Office of Environmental Management (EM)

The Department of Energy will solicit more public input this fall on plans for a new low-level waste landfill, the Environmental Management Disposal Facility project, at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee, before issuing an updated draft of its record of decision in December, according to an agency spokesperson. The DOE Office of Environmental Management […]

After various problems hamstrung the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico for most of August and September, the disposal facility only took in three shipments of transuranic waste last month, all of which arrived Sept. 30. A combination of problematic underground conditions and a brief uptick in COVID-19 cases prompted DOE […]

After ordering a temporary halt to certain COVID-19 vaccine-related firings at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory last week, a federal judge was scheduled to hear arguments next week about whether to extend the firing moratorium, according to court papers. U.S. District Judge Charles Atchley in the Eastern District of Tennessee issued a temporary restraining order […]

A solicitation for a massive contract worth up to $45 billion over 10 years for overseeing radioactive tank waste and running the vitrification plant at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state was released Thursday by the agency’s Office of Environmental Management. The deal far exceeds the maximum value of any agreement on […]

Mark Gilbertson, one of the top supervisors at the Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup branch, is calling it a career at the end of the month, the agency said Tuesday. Gilbertson, currently associate principal deputy assistant secretary for regulatory and policy affairs, is retiring after 25 years at the DOE Office of Environmental Management (EM) […]

Employees of Department of Energy’s cleanup contractors at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio as well as the Idaho National Laboratory could be sacked if they fail to receive their final vaccination against COVID-19 by Dec. 1, as spelled out in recent documents. Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth workers who are not yet inoculated, or applied for a medical […]

Four Republicans in the House of Representatives want Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm to examine potential “unintended impacts” of staff losses at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina, where some employees plan to leave the site rather than get a mandatory COVID-19 vaccination. The lawmakers’ question if DOE has thought through […]

Mark Gilbertson, one of the top supervisors at the Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup branch, is calling it a career at the end of the month, the agency said Tuesday. Gilbertson, currently associate principal deputy assistant secretary for regulatory and policy affairs, is retiring after 25 years at the DOE Office of Environmental Management (EM) […]

The Savannah River Site’s management contractor requires employees seeking a medical exemption from a mandatory COVID-19 vaccination to submit a certified form from their doctor, while those seeking a religious waiver might have to be interviewed and file supporting documents from a minister. That is according to Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) documents distributed to […]

After various problems hamstrung the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico for most of August and September, the disposal facility only took in three shipments of transuranic waste last month, all of which arrived Sept. 30. A combination of problematic underground conditions and a brief uptick in COVID-19 cases prompted DOE […]

The Department of Energy now expects the Salt Waste Processing Facility built by Parsons at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina will treat roughly four million gallons, rather than six million gallons,  during its first full year of operation, an agency official told the state Nuclear Advisory Council Monday. Parsons finished hot commissioning of […]

Despite the dismissal of some workers who refuse to get vaccinated against COVID-19, the Department of Energy and its contractors at the Savannah River Site do not currently expect big personnel shortages in fiscal 2022, federal officials told the Nuclear Advisory Council to South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster on Monday. Of the total 1,056-member workforce […]

The Department of Energy will solicit more public input this fall on plans for a new low-level waste landfill, the Environmental Management Disposal Facility project, at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee, before issuing an updated draft of its record of decision in December, according to an agency spokesperson. The DOE Office of Environmental Management […]

“In the Dark of the Valley,” a documentary about the Santa Susana Field Laboratory, is scheduled to air nationwide on the MSNBC cable network on Nov. 14 at 10 p.m. Eastern Time, the Physicians for Social Responsibility-Los Angeles and other groups announced recently. The documentary film explores a 1959 nuclear accident involving a commercially-owned sodium […]

Vaccination holdouts at two of the first Department of Energy contractors to mandate COVID-19 vaccinations filed lawsuits against their employers, pleas are being made to elected officials on behalf of those who don’t want the shot and labor unions are wrangling with management at nuclear sites about mandate implementation. Those are a few highlights from […]

Funeral services were scheduled for Nov. 9 at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., for a submarine officer who had a second career in the civilian nuclear world as a Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board staffer for most of the last decade. Captain John Pasko (Ret.) died Sept. 7, according to a post published Sunday […]

A Department of Energy spokesperson officially confirmed Friday morning Centerra could stay on the job as security contractor at DOE’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina until October 2022. On Oct. 8, the Savannah River Operations Office extended the current security services contract with the Centerra Group for up to one year, the spokesperson said […]

A bipartisan group of four senators reintroduced a bill to protect whistleblowers at the Department of Energy and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission from retaliation, according to a recent press release. Before the Senate adjourned last week, Sens. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Ron Wyden (D-Wash.), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and James Lankford (R-Okla.) announced that they filed their […]

A pump-and-treat system that captures groundwater contamination near radioactive waste tanks inside the Hanford Site in Washington would be expanded under a joint interim record of decision announced Wednesday by state and federal agencies.  The interim decision for groundwater operable units in Hanford’s 200 East Area — 200-BP-5 and 200-PO-1 — was issued jointly by […]

A legal dispute over the Department of Energy’s issuance of a landlord services contract for the Paducah Site in Kentucky to Swift & Staley, is apparently still percolating at the Small Business Administration’s Office of Hearings & Appeals. Late last month, Judge Thompson Dietz of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims granted another party in […]

Although the buildings have been torn down, there is still plenty of remediation work left for the Department of Energy in coming years at its portion of the Santa Susana Field Laboratory, a spokesman for the California Department of Toxic Substances Control said. That probably won’t sit well with a group of five Californians in […]

The Department of Energy’s prime contractor at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico has completed removal of 157,000 tons of salt mined from Panel 8, clearing the way for emplacement of transuranic waste there once Panel 7 is full in April 2022, the agency announced Tuesday. While electric power, phones and equipment such […]

The Department of Energy has selected one new member and reappointed five current members to the Paducah Citizens Advisory Board, the agency said recently in a press release. Eric Butterbaugh, an analyst for a computer firm, is the new appointee and will serve a two-year term. The five incumbent members receiving a new two-year term […]

A member of the South Carolina legislature from Aiken, Rep. Melissa Oremus, (R), urged Gov. Henry McMaster (R) to help stop planned firings of holdouts who refuse to get vaccinated against COVID-19 at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site. Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, the Fluor-led management contractor at the federal complex along the Georgia […]

A pump-and-treat system that captures groundwater contamination near radioactive waste tanks inside the Hanford Site in Washington would be expanded under a joint interim record of decision announced Wednesday by state and federal agencies.  The interim decision for groundwater operable units in Hanford’s 200 East Area — 200-BP-5 and 200-PO-1 — was issued jointly by […]

A legal dispute over the Department of Energy’s issuance of a landlord services contract for the Paducah Site in Kentucky to Swift & Staley, is apparently still percolating at the Small Business Administration’s Office of Hearings & Appeals. Late last month, Judge Thompson Dietz of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims granted another party in […]

The Department of Energy’s prime contractor at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico has completed removal of 157,000 tons of salt mined from Panel 8, clearing the way for emplacement of transuranic waste there once Panel 7 is full in April 2022, the agency announced Tuesday. While electric power, phones and equipment such […]

With a Friday deadline looming, the Fluor-led operations contractor for the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina is making plans to fire employees who have refused COVID-19 vaccinations while also issuing a final plea for the holdouts to get inoculated. In a Monday staff email, viewed by Weapons Complex Morning Briefing and […]

Although the buildings have been torn down, there is still plenty of remediation work left for the Department of Energy in coming years at its portion of the Santa Susana Field Laboratory, a spokesman for the California Department of Toxic Substances Control said. “The soil cleanup is expected to finish around 2034,” Russ Edmondson, a […]

As of Sept. 30, the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management has recorded more than 6,900 cases of COVID-19 and dozens of fatalities within the weapons complex since the pandemic began, according to data provided Friday by a spokesperson. The number of deaths is now 41 among federal and contractor employees in the DOE […]