senior Advisor William “Ike” White said in an address at the 2021 National Cleanup Workshop.

“The next decade is built on the accomplishments of today,” White said. “It’s a decade that will be transformational for the EM mission.”

Earlier this year, EM completed the demolition of the High Flux Beam Reactor exhaust stack at the Brookhaven National Laboratory. Other EM successes this year include treating a record amount tank waste at the Savannah River Site and completing that site’s Saltstone Disposal Unit 7 ahead of schedule and under budget.

White attributed EM’s successes this year to a dedicated workforce committed to creating a safe and healthy environment to support in-person engagement and keep workers safe in the field.

“The bulk of EM’s work requires boots on the ground,” White said. “The buildings at the Energy Technology Engineering Center didn’t come down remotely; WIPP did not receive it’s 13,000th shipment without drivers in trucks and workers underground; seventy-five percent of the Moab tailings pile did not get moved without workers onsite; 1.5 million pounds of refrigerant were not dispositioned without a team on the ground at Paducah; and looking ahead, tank waste treatment at Idaho and Hanford will not begin remotely.”

By 2031, White said, EM sites and communities will look very different, with many tanks at the Savannah River Site closed. White said treatment of liquid sodium-bearing waste at the DOE Idaho National Laboratory Site will be completed; tank waste treatment at Hanford will be well underway; demolition of the Main Plant Process Building at the West Valley Demonstration Project will be completed; two of three former uranium enrichment process buildings at Portsmouth will be demolished; key infrastructure upgrades will be completed at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant; and, at Oak Ridge, the remaining uranium-233 disposed and new Mercury Treatment Facility built.

White closed his remarks by sharing his optimism for the future of the mission and renewing his commitment to working in a collaborative manner with EM’s industry, tribal, state, and local partners.

“We have a lot planned,” White said. “I look forward to working with all of you over the course of this decade.”

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