Oak Ridge

The Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., received 64 shipments of transuranic waste from Jan. 1 through March 21, 2018, according to the latest publicly available data. Of the shipments received by March 21, 48 came from the Idaho National Laboratory. The remaining 16 were split evenly between the Oak Ridge National […]

Laying out the annual weapons budget for some of the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) major sites over the last decade yields little in the way of surprise: generally, the weapons budget is going up. Source: DOE Congressional Budget Requests (Laboratory Tables). Link: Interactive Version of Chart. Figuratively speaking, these trends were written on […]

The newly signed $1.3 trillion federal government omnibus spending bill for fiscal 2018 provides a boost for environmental remediation of the Department of Energy’s nuclear facilities at Oak Ridge, Tenn. About $639 million will go toward cleaning up Oak Ridge’s Manhattan Project and Cold War sites—$141 million over 2017’s enacted levels and $125 million more […]

Phil Breidenbach, former president and project manager for the contractor that manages the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico, has been named chief engineer for the current liquid waste manager at DOE’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina. Breidenbach is a vice president at AECOM, lead partner at Savannah River Remediation, along […]

The newly signed $1.3 trillion government omnibus spending bill for fiscal 2018 provides a boost for environmental remediation of the Department of Energy’s nuclear facilities at Oak Ridge, Tenn. About $639 million will go toward cleaning up Oak Ridge’s Manhattan Project and Cold War sites—$141 million over 2017’s enacted levels and $125 more than the […]

Days after the Department of Energy (DOE) gave the go-ahead to start building key parts of a $6.5 billion facility to process uranium for U.S. defense programs, a federal judge ordered a venue change in a lawsuit aimed at stopping the plant’s construction. Three environmental groups and four individuals filed suit in July 2017 in […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration gave Bechtel National the go-ahead to begin about $4 billion worth of construction on the Uranium Processing Facility in Oak Ridge, Tenn., marking the official start of the busiest, costliest years of the project to date. However, the agency still has not divulged the official cost and schedule estimate for […]

The fiscal 2018 omnibus budget bill signed by President Donald Trump on Friday would provide $7.1 billion for Department of Energy’s environmental management activities, $706 million above the $6.4 billion fiscal 2017 enacted level. That amounts to roughly an 11-percent increase on a year-over-year basis. Congress by early Friday approved the $1.3 trillion budget that […]

The Energy Department Office of Environmental Management on Thursday issued its request for proposals for the Outfall 200 Mercury Treatment Facility at Oak Ridge, Tenn., and scheduled a pre-proposal site tour for April 10. The announcement had been expected after DOE issued the draft RFP in November and said last month it was preparing to […]

Centrus Energy is almost finished with decontamination and decommissioning of its American Centrifuge demonstration project at the Energy Department Portsmouth Site in Ohio, President and CEO Daniel Poneman said Thursday. “All the machines and plant equipment have been removed and are set for disposal, we have a few more limited tasks to wrap up,” Poneman […]

Next year, the Department of Energy wants to start extracting desirable national-security and nonproliferation isotopes from material stored at the Savannah River Site since the early 1970s, according to an environmental filing published Thursday. The agency wants to take 65 Mark-18A targets out of storage at the Aiken, S.C., site’s L-Basin and chemically process them […]

During the first month-and-a-half of operations in 2018, the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., received 30 shipments of transuranic waste, with two-thirds of them coming from the Idaho National Laboratory. That comes out to an average of almost five shipments per week over a six-week period. In addition to 20 shipments […]

The U.S. Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) says the final request for proposals for construction of the Outfall 200 Mercury Treatment Facility at Oak Ridge, Tenn., could come any time now. The office said in a Feb. 6 procurement notice the final RFP could be issued within 15 to 45 days. One-on-one meetings […]

Colorado-based engineering firm Merrick & Co. announced Tuesday it has selected a familiar face to lead its Nuclear Services & Technology (NST) unit. Effective April 1, Merrick Vice President Scott Gustafson will become business unit lead for the NST team. Gustafson will replace John Buckle, who will become a part-time consultant to the firm. In […]

The Senate Armed Services Committee has scheduled a nomination hearing Thursday for two Trump administration picks to lead the Energy Department’s nuclear cleanup and nuclear nonproliferation operations. The Senate panel will take testimony from Brent Park, nominated as deputy administrator for defense nuclear nonproliferation at DOE’s semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration, and Anne Marie White, […]

The U.S. Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) says the final request for proposals for construction of the Outfall 200 Mercury Treatment Facility at Oak Ridge, Tenn., could come any time now. The office said in a Feb. 6 procurement notice the final RFP could be issued within 15 to 45 days. One-on-one meetings […]

By the end of 2019, the National Nuclear Security Administration plans to identify the best ways to secure low-enriched uranium for U.S. nuclear-weapon programs over the next 20 years, the semi-autonomous Department of Energy agency wrote in response to a Government Accountability Office report published Friday. The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) will complete an […]

The U.S. Energy Department has agreed to a $24 million legal settlement to resolve breach of contract litigation brought by Centrus Energy in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. The settlement agreement was reached Jan. 11, and Centrus reported the development on Jan. 17 in an 8-K filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. […]

The Trump administration is again proposing to increase the budget for the Energy Department’s nuclear cleanup office, to $6.6 billion for fiscal 2019. That would be $182 million above the fiscal 2017 enacted level and $100 million above the amount proposed for the current budget year for DOE’s Office of Environmental Management (EM). Two industry […]

President Donald Trump’s defense-heavy budget request would have mixed effects at the Oak Ridge Reservation in Tennessee. Trump has made no secret of his desire to increase military-related spending. Toward that, the White House proposal for fiscal 2019 would provide $15.1 million for the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration, the Department of Energy’s stockpile steward, […]

The Energy Department has agreed to a $24 million legal settlement with Centrus Energy to resolve breach of contract litigation the company had filed in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. The settlement agreement was reached Jan. 11, and Centrus reported the development on Jan. 17 in an 8-K filing with the U.S. Securities and […]

The Trump administration is again proposing to increase the budget for the Energy Department’s nuclear cleanup office, to $6.6 billion for fiscal 2019. That would be $182 million above the fiscal 2017 enacted level and $100 million above the amount proposed for the current budget year for DOE’s Office of Environmental Management (EM). Since the […]

Strata-G LLC is the recent winner of a $1 million contract from the U.S. Energy Department to conduct environmental sampling at the Oak Ridge Reservation in Tennessee. Due to incorrect initial information from DOE, the original version of an article in the Feb. 6 edition of Weapons Complex Morning Briefing listed the wrong company.

Strata-G LLC has won a $1 million contract from the Energy Department to conduct environmental sampling at the Oak Ridge Reservation in Tennessee. The sampling will support DOE plans for construction of an additional on-site disposal facility for hazardous and radioactive wastes at the Bear Creek Valley area of Oak Ridge, DOE said in a […]

Jacobs Engineering Group reported $2 million in net earnings for its latest financial quarter, a steep year-over-year dive from $61 million linked to its recent acquisition of CH2M. Earnings for Jacobs’ fiscal 2018 first quarter ended Dec. 31, 2017, took a hit from the $3.27 billion CH2M acquisition and a one-time tax charge, Jacobs said […]

Strata-G LLC has won a $1 million contract from the Energy Department to conduct environmental sampling at the Oak Ridge Reservation in Tennessee. The sampling will support DOE plans for construction of an additional on-site disposal facility for hazardous and radioactive wastes at the Bear Creek Valley area of Oak Ridge, DOE said in a […]

Two major players in the Department of Energy cleanup complex, AECOM and Jacobs, will post financial results this week for the final three months of 2017. Los Angeles-based AECOM will discuss earnings for the first quarter of its fiscal 2018 during a conference call with analysts at noon Eastern time Tuesday. Dallas-based Jacobs, which in […]

A new contract modification will enable the Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup office in Oak Ridge, Tenn., to participate in a cancer research arrangement. The Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM) said a third-party medical company – whose name was not disclosed – will “milk” thorium from uranium stores at the Oak Ridge National […]

An executive with a U.S. affiliate of French multinational Veolia on Jan. 25 said the waste management company’s acquisition of Piketon, Ohio-based Wastren Advantage is “a great fit,” according to slides for a presentation to the Energy, Technology and Environmental Business Association in Tennessee. The presentation by VNS Federal Services Senior Vice President for Business […]

A new contract modification will enable the Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup office in Oak Ridge, Tenn., to participate in a cancer research arrangement. The Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM) said a third-party medical company – whose name was not disclosed – will “milk” thorium from uranium stores at the Oak Ridge National […]