Office of Environmental Management (EM)

Starting Monday, the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state will enter Phase 2 of remobilization toward full-scale operations following the March drawdown forced by the COVID-19 pandemic. Hanford Site Manager Brian Vance announced the change in a Thursday message to the 11,000 federal and contract workers at the former plutonium production complex. Phase 2 […]

Idaho National Laboratory Director Mark Peters is preparing to leave his current post after nearly five years to become executive vice president for laboratory operations at Battelle. Battelle Energy Alliance is the management and operations contractor for INL. In his new job, Peters will work with all DOE national laboratories in Battelle’s portfolio – which […]

In his newly created role as chief operating officer, Thomas Mooney will focus on key projects at the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management. This is “a pivotal time for the cleanup mission,” and Mooney will assist incoming Environmental Management Associate Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Field Operations (EM-3) Nicole Nelson-Jean in keeping the focus […]

A coalition of local communities surrounding the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico is apparently back in the good financial graces of the Energy Department after repaying nearly $16,000 in grant money. Earlier this year, the Regional Coalition of LANL Communities (RCLC) repaid the agency $15,767 for expenditures questioned  in a September 2019 report […]

The COVID-19 pandemic has not stopped state-federal “holistic” negotiations over major environmental remediation issues at the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state. The talks between DOE, the state, and the Environmental Protection Agency are occurring remotely, Washington state Department of Ecology spokesman Randy Bradbury said in an Aug. 11 email. The talks began in […]

Employees for the Energy Department’s remediation contractor at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio were advised recently that they would face a 14-day self-quarantine following travel to a handful of states hit particularly hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. In a July 29 memo to employees, Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth said anyone who visits states listed in Ohio’s travel […]

The Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management plans to hold virtual meetings next month on the draft solicitation for the new cleanup contract at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee. In a notice Monday, the agency said it has scheduled a pre-solicitation conference and individual sessions with potential vendors for Sept. 8 to 10, along […]

The Energy Department Office of Environmental Management is beginning market research for a new cleanup contract for its portion of the Santa Susana Field Laboratory in California. The nuclear environmental office on Thursday issued its request for information/sources sought notice for remediation of the Energy Technology Engineering Center. The current ETEC contract, held by North […]

Fluor has sold its construction equipment rental business in the Caribbean for $22 million. The assets of AMECO Caribbean are now almost fully owned by to Stewart’s Automotive Group, Fluor said in an Aug. 17 press release. The remaining assets of the AMECO equipment rental in North America, South America, Europe, Africa, and the Middle […]

The head of the nuclear and environment business unit for Maryland-based Amentum has been deemed a public sector “leader to watch” in the during 2020, by a website for executives. Mark Whitney, executive vice president and general manager for Amentum’s Nuclear & Environment Strategic Business Unit, was featured in an Aug. 19 article by WashingtonExec.com. […]

Idaho National Laboratory Director Mark Peters is preparing to leave his current post after nearly five years to become executive vice president for laboratory operations at Battelle. Battelle Energy Alliance is the management and operations contractor for INL. In his new job, Peters will work with all DOE national laboratories in Battelle’s portfolio – which […]

The Energy Department’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina as of Friday confirmed a total of 406 cases of COVID-19 among its workforce. Of those, 308 workers have recovered and been cleared to return to work, according to the weekly online update from DOE’s operations office at Savannah River. The total confirmed cases at SRS […]

A report from the University of New Mexico concludes the Energy Department’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in recent years was worth more than $3.1 billion to the state, although the economic benefit is concentrated in a few counties. A summary of the report was presented Friday to the Regional Coalition of LANL Communities (RCLC) by […]

The Energy Department has given its blessing for operations to start at the long-awaited Salt Waste Processing Facility (SPFF) at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. In a press release Tuesday, the DOE Office of Environmental Management announced issuance of critical decision 4 (CD-4) and authorization to operate. The CD-4 basically means a project […]

The Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico received 23 shipments of transuranic waste in July, bringing the total to 109 for the first seven months of 2020. That is down significantly from 194 recorded during the first seven months of 2019. Nuclear Waste Partnership, the Amentum-led prime contractor for the underground […]

A Washington state law that makes it easier for workers at the Energy Department’s Hanford Site to qualify for certain compensation benefits has been upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced in a press release Wednesday that a three-judge panel for the Ninth Circuit unanimously […]

Comments are due Sept. 17 on the draft request for proposals (RFP) for a new remediation contract potentially worth $8.3 billion for the Energy Department’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee. The DOE Office of Environmental Management on Tuesday issued the draft RFP for an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract with a 10-year ordering period. The Energy Department […]

The Washington state Department of Ecology and the Energy Department have agreed to mediate their dispute over access to certain records from the Hanford Site. “The data access case is still pending, but the parties have agreed to try to mediate the dispute,” Ecology spokesman Randy Bradbury said in an Aug. 11 email. The mediation […]

The Energy Department’s Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina has confirmed a total of 368 cases of COVID-19 infections among its workforce, though about two-thirds of those personnel have recovered and been authorized to return to the job. The total, posted Friday on the website for the DOE operations office at Savannah River, represents […]

David Wilson, a former official with the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC), joined Energy Department contractor Longenecker & Associates on Aug. 10 as a senior associate. Wilson, who spent 37 years with the state agency before retiring as its acting director in 2019, will take over a newly created post and […]

Robert Wilkinson and Amy Basche, the two top executives for the current support services contractor at the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state, will remain in charge of its successor. A DOE hosting page for the Hanford Mission Integration Solutions (HMIS) website cites Wilkinson as president and general manager and Basche as chief operating […]

Thomas Summers, a former Air Force officer confirmed last month by the U.S. Senate for a post at the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB), will be sworn in on Monday. Summers will be vice chairman of the federal health-and-safety watchdog for defense-nuclear sites, DNFSB Manager of Board Operations Tara Tadlock said in a Wednesday […]

Four people employed by Nuclear Waste Partnership, the prime contractor for the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico, tested positive for the coronavirus over the weekend. The Amentum-BWX Technologies venture said in a Tuesday press release that three of the people showed no symptoms when tested and were already in quarantine due […]

The Energy Department Office of Environmental Management announced this week that Nicole Nelson-Jean, a familiar face in the weapons complex, will become head of field operations at the end of the month. A 28-year Energy Department employee and member of the senior executive service, Nelson-Jean now manages the Savannah River Site field office in South […]

An Energy Department effort to disallow $15.4 million in fees to Leidos-led Mission Support Alliance can go forward, the Civilian Board of Contract Appeals ruled recently. The services vendor at the Hanford Site in Washington state asked Civilian Board of Contract Appeals (CBCA) for summary judgement against the agency’s attempt to disallow $15.4 million in […]

Four more workers at the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state have tested positive for novel coronavirus 2019, the agency said Monday. An additional 12 workers have undergone testing for COVID-19 and are awaiting results, according to an announcement on the Hanford website. The announcement did not state whether the individuals work directly for […]

The Energy Department is extending the public comment deadline from Sept. 26 until Nov. 27 on a plan for on-site disposal of vitrified low-activity waste at the Hanford Site in Washington state. The Aug. 6 notice from DOE did not cite a reason for the 60-day extension. The agency on May 26 started taking comments […]

The Department of Energy on Wednesday kicked off a long-awaited procurement of the next Savannah River Site management and operations contract with a request for information from industry about the award that will fund the Aiken, S.C., facility’s biggest nuclear-weapons programs. The agency will sort out the value, duration, and exact form of the contract […]

Insulated from the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic by its large government contracts and a bread-and-butter nuclear Navy business that didn’t shut down in the spring, BWX Technologies posted a modest uptick in both profit and revenue for the second quarter of 2020. Quarterly net income rose $5 million to about $64 million, or $0.67 […]

Jacobs Engineering on Monday reported a slight bump in revenue for its fiscal third quarter, from $3.2 billion in 2019 to $3.3 billion this year. Net revenue took a similarly modest step up for the three-month period ending June 26, from $2.6 billion to $2.7. billion on a year-over-year basis. The Department of Energy contractor […]