Office of Environmental Management (EM)

WASHINGTON, D.C. — At least one lawmaker, Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), is unenthused about the Department of Energy’s interest in rebranding its Office of Environmental Management (EM) at this time. “What they should be more concerned about is cleaning all the s— [stuff] up that they haven’t cleaned, that’s what they should be spending […]

The Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup office is on track for substantial completion of its liquid waste mission at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina by 2037  if sufficient funding is authorized, the local field office boss said Tuesday. On March 5, high-level radioactive tank 14 “achieved preliminary cease waste removal status” on March […]

The Savannah River Site Citizens Advisory Board will hear presentations Tuesday on everything from liquid waste cleanup to use of drones at the Department of Energy Site near Aiken, S.C. The agenda for the advisory board includes the usual updates from DOE’s Office of Environmental Management field office and the South Carolina regulatory agency as […]

An hour-long webcast  is now available online from Friday’s groundbreaking ceremony at the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio for the new energy and artificial intelligence data center. The Donald Trump administration officially announced Friday March 20 that the DOE gaseous diffusion plant site in Piketon, Ohio has been selected for a new multi-billion-dollar […]

Here are events related to nuclear matters that Exchange Monitor staff are tracking:    March:  24: Hearing: The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will meet to examine arms control functions at the State Department, featuring testimony from Thomas DiNanno, undersecretary for arms control and international security at the State Department. The hearing will start at 10:30 a.m. […]

PHOENIX – The chair of an industry working group on waste management hopes sponsors of new nuclear projects will soon start sharing details on how they plan to deal with the resulting waste. “We have got SMRs [small modular reactors] … popping up, micro reactors, uranium enrichment, spent fuel recycle, “ said Firewater President and […]

PHOENIX – The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) will be recouping some of its lost staff positions, developing power plans for its nuclear sites, all while seeking to speed nuclear remediation, Tim Walsh said here last week. At the Waste Management Symposia last week in Phoenix, Walsh, the DOE assistant secretary for […]

Citizen groups that are frequent critics of the Department of Energy nuclear weapons complex greeted news of a possible name change for the DOE Office of Environmental Management with a shrug. DOE Assistant Secretary of Environmental Management Tim Walsh told the Waste Management Symposia in Phoenix last week that EM could soon be rebranded  as […]

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M., has completed an annual maintenance outage that started in January, while managers plan an even longer one next year.  The outage that ran from Jan. 5 through March 13 is finished and the underground disposal site for defense-related transuranic waste is once again […]

The Donald Trump administration made it official Friday morning, announcing the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio has been selected for a multi-billion-dollar data center and power project thanks to a public-private-partnership agreement. In addition to the federal government, the partnership includes SoftBank and AEP Ohio, an American Electric Power company, DOE said in […]

The Donald Trump administration’s secretaries of Energy, Commerce and Interior are scheduled to announce a big redevelopment project Friday at the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio as part of a U.S.–Japan Strategic Trade and Investment Agreement. That is according to a media advisory put out this week by DOE. According to rumors circulating […]

Citizen groups that are frequent critics of the Department of Energy nuclear weapons complex greeted news of a possible name change for the DOE Office of Environmental Management with a shrug. DOE Assistant Secretary of Environmental Management Tim Walsh told the Waste Management Symposia in Phoenix last week that EM could soon be rebranded  as […]

The Department of Energy’s Defense Waste Processing Facility, which turns radioactive tank waste into glass form at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, is now 30 years old. The facility for vitrifying tank waste into glass was commissioned in March 1996 by Hazel O’Leary, secretary of energy during the Bill Clinton administration, DOE noted […]

PHOENIX – Crews at the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico are ending one maintenance outage while planning a longer one for 2027 officials said during the Waste Management Symposia last week. In January 2027, Bechtel-led prime Salado Isolation Mining Contractors will be launching an outage of perhaps six months […]

Michael Budney, who formerly led Department of Energy operations at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, has accepted a director post at Mission Technologies, a division of Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) in Canberra, Australia. Budney announced the appointment Friday March 13 on his LinkedIn page. In the new role Budney will work with the […]

The Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management has released over 700 acres in a land transfer to support economic and energy development.  Oak Ridge said in its Monday press release that this is the office’s largest land transfer to date. The latest transfer includes two parcels from DOE’s Oak Ridge Reservation: Self-Sufficiency […]

 The annual outage at the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico could end in the coming week, following significant replacement work and upgrades to infrastructure that a watchdog deemed “substandard or inadequate.”  “The annual winter maintenance outage began on Jan. 5 this year and is scheduled to end in mid-March, […]

PHOENIX — David Brunnert, the new chief operating officer at the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management, will focus much of his attention on the Hanford Site in Washington state, the Waste Management Symposia heard hear Monday. “He and I served in the first Gulf War together,” the head of Environmental Management (EM) Tim […]

PHOENIX – One year after organizers of the Waste Management Symposia experienced a slew of last minute attendee cancellations sparked by federal layoffs the annual gathering here in Downtown Phoenix seemed to enjoy a comeback. During the Monday keynote session, Fluor executive and Waste Management official Greg Meyer announced this year’s attendance was 2,800. That’s […]

PHOENIX – The Department of Energy’s $8-billion Office of Environmental Management will soon change its name, DOE Assistant Secretary of Environmental Management Tim Walsh told the 52nd annual Waste Management Symposia here Monday morning. The new name will be something along the lines of the Office of Nuclear Restoration and Revitalization, Walsh said at the […]

PHOENIX — Installation of two major infrastructure projects at Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plan in New Mexico ended up costing about $770 million due to the pandemic, replacement of a major subcontractor and other factors, officials said here Wednesday. The cost of the Safety Significant Confinement Ventilation System (SSCVS), renamed the Underground Ventilation […]

PHOENIX — The Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Richland, Wash., is scheduled to start shipping defense-related transuranic waste to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in 2028 and could start as early as 2027, a DOE contractor boss said here Wednesday. Michael Douglas, the head of waste projects for Amentum-led Central Plateau Cleanup Company, made […]

The Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina is restarting HB-Line operations in order to recycle surplus plutonium and produce uranium-plutonium mixed oxide (MOX) fuel for advanced reactors. DOE announced the restart in a Friday March 6 press release. It did not reveal a specific date for the restart driven by President Donald […]

PHOENIX — David Brunnert, the new chief operating officer at the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management, will focus much of his attention on the Hanford Site in Washington state, the Waste Management Symposia heard here Monday. “He and I served in the first Gulf War together,” the head of Environmental Management (EM) Tim […]

PHOENIX – The increased interest in using Department of Energy nuclear sites for new power generation does not mean the DOE Office of Environmental Management (EM) is putting cleanup on the backburner, EM officials said here Monday. Dutch Conrad of Mid-America Conversion Services kicked off the afternoon session by asking how Environmental Management can reassure […]

PHOENIX – The Department of Energy’s $8-billion Office of Environmental Management will soon be changing its name, DOE Assistant Secretary of Environmental Management Tim Walsh told the 52nd annual Waste Management Symposia here Monday morning. The new name will be something along the lines of the Office of Nuclear Restoration and Revitalization, Walsh said at […]

The Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina is restarting HB-Line operations in order to recycle surplus plutonium and produce uranium-plutonium mixed oxide (MOX) fuel for advanced reactors. DOE announced the restart in a Friday March 6 press release. It did not reveal a specific date for the restart driven by President Donald […]

PHOENIX — The Department of Energy’s head of nuclear cleanup, the CEO of Longenecker & Associates and officials connected with Finland’s spent nuclear fuel program will help kick off the 52nd Waste Management Symposia (WMS) here Monday morning. Tim Walsh, DOE’s assistant secretary for environmental management, will be part of the morning plenary session as […]

The Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory is preparing to start shipping remote-handled transuranic waste, which is more radioactive than the contact-handled variety, to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico. DOE’s Office of Environmental Management said in a Feb. 25 news release that Amentum-led cleanup contractor Idaho Environmental Coalition is using a […]

The Department of Energy’s latest cost estimate for the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) at the Hanford Site in Richland, Wash., is $18.5 billion – excluding the cost of building and commissioning the High-Level Waste Facilities. The High-Level Waste Facilities at the mammoth plant, to vitrify tank waste into glass, could run another $14 […]