Hanford Site

Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) is the latest official from her state to urge Secretary of Energy Chris Wright to stick with an Oct. 15 target for starting to convert radioactive sludge at the Hanford Site in a stable glass form. In a Senate floor statement on Friday Sept. 12 should not be “walking back” the […]

Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson (D) said Friday his state won’t hesitate to enforce an existing federal court order if the Department of Energy attempts to cancel a multibillion-dollar plant designed to vitrify liquid radioactive tank waste at the Hanford Site into a solid glass form. Ferguson, along with the head of the Washington state Department […]

The U.S. Department of Justice, representing the Department of Energy, this week urged a federal magistrate in Oregon to throw out a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit brought by Columbia Riverkeeper. Columbia Riverkeeper sued DOE in mid-June in the U.S. District Court of Oregon alleging FOIA violations over the Joe Biden administration’s Cleanup to […]

The U.S. Department of Justice, representing the Department of Energy this week urged a federal magistrate in Oregon to throw out a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit brought by Columbia Riverkeeper. Columbia Riverkeeper sued DOE in mid-June in the U.S. District Court of Oregon alleging FOIA violations over the Joe Biden administration’s Cleanup to […]

Secretary of Energy Chris Wright issued a statement Tuesday seeking to knock down speculation DOE might cancel the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) weeks before it is scheduled to start converting some radioactive waste into glass at the Hanford Site. “Contrary to news reports, the Department of Energy has made no changes to its […]

The new William Wilcox Jr. K-25 Interpretive Center has been dedicated at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee, the department announced this week.  Visitors to the former Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant can view the entire footprint of what was once the world’s largest building, K-25. The 1940’s-era uranium enrichment facility helped […]

The Department of Energy said last week it will shop around for qualified small businesses capable of doing general support service work at the Hanford Site at Richland, Wash. The DOE Office of Environmental Management published a sources sought notice Aug. 26 on Sam.gov and on the Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center website. The DOE […]

The Department of Energy said last week it will shop around for qualified small businesses capable of doing general support service work at the Hanford Site at Richland, Wash. The DOE Office of Environmental Management published a sources sought notice Aug. 26 on Sam.gov and on the Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center website. The DOE […]

Two workers at the Department of Energy’s vitrification plant at the Hanford Site at Richland, Wash., were involved in a “near miss,” according to an August report more than a month after a jobsite evacuation triggered by a smoke alarm. According to the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) report dated Aug. 1, the Low-Activity […]

The Department of Energy has turned to an executive with a contractor running an analysis laboratory to become the next manager of its Hanford Site in Richland, Wash. Ray Geimer, who manages Hanford’s 222-S laboratory for contractor Navarro-ATL, and will take over as the new permanent Hanford Site manager effective Sept. 7, DOE said this […]

Although the Department of Energy missed an August target to start making glass from low-level radioactive waste, the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant is on the brink of operation, an advisory panel for the Hanford Site heard Wednesday. “We are so close, so close to starting that thing up,” DOE’s acting manager for the Hanford […]

Hanford Tank Waste Operations and Closure (H2C), the BWX Technologies-led liquid waste prime, suspended work for a week due to safety concerns at the former plutonium production site at Richland, Wash. “H2C initiated a week-long safety stand down, pausing non-essential operations and holding all-hands meetings with its workforce, including management, to discuss the recent spike […]

The Department of Energy and Washington state have agreed to grant federal and contract managers a 75-day extension until Oct. 15 to start making glass from some of the less-radioactive tank waste at the Hanford Site at Richland, Wash. The prior deadline was Aug. 1 and DOE officials announced this latest extension in a Monday […]

The Department of Energy and Washington state have agreed to grant federal and contract managers a 75-day extension until Oct. 15 to start making glass from some of the less-radioactive tank waste at the Hanford Site at Richland, Wash. The prior deadline was Aug. 1 and DOE officials announced this latest extension in a Monday […]

A Department of Energy contractor at the Hanford Site in Washington state has finished taking down a 6,000-square-foot water treatment structure near the Columbia River that supported remediation work at the property. Crews from Amentum-led Central Plateau Cleanup carried out the work, DOE said in a Tuesday release. The facility provided water for firefighting and […]

The House Appropriations Committee Thursday night passed the Energy & Water Development Appropriations bill for fiscal 2026, which trims the budget of the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management to $7.7 billion, down from more than $8.4 billion in the current fiscal year. The measure passed 35-27 in the House committee and now moves […]

A Department of Energy contractor at the Hanford Site in Washington state has finished taking down a a 6,000-square-foot water treatment structure near the Columbia River that supported remediation work at the property. Crews from Amentum-led Central Plateau Cleanup carried out the work, DOE said in a Tuesday release. The facility provided water for firefighting […]

Brian Vance, the Department of Energy’s former manager of nuclear cleanup at the Hanford Site in Washington state has reportedly accepted an executive position with the Framatome nuclear fuel plant in Richland, Wash. The Tri-City Herald reported Monday Vance started working as a manager for the Framatome fuel manufacturing plant July 9. The newspaper said […]

The U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday said the White House can go ahead with plans for major layoffs and restructuring of the federal government while legal challenges play out, according to media reports. The Washington Post  and other media outlets reported Tuesday afternoon that the high court elected not to block planning for mass layoffs at […]

The Bonneville Power Administration, a regional authority for the Department of Energy, and DOE’s Office of Environmental Management have flipped the switch on a major new 18-mile electric transmission line at the Hanford Site in Washington state. The new 230-kilovolt transmission line connects two substations at the nuclear cleanup site and replaces an 80-year-old line, […]

Sixteen single-wide office trailers in the 100-K area of the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site at Richland, Wash., have been torn down, DOE said Tuesday. Hundreds of engineers and other staff at the former plutonium production complex near the Columbia River have worked at the office trailer complex since 2000, DOE said in a Tuesday […]

The Department of Energy’s former tank waste contractor at the Hanford Site in Washington state this week agreed to pay $6.5 million to the feds to settle a fraud case brought by a whistleblower. The Justice Department settlement with Amentum-led contractor Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) was announced Tuesday in a press release by Acting […]

Utah-based EnergySolutions has finished grouting and disposing of 1,000 gallons of liquid tank waste from the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state. EnergySolutions said in a Wednesday news release it had completed solidification and disposal of 1,000 gallons of mixed low-level waste from Hanford as part of the much-anticipated Test Bed Initiative demonstration. […]

The Department of Energy said Tuesday workers at its sprawling nuclear cleanup site in Washington state have installed one last piece of piping needed for the plant that will vitrify liquid radioactive waste into a solid glass form. Crews have finished the final connection between underground tanks storing radioactive waste and the multi-billion-dollar Waste Treatment […]

The Department of Energy said Tuesday workers at its sprawling nuclear cleanup site in Washington state have installed one last piece of piping needed for the plant that will vitrify liquid radioactive waste into a solid glass form. Crews have finished the final connection between underground tanks storing radioactive waste and the multi-billion-dollar Waste Treatment […]

In addition to trimming its budget, the Department of Energy’s cleanup program for Cold War and Manhattan Project sites could have roughly a quarter fewer federal employees in fiscal 2026 than it did two years earlier. That is one of the takeaways from the White House Office of Management and Budget’s 1,220-page technical supplement to […]

The Department of Energy and Bechtel National said Tuesday they have taken another incremental step in cold commissioning of a multi-billion-dollar plant to convert liquid radioactive tank waste into a solid glass form at the Hanford Site in Washington state. Ammonia and nitrous oxide-producing chemicals are being introduced into the melters for the Waste Treatment […]

The Department of Energy and Bechtel National said Tuesday they have taken another incremental step in cold commissioning of a multi-billion-dollar plant to convert liquid radioactive tank waste into a solid glass form at the Hanford Site in Washington state. Ammonia and nitrous oxide-producing chemicals are being introduced into the melters for the Waste Treatment […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management has formally made longtime DOE hand Brian Harkins the acting manager of its costliest nuclear cleanup site. DOE’s Environmental Management headquarters in Washington, D.C, Monday appointed Harkins its acting manager for the Hanford Site in Washington state. The move is no surprise, given Harkins has been the […]

The current head of the Department of Energy’s $8-billion Office of Environmental Management told a Senate Armed Services Committee panel this week progress is being made toward solidifying liquid radioactive waste left over from the Cold War and Manhattan Project. Roger Jarrell II, DOE’s principal deputy assistant secretary for Environmental Management (EM) also told the […]