Office of Environmental Management (EM)

The Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico received only 67 shipments of transuranic waste during the first five months of the year, compared to 125 during the same period in 2019. The underground disposal site for defense-related TRU received 20 shipments in May. Thirteen came from the Idaho National Laboratory and seven […]

EnergySolutions hopes this year to receive a state license to finally begin accepting large amounts of depleted uranium at its radioactive waste disposal facility near Clive, Utah. That would mark the end of a regulatory process that has stretched for more than a decade. State legislation enacted in March 2018 set three requirements for the […]

In an official report to Congress about tritium-safety oversight, the Department of Energy again sought to avoid a legal fight about whether its workforce is subject to recommendations from the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB). The independent federal agency feared the Energy Department might have rejected a 2019 recommendation to bolster the Savannah River Site’s […]

AECOM said Monday that Chief Financial Officer W. Troy Rudd would be elevated to CEO effective Oct. 1. Rudd will succeed Michael Burke, who is retiring after six years as chief executive. Lara Poloni will also move up to president from chief executive of AECOM’s Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) business, according to a […]

Reinhard Knerr, a director at the Energy Department’s Portsmouth-Paducah Project Office (PPPO), will in mid-July become the new permanent manager for the agency’s Carlsbad Field Office in New Mexico. Knerr is currently federal project director for conversion of depleted uranium hexafluoride (DUF6) at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio and the Paducah Site in Kentucky. His […]

The Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state has confirmed another case of COVID-19 among its workforce, which would be its 14th and the first reported since Friday. In addition, DOE’s Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina has confirmed its 36th case. Twenty-three of those workers have recovered and returned to work. The notices […]

A virtual public meeting on fiscal 2022 budget priorities for the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state is scheduled for 3 p.m. Pacific time today. The meeting is being organized by the three signatories to the 1989 Tri-Party Agreement that governs environmental remediation at the former plutonium production complex: Washington state, DOE, and the […]

Department of Energy contractor Strategic Management Solutions Inc. (SMSI) has hired industry veteran Matthew Nuckols for the newly created position of executive vice president. A civil engineer, Nuckols has 25 years of project and program management experience at sites within the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management and semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) complexes, […]

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has denied two bid protests filed over RSI EnTech’s potential $1 billion support services contract with the Energy Department’s Office of Legacy Management. In March, the Oak Ridge, Tenn.-based environmental and technical contractor won a five-year indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract with Legacy Management. Both incumbent Navarro Research and Engineering and […]

The Energy Department’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina is now confirming 35 cases of COVID-19 among its workforce, up by three since Friday. The updated total was posted on the SRS website Monday. Twenty-three of those infected with novel coronavirus 2019 have recovered and been cleared to return to work, according to the notice. […]

The Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico received only 67 shipments of transuranic waste during the first five months of the year, compared to 125 during the same period in 2019. The underground disposal site for defense-related TRU received 20 shipments in May. Thirteen came from the Idaho National Laboratory and seven […]

Tearing down 10 contaminated Department of Energy buildings must precede further cleanup at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory in Ventura County , California state officials said during an online meeting Thursday. Representatives of the California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA) and the state Department of Toxic Substances Control expect final approval next month of the DOE […]

The Senate Armed Services Committee’s proposed 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) provides for $5.1 billion in defense environmental cleanup funding. The Senate committee passed the roughly $740 billion NDAA package after its Wednesday markup, by a vote of 25-2. The $5.1 billion for defense environmental cleanup would be the largest bloc of annual funding for […]

The Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management will cut contractors some slack when it comes to work deadlines missed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a policy that became official last week. The nuclear cleanup office “will continue to evaluate COVID-19 impacts on the ability of contractors to perform required work,” according to the […]

The two incumbents at the Idaho Cleanup Project, Fluor and Spectra Tech, are virtually certain to be among the contenders for a follow-up environmental award that could be worth $6.4 billion, sources say. Fluor Idaho now holds the five-year environmental remediation contract for the Idaho National Laboratory, valued at nearly $2 billion through May 2021. […]

The Energy Facility Contractors Group (EFCOG) has re-elected Huntington Ingalls Industries nuclear and environmental group President Michael Lempke as chairman of its Board of Directors for another year, according to a Friday statement. Sandra Fairchild, project services and support director of Energy Department Savannah River Site cleanup contractor Savannah River Remediation, was elected vice chair […]

The Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management plans to forge a closer working relationship with the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board (NWTRB), according to a recent document. “We look forward to future opportunities for regular interactions and discussions,” DOE Senior Adviser for Environmental Management William (Ike) White said in a May 29 letter to Nuclear […]

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Tuesday voted almost unanimously in favor of promoting Undersecretary of Energy Mark Menezes to the No. 2 position at the Department of Energy. In the panel’s voice vote, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) raised the sole objection to advancing Menezes toward confirmation as deputy secretary of energy […]

The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico is ramping up operations that have been reduced for months in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, but there is no set schedule for a return to prior waste emplacement levels, according to the head of the Department of Energy contractor for the facility. “I unfortunately don’t have […]

Tuesday was a good night for congressional incumbents in Nevada, who easily overcame primary challenges. The state’s four members of the House of Representatives all advanced to the Nov. 3 general election, according to unofficials results from the Nevada Secretary of State. Five-term Rep. Dina Titus (D) took home over 86% of the vote against […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commissioning said Wednesday it will conduct a technical review of an Energy Department proposal to dispose of certain vitrified low-activity radioactive waste at the Hanford Site in Washington state. Speaking at an online public meeting, NRC Senior Risk Analyst David Esh said the agency is acting in a consulting role as the […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) said the Energy Department might rely too much on its waste acceptance criteria program to keep potentially combustible material out of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M. The DOE’s National Transuranic Program employs the criteria at department facilities around the country to flag hazards in defense-related […]

After receiving approval from the Energy Department, the West Valley Demonstration Project in New York state is starting Phase 1 of the return to normal operations as concern over COVID-19 subsides. The “safe and deliberate approach to the phased restart of operations” began Monday, a DOE spokesman said by email Wednesday. Decommissioning and demolition has […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commissioning said Wednesday it will conduct a technical review of an Energy Department proposal to dispose of certain vitrified low-activity radioactive waste at the Hanford Site in Washington state. Speaking at an online public meeting, NRC Senior Risk Analyst David Esh said the agency is acting in a consulting role as the Energy […]

The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico is ramping up operations that have been reduced for months in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, but there is no set schedule for a return to prior waste emplacement levels, according to the head of the Department of Energy contractor for the facility. “I unfortunately don’t have […]

Many employees of the facilities overseen by the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth-Paducah Project Office (PPPO) are receiving notices this week to report back to their worksites after months away due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The first wave of homebound federal and contract personnel on June 15 will begin reporting back to the three locations overseen […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) said the Energy Department might rely too much on its waste acceptance criteria program to keep potentially combustible material out of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M. The DOE’s National Transuranic Program employs the criteria at department facilities around the country to flag hazards in defense-related […]

The Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management plans to forge a closer working relationship with the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board (NWTRB), according to a recent document. “We look forward to future opportunities for regular interactions and discussions,” DOE Senior Adviser for Environmental Management William (Ike) White said in a May 29 letter to Nuclear […]

The Energy Facility Contractors Group (EFCOG) has re-elected Huntington Ingalls Industries nuclear and environmental group President Michael Lempke as chairman of its Board of Directors for another year, according to a Friday statement. Sandra Fairchild, project services and support director of Energy Department Savannah River Site cleanup contractor Savannah River Remediation, was elected vice chair […]

The Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management will cut contractors some slack when it comes to work deadlines missed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a policy that became official last week. The Energy Department “will continue to evaluate COVID-19 impacts on the ability of contractors to perform required work,” according to the formal […]