The Waste Management Symposia, a gathering of industry, government and academic nuclear waste specialists that can normally draw about 2,400 participants to Phoenix during March, starts today online with several sessions about the Department of Energy’s cleanup office.
This year’s event, exclusive virtual due to COVID-19 precautions, kicks off at about 10 a.m. Eastern Time with a plenary session that will include conference organizers as well as the acting assistant secretary of the DOE’s Office of Environmental Management (EM), William (Ike) White.
There will also be a session on hot topics facing EM that includes deputy assistant secretary Todd Shrader as well as updates on the Salt Waste Processing Facility at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina along with a progress report on the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit at the Idaho National Laboratory. The day will also feature a session on lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Highlights during the rest of the week include a Tuesday update on decommissioning progress at the Fukushima Daiichi reactors in Japan, a Wednesday session on emerging Nuclear Regulatory Commission issues, a Thursday contractors roundup organized by Energy Facilities Contractor Operating Group and a Friday session on small business procurement and contracting opportunities within DOE weapons complex.
Last year’s symposia marked probably the last major in-person nuclear conference in the United States as the specter of COVID-19 was starting to become known. Then-President Donald Trump suspended flights into the United States from Europe, the National Basketball Association suspended its season and college basketball cancelled its “March Madness” championship tournament — all while the Waste Management Symposia was occurring in Phoenix.
More than 2,000 people showed up for last year’s Waste Management Symposia and no positive cases of COVID-19 were reported. Within weeks of last year’s event the DOE would cancel most non-essential travel and allow much of its workforce to telecommute.
