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Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth (FBP) Site Project Director Dennis Carr, left, learns how to operate a FirstLook robot from FBP Nondestructive Assay Engineer Kevin Banks during the “EM Science of Safety: Robotics Challenge” Aug. 22-25 in Piketon, Ohio. Following the Robotics Challenge, a Sept. 14 event for the bipartisan House Nuclear Cleanup Caucus on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. will focus on technology development for safety and cost efficiency. The related events of EM’s science of safety initiative will be featured at the National Cleanup Workshop Sept. 14-15 and DOE's "Advancing Environmental Stewardship through Innovation Lab Day" on Sept. 13. At the Lab Day event on Capitol Hill, members of Congress and their staff will learn about the capabilities and contributions of the national laboratories.

Thor Zollinger with Manta Robotics, subcontractor to BWXT Conversion Services LLC, uses a rod to rotate a high-definition camera during an internal acid storage tank inspection. Use of the camera is part of a safer, more effective set of techniques and procedures developed and implemented recently for internal tank inspections at the Depleted Uranium Hexafluoride (DUF6) Conversion Plants at DOE's Paducah, Kentucky and Portsmouth, Ohio sites.

The 516-T, nicknamed the “spider,” included multiple conveyor belts carrying soil through a series of screens to sift bullet debris from the soil of the former outdoor firing range on the Portsmouth DOE reservation. Removing the firing range, which had been used for training by the site's protective force personnel, helps make way for a new On-Site Waste Disposal Facility at the Southern Ohio site.

A front loader dumps coal into the first of more than 700 truckloads that are transporting excess coal from DOE’s Paducah Site to buyers. The Department recently completed transferring ownership of nearly 15,000 tons of excess coal to the Paducah Area Community Reuse Organization (PACRO) as part of an asset-sharing agreement supporting regional economic development efforts. The excess coal is a result of the site’s switching from old coal-powered boilers to five natural gas units to support site activities and heat offices during winter. Replacing the old units provides environmental benefits and future cost savings.

Eugene Waggoner, who retired after a 30-year career at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant in 1982, poses for a portrait in the C-300 Central Control Building during a recent public tour of the site. More than 500 people, including many former site workers, have signed up for the tours. Although this year’s tours are filled, more tours are planned for next summer.