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, ur...
Jul 09, 2025•42 min•Season 5Ep. 3
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 ch...
May 12, 2025•28 min
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 ...
Apr 21, 2025•33 min•Season 5Ep. 1
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...
Dec 09, 2024•38 min•Season 4Ep. 20
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 resp...
Nov 18, 2024•47 min•Season 4Ep. 19
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 D...
Oct 28, 2024•50 min•Season 4Ep. 18
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 N...
Oct 07, 2024•22 min•Season 4Ep. 17
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 ...
Sep 23, 2024•18 min•Season 4Ep. 16
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 Direct...
Aug 26, 2024•25 min•Season 4Ep. 15
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 v...
Jul 29, 2024•49 min•Season 4Ep. 14
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 la...
Jul 08, 2024•44 min•Season 4Ep. 13
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...
Jun 17, 2024•1 hr 6 min•Season 4Ep. 12
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 m...
Jun 03, 2024•48 min•Season 4Ep. 11
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 com...
May 20, 2024•26 min•Season 4Ep. 10
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 Butle...
May 06, 2024•57 min•Season 4Ep. 9
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 Y...
Apr 22, 2024•55 min•Season 4Ep. 8
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 ...
Apr 08, 2024•31 min•Season 4Ep. 7
The Department of Energy’s environmental cleanup program is boosting a resurgence in the growth of nuclear energy. Cleaning up formerly contaminated land has created a new home for advanced reactor concepts that have become the centerpiece of the nuclear renaissance. In this week’s episode, the Gone Fission Nuclear Report examines how environmental cleanup is helping to position the nation for a clean energy future. Guests are Ashley Saunders of UCOR, Dr. Wes Hines, Head of the Nuclear Engineeri...
Mar 25, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Season 4Ep. 6
This month, the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico celebrates its 25th Anniversary. Located in Southeast New Mexico about 26 miles east of Carlsbad, WIPP was constructed for disposal of defense-generated transuranic--or TRU-- waste. WIPP is the nation’s only repository for the permanent disposal of TRU waste. In this week’s episode, Host Michael Butler talks with DOE Carlsbad Field Office Manager Mark Bollinger, Senior WIPP offiicial Tammy Hobbes, and Brandon Jones, Project Manager for th...
Mar 11, 2024•43 min•Season 4Ep. 5
As we near the end of Black History Month, in this week’s podcast host Michael Butler features the story of the Scarboro 85. In August 1955, 85 young African American students entered all-white classrooms in the Oak Ridge High School and the Robertsville Junior High School in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. This desegregation stands as an important milestone in American civil rights history. Oak Ridge City Historian Ray Smith is our guest. Visit the Gone Fission Nuclear Report channel on youtube.com for a...
Feb 26, 2024•43 min•Season 4Ep. 4
Consistent, reliable Congressional funding is an essential element of success in the Department of Energy’s environmental cleanup program. In this week’s episode of the Gone Fission Nuclear Report podcast, host Michael Butler interviews two former members of Congress who were instrumental in creation of the Nuclear Cleanup Caucus in the mid-1990s. Our guests are former Washington State Congressman Doc Hastings, whose district included the Hanford site, and former Tennessee Congressman Zach Wamp ...
Feb 12, 2024•46 min•Season 4Ep. 3
The Department of Energy’s environmental cleanup program is now focused on 15 remaining sites around the country, down from 107 at the start of the program three decades ago. It is a multi-million dollar, multi-decade effort that depends on qualified contractors to get the job done. DOE is the largest civilian contracting agency in the federal government. In this week’s episode, the Gone Fission Nuclear Report examines the procurement process that results in contract awards and looks at the agen...
Jan 29, 2024•51 min•Season 4Ep. 2
Every DOE community has local leaders who step up to advocate for funding and new missions and to hold the Department of Energy accountable for its cleanup obligations. These leaders take the time to educate themselves on site issues, get to know DOE leaders and members of Congress, and use their voices and influence to represent their communities. In this week’s episode, the Gone Fission Nuclear Report remembers one such leader--Gary Petersen, a long-time passionate advocate for the Hanford sit...
Jan 08, 2024•44 min•Season 4Ep. 1
In 2015, the United States welcomed its 409th National Park. Known as the Manhattan Project National Historic Park, it tells the story of the men and women who developed the atomic bomb that ended World War II. The Park features three key locations across the U.S.—Oak Ridge TN, Los Alamos NM, and Hanford WA. National Park Service Superintendent Wendy Behrman is our guest in this week’s episode of the Gone Fission Nuclear Report podcast. Visit the Gone Fission Nuclear Report channel on youtube.co...
Nov 20, 2023•40 min•Season 3Ep. 23
In our last episode, the Gone Fission Nuclear Report podcast examined the Community Reuse Organization of East Tennessee’s decision to close in two years. This week, Department of Energy officials at Headquarters and two sites discuss the continuing need for CROs and the importance of community support in the success of DOE’s cleanup mission. Hear our interview with Kristen Ellis, DOE-EM Headquarters, Yvette Cantrell, DOE-Portsmouth/Paducah, and Paradio Maith, DOE-Savannah River Site. Visit the ...
Nov 15, 2023•28 min•Season 3Ep. 22
The Community Reuse Organization of East Tennessee (CROET) recently announced its plans to close after three decades of successfully representing the Oak Ridge community with the Department of Energy. Why now? And what does this decision mean for the CROs that continue to operate in other DOE communities? Learn the answers in this week’s episode of the Gone Fission Nuclear Report podcast featuring interviews with David Bradshaw of CROET and Seth Kirshenberg, Energy Communities Alliance. Visit th...
Nov 06, 2023•44 min•Season 3Ep. 21
If you want job security and the feeling of doing something meaningful, the Department of Energy’s Environmental Management program is the place to be. That was the message of top government and industry leaders—and young professionals themselves—at the 2023 National Cleanup Workshop in Washington, DC. EM Senior Advisor Ike White says about half the federal EM workforce is eligible to retire now. And UCOR President and CEO Ken Rueter describes a novel program called Rising Senior Leaders that is...
Sep 25, 2023•24 min•Season 3Ep. 20
Cleanup is essential. Budgets are tight. Partnership is imperative. That was the message delivered by two members of Congress at the National Cleanup Workshop in Washington, DC, last week. Hear Congressmen Chuck Fleischmann (R-TN) and Dan Newhouse (R-WA) assess the current status of the Department of Energy’s environmental cleanup program in this week’s episode of the Gone Fission Nuclear Report. Visit the Gone Fission Nuclear Report channel on youtube.com for a videocast of episodes since Novem...
Sep 18, 2023•17 min•Season 3Ep. 19
This week's episode of the Gone Fission Nuclear Report podcast features an in-depth interview with Stuart MacVean, recently retired President and CEO of Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, DOE's lead environmental cleanup contractor at the Savannah River Site. MacVean looks back on his four decades in the nuclear industry and discusses the challenges that remain in the DOE environmental cleanup program and his plans for the future. Visit the Gone Fission Nuclear Report channel on youtube.com for a...
Sep 14, 2023•36 min•Season 3Ep. 18
The Gone Fission Nuclear Report podcast celebrates the American worker on Labor Day 2023. Our skilled crafts work daily in hazardous environments and all kinds of weather to carry out the EM cleanup mission. Sean McGarvey, president and CEO of North America’s Building Trades Unions, joins us on this week’s episode to thank these workers for all they do. Visit the Gone Fission Nuclear Report channel on youtube.com for a videocast of episodes since November 7, 2022.
Sep 04, 2023•49 min•Season 3Ep. 17
