Citizen groups that are frequent critics of the Department of Energy nuclear weapons complex greeted news of a possible name change for the DOE Office of Environmental Management with a shrug.
DOE Assistant Secretary of Environmental Management Tim Walsh told the Waste Management Symposia in Phoenix last week that EM could soon be rebranded as the Office of Nuclear Restoration and Revitalization. The change does not mean nuclear cleanup is being de-emphasized, Walsh said. He added some remediation timelines will be accelerated.
Exchange Monitor has asked weapons complex observers about the change. David Reeploeg, vice president with the Tri-City Economic Development Council near the Hanford Site in Washington, has no position on the name change. “But we do strongly support the larger concept of focusing on reindustrialization of DOE lands in addition to the ongoing cleanup mission. “
But groups that are frequent DOE nuclear critics are more wary about what the change might entail for environmental remediation.
““When DOE leadership spends time brainstorming new titles instead of addressing the billions in unfunded cleanup liabilities, it tells you everything about their priorities,” said Nikolas Peterson, executive director of Hanford Challenge. “Communities deserve cleanup, not cosmetic changes.”
“The bottom line remains that in some cases, the technical means does not exist to restore sites to pre-Manhattan Project radiation and chemical contamination levels,” Don Hancock, administrator of the Albuquerque-based Southwest Research and Information Center, said in a Monday email. “And both the public and Government Accountability Office say that not enough funding and technical expertise is being put into real cleanup at many sites.”
“The change of EM’s name and mission, which is no surprise, fits with decisions over the past year that have enabled EM to take over a host of nuclear power projects rightly belonging in the Office of Nuclear Energy,” said Tom Clements, executive director of Savannah River Watch in South Carolina.
“Now, it appears those efforts, involving speculative advanced reactors, reprocessing and associated fuel cycle facilities are being rolled into a single office that will accelerate promotion of nuclear-powered AI data centers at DOE sites,” Clements said.
Clements fears the name change is a sign of reduced emphasis on nuclear cleanup.