Office of Environmental Management (EM)

The head of the United Steelworkers Local 1-689 at the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio estimates more than half of his 939 union members at the uranium cleanup site have been vaccinated against COVID-19. The Steelworkers union local has asked DOE and its contractors at the former gaseous diffusion plant in Pike County, […]

The Department of Energy plans to hire a firm, Co-Physics., to provide emergency response support services for mixed transuranic waste storage at the Separations Process Research Unit in New York. The DOE Office of Environmental Management  Consolidated Business Center announced its intention to hire Co-Physics, which has provided radioactive materials support services in the Northeast […]

A North Wind Group company will continue to carry out the Portsmouth Infrastructure Support Services Contract work at the Department of Energy cleanup site in Ohio under a potential five-year, $135-million award announced late Friday. Idaho-based North Wind Dynamics was chosen as the bidder that would provide the best value to the government, DOE said […]

In the end, most if not all big Department of Energy contractors will fall in line behind a federal requirement for workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19, although some workers will quit rather than taking the shot, based on conversations with five industry sources this week. Most of these people, whom Weapons Complex Monitor granted […]

A second draft of the Department of Energy’s Record of Decision to build a new on-site landfill for low-level radioactive waste at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee is now expected in mid-October, the agency said late recently. Originally slated to appear this week, publication of the updated draft has been pushed back until mid-October […]

Recent federal employee forms show 90% of workers at the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board have been vaccinated against coronavirus infection, a spokesperson for the board said Tuesday. All Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) personnel have submitted the recently-required forms to attest to their COVID-19 vaccination status, said Tara Tadlock, associate director for board […]

The Department of Energy last week defended a 2020 update to a key nuclear safety management regulation but said the agency will work with a federal nuclear watchdog over its “technical concerns” with the final rule — including as it relates to aging nuclear facilities. The DOE “continues to conclude that its current regulatory framework, […]

Construction of a plant to treat mercury-laden water stemming from building demolition at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee is more than a third complete, an agency spokesperson said Tuesday. Construction of the Outfall 200 Mercury Treatment Facility by a joint venture of Louisiana-based APTIM and Idaho-based North Wind is about 35% […]

The Justice Department last week asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a 2020 ruling by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upholding a state law making it easier for workers at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site to win compensation for work-related health problems. The move has prompted swift rebukes from the Washington […]

After recording one of its busier months in more than a year, shipments of transuranic waste to the Department of Energy’s underground disposal site near Carlsbad, N.M., declined in August. Data available on the DOE’s public website for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) show only seven shipments during August, with the most recent being […]

Oregon state officials are “cautiously” behind the U.S. Department of Energy’s effort to “prove out” technology to grout up to 2,000 gallons of low-activity tank waste at the Hanford Site in neighboring Washington and dispose of it outside of the Pacific Northwest. “Oregon has not previously issued public statements regarding the Test Bed Initiative,” Maxwell […]

States and tribal governments along haulage routes leading to the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico could divvy up about $8.9-million in federal project grants during fiscal 2022, according to a recent notice. “The participating States, tribes, and the DOE will work to develop, coordinate, and implement activities in accident prevention, […]

Oregon state officials are “cautiously” behind the U.S. Department of Energy’s effort to “prove out” technology to grout up to 2,000 gallons of low-activity tank waste at the Hanford Site in neighboring Washington and dispose of it outside of the Pacific Northwest. “Oregon has not previously issued public statements regarding the Test Bed Initiative,” Maxwell […]

The Justice Department last week asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a 2020 ruling by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upholding a state law making it easier for workers at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site to win compensation for work-related health problems. The move has prompted swift rebukes from the Washington […]

Construction of a plant to treat mercury-laden water stemming from building demolition at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee is more than a third complete, an agency spokesperson said Tuesday. Construction of the Outfall 200 Mercury Treatment Facility by a joint venture of Louisiana-based APTIM and Idaho-based North Wind is about 35% […]

After recording one of its busier months in more than a year, shipments of transuranic waste to the Department of Energy’s underground disposal site near Carlsbad, N.M., declined in August. Data available Monday on the DOE’s public website for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) show only seven shipments during August, with the most recent […]

The Department of Energy last week defended a 2020 update to a key nuclear safety management regulation but said the agency will work with a federal nuclear watchdog over its “technical concerns” with the final rule — including as it relates to aging nuclear facilities. The DOE “continues to conclude that its current regulatory framework, […]

A second draft of the Department of Energy’s Record of Decision to build a new on-site landfill for low-level radioactive waste at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee is now expected in mid-October, the agency said late last week. Originally slated to appear this week, publication of the updated draft has been pushed back until […]

Preliminary figures show the liquid waste cleanup contractor at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina has roughly two-thirds of its workforce vaccinated against COVID-19, a spokesman said Friday. The numbers are not final because DOE certification of vaccination forms were not due until Friday, a spokesman for Amentum-led Savannah River Remediation […]

Six weeks after telling unvaccinated feds and contractors to wear masks and be tested regularly for COVID-19, President Joe Biden Thursday took things a step further and said such workers must either take the vaccine or find another job.   “If you want to work with the federal government, do business with us, get vaccinated,” Biden […]

Mike Nartker, a former communications director at the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management is now chief of staff, according to a new organizational chart posted online last Wednesday. In the post, Nartker reports to DOE’s acting assistant secretary for environmental management (EM) William (Ike) White.  In addition to supporting White and principal deputy […]

The Department of Energy’s cleanup contractor at a uranium mill tailings pile near Moab, Utah has moved about 74% of the radioactive material to a disposal site 30 miles away, according to an update posted online this week. In August, North Wind Portage shipped 73,923 tons of tailings and debris from the former Atlas Minerals […]

Given the shrinking chances of Congress agreeing on fiscal year 2022 appropriations by the end of the month, the Joe Biden administration on Tuesday requested that any continuing resolution Congress passes to extend 2021 budgets protect the short-term operations of the Department of Energy’s uranium enrichment cleanups. As Weapons Complex Monitor has reported, the government […]

The Department of Energy said Tuesday it plans a 90-day comment period concerning a proposal to grout up to 2,000 gallons of low-activity tank waste at the Hanford Site in Washington and transport it out of state for final disposal. In an initial 14-day comment period on the Test Best Initiative that ended last Friday, […]

A federal court mediation deadline of Sept. 16 has been set for a long time worker at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina who sued operations contractor Savannah River Nuclear Solutions last year under the Americans With Disabilities Act. Attorneys for Richard Lusby, who initially filed his case in a South […]

The Department of Energy’s cleanup contractor at a uranium mill tailings pile near Moab, Utah has moved about 74% of the radioactive material to a disposal site 30 miles away, according to an update posted online this week. In August, North Wind Portage shipped 73,923 tons of tailings and debris from the former Atlas Minerals […]

The Department of Energy said Tuesday it plans a 90-day comment period concerning a proposal to grout up to 2,000 gallons of low-activity tank waste at the Hanford Site in Washington and transport it out of state for final disposal. In an initial 14-day comment period on the Test Best Initiative that ended last Friday, […]

Given the shrinking chances of Congress agreeing on fiscal year 2022 appropriations by the end of the month, the Joe Biden administration on Tuesday requested that any continuing resolution Congress passes to extend 2021 budgets protect the short-term operations of the Department of Energy’s uranium enrichment cleanups. As Weapons Complex Morning Briefing has reported, the […]

The Amentum-Jacobs joint venture in charge of remediating the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee said Tuesday it will make vaccination against COVID-19 a condition of employment for its 2,000 workers. That makes the team the third DOE nuclear-site contract to mandate the vaccine, after contractors at the Savannah River Site in South […]

With two major Department of Energy nuclear site contractors having already announced plans to mandate worker vaccination against COVID-19, don’t be surprised to see others follow in coming days, sources told Weapons Complex Morning Briefing. One industry source said Friday there is a good chance at least one more major limited liability corporation at a […]