DOE manager outlines Oak Ridge cleanup, waste‑processing plans and planned land transfers

Eric Oles, manager of the Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, told Oak Ridge City Council members on March 17 that the DOE intends to press ahead this year with demolition, waste processing and a series of land transfers that officials hope will support economic reuse.

Oles said Oak Ridge spans about 30,000 acres — roughly 50 square miles — and is unusual because three separate DOE programs operate on the same reservation: Environmental Management, the National Nuclear Security Administration at Y‑12, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. "Everything that the secretary wants, all of his goals for the Department of Energy are all happening here at Oak Ridge," Oles said.

The Office of Environmental Management’s work plan for 2026 includes completing demolition of a former uranium‑enrichment facility at Y‑12, beginning demolition on Isotope Row at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, advancing the design and early support work for an on‑site Environmental Management disposal facility (EMDF), and transferring roughly 4,000 acres of land to local ownership. Oles said the EMDF is "really the engine that drives cleanup" because teams cannot move material until they have disposal capacity identified.

Oles described other priorities in greater detail. He said crews have reached the midpoint processing the site’s uranium‑233 inventory and highlighted a reuse pathway: extracting thorium and sending material to a private partner that is producing actinium isotopes used in cancer treatments. "Uranium 233 is one of the coolest, if you don't mind that word, and best reuse stories that we can tell in the Department of Energy right now," Oles said.

On transuranic waste, Oles characterized the site's transuranic waste processing center (TWPC) as rare in its capabilities: "It is a little bit of a unicorn in my opinion." He said Oak Ridge is in talks to process a small set of containers from other sites — Oles cited 24 containers at New York’s Separations Process Research Unit — with the intention that processed material would be shipped to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in Carlsbad for final disposal. Oles emphasized the intent is processing for disposal, not indefinite storage, and noted that visiting sites typically provide funding to cover processing and facility improvements.

Council members pressed Oles on whether political disputes in New Mexico over shipments to WIPP could disrupt that plan. A council member asked whether New Mexico’s efforts to prioritize Los Alamos would slow shipments that Oak Ridge expects to send to WIPP; Oles replied that DOE headquarters and assistant‑secretary staff are engaged with the state and that shipments are forecasted and accounted for in WIPP planning, so he "does not see challenges from that perspective."

Oles also said he has paused construction of a mercury treatment facility at Y‑12 pending a technical reassessment. "I have paused construction on the facility... it's been laid up," he told council, adding that surveillance and maintenance will continue while a team including ORNL and regulators evaluates available remediation options.

On future economic opportunities, Oles said DOE is revisiting potential leases for hyperscale AI data centers and that Oak Ridge — along with Portsmouth and Paducah — is being considered. He said announcements in the coming weeks at other sites may presage additional interest in Oak Ridge land for data centers.

Council members asked Oles to return with additional details as negotiations and technical reviews progress; Oles offered to provide follow‑up briefings when more specifics are available. The presentation closed with council and staff thanking Oles and his team for the update.