Office of Environmental Management (EM)

The Department of Energy’s underground disposal site for defense-related transuranic waste is succumbing to mission creep, an agency critic 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 any commercial […]

Texas-based Fluor, a major Department of Energy contractor, lost $171 million or $1.22 per share for its first quarter that ended March 31, according to results released Thursday. Since late 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice have been investigating problems with Fluor quarterly data filed during 2019, which prevented the […]

The Department of Energy on Sunday finalized changes to its rule about nuclear safety management that, according to the government’s independent nuclear health and safety watchdog, could encourage contractors to unsafely increase radioactive hazards in old buildings. After about two years of deliberation, the agency published its changes to  Title 10, Part 830 of the Code of […]

The Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management announced Oct. 15 it has resumed operation of the Tank-Closure Cesium Removal module following an extended maintenance outage that started in summer 2019 when an aging transfer pump stopped working.  The pump, used to prepare salt waste inside Tank 10 for cesium removal, was replaced this past […]

South Carolina State University President James Clark said Oct. 16 his institution is part of a team of colleges vying to run the Energy Department’s Savannah River National Laboratory. The historically black public university in Orangeburg, S.C., is a member of a team with Clemson, the University of South Carolina, Georgia Tech and the University […]

The top executive for regulatory and policy at the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management is calling it a career soon. Elizabeth “Betsy” Connell, the associate principal deputy assistant secretary for regulatory and policy affairs, will retire at the end of the month following a career of more than 30 years around the DOE […]

Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) is bidding farewell to Congress after a more than 20 year stint as an Illinois representative, and he says Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.) could be one of the congressmen to replace him as the lower chamber’s main advocate for a permanent nuclear-waste disposal site. Shimkus credited Duncan for helping secure the […]

Soon after withdrawing its designation of Texas-based Waste Control Specialists as its long-term storage site for elemental mercury, the Department of Energy is seeking information about other potentially suitable sites. Responses are due by 5 p.m. Eastern Time on Nov. 4 to DOE’s request for information (RFI) for a leased facility and services related to […]

Later this year, the National Nuclear Security Administration will begin a formal review of its program to dispose of the 34 metric tons of plutonium once slated to be recycled into commercial reactor fuel, an agency official said. It was unclear whether the agency would heed the advice of the National Academies of Sciences and […]

Dennis Foreman, a frequent critic of Department of Energy decisions at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio is not being appointed to a new term on the Portsmouth Site Specific Advisory Board, he said Tuesday. Foreman, a schoolteacher and member of Piketon Village Council, became a member of the advisory board four years ago and learned […]

Comments are due Nov. 2 on a draft solicitation for a new, potentially decade-spanning contract for more than $600 million worth of work at the Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action Project in Moab, Utah, the Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management said this week. The draft request for proposals (RFP) comes after the agency […]

The prime for the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico has signed a construction subcontractor to keep a major ventilation project going while a new provider is selected. Nuclear Waste Partnership said Thursday it has awarded a $3-million subcontract to Kiewit US Contractors Co. to support construction of the Safety Significant […]

As of this morning, the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina has confirmed a total of 609 cases of COVID-19 among its roughly 11,000-member workforce. The numbers, posted online by the Aiken, S.C., site, represent a rise of 18 cases from the prior week’s total of 591. Also, 568 of those employees […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management plans a virtual site tour and industry day Oct. 28 for potential bidders on a new services contract for the Portsmouth Site in Ohio. The online events are set for 10 a.m. until 1 p.m. Eastern Time, the agency said in a Tuesday notice on a federal […]

Dennis Foreman, a frequent critic of Department of Energy decisions at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio is not being appointed to a new term on the Portsmouth Site Specific Advisory Board, he said Tuesday. Foreman, a schoolteacher and member of Piketon Village Council, became a member of the advisory board four years ago and learned […]

Texas-based Fluor, a major Department of Energy contractor, lost $171 million or $1.22 per share for its first quarter that ended March 31, according to results released Thursday. Since late 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice have been investigating problems with Fluor quarterly data filed during 2019, which prevented the […]

Shipments to the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico are down more than 40% for both the first nine months of 2020, and the just-completed 2020 fiscal year, based on figures from the site’s public database. During the first nine months of pandemic-affected 2020, the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) received […]

Soon after withdrawing its designation of Texas-based Waste Control Specialists as its long-term storage site for elemental mercury, the Department of Energy is seeking information about other potentially suitable sites. Responses are due by 5 p.m. Eastern Time on Nov. 4 to DOE’s request for information (RFI) for a leased facility and services related to […]

The Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina already has about 65% of staff back working inside the fence, the top manager there said Friday. Mike Budney, manager of DOE Office of Environmental Management (EM) operations at Savannah River made the comments during his presentation to the South Carolina Nuclear Advisory Council. “That’s […]

The top executive for regulatory and policy at the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management is calling it a career in a couple of weeks. Elizabeth “Betsy” Connell, the associate principal deputy assistant secretary for regulatory and policy affairs, will retire at the end of the month following a career of more than 30 […]

Tank waste operations, particularly a project at the Idaho National Laboratory, are hard hit by workplace restrictions brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, the No. 2 official at the Department of Energy cleanup office said Monday. A year ago, the DOE Office of Environmental Management (EM) expected the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit (IWTU) at Idaho […]

Comments are due Nov. 2 on a draft solicitation for a new, potentially decades-spanning contract for more than $500 million worth of work at the Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action Project in Moab, Utah, the Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management said Monday. The draft request for proposals (RFP) comes after the agency kicked […]

The Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management announced Thursday it has resumed operation of the Tank-Closure Cesium Removal module following an extended maintenance outage that started in summer 2019 after when an aging transfer pump stopped working.  The pump, used to prepare salt waste inside Tank 10 for cesium removal, was replaced this past […]

South Carolina State University President James Clark said Friday his institution is part of a team of colleges vying to run the Energy Department’s Savannah River National Laboratory. The historically black public university in Orangeburg, S.C., is a member of a team with Clemson, the University of South Carolina, Georgia Tech and the University of […]

Bill Moore, a geologist with more than 25 years of experience in the environmental cleanup business, is the new executive director for the Tennessee-based Energy Technology and Environmental Business Association. Bob Eby, the organization’s board president, announced Moore’s appointment this week during the trade group’s first virtual 2020 Business Opportunities and Technical Conference. Moore has […]

The prime at the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio is offering an early buy-out for up to 75 workers willing to leave the remediation contractor by the end of the year. Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth launched its Self-Select Voluntary Separation Program on Thursday, its second such effort in the past couple of years, seeking 75 […]

The Department of Energy’s top brass joined the governor of Tennessee, congressmen and local dignitaries Tuesday at the Oak Ridge Site to celebrate taking down contaminated facilities at what was once the K-25 uranium enrichment complex and is now the East Tennessee Technology Park. The ceremony happened two days before two members of Energy Secretary […]

The Department of Energy is seeking to hold contractors accountable for high ethical standards and professional practices, executives at the Office of Environmental Management said publicly this week and last.  Hanford Site in Washington state can use education along with the specter of financial loss in pushing ethical standards for contractors, the site’s federal manager, […]

Two members of the security detail for Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette tested positive for the coronavirus Thursday, a spokeswoman for the agency chief said. “Although Secretary Brouillette tested negative and is not exhibiting symptoms, out of an abundance of caution, the Secretary and traveling staff will be returning by vehicle to Washing and following” guidance […]

While some work at the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management is being delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, contract procurement has hardly missed a beat, officials told an online industry conference this week. Thus far in 2020 there have been “almost no drop offs [and] ironically enough, almost some acceleration” in contract solicitations and […]