Office of Environmental Management (EM)

Andrea Romero (D), once forced out as chief of a group to support communities around the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory, easily won a second term Tuesday in the New Mexico legislature. Romero won 77% of the vote to win re-election in District 46 of the state House of Representatives, according to figures […]

Twelve people representing 11 companies showed up at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site Oct. 21 to take a physical tour and learn more about a potential $21-billion, long-term contract for liquid waste cleanup. In addition to Amentum, the lead partner for incumbent Savannah River Remediation, other firms who turned out are Aecon-Wachs, Akima, […]

Managers at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state learned Tuesday that three more workers have tested positive for the coronavirus, according to a post on the property’s emergency operations website. That brings the unofficial total of COVID-19 cases at Hanford to 195 so far in 2020. That is based on a public […]

In an online session set for Nov. 10, the Department of Energy will discuss the final solicitation for a new technical assistance contract potentially worth $100 million at the Carlsbad Field Office in New Mexico. The DOE Office of Environmental Management issued the final request for proposals (RFP) last week. In a notice posted Tuesday, […]

Should former Vice President Joe Biden (D) defeat President Donald Trump (R) in today’s election, several women — including a Republican — and a black man could be shortlisted as candidates for Biden’s first secretary of energy, a source with experience in both government and industry said Monday. The source spoke to Weapons Complex Morning […]

Prospective bidders are asking the Department of Energy for some leeway on making oral presentations for a potential $21-billion long-term contract for management of liquid waste at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. Early this month, the department issued the request for proposals (RFP) for a potential 15-year contract for liquid waste management to […]

The director of the Washington state Department of Ecology Laura Watson hopes to have a new person in charge of nuclear waste cleanup by the end of the year. After spending five-and-a-half years in charge of Washington’s nuclear cleanup, much of which involves regulating the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site remediation, Alex Smith left the […]

Lynchburg, Va.-based BWX Technologies hauled in $520 million in revenue during the third quarter, which ended Sept. 30, which is up 3% from the $506 million it took in during the same period a year ago, according to a Monday earnings release. Its net income for the quarter dipped a bit, however, as BWX Technologies […]

An article that appeared in the Oct. 23 Weapons Complex Monitor [“Cesium Removal Unit Returns to Service at SRS”] should have said that the Tank-Closure Cesium Removal unit is a demonstration project to provide an additional means of speeding tank closure. The story also should have said that cesium-rich resin removed from Tank 10 by […]

An Alaska native corporation, Tuknik Government Services, won a $15-million Department of Energy contract for technical support work for the environmental business center in Cincinnati, Ohio. DOE’s Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center (EMCBC) announced the five-year, indefinite-delivery, indefinite quantity contract for information systems technical support Tuesday. The new contractor is scheduled to start Nov. 1, […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Inspector General said there is not enough vetting of respirator maintenance for environmental cleanup workers at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio, which increases the chance of employees being exposed to radioactive contamination. Decontamination and decommissioning contractor Fluor-BWXT has over 1,300 employees who rely on respirators as part of the […]

The Department of Energy Thursday rolled out a final solicitation for a potential five-year, $100-million technical assistance contract at the Carlsbad Field Office in New Mexico. Bids are due by 4 p.m. Eastern Time on Dec. 14 for the indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract to replace the one held by North Wind Portage under a […]

The Department of Energy’s underground disposal site for defense-related transuranic waste is succumbing to mission creep, a critic of the agency told the New Mexico Legislature’s Radioactive and Hazardous Materials Committee last week. The mission at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad “is not for defense high-level waste, commercial spent nuclear fuel, or […]

The Department of Energy is entering the final phase of construction at the seventh large saltstone disposal unit at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, an agency manager said this week. Workers are currently installing a leak-proof rubber liner in the inside of the tank at Saltstone Disposal Unit-7 (SDU-7) before testing of the […]

By early next year, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board and the Department of Energy could sign a memorandum of understanding about how to share information under a two year-old DOE order that limits interactions between the federal agencies. On Tuesday, the board — a roughly $30-million-a-year agency with a staff of around 100 full-timers […]

There are currently 109 active cases of COVID-19 within the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management cleanup complex, which is 10 more than a week ago, a spokesperson said Thursday. There appears to be a steady rise in coronavirus infections at the 16 Cold War and Manhattan Project cleanup sites overseen by the Environmental […]

A venture led by Oak Ridge, Tenn.-based Navarro Research and Engineering is assured of becoming the new operator of 222-S Laboratory at the Hanford Site in Washington state, now that the window for protesting DOE’s contract award to the team lapsed. The period for contesting the award to the Government Accountability Office ended Monday, two […]

Idaho has now imposed about $9.16 million in fines against the Department of Energy for failing to treat sodium-bearing liquid radioactive waste at the Idaho National Laboratory with the long-delayed Integrated Waste Treatment Unit, a state official said this week. Depending on how COVID-19 plays out, the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit (IWTU) could start radioactive […]

The Department of Energy extended to January the transition periods for the support services and solid-waste cleanup contractors at the Hanford Site in Washington state. Transition periods for both the Leidos-led Hanford Mission Integration Solutions team and the Amentum-led Central Plateau Cleanup Co. are being extended until Jan. 24, the DOE Hanford Richland Operations Office […]

The Department of Energy has yet to decide what exactly it will do about a contested $13-billion tank management contract at the Hanford Site in Washington state that was placed on hold in July. There are issues “that the department is still working our way through,” Hanford’s DOE site manager, Brian Vance, told an online […]

Lynchburg, Va.-based BWX Technologies will discuss its financial results for third quarter, ended Sept. 30, during a 9 a.m. Monday conference call with Wall Street analysts. During the second quarter, BWX Technologies (BWXT) reported net income was up $5 million to about $64 million, or $0.67 per share, from about $59 million, or $0.62 per […]

The Department of Energy extended to January the transition periods for the support services and solid-waste cleanup contractors at the Hanford Site in Washington state. Transition periods for both the Leidos-led Hanford Mission Integration Solutions team and the Amentum-led Central Plateau Cleanup Co. are being extended until Jan. 24, the DOE Hanford Richland Operations Office […]

An Alaska native corporation, Tuknik Government Services, won a $15-million Department of Energy contract for technical support work for the environmental business center in Cincinnati, Ohio. DOE’s Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center (EMCBC) announced the five-year, indefinite-delivery, indefinite quantity contract for information systems technical support Tuesday. Tuknik, a subsidiary of Koniag Government Services, is a […]

A venture led by Oak Ridge, Tenn.-based Navarro Research and Engineering is assured of becoming the new operator of 222-S Laboratory at the Hanford Site in Washington state, now that the window for protesting DOE’s contract award to the team lapsed. The period for contesting the award to the Government Accountability Office ended Monday, two […]

The Department of Energy is entering the final phase of construction at the seventh large saltstone disposal unit at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, an agency manager said Monday. Workers are currently installing a leak-proof rubber liner in the inside of the tank at Saltstone Disposal Unit-7 (SDU-7) before testing of the facility […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Inspector General said there is not enough vetting of respirator maintenance for environmental cleanup workers at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio, which increases the chance of employees being exposed to radioactive contamination. Decontamination and decommissioning contractor Fluor-BWXT has over 1,300 employees who rely on respirators as part of the […]

New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan-Grisham (D) wants the Department of Energy to explain how its plan to dispose of some seven metric tons of diluted, weapon-usable plutonium at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant complies with environmental law, according to a recent letter. The tranche is part of the 34 metric tons of surplus plutonium that […]

The Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state seems to be experiencing a surge in coronavirus infections in recent days with five more workers testing positive. That makes 11 new cases of COVID-19 among Hanford’s 11,000-member workforce since Friday. The DOE emergency operations website at Hanford posted a notice late Monday saying five employees […]

Here are some public events related to defense- and civilian-nuclear matters that the ExchangeMonitor staff is tracking this week. Monday: The Citizens Advisory Board for the Savannah River Site will meet virtually today starting at 1 p.m. Eastern Time. The session is viewable on the advisory board’s youtube page. Wednesday: The West Valley Citizens Task […]

Six more employees at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state tested positive for COVID-19, according to weekend posts on the emergency operations website. Two workers informed management on Saturday that they have tested positive, followed by another four on Sunday. No further details were provided on the website which is updated daily […]