4: Environmental Responsibility

Protecting the environment by providing a responsible resolution to the environmental legacy of nuclear weapons production

Other Information:

The scope of the Department’s environmental cleanup includes stabilization and disposition of some of the earth’s most hazardous materials generated from spent nuclear fuel and nuclear radioactive waste material. The cleanup program resulting from over five decades of nuclear weapons production and energy research is the largest active cleanup program in the world. In addition, after active cleanup, residual risks will remain for significant periods of time at most DOE cleanup sites. The Department will take appropriate action to protect human health and the environment from these residual risks. The Department continues its effort to construct a repository for the final disposal of spent nuclear fuel and high level radioactive waste. Over the next six years, the Department will apply advanced science, engineering, and cleanup technology to help ensure that it meets its national environmental cleanup strategic goals. Environmental Responsibility Challenges -- Cleanup of the nuclear weapon’s legacy is an enormously complex undertaking involving significant challenges. DOE is also faced with Federal, State, and local regulatory policies that create challenges. The Department’s effort to construct a repository for the final disposal of spent nuclear fuel and high level radioactive waste continues to meet regulatory challenges. Finally, despite aggressive environmental cleanup efforts, the Department must be prepared to address residual risks that will remain for significant periods of time at most DOE sites.

Objective(s):

4.1: Environmental Cleanup

4.2: Managing the Legacy

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