Gone Fission Nuclear Report

Congress is considering the Department of Energy's FY2023 Budget Request. DOE Environmental Management is seeking $7.64 billion for cleanup of its former nuclear production and government research sites dating back to the Manhattan Project.  More than half of that funding would be allocated to EM's Liquid Waste cleanup mission at Hanford, Savannah River and Idaho. This week's episode examines the Liquid Waste mission at the three sites, accomplishments to date and the work that lies ahead in finishing the job.

Visit the Gone Fission Nuclear Report channel on youtube.com for a videocast of  episodes since November 7, 2022.

Citizens Advisory Boards provide DOE Environmental Management with vital public input regarding cleanup priorities at DOE sites. In this week's episode, Kelly Snyder, DOE Designated Federal Officer for the EM Site-Specific Advisory Boards, joins Shelley Kimel, Public Affairs Advisor for the Oak Ridge Site-Specific Advisory Board, and Dr. Gregg Murray, Chairman of the Savannah River Site Citizens Advisory Board, to discuss the purpose and contributions of citizen advisors.  Plus get the latest news from the DOE Environmental Management program.

Visit the Gone Fission Nuclear Report channel on youtube.com for a videocast of  episodes since November 7, 2022.

Private industry investment in facilities and technology at the East Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP) is approaching $1 Billion with the latest announcement of a new advanced reactor fuel facility. X-Energy is the latest tenant to announce plans to locate in the park with a $300 million investment. ETTP's growth is a direct result of DOE's decision to cleanup the former uranium enrichment plant site and turn the land over to the community for a multi-purpose industrial park.  

Visit the Gone Fission Nuclear Report channel on youtube.com for a videocast of  episodes since November 7, 2022.

In this week's Gone Fission Nuclear Report, hear Ike White, Senior EM Advisor, talk about cleanup plans for DOE sites for the next year and the next decade. Need to meet with someone at the Savannah River Site this week, you might want to wait a week.  Find out why in this week's episode. And get the latest news from the DOE Environmental Management complex. FNHi4A4jTlo5jlmrhN94

Visit the Gone Fission Nuclear Report channel on youtube.com for a videocast of  episodes since November 7, 2022.

Cold and Dark doesn't sound very inviting, but it's the ideal state when the Department of Energy prepares to demolish an aging, unused structure. In this week's episode, experts from three key DOE sites -- Hanford, Oak Ridge and Savannah River -- discuss the deactivation process.  Listeners will hear from Mark French, Project and Facilities Division Director at DOE in Hanford, Washington, Karen Adams, DOE Federal Project Director at the Savannah River Site in Aiken, South Carolina, and Dan Macias, Site Integration and Cleanup Manager for UCOR, DOE’s environmental cleanup contractor in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Plus get the latest news from the DOE Environmental Management complex.Plus get the latest news from the DOE Environmental Management complex.

Visit the Gone Fission Nuclear Report channel on youtube.com for a videocast of  episodes since November 7, 2022.

At Waste Management 2022 in Phoenix, DOE Environmental Management Chief of Staff Mike Nartker announced that the EM cleanup map had shrunk to 15 sites with the completion of cleanup at Brookhaven National Laboratory. That's down dramatically from the original 107 sites when EM was formed in 1989.  How much do we know about the 15 sites remaining to be cleaned up?  Some like Hanford, Oak Ridge and Savannah River are high-profile and high-budget. We hear a lot about them. Others are lower profile. Today, the Gone Fission Nuclear Report podcast shines the spotlight on one of those--the Energy Technology Engineering Center in Ventura, California.  Plus get the latest news from the Environmental Management program.

Visit the Gone Fission Nuclear Report channel on youtube.com for a videocast of  episodes since November 7, 2022.

March is Women's History Month. In this week's episode, we highlight THE WOMEN OF EM-1 . Six of the 17  EM-1s (or equivalent) who have led the Department of Energy's Environmental Management office since 1991 have been women. Can you name them? The first was Carolyn Leach Huntoon, who also distinguished herself as the first woman to head the Johnson Space Center in Houston.  Hers is an impressive story of perseverance, accomplishment and firsts.  Meet Carolyn in this week's episode of the Gone Fission Nuclear Report podcast. Bask in her success as DOE's first female EM-1 and those who followed her as we celebrate Women's History Month. Plus get all the latest news in DOE's Environmental Management program.

Visit the Gone Fission Nuclear Report channel on youtube.com for a videocast of  episodes since November 7, 2022.

DOE, UCOR, Regulators and Community Leaders discuss the final steps involved in post clean-up closing  of the East Tennessee Technology Park (Heritage Center), once home to the historic Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant.  As federal land is transferred to the community, the Park is proving to be an economic boon to the region. Yet another company, Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation, announced plans last week to acquire acreage for a new uranium fuel plant bringing a $13 million investment and 30 new jobs.

Visit the Gone Fission Nuclear Report channel on youtube.com for a videocast of  episodes since November 7, 2022.

Imagine a training exercise where you have to follow clues, complete a series of specialized tasks, and escape from an enclosed room before your air supply runs out. It’s just one of many real-life scenarios students confront at the Volpentest Hazardous Materials Management and Emergency Response – HAMMER, for short – training center at the Department of Energy’s Hanford nuclear site in Washington State. Director Paul Vandervert is our Spotlight Guest on this week's podcast.  Learn more about this one-of-a-kind training center that has a global reach and is helping to ensure the environmental cleanup workforce can do their jobs safely.

Visit the Gone Fission Nuclear Report channel on youtube.com for a videocast of  episodes since November 7, 2022.

In this week's Spotlight Interview, Teresa Frady, new president of the Community Reuse Organization of East Tennessee, talks about the importance of cleanup in attracting new private-sector tenants at the East Tennessee Technology Park, former home of the Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant. With COVID restrictions relaxing, the Secretary of Energy is making her first in-person visits to DOE sites at Savannah River and Hanford. She also made a stop at South Carolina State University, the Alma Mater of House Majority Whip James Clyburn and the nation's only Historically Black College or University offering a four-year nuclear engineering degree. And the Tri-City Herald editorializes about the necessity of continued Payment in Lieu of Taxes to the Hanford community. 

Visit the Gone Fission Nuclear Report channel on youtube.com for a videocast of  episodes since November 7, 2022.