Office of Environmental Management (EM)

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management is extending the proposal deadline for a potential $120 million small business Technical Assistance Contract solicitation until April 25, the agency said this week. The prior deadline, from a request for proposals (RFP) issued last month, was April 18. But that conflicts with Easter, said one unidentified […]

Cases of COVID-19 within the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management remained low during the past week, with 27 active confirmed cases of the virus reported, a spokesperson said in a Thursday email. That is up six from the prior week total of 21 but far below the hundreds being recorded weekly during the […]

Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth, the deactivation and demolition contractor at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio, should tighten up work control shortcomings that could endanger employee health and safety, according to a new Department of Energy analysis. While the contractor “generally meets the fundamental expectations” of safety requirements, it needs a comprehensive industrial hygiene effort to ensure workplace […]

The Joe Biden administration last week requested a budget of $41 million for the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board in fiscal 2023, an increase of $5 million over $36 million from the 2022 omnibus passed in early March. That 2023 request is about a 14% year-over-year increase for the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB). […]

With COVID-19 illnesses declining nationally, a United Steelworkers officer at the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio wants Mid-America Conversion Services to reconsider an earlier decision to fire a handful of longtime employees who refused vaccination. United Steelworkers Local 1-689 is negotiating a new contract with Mid-America to replace the one that expired Jan. […]

The Department of Energy will not revoke until August a disputed landlord services contract that could keep Swift & Staley at the Paducah Site in 2027 — but the agency also will not slow down plans to recompete or reward the work, which the incumbent is fighting in court to keep. That was the news […]

The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals Thursday overturned a federal district court’s injunction against President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 vaccination mandate for federal employees. Meanwhile, the Eleventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta was scheduled to hear arguments Friday for and against an injunction against the Biden administration’s vaccine mandate for federal contractors. The […]

Thanks to more than a quarter-billion dollars of congressional funds since 2018, the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is tearing down some of the most contaminated facilities in the weapons complex and “making bad things go away,” a manager at the California nuclear-weapons design lab said recently. Much progress has happened since the […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management is extending the proposal deadline for a potential $120 million small business Technical Assistance Contract solicitation until April 25, the agency said this week. The prior deadline, from a request for proposals (RFP) issued last month, was April 18. But that conflicts with Easter, said one unidentified […]

Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth, the deactivation and demolition contractor at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio, should tighten up work control shortcomings that could endanger employee health and safety, according to a new Department of Energy analysis. While the contractor “generally meets the fundamental expectations” of safety requirements, it needs a comprehensive industrial hygiene effort to ensure workplace […]

With COVID-19 illnesses declining nationally, a United Steelworkers officer at the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio wants Mid-America Conversion Services to reconsider an earlier decision to fire a handful of longtime employees who refused vaccination. United Steelworkers Local 1-689 is negotiating a new contract with Mid-America to replace the one that expired Jan. […]

As of March 9, 427 intermodal containers filled with radiologically-contaminated soil or debris had been shipped to EnergySolutions from the Balance of Site Facilities cleanup at the West Valley Demonstration Project in New York, a contractor representative told the West Valley Citizen Task Force meeting last week. Kelly Wooley, deputy general manager for the West […]

A Hanford occupational health contractor agreed to pay almost $3 million in restitution and penalties for false financial statements that enabled it to obtain a COVID-related loan from the U.S. Small Business Administration, which was later forgiven. The loan ended up in the personal bank accounts of the owners of HPMCorp., Holly and Grover Cleveland […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management logged 21 confirmed cases of COVID-19 during the past week, a decrease of 14 from the prior week’s total of 35, a spokesperson for the organization said Thursday by email. Two weeks ago the weekly confirmed number was 43, a fraction of the high of 775 for […]

Construction of the 200 Mercury Treatment Facility at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee is now 40% complete, an agency spokesperson said by email Wednesday. The project includes building a treatment facility, headworks facility, and a 3,000-foot pipeline connecting the two facilities.  “Crews are currently installing floors and walls at the treatment […]

The Department Energy’s nuclear remediation branch would see its total funding slide to $7.64 billion under the Joe Biden administration’s budget request for fiscal 2023, down from almost $7.9 billion appropriated for fiscal 2022. If Congress approved the requested funding, it would return the DOE Office of Environmental Management to roughly its fiscal 2021 appropriation.  […]

After a probe, the Department of Energy’s Office of Inspector General could not substantiate claims of cheating and other problems with Bechtel’s substance abuse program at the Waste Treatment Plant at the Hanford Site in Washington state. “Specifically, we found that management had taken several actions to address drug-related concerns,” the Office of Inspector General […]

The Department of Energy is apparently not counting upon a speedy resolution of litigation surrounding the landlord services contract for the Paducah Site, as a spokesperson confirmed Thursday the incumbent is receiving a four-month extension. Kentucky-based Swift & Staley is now scheduled to stay on the job through July 31, a spokesperson for the DOE […]

Anne Marie White, the last Senate-confirmed assistant secretary for the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management, is opening a new distillery in her hometown in Michigan. White and Scott Anderson, another longtime hand on the old DOE weapons complex, will soon open “The Honorable Distillery” in a renovated movie theater in downtown Marquette, Mich., […]

The Joe Biden administration is requesting nuclear legacy cleanup spending of $332 in fiscal 2023 for the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, a big jump from the $275 million in the final appropriation for fiscal 2022, passed only a few weeks ago. The $275 million in the current fiscal year […]

Construction of the 200 Mercury Treatment Facility at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee is now 40% complete, an agency spokesperson said by email Wednesday. The project includes building a treatment facility, headworks facility, and a 3,000-foot pipeline connecting the two facilities.  “Crews are currently installing floors and walls at the treatment […]

Minority-serving institutions now have until April 8 to file expressions of interest with the contractor running the Department of Energy’s Savannah River National Laboratory in South Carolina, according to a procurement update Tuesday. The prior deadline was March 25 for Minority Serving Institutions, as defined by the Department of Education, to respond to the initial […]

After a probe, the Department of Energy’s Office of Inspector General could not substantiate claims of cheating and other problems with Bechtel’s substance abuse program at the Waste Treatment Plant at the Hanford Site in Washington state. “Specifically, we found that management had taken several actions to address drug-related concerns,” the Office of Inspector General […]

While the Joe Biden administration’s 2023 budget request would trim spending at the Hanford Site in Washington state relative to the omnibus 2022 budget passed in early March, other major cleanup sites would get year-over-year increases if Congress enacts the request. According to a Department of Energy budget in brief published Tuesday, the Richland Operations […]

While the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state would receive a haircut under the fiscal 2023 budget request rolled out Monday by President Joe Biden’s administration, a citizen group leader expects Congress will beef up the cleanup appropriation for the former plutonium production facility. Funding for the Richland Operations Office would be $818 […]

The new liquid waste contractor at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina is taking over the Salt Waste Processing Facility, an agency spokesperson confirmed Monday. The transition to BWX Technologies-led Savannah River Mission Completion from Parsons Government Services, which built and started up the Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF), is beginning […]

As of March 9, 427 intermodal containers filled with radiologically-contaminated soil or debris had been shipped to EnergySolutions from the Balance of Site Facilities cleanup at the West Valley Demonstration Project in New York, a contractor representative told the West Valley Citizen Task Force meeting last week. Kelly Wooley, deputy general manager for the West […]

A Hanford occupational health contractor agreed to pay almost $3 million in restitution and penalties for false financial statements that enabled it to obtain a COVID-related loan from the U.S. Small Business Administration, which was later forgiven. The loan ended up in the personal bank accounts of the owners of HPMCorp., Holly and Grover Cleveland […]

Anne Marie White, the last Senate-confirmed assistant secretary for the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management, is opening a new distillery in her hometown in Michigan. White and Scott Anderson, another longtime hand on the old DOE weapons complex, will soon open “The Honorable Distillery” in a renovated movie theater in downtown Marquette, Mich., […]

The Hanford Advisory Board again stressed its concerns about leaking tanks in two pieces of written advice sent to the U.S. Department of Energy on Thursday. In the second day of a virtual meeting, the board voted to tell DOE that it wants the feds to prioritize removal of 3.37 million gallons of liquid wastes […]