Mission
The mission of the Office of Environmental Management (EM) is to complete the safe
cleanup of the environmental legacy brought about from five decades of nuclear weapons
development and government-sponsored nuclear energy research.
The EM program has made significant progress in shifting away
from risk management to embracing a mission completion philosophy based on
reducing risk and reducing environmental liability. As an established operating
cleanup completion and risk reduction program, EM is demonstrating the importance
of remaining steadfast to operating principles while staying focused on the mission.
For example:
- EM is constructing and operating facilities to treat radioactive liquid tank waste
into a safe, stable form to enable ultimate disposition.
- EM is securing and storing nuclear material in a stable, safe configuration in secure
locations to protect national security.
- EM is transporting and disposing of transuranic and low-level wastes in a safe and
cost effective manner to reduce risk.
- EM is decontaminating and decommissioning facilities that provide no further value
to reduce long-term liabilities and maximize resources for cleanup.
- EM is remediating soil and ground water contaminated with the radioactive and hazardous
constituents.
- EM is fulfilling its commitments to reduce risk and complete cleanup across all
sites for the generations to come.
Safety:
With this focus on cleanup completion and risk reducing results, safety still remains
the utmost priority. EM will continue to maintain and demand the highest safety
performance. All workers deserve to go home as healthy as they were when they came
to the job in the morning. There is no schedule or milestone worth any injury to
the work force.
Project Management:
EM is increasing its concentration on project management to improve its overall
performance toward cost-effective risk reduction. This will involve review of validated
project baselines, schedules, and assumptions about effective identification and
management of risks. Instrumental in refining the technical and business approaches
to project management are the senior leadership and staff. EM is ensuring that leaders,
project managers, and staff are trained to meet its project management and mission
objectives. Another tool that will assist EM project management is the cleanup contracts.
The contracts define EM workscope. The EM contracts also set expectations and standards,
which in turn delineate the operating principles and requirements. EM’s goal is
to ensure that the site contracts are designed to drive outstanding performance.
Finally, EM will strive for constant, real-time feedback of lessons learned to improve
project planning and execution.
Site Closure:
EM will continue to maintain a focus on completing site cleanup, with an additional
eleven sites or areas (Argonne National Laboratory – East, Brookhaven National Laboratory,
East Tennessee Technology Park at Oak Ridge, Energy Technology Engineering Center,
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory-Site 300; Inhalation Toxicology Laboratory,
Pantex Plant; Sandia National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory,
Miamisburg, and the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center) projected to be completed
in the 2007 to 2009 timeframe.
Benefits:
As indicated above, EM’s mission is to cleanup the environmental legacy of nuclear
weapons production and nuclear energy research. Through its accelerated cleanup
approach, EM is remediating sites and reducing the risks of the environmental contamination
for future generations. Over the next five years, EM’s goal is to continue to reduce
the environmental liability associated with the EM program, consistent with the
ideals previously discussed above in the Mission section.
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