Abstract

Isotek is contracted by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management to disposition all canisters of uranium-233 stored at Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Building 3019, the oldest operating nuclear facility in the world. The removal of this nuclear waste is EM’s highest priority at ORNL. Processing this U-233 inventory and removing it from the site will greatly contribute to the revitalization of the ORNL area.

While processing U-233 to make it safe and secure for transportation and disposal, Isotek is extracting thorium-229. This decay product of U-233 decays to actinium-225, a medically valuable isotope that through its decay chain releases many alpha particles that destroy cancer cells. TerraPower Isotopes, a nuclear medical research company founded by Bill Gates, uses the Th-229 material from ORNL as source material for Targeted Alpha Therapy cancer treatments. U-233 is the only source of Th-229 in the world, so without Isotek’s work, this source material for life-saving cancer treatments would be lost forever.

Biographical sketch

Sarah Schaefer, a civil engineer, is the president and project manager at Isotek Systems, LLC. She has worked on the U-233 Disposition project for 17 years, starting in nuclear operations as the nuclear facility manager. She then was appointed operations manager before assuming her current role of being responsible for all aspects of the project. From 2018 to 2019, Sarah was assigned to manage the startup of the U-233 dissolution and thorium extraction operations in gloveboxes as part of a public/private initiative with DOE and TerraPower. 

While at Isotek Systems, Sarah Schaefer was twice part of the project team that in 2012 and 2020 received the U.S. Secretary of Energy’s Achievement Award.

Prior to working at Isotek, Sarah held jobs in waste management that focused on safe and compliant commercial waste and nuclear waste disposal operations. She worked in this capacity for EnergySolutions, Duratek, and Waste Management Inc. She also managed DOE’s Environmental Management Waste Management Facility for disposal of radioactive materials and DOE landfills on the Oak Ridge Reservation.

Sarah earned a B.S. degree in civil engineering from Valparaiso University.