Hello, I am Nicole Nelson-Jean, Associate Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary
for Field Operations at the Department of Energy's Office of Environmental Management.
As the largest environmental cleanup program in the world, the Department of Energy's Office of
Environmental Management, or EM, is responsible for safely completing cleanup resulting from
decades of nuclear weapons development and government-sponsored nuclear energy research.
When EM was first established in 1989, it was responsible for the cleanup of 107
sites in 35 states. Today, 16 sites remain with active environmental cleanup.
One of those sites is in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The Department of Energy's Oak Ridge Reservation
contains three distinct sites, the Y-12 National Security Complex,
Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and East Tennessee Technology Park. Each site supports
different programs for the Department of Energy while EM leads cleanup efforts at all three.
Oak Ridge is home to efforts that protect our nation and research that is changing the
future of everything from supercomputing to manufacturing to energy generation,
but Oak Ridge is also home to hundreds of vacant contaminated World War II era building structures
that pose risks and hinder progress. EM is responsible for safely removing these structures,
and any environmental impact left behind.
Department of Energy sites in Oak Ridge generate an annual economic impact of $7.2 billion
to the State of Tennessee. With a workforce of more than 14,000, the DOE and its contractors
are one of the top five employers in the state. Approximately 2,500 of those workers focus solely
on cleanup. In Oak Ridge, EM’s progress is visible and tangible. Workers are removing hazards,
transforming landscapes, and creating new opportunities for economic growth.
Nowhere is the impact of environmental cleanup more visible than at the East Tennessee Technology
Park—a site that once enriched uranium for defense and energy programs. In 2020, the site became the
first of its kind to be cleaned up. Reaching this milestone involved tearing down more than 500 old,
contaminated structures; removing impacted soil; and transferring hundreds of acres back to the
community for redevelopment. Thanks to EM, land once used to build the nation's nuclear arsenal
is now home to new businesses, a national park, trails, and greenways. Today, EM’s efforts are
transforming the Y-12 National Security Complex and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Combined, these
sites house DOE’s largest inventory of high-risk contaminated facilities. At Y-12, EM will take
down massive, contaminated structures and address the site's greatest environmental risk—mercury.
At the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, EM will remove formal research reactors and
isotope production facilities, and eliminate nuclear waste inventories. Over the next decade,
Oak Ridge will look much different because of EM. New industry will emerge at the East
Tennessee Technology Park, and new facilities and missions will enhance and expand Y-12 and ORNL.
EM's progress in Oak Ridge will ensure the continued well-being of east Tennessee,
help the region reach its full potential unhindered by the past,
and clear the way for the world's next big discoveries.