DOE’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM) recently unveiled its vision for the next decade to employees and partners, and progress is already under way toward achieving it.
Office of Environmental Management
November 22, 2022
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EM crews demolished the Bulk Shielding Reactor this fall in Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s central campus. The teardown provided a major landscape change at the site, and is the first of many projects that will eliminate risks and remove radiologically contaminated buildings there.
OAK RIDGE, Tenn. – DOE’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM) recently unveiled its vision for the next decade to employees and partners, and progress is already under way toward achieving it.
OREM shared the vision in its new 10-Year Program Plan. This edition provides a course for cleanup operations across the Oak Ridge Reservation from 2022 through 2032, complete with specific goals, objectives, performance measures and timelines.
The newly released document comes nearly 10 years after the release of the site’s initial program plan. That document established major cleanup goals and set clear expectations for employees and contractors that led to strong results. Now, there is an updated list of goals for the years ahead with the same purpose in mind.
“Our initial plan proved extremely helpful. It gave us a unified version to strive toward, and it led us to achieving some of our most ambitious endeavors ahead of time and under budget,” said OREM Acting Manager Laura Wilkerson. “As I look at what we have accomplished in recent years, I am eager to witness the ongoing transformation and new opportunities created for the Department and local community by our mission.”
The Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management’s (OREM) current onsite disposal facility, the Environmental Management Waste Management Facility, is at 83% capacity, and another facility is needed to continue cleanup at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Y-12 National Security Complex. A recent record of decision allows OREM to begin site preparation and work to finalize the design for the Environmental Management Disposal Facility, which provides the capacity needed to finish remaining cleanup in Oak Ridge.
The 2022-2032 plan lays out four overarching cleanup goals for the workforce. These goals are a fixed target for employees to pursue, and they serve as a measurable method to gauge and track performance.
Over the next 10 years, OREM is set to complete soil and groundwater cleanup and complete all land transfers at the East Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP).
The workforce also will accomplish major transformation at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and the Y-12 National Security Complex (Y-12). Employees are scheduled to remove all uranium-233 inventory and debris transuranic waste at ORNL, clear away numerous former reactors and labs in ORNL’s central campus and begin the teardown of massive high-risk buildings at Y-12.
The new plan was released only weeks ago, but OREM has already achieved multiple performance measures contained in it.
Top highlights this fall include getting a final record of decision signed for the Environmental Management Disposal Facility, allowing OREM to move forward on a final design and begin site preparations for it; completing demolition on the Bulk Shielding Reactor at ORNL and former Criticality Experiment Lab at Y-12; and finishing facility upgrades necessary to begin processing operations on the remaining uranium-233 inventory stored at ORNL.
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