The Department of Energy’s advisory board for the Portsmouth Site in Ohio has postponed its meeting set for Thursday in Piketon, Ohio and will reschedule it at a later date, according to a statement Monday from the administrative contractor for the board.
An email from EHI Consultants, on behalf of the advisory board cited two factors. First, “the high incidence of COVID cases in southeast Ohio makes it unfavorable to host public meetings at this time.” In addition, the advisory panel is awaiting DOE approval for “several new candidates for membership.”
“DOE is working to expedite the membership approval process and have the new candidates onboarded as soon as possible,” according to the advisory board statement. Much attention is being paid to developing “a diverse and balanced roster,” which is an oft-stated goal so far for the administration of President Joe Biden.
Officials at both the Hanford Advisory Board in Washington state and the Savannah River Site Citizens Advisory Board have complained in recent months about the slow pace of DOE approvals, which has meant that new members are not being added in time to replace members whose terms are ending. That can, and in Hanford’s case has, lead to procedural deadlocks, including a lack of a quorum, that stop the boards from making recommendations to DOE.
Meanwhile, the contractor for the Portsmouth advisory board did say in its email that DOE will hold two virtual meetings next week on Tuesday, Oct. 12 and Thursday, Oct. 14 at 6 p.m. Eastern Time to discuss the demolition of the X-326 Process Building and its impact on air quality.
These virtual public meetings can be accessed through www.portsvirtualevent.com.
The open-air demolition started in May and from the looks of things might be 20% complete, a Portsmouth area source said by email last week.
