Area 2: NUCLEAR MATERIAL PROCESSING AND STABILIZATION

The processing, stabilization, and disposition of DOE defense nuclear materials and facilities are performed in a manner that ensures adequate protection of the health and safety of the workers and the public.

Other Information:

With the shutdown of major weapon production activities at defense nuclear facilities in the early 1990s, substantial quantities of plutonium, uranium, transuranic isotopes, and irradiated fuel have remained in storage for extended periods under potentially unsafe and deteriorating conditions. The Board’s focus in this strategic area is to aid DOE in identifying these excess materials and in reviewing DOE’s plans/programs to stabilize the materials and place them in a safe configuration for storage pending future programmatic use or disposition. Board oversight in this area will include the stabilization of spent nuclear fuel at the Hanford Site in Washington and the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, the nuclear waste programs being conducted at the Savannah River and Hanford sites as well as the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico and the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory. The Board will also provide health and safety oversight of DOE programs to safely deactivate and decommission facilities at the Hanford and Savannah River Sites, the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee, the Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site in Colorado, and the Fernald and Mound Sites in Ohio, and the Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories in New Mexico and California. Outcome: DOE will have acknowledged, acted upon, and/or resolved the health and safety issues raised by the Board. Follow-up technical evaluations of DOE’s nuclear materials management and facility disposition activities will verify necessary improvements in safety, as DOE meets its commitments to the Board to stabilize and dispose of hazardous nuclear materials.

Indicator(s):

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