Office of Environmental Management (EM)

Seventy-four employees have agreed to take a voluntary buyout from the decommissioning and demolition contractor at the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio. Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth announced the results of its Self-Select Voluntary Separation Program in a Wednesday email statement. The voluntary buyout package includes a severance based on years of service and the applicable […]

After reviewing its options, cleanup contractor Fluor Idaho has decided to pay the $580,700 civil penalty issued by the Department of Energy over an April 2018 explosion at the Idaho National Laboratory where four 55-gallon drums overheated and blew off their lids spewing radioactive sludge. “Fluor Idaho chose not to contest the findings” in the […]

The Department of Energy said Thursday that Paducah, Ky.-based incumbent Swift & Staley has won the new $160-million Paducah Infrastructure Support Services Contract. The contract runs about five years with a 60-day transition period, a 34-month base period and 24-month option period, DOE said in the press release announcing the deal. The transition period presumably […]

As of this week, the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management has seen 2,009 members of its workforce contract COVID-19 so far in 2020. The current number of federal and contractor workers infected with the coronavirus is 477, a spokesperson for Environmental Management (EM) said Thursday. At the Hanford Site in Washington state, largest […]

Many members of the Hanford Advisory Board seemed taken aback Thursday by a Department of Energy proposal to add six more slots to the 32-member panel charged with drafting policy recommendations for cleanup of the former plutonium production facility in Washington state. About a dozen Hanford Advisory Board members, who spoke during an online meeting, […]

Fluor, Irving, Texas, reported a dip in total revenue for the 2020 third quarter, even as its government sector enjoyed higher profits in the three months ended Sept. 30. Fluor’s third-quarter revenue was $3.8 billion, down from $4.6 billion during the same quarter in 2019, according to the release. Net earnings from continuing operations attributable […]

The Department of Energy and other federal agencies could operate under their 2021 budgets for at least another week beyond Friday, after the Senate passed a short-term continuing resolution by voice vote Friday afternoon. The Hill reported the vote to avert a government shutdown and keep agencies operating until Dec. 18. The House of Representatives approved […]

Seventy-four employees have agreed to take a voluntary buyout from the decommissioning and demolition contractor at the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio. Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth announced the results of its Self-Select Voluntary Separation Program in a Wednesday email statement. The voluntary buyout package includes a severance based on years of service and the applicable […]

The Department of Energy’s manager for the Hanford Site declined Wednesday to say how many employees have tested positive for the coronavirus so far this year at the former plutonium production complex in Washington state. “I report those numbers through headquarters now, and there is a more formal reporting process at the headquarters level,” in […]

Fluor, Irving, Texas, reported a dip in total revenue for the 2020 third quarter, even as its government sector enjoyed higher profits in the three months ended Sept. 30. Perhaps most significantly about the earnings press release issued Thursday morning is that it marks a sort of return to normalcy for the company, which has […]

The House of Representatives approved the final version of the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act with a veto-proof margin Tuesday evening, sending the bill and its new nuclear waste and weapons policies to the Senate. The House passed the bill 300-135 , with every member voting. Among other things, the measure would require the Department […]

Bid proposals for the new Infrastructure Support Services Contract at the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio are due by 4 p.m. Eastern Time Thursday. Portsmouth Mission Alliance, a team made up of an affiliate of Idaho-based North Wind Group and Swift & Staley, holds the current $117-million business that began in March 2016 […]

After reviewing its options, cleanup contractor Fluor Idaho has decided to pay the $580,700 civil penalty issued by the Department of Energy over an April 2018 explosion at the Idaho National Laboratory where four 55-gallon drums overheated and blew off their lids spewing radioactive sludge. “Fluor Idaho chose not to contest the findings” in the […]

The Department of Energy has picked up a six-month option keeping North Wind Portage on the job as the technical assistance contractor at the Carlsbad Field Office in New Mexico until June 2021. The basic contract and associated task orders were extended six months from Dec. 4, last Friday, to June 3, 2021, a spokesperson […]

Twelve more employees at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state reported to management that they have tested positive for the coronavirus, according to an online notice posted Friday. The latest batch of positive tests showed up on the employee alerts section of a DOE emergency operations website at Hanford operated by the […]

The Oregon Department of Energy is studying updated rules governing transport and disposal of radioactive materials within the state, which could potentially sock violators with millions of dollars in fines. The state department’s Energy Facility Siting Council has been working on tightening Oregon’s radioactive waste rules since May, according to a slide presentation put together […]

An environmental advocacy group’s report that questions safety compliance at the Perma-Fix Northwest waste treatment facility located just outside the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site is “very misleading,” a company spokesman said this week.  The report last week by Hanford Challenge claims the subsidiary of Atlanta-based Perma-Fix has “a checkered and worrisome history of environmental […]

Four weeks after election day, first-term incumbent Rep. Mike Garcia (R-Calif.) has clinched a 333-vote victory over California Assemblywoman Christy Smith (D) in the state’s 25th congressional district. The race concluded this week as Smith conceded a recount was unlikely to overturn the verdict, the Santa Clara Signal and other state newspapers reported. “We exhausted […]

Cleanup contractor Fluor Idaho expects to file a formal response this month to the Department of Energy’s proposed $580,700 civil penalty over an April 2018 accident at the Idaho National Laboratory where four drums of radioactive sludge overheated and blew off their lids. “We are reviewing the preliminary notice of violation and considering our response, […]

The total number of active cases of COVID-19 at nuclear cleanup sites overseen by the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management remained high this week at 282, which is still lower than the 298 active cases during Thanksgiving week, a spokesperson said Thursday.  Active, reported cases were in the double digits as recently as […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management on Thursday awarded five-year basic ordering agreements for nationwide low-level and mixed-low level waste treatment to five firms, including some incumbents. The winning companies are Salt Lake City-based EnergySolutions, Atlanta-based Perma-Fix Environmental Services, Massachusetts-headquartered Unitech Services Group, Waste Control Specialists in Texas and Ohio-based Veolia Nuclear Solutions […]

DOE could soon award the first standalone management and operations contract for the Savannah River National Laboratory, the manager of the DOE Savannah River Site office said this week. In addition to announcing the new stand-alone contractor for management of the laboratory, which is focused on nuclear-cleanup science and technology, DOE could announce the next […]

Leaving 110 stranded drums of potentially combustible transuranic waste from the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory at a commercial waste facility in Texas for two more years poses no significant risk, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Tuesday. The commission issued its finding Tuesday in the Federal Register, responding to an August request from […]

The current $44-million Carlsbad Technical Assistance Contract is set to expire this week for a North Wind subsidiary at the Department of Energy field office in New Mexico. The DOE can exercise an option to keep North Wind Portage on board through June 3, 2021 while the Office of Environmental Management continues to look for […]

A document obtained by Weapons Complex Morning Briefing indicates the Department of Energy’s environmental contractor at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio has confirmed at least 73 cases of COVID-19 so far during the pandemic, with three of those reported in recent days. The document summarizes COVID-19 data compiled through Tuesday by Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth, the decommissioning […]

Leaving 110 stranded drums of potentially combustible transuranic waste from the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory at a commercial waste facility in Texas for two more years poses no significant risk, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Tuesday. The commission issued its finding Tuesday in the Federal Register, responding to an August request from […]

Four weeks after election day, first-term incumbent Rep. Mike Garcia (R-Calif.) has clinched a 333-vote victory over California Assemblywoman Christy Smith (D) in the state’s 25th congressional district. The race concluded Monday as Smith conceded a recount was unlikely to overturn the verdict, the Santa Clara Signal and other state newspapers reported. “We exhausted every […]

Another 16 workers at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state informed management Monday they have tested positive for the coronavirus. The latest COVID-19 cases were disclosed on the emergency operations website run by contractor Mission Support Alliance at the former plutonium production complex. The unofficial tally of cases is now 244 based […]

The top boss for the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina said Monday that major contractor awards could be made soon and there have been “somewhere north of 700” total confirmed cases of the coronavirus at the complex so far. “We continue to get COVID cases […]

An environmental advocacy group focused on the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site issued a report  last week that questions safety compliance at a commercial waste treatment facility, Perma-Fix Northwest, located just outside the former plutonium production reservation. The report by Hanford Challenge claims the subsidiary of Atlanta-based Perma-Fix has “a checkered and worrisome history of […]