In 1939, Nobel prize-winning physicist Niels Bohr argued that building an
atomic bomb can never be done unless you turn the United States into one huge
factory. He was right
Although the Manhattan Project took less than three years to make a working bomb,
in that time the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers constructed what amounted to a
huge nationwide factory, with monumental plants to enrich uranium, three
production reactors to make plutonium, and two reprocessing plants to extract
plutonium from the reactor fuel. America's functional nuclear weapon
capabilities ended the war and would impact international relationships
forever. Nuclear weapon production escalated after World War II and into
the early 50s. The US and Russia entered an arms race during the Cold War,
creating a nuclear weapons complex that included more than 100 sites in 35
states and worldwide. Ranging from miles of isolated desert in Nevada, where
weapons were tested, to warehouses in downtown New York that once stored
uranium. At the same time, America also began investing in nuclear energy
research, creating government sponsored facilities that generated Nobel
Prize-winning scientific discoveries, helped us explore new energy options, and
even advanced our understanding of space exploration. Investment in nuclear was
growing but so were our concerns for safety and the environment. And although
our stockpile of nuclear warheads would help change the course of history again
in 1991, the end of the Cold War signaled the end of America's nuclear weapons
production. A new era had begun.
Seventy-five years of nuclear weapons production and energy research generated
millions of gallons of liquid radioactive waste, millions of cubic
meters of solid radioactive wastes, thousands of tons of spent nuclear fuel
and special nuclear material, along with huge quantities of contaminated soil and
water. At the East Tennessee Technology Park, our main challenge has been that
the facilities that we have been dealing with are of massive size. For example, the
K-25 facility, which was the main processing building at that site, was the
largest building in the world at the time it was constructed. And it was one
mile long from one end to the other. The Hanford Site produced 74 tons of
plutonium. The site is a vast 586 square miles, with over 1,700 facilities that
have to be remediated. To prepare for and manage this massive cleanup effort, the
U.S. Department of Energy established the Office of Environmental Management in
1989. EM's first task was to identify the complete scope and characteristics
of the 107 site cleanups. A wide range of risks had to be addressed, including
concerns like contaminating soil and groundwater. We had lots of contaminated
sites along the river and our cleanup strategy was to protect the river and
the reason the river is so important is it's the livelihood of the cities within
the tri-cities in the state of Washington and also the state of Oregon so we've got
to make sure that the river is not contaminated with the legacy of what
Hanford left. America's environmental regulations were complex and evolving
and EM had to create the infrastructure, treatment, transportation, and disposal
processes to address large quantities of waste. And just like the determined
nuclear scientists and technicians who man these facilities before them,
EM delivered on -- and many times -- exceeded their goals. Because of the
magnitude and complexity of the cleanup, we needed a
workforce that was highly skilled, highly trained, and highly experienced. We had to
transform that production workforce into more of a scientific study, more
engineering, and people that understood regulations. All plutonium, uranium, metal
and spent fuel is being safely stored at DOE facilities, pending disposition.
Thousands of contaminated facilities have been decontaminated and demolished.
Over 179, 000 containers of TRU waste were permanently disposed of. And
water in soil in 91 of 107 sites across the U.S. have been successfully treated.
Now the material from those sites has been put into 55-gallon drums and
shipped to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in Carlsbad, New Mexico, which is a half
a mile below the surface of the earth. Today, EM and our partners have restored
or transferred access to nearly 17,000 acres of land to the American people --
some for public use in the form of parks, historical sites, civic sites, and
industrial or office parks. In Washington state, the Hanford B reactor that started
our nuclear weapons production back in the 1940s, is now a part of the Manhattan
Project National Park, along with Oak Ridge and Los Alamos National Laboratory,
available to the public for tours. In Oak Ridge, Tennessee, EM has returned nearly 1,300 acres of land,
14 facilities, and most major infrastructure to the community. The site is becoming a multi-use industrial park,
involving economic development, historic preservation and conservation.
Only 16 sites remain in an existing cleanup, but these remaining sites are some of
the most difficult to clean up, given unique radioactive waste characteristics.
EM's current workforce of more than 20,000 federal workers and contractors
include some of the nation's leading environmental scientists and engineers,
as well as experts in regulatory compliance and the safe packaging and
transport of hazardous materials. This dedicated team applies a wide range of
experience and insight to safely and efficiently advanced cleanup amid the
most challenging conditions. And EM is equally dedicated to addressing the
needs and concerns of all our stakeholders, continuously engaging with
Congress, tribal nations, communities local and state regulators, and others on
our progress. As it has for 30 years, EM's leadership team will openly discuss our
efforts in advancing safe, faster, more cost-effective and more technically
sound approaches to nuclear waste cleanup in support of both human health
and the environment. We're getting it done step-by-step and hand-in-hand in
support of America's future. Our priorities are safety first, engagement
with our stakeholders, and bringing in the best and brightest people to do the
work. When they get up in the morning, they're thinking about their job, when
they go home they're thinking about it, they're thinking about in the middle of
the night, and when they wake up they're thinking about it. America's nuclear
program made a positive, lasting impact on our world. And the U.S. Department of
Energy's Office of Environmental Management is working to keep it that
way.