OSHA Takes Worker-Safety Jurisdiction at Four DOE Nuclear Sites for Private Energy Projects
A Federal Register notice published April 17 formally transfers occupational safety oversight from DOE to OSHA (or state OSHA) at leased private energy parcels inside Hanford, Savannah River, INL, and the Nevada National Security Site — the regulatory gate for DOE's Cleanup to Clean Energy initiative to move into construction.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration formally assumed worker-safety jurisdiction over private energy-project parcels at four of the nation's most secure nuclear sites on April 17, shifting oversight from the Department of Energy's Atomic Energy Act framework to standard OSHA or state-OSHA regulation.
The addendum to the 1992 DOL–DOE Memorandum of Understanding, published Friday in the Federal Register, is the regulatory plumbing that lets DOE's "Cleanup to Clean Energy" initiative move from paper leases to ground-level construction. It covers land at the Idaho National Laboratory, the Hanford Site, the Nevada National Security Site, and the Savannah River Site — facilities central to the nation's nuclear weapons program.
Who now regulates what
The notice splits jurisdiction by state:
| Site | Location | Regulator assumed |
|---|---|---|
| Idaho National Laboratory | Idaho Falls, ID | Federal OSHA |
| Hanford Site | Benton County, WA | Washington Division of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) |
| Nevada National Security Site | Nye County, NV | Nevada OSHA |
| Savannah River Site | Aiken / Barnwell / Allendale counties, SC | South Carolina OSHA |
Washington, Nevada, and South Carolina operate OSHA-approved State Plans, so private-sector workers at leased parcels fall under those state regimes rather than federal OSHA. Idaho has no State Plan, so federal OSHA takes direct jurisdiction there.
Why the transfer was necessary
Under the Atomic Energy Act and the 1992 MOU, DOE has exclusive authority to regulate occupational safety and health for contractors at its Government-Owned, Contractor-Operated (GOCO) facilities. That exclusion vanishes when a parcel is leased to a private entity "not conducting activities for or on behalf of DOE." The 2000 MOU between OSHA and DOE established a mechanism — a Federal Register notice — for those transfers, and Friday's filing is one of those notices.
DOE notified OSHA by letter on October 21, 2024 that the sites were being repurposed for private-sector energy projects. OSHA confirmed the transfer to DOE and the three state plans by email on May 29, 2025. The Federal Register notice published April 17, 2026 makes the transfer public and operative.
The notice specifies that "DOE does not expect the residual radiological dose to workers to be 25 millirems per year (mrem/yr) or more above background" at any of the parcels. The 25 mrem/yr threshold is the regulatory trigger under the 2000 MOU: above it, DOE retains jurisdiction; below it, OSHA takes over. The U.S. average annual background dose is roughly 310 mrem, so 25 mrem/yr is a modest additional exposure floor.
What's being built
The Federal Register notice names specific parcels at each site — including two called "Solar Site C" and "Solar Site G" at the Savannah River Site, with GPS coordinates to the second of arc. It does not name the developers, but DOE has announced the tenants separately under the Cleanup to Clean Energy initiative:
- Hanford: DOE has been in realty negotiations with Hecate Energy LLC for up to 1 gigawatt of solar across an 8,000-acre area
- Savannah River: Stellar Renewable Power and Ameresco each negotiating leases for 75 MW of carbon-pollution-free generation with battery storage on at least 500 acres
- INL and NNSS: Developers not yet announced by DOE
What it means
Private energy developers operating on contaminated legacy weapons land have until now been rare. The regulatory split on Friday removes one of the harder obstacles: contractors at these parcels will be audited and inspected under the OSHA regime their workers and insurers are already built around, rather than DOE's radiation-protection-centric standards. Radiological operations at the rest of each site remain under DOE oversight.
Only the specific Project Parcels listed in the notice are affected — by legal description (township/range for the three western sites, GPS coordinates for the Savannah River parcels). The 310-square-mile Savannah River Site, the 586-square-mile Hanford Site, the 1,360-square-mile NNSS, and the 890-square-mile INL remain overwhelmingly under DOE jurisdiction.