News from June 2023


MARVEL Microreactor Prototype Preps for Testing

An electric-powered prototype of one of the nation’s first microreactors has successfully been installed at a manufacturing facility in Pennsylvania and is gearing up for testing.


U.S. Department of Energy Announces $34 Million to Deploy Clean Energy Technologies in American Indian and Alaska Native Communities

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced $34 million in funding to advance clean energy technology in 18 American Indian and Alaska Native communities.


LM Makes a Splash at 28th Annual Western Colorado Children’s Water Festival

It was the first session of the morning, but before she could give her water-quality presentation to the fifth graders gathered at her booth, Sara Woods had to fire up the crowd.


LM Co-Hosts Emergency Management Organization Annual Meeting

Natural and man-made disasters seem to be wreaking havoc around the world. Federal, state, and local government organizations are continually considering these threats in their current and future emergency management planning.


LM Conservation Projects Protect, Restore, and Enhance LM Sites Nationwide

The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Legacy Management sustainability teams support DOE priorities, including ecological health, conservation, land reuse, land management, and energy conservation.


STEP Class Brings Science to Life at Savannah River Site

More than 50 fifth and sixth grade students from a school in Augusta, Georgia, recently experienced a unique hands-on environmental class in the forests of the Savannah River Site (SRS) to inspire early interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) careers at the site.


West Valley Supports Local Environmental Competition for Students

With support from EM’s West Valley Demonstration Project (WVDP), students from local high schools recently joined a competition based on environmental topics, with this year’s special focus on adapting to climate change.


Sounding the Alarm at Hanford: It’s Only a Test

Sound testing kicked off recently at the Hanford Site’s Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant as team members measured ambient sound levels throughout the plant’s facilities.


In Unique Fire Ecology Course, Students Practice Prescribed Burn at Savannah River Site

Sixteen students from the University of Georgia have completed a popular spring semester course on fire ecology that included a prescribed burn of 375 acres of land at the Savannah River Site (SRS).


Hanford Contractors Celebrate Earth Day Cleaning Up Local Park

Protecting the environment is key for EM’s Office of River Protection and Richland Operations Office, and that’s why dozens of Hanford Site employees joined forces to celebrate the importance of Earth Day by cleaning up one of the most popular local parks.


Oak Ridge Makes Former Reactor Safer as It Awaits Demolition

EM crews are slated to take down hundreds of old, contaminated buildings at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and Y-12 National Security Complex.


Portsmouth, Paducah Kick Off Major Uranium Oxide Disposal Effort

EM has successfully commenced a major disposal effort for a key uranium-enrichment byproduct with the recent arrival of 60 uranium-oxide storage cylinders by rail at a licensed facility in west Texas.


EM Kicks Off New Acquisition Career Development Program

EM is strengthening its procurement capabilities to ensure the cleanup program has talented, capable acquisition professionals now and in the future with the launch of the EM Career Acquisition Program (ECAP).


DOE Releases Final Request for Proposals for Small Business Nationwide Deactivation, Decommissioning, and Removal Procurement

Today, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management released the Final Request for Proposals for Small Business Nationwide Deactivation, Decommissioning and Removal (DD&R) to perform DD&R of Facilities, Waste Management services, and Program Support services.


Hanford Uses 3D Scanning to Enhance Worker Safety for Demolitions

A team of designers with EM Richland Operations Office contractor Central Plateau Cleanup Company (CPCCo) is using 3D laser scanning technology to gather data to help workers prepare some of the facilities on the Hanford Site for demolition.


Savannah River Site-Sponsored Robotics Team Makes Inroads at International Competition

A DOE Office of Environmental Management (EM ) contractor at the Savannah River Site (SRS) once again sponsored a team from Aiken High School to join an international robotics championship competition.


Hanford Collaborations: Creating Connections With the Next Generation

Highlighting pathways to careers on the Hanford Site, DOE Office of Environmental Management (EM) Office of River Protection (ORP) contractor Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) established creative collaborations with local colleges and universities that allow interns the opportunity to advance into careers at Hanford.


Idaho Waste Treatment Facility Increases Production Fivefold

Since the launch of operations just over a month ago, the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit (IWTU) has increased sodium-bearing waste treatment fivefold, a crucial step in removing remaining liquid waste from nearby underground tanks at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) Site and protecting the underlying Snake River Plain Aquifer.


WIPP Mine Rescue Team Uses Lifesaving Skills in Highway Accident

Members of EM’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) mine rescue teams recently put their lifesaving skills into action, possibly saving a young woman’s life as they were returning from a mine rescue competition in Ruidoso, New Mexico.


Oak Ridge Groundbreaking: Viewing Platform Brings Historic K-25 Into Perspective

Officials celebrated progress on a facility here last week that will give the public a new perspective of what was once the world’s largest building as they broke ground for the K-25 Viewing Platform at the East Tennessee Technology Park.