In the News

Below are articles and other news published since the last West Valley Citizen Task Force Meeting. They relate to the West Valley Demonstration Project, nuclear waste cleanup or are otherwise relevant or of potential interest to stakeholders interested in the Project. After each Citizen Task Force Meeting, these articles are compiled into a single document and may be found with the meeting materials for that month.

EM Update -EM Updates Cleanup ‘By the Numbers’

July 6, 2021 – EM has updated its popular “By the Numbers” feature, which illustrates cleanup progress at EM sites through quick and clear infographics.

Facts and figures on each major EM site, plus the Savannah River National Laboratory, can be found here. Each site page also features a key look forward to an anticipated achievement over the next decade, as described in more detail in the Strategic Vision 2021‐2031, a blueprint to the program’s anticipated accomplishments over the next decade that will protect the public and environment. Link to update

Partnership for the Public Good -Protections Needed for WNY during the Demolition of the Most Radioactive Building , West Valley Action Network

June 22, 2021 – This is the third workshop in a series hosted by the The West Valley Action Network.
Register for the 7/27 session here: https://bit.ly/3fZkZ2Q

To help stop invisible but long lasting, dangerous radioactivity from getting into our air, water, soil, food and environment join us for a monthly series to learn about the West Valley NY Nuclear Waste Site. One of the most radioactive buildings at that site, and at all the nuclear power and weapons sites, in the country is slated to be demolished starting in 2021. The West Valley Action Network groups are calling for an enclosure during demolition and offsite real‐time, publicly‐reported radiation monitoring to see if radioactivity is getting out. Link to article

EM Update -Sustained Collaborations Drive EM’s Progress in 2021, White Says

June 22, 2021 – Successful collaborations have fueled EM’s progress over the past 18 months, enabling a series of achievements while emphasizing health and safety protections during the COVID‐19 pandemic, Acting Assistant Secretary William “Ike” White told members of the Energy Facility Contractors Group (EFCOG) during its annual meeting earlier this month.

During the virtual gathering, White outlined EM’s accomplishments over the past year, including processing more than 1 million gallons of tank waste at the Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina, successful demolition of the Biology Complex at the Y‐12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and significant progress on the tank waste mission at Hanford in Washington state. Link to Update

ECA Update -DOE Requests Drastic Cuts to School and Emergency Response Funding for Communities Surrounding SRS and Hanford Only– ECA Requests Reconsideration

June 10, 2021 – DOE’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) budget request for FY 2022 proposes to eliminate payments‐in‐lieu‐of‐taxes (PILT) for communities surrounding only the Hanford Site and Savannah River Site, the communities that bear the burden of the largest environmental cleanup projects in the United States. Link to article

Olean Times Herald – Only 1 new COVID case in Catt County

June 9, 2021 – Only one new case of COVID‐19 was reported Tuesday by the Cattaraugus County Health Department.

Health department staff are also following 19 active cases, six who are hospitalized and 48 in contact quarantine….

… On June 17, the health department will partner with CHBWV, the site contractor at the West Valley Demonstration Project, to offer COVID‐19 vaccinations at the Ashford Office Complex on Route 219 in Ashford Hollow from 1‐4:30 p.m. Bring photo identification. Link to article