Gone Fission Nuclear Report

The 2025 Nuclear Opportunities Workshop sponsored by the East Tennessee Economic Council in Knoxville continues to yield newsworthy stories for the Gone Fission podcast. This week, host Michael Butler talks with Tennessee Valley Authority Vice President Greg Borschieg about TVA's plans to build a small modular reactor on the Clinch River site in Oak Ridge. In May, TVA became the first American utility to apply for a construction permit to build an SMR. Learn more about this groundbreaking project in this week's episode of the Gone Fission podcast. Visit the Gone Fission Nuclear Report channel on youtube.com for a videocast of episodes since November 7, 2022.

In this week’s episode of the Gone Fission podcast, Host Michael Butler reports on major news developments in the nuclear renaissance and the Department of Energy’s enviromental cleanup program. Oklo is building a new spent fuel recycling facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. TVA is partnering with Kairos to purchase power from a new Kairos reactor. The Savannah River National Laboratory’s Advanced Manufacturing Collaborative is open for business at USC-Aiken. And we’ll meet Mike Deane, host of the “Nuclear Average Joe” podcast and talk about what he’s doing to make nuclear energy relatable to “Average Joes” across America. Visit the Gone Fission Nuclear Report channel on youtube.com for a videocast of episodes since November 7, 2022.

Charles Oppenheimer, the grandson of atomic pioneer Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer, is Michael Butler’s guest on this week’s episode of the Gone Fission podcast. Ironically, this episode drops two days before August 6 which will be the 80th anniversary of America's use of the atomic bomb over Hiroshima, a pivotal event that launched the end of World War II--and one in which Charles Oppenheimer's grandfather, Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer, played a major role. Charles and Michael sat down at the recent Nuclear Opportunities Workshop in Knoxville, Tennessee, for a wide-ranging discussion that covered everything from nuclear plant financing to what it’s like to be an Oppenheimer in today’s world. Was he surprised that “Oppenheimer” was such a blockbuster hit at the box office? Find out in this week’s episode. Visit the Gone Fission Nuclear Report channel on youtube.com for a videocast of episodes since November 7, 2022.

In this week’s episode, Host Michael Butler discusses plans to expand the Gone Fission podcast’s coverage to include the emerging nuclear renaissance. The expanded coverage begins later this month at the Nuclear Opportunities Workshop in Knoxville, Tennessee. Sponsored by the East Tennessee Economic Council (ETEC), the Workshop is expected to attract more than 800 attendees representing major companies in the nuclear industry. Topics will include small modular reactors, advanced reactor fuel, uranium enrichment, nuclear plant financing and more. Learn more about this exciting conference in this week’s interview with ETEC President and CEO Tracy Boatner. Visit the Gone Fission Nuclear Report channel on youtube.com for a videocast of episodes since November 7, 2022.

One of America’s largest government contractors has announced plans to establish a new Nuclear Center of Excellence in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Amentum said its new Center will serve as a strategic hub for nuclear expertise, engineering and operational excellence. Mark Whitney, President of Amentum’s Energy and Environment Business, talks with host Michael Butler about the new Center and more in this week’s episode of the Gone Fission Nuclear Report podcast. Visit the Gone Fission Nuclear Report channel on youtube.com for a videocast of episodes since November 7, 2022.

The Gone Fission Nuclear Report launches Season 5 with a new episode featuring a discussion with Amir Vexler, President and CEO of Centrus Energy Group. Centrus is playing a vital role in nuclear renaissance with its manufacturing of uranium enrichment centrifuges in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and operation of the American Centrifuge Plant in Piketon, Ohio. The size of the Pentagon, the plant is pioneering the development of High Assay Low Enriched Uranium (HALEU), expected to be a crucial fuel fuel component for both existing reactors and a new generation of advanced reactors. Visit the Gone Fission Nuclear Report channel on youtube.com for a videocast of episodes since November 7, 2022.

It’s being called the largest investment in the history of the State of Tennessee. Orano USA has announced plans to build a new multi-billion dollar, state-of-the-art centrifuge uranium enrichment plant in Oak Ridge. The facility will provide fuel for America’s nuclear power plants and reduce U.S. dependence on foreign sources, including Russia. In this week’s episode of the Gone Fission Nuclear Report, host Michael Butler discusses this exciting project with Orano USA President Jean-Luc Palayer. Visit the Gone Fission Nuclear Report channel on youtube.com for a videocast of episodes since November 7, 2022.

Most of us have probably dealt with landlords at one time or another in our personal or business lives. But did you know that Department of Energy sites around the country also have landlords--DOE offices that are responsible for operation and maintenance of the site as a whole?This week’s episode covers the recent change of DOE landlord at the Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina. After nearly three decades, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is taking over landlord responsibilities from the Office of Environmental Management (EM). What does this change mean for SRS and its current and future missions? We talk with SRS EM Site Manager Mike Budney and NNSA SRS Field Office Director Michael Mikolanis. Visit the Gone Fission Nuclear Report channel on youtube.com for a videocast of episodes since November 7, 2022.

Community input is essential to the success of the Department of Energy’s environmental cleanup program. Much of the most essential feedback comes from the Site Specific Advisory Boards (SSAB) composed of local community volunteers. These local members take their own time to become educated about local cleanup issues and make recommendations to DOE about cleanup priorities and approaches. In this week's episode of the Gone Fission Nuclear Report, host Michael Butler talks with Kelly Snyder, EM Designated Federal Officer for the SSAB and officials in charge of the Oak Ridge SSAB--Amy Jones, Chair, and Kris Bartholomew, Vice Chair. Visit the Gone Fission Nuclear Report channel on youtube.com for a videocast of episodes since November 7, 2022.

With a new Administration taking office in January, the Energy Communities Alliance has released a detailed report calling for a top-to-bottom review of the Department of Energy’s Environmental Management program. In this week’s episode of the Gone Fission Nuclear Report podcast, ECA Executive Director Seth Kirshenberg shares with Host Michael Butler the eight recommendations his organization believes can help the cleanup program better accomplish its formidable mission. Visit the Gone Fission Nuclear Report channel on youtube.com for a videocast of episodes since November 7, 2022.

This week, the Gone Fission Nuclear Report features an interview with Candice Robertson, the Department of Energy’s recently appointed Senior Advisor to the Office of Environmental Management (EM-1). Host Michael Butler caught up with her at the 10th Annual National Cleanup Workshop in Washington, D.C. The occasion also marked the 35th anniversary of creation of the Office of Environmental Management. Ms. Robertson gives her assessment of the current state of DOE’s environmental cleanup program and looks to the challenges ahead. Visit the Gone Fission Nuclear Report channel on youtube.com for a videocast of episodes since November 7, 2022.

Each year, the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management publishes a list of cleanup priorities for its sites around the country. Progress in the cleanup program is measured by how well these milestones are met. This week, the Gone Fission Nuclear Report joins in celebrating completion a major cleanup goal on DOE’s Oak Ridge Reservation in Tennessee. It’s a comprehensive soil remediation project that DOE calls “Vision 2024.” Our guest is Joanna Hardin, DOE Federal Potfolio Director for the East Tennessee Technology Park in Oak Ridge. She talks with host Michael Butler about what it took to remediate more than a half million cubic yards of contaminated soil as the site becomes home to new nuclear-related businesses Visit the Gone Fission Nuclear Report channel on youtube.com for a videocast of episodes since November 7, 2022.

The Gone Fission Nuclear Report travels to the nation’s capital this week to join a national conversation on next steps for identifying a community to host interim spent fuel storage from America’s nuclear power plants. Our podcast sponsor, the Energy Communities Alliance, convened a meeting of elected officials, community leaders, economic developers and Department of Energy officials to discuss what kind of incentives a community will need--and what kind of economic benefits can accrue--from volunteering to host an interim storage facility. This is an important topic as the U.S. finds itself on the brink of a nuclear renaissance that will increase the role of nuclear energy in meeting our national energy needs. Is your community interested in exploring safe spent fuel storage as an economic driver? Raise your hand! Visit the Gone Fission Nuclear Report channel on youtube.com for a videocast of episodes since November 7, 2022.

Our guest on this week’s episode is John Eschenberg, President and Chief Executive Officer of Central Plateau Cleanup Company in Hanford Washington. An Amentum-led partnership with Fluor and Atkins, CPCCO is responsible for managing site operations, facility deactivation, decommissioning, decontamination and demolition, waste-site remediation, and transuranic waste management on Hanford’s central plateau and along the Columbia River corridor. It is a challenging and hazardous assignment and a large part of what has been called the biggest environmental cleanup project in the world--likely to stretch for more than 50 years into the future. Eschenberg talks with host Michael Butler about the challenges and efforts underway to ensure than an adequate and trained workforce is available to complete the mission. Visit the Gone Fission Nuclear Report channel on youtube.com for a videocast of episodes since November 7, 2022.

This is the time of year when hundreds of interns descend on DOE sites around the country. They are eager and enthusiastic, ready to soak up new information gleaned from being out of the classroom and on the job. They are a critical part of the essential pipeline that will ensure the Department of Energy's Environmental Management program will have enough qualified workers to fulfill its cleanup mission in the decades ahead. In this week's episode of the Gone Fission Nuclear Report podcast, host Michael Butler talks with Susan Sparks and Shannon Potter, DOE and contractor intern program managers at Portsmouth/Paducah and Oak Ridge, as well as Maurice Thompson, head of DOE's Career Pathways Program at DOE Headquarters. We will also meet Samina Mondal, an outstanding participant in the program who has quickly become a well-spoken advocate for the Environmental Management program. Visit the Gone Fission Nuclear Report channel on youtube.com for a videocast of episodes since November 7, 2022.

DOE’s Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center (EMCBC) is celebrating its 20th anniversary this month. Called the “Swiss army knife of Environmental Management”, the EMCBC is a multi-faceted organization, serving as the centralized hub for procurement, financial management, and technical support for DOE’s environmental management program. The EMCBC oversees the cleanup of smaller contaminated sites, including former nuclear production facilities, research laboratories, and uranium mining sites and supports cleanup at larger sites. Host Michael Butler interviews EMCBC Deputy Director Melody Bell and Procurement Director Aaron Deckard. Visit the Gone Fission Nuclear Report channel on youtube.com for a videocast of episodes since November 7, 2022.

The Department of Energy’s environmental cleanup program is more than tearing down aging, contaminated buildings. In this week’s episode of the Gone Fission Nuclear Report, we’ll take a look at another dimension of cleanup--the conversion of depleted uranium hexafluoride—or UF6--at Paducah, Kentucky, and Portsmouth, Ohio. A by-product of the conversion process is hydrofluoric acid which has wide applications in industry--from pharmaceuticals and refrigerants to aluminum, plastics, electrical components and more. Hydrofluoric acid from the conversion process is sold to industry and is a revenue generator for the government. Our guest is Zak LaFontaine, DOE Program Director for the Depleted Uranium Hexafluoride Conversion Program at Paducah and Portsmouth. Visit the Gone Fission Nuclear Report channel on youtube.com for a videocast of episodes since November 7, 2022.

On April 27, 2024, more than 650 former workers at the historic K-25 gaseous diffusion plant in Oak Ridge, TN, came together for their first-ever reunion. As Daniel Dassow wrote in the Knoxville News-Sentinel, it was the first time many had driven their private cars into the complex, the first time they weren’t required to show a badge and perhaps the first time they had seen K-25 as a field site with no large buildings left. In this week’s Gone Fission Nuclear Report podcast, Host Michael Butler takes a look at this unique get-together and joins attendees in remembering their historic careers. Our guests are former K-25 Plant Manager Dr. Harold Conner Jr. and Pam Toon, one of the Reunion's organizers. Visit the Gone Fission Nuclear Report channel on youtube.com for a videocast of episodes since November 7, 2022.

Thousands of workers show up each day to advance the environmental cleanup mission at DOE sites around the country. They are talented and dedicated but for the most part their work goes unheralded without awards or accolades. In this week’s Gone Fission Nuclear Report host Michael Butler talks with a DOE official who has been singled out by the Secretary of Energy for a major performance award. Jud Lilly, a DOE executive at the Portsmouth OH site, has been named Federal Project Director of the Year by the Secretary of Energy. Meet Jud and hear his story, including the tremendous respect he has for the Portsmouth team who get the job done very day. Visit the Gone Fission Nuclear Report channel on youtube.com for a videocast of episodes since November 7, 2022.

The Department of Energy’s 17 national laboratories conduct research and development on some of the world’s most vexing challenges—from climate change to the origins of the universe. Most recently, six labs have turned their attention to speeding cleanup of underground tank waste at DOE’s Hanford site in Washington State. The labs are using $27 million in DOE funding to research everything from tank integrity and the impact of corrosion to robotic handling of tank waste. Estimates show this and other work could save $150 billion in cleanup costs and shave up to two decades off a 60-year timeline. This week, Gone Fission host Michael Butler talks with Connie Herman, Associate Director, Savannah River National Laboratory, and Delmar Noyes, DOE Tank Farms Manager at Hanford. NOTE: The work Network of National Laboratories for Environmental Management and Stewardship (NNLEMS) performs is overseen by the EM Laboratory Policy Office with the support of the EM Technology Operations Office, Hanford Site Office as well as the Office of Science, and ARPA-E.” Visit the Gone Fission Nuclear Report channel on youtube.com for a videocast of episodes since November 7, 2022.