Office of Environmental Management (EM)

The Energy Department has yet to execute an extension of up to two years for the Amentum-led joint venture responsible for remediation at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee. The agency in February announced its intention to award a sole-source deal to URS/CH2M Oak Ridge (UCOR) in the form of a one-year extension, plus options […]

The Energy Department Office of Environmental Management has scheduled an online pre-solicitation conference and one-on-one meetings on the Savannah River National Laboratory contract for next week. The virtual conference, conducted via WebEx, is scheduled for 11 a.m. April 28. The online meetings with potential bidders are planned for April 29 and, if necessary, April 30, […]

The Energy Department assured the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) on Thursday it would oversee remediation of recently discovered radioactive waste on former federal land near the site of a planned housing complex in Los Alamos County. Top brass for the Office of Environmental Management and the semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration at the Los […]

The primary cleanup vendor for the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state has lined up a subcontractor to stabilize three underground structures with grout, according to a Tuesday press release. Jacobs subsidiary CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation is issuing a $3.9 million subcontract to engineering firm White Shield, of Pasco, Wash., to design and apply […]

The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency said on April 10 it has no plans for a public hearing on the Department of Energy’s waste acceptance criteria for the On-Site Disposal Facility being built at the Portsmouth Site. The document is available online, aency spokeswoman Heidi Griesmer noted by email: “There is no requirement for a public […]

The Energy Department has applied for renewal of the state permit to operate the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico. The New Mexico Environment Department issued the current Hazardous Waste Facility Permit to DOE and WIPP contractor Nuclear Waste Partnership in late November 2010. The state agency has said it has no timetable for […]

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has received two protests to a potential $1 billion support services contract announced earlier this month by the Energy Department’s Office of Legacy Management to environmental services firm RSI EnTech. The Oak Ridge, Tenn.-based company’s five-year indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract was announced April 1, following its award in […]

The Department of Energy has begun market research for a contractor to convert low-activity radioactive waste into glass at the Waste Treatment Plant being built at the Hanford Site in Washington state, The DOE Office of Environmental Management on Thursday published a request for Information (RFI)/sources sought notice for a vendor to run Direct-Feed Low-Activity […]

With the Energy Department temporarily doing only minimal physical work at the Hanford Site in Washington state due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it is apt to further delay award of a potential 10-year, $15 billion contract for tank waste management at the facility, a source said Wednesday. Many in industry expected the contract for managing […]

The Idaho congressional delegation last week urged Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette to prioritize preparation of spent nuclear fuel at the Idaho National Laboratory for shipment out of state by the end of 2034. The Energy Department should follow the U.S. Navy’s lead in getting spent fuel at INL “road ready,” according to an April 8 […]

The Department of Energy published guidance Wednesday for contractors that need to bill the government for paid time off given to employees unable to report for work due to COVID-19. The new guidance attempts to steer contracting officers through the process of modifying existing deals so that vendors can claim reimbursement under the $2.2 trillion CARES […]

Both chambers of Congress will remain on recess later than scheduled, returning no earlier than May 4, lawmakers said this week. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced the upper chamber would add two weeks to its current recess in a Tuesday note to fellow senators, then in a press release. His announcement followed a […]

The Energy Department’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina might have to revisit the schedule for operation of the Salt Waste Processing Facility due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a spokesperson said Thursday. Eight cases of infection by the novel coronavirus 2019 have been confirmed at Savannah River. That is more than half of the 14 […]

Companies in the radioactive waste processing and disposal industry acknowledged this week they are feeling the pinch from the COVID-19 pandemic, but emphasized that they remain fully open for business. At least one industry mainstay confirmed that it has sought federal assistance via the $2.2 trillion CARES Act signed into law on March 27 to […]

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has received two protests to a potential $1 billion support services contract announced earlier this month by the Energy Department’s Office of Legacy Management to environmental services firm RSI EnTech. The Oak Ridge, Tenn.-based company’s five-year indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract was announced April 1, following its award in […]

With the Energy Department temporarily doing only minimal physical work at the Hanford Site in Washington state due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it is apt to further delay award of a potential 10-year, $15 billion contract for tank waste management at the facility, a source said Wednesday. Many in industry expected the contract for managing […]

The Energy Department’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina on Wednesday confirmed its sixth case of COVID-19, but noted that three previously infected employees have recovered and returned to work. The three others “are being monitored for a return to work within a week,” according to the press release from DOE’s office at Savannah River. […]

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is expected by May 1 to rule on formal protests of two multibillion-dollar Energy Department contracts for the Hanford Site in Washington state, a source said Tuesday. To date, the COVID-19 pandemic has not forced schedule slippage in adjudication of protests to federal contract awards, and the GAO anticipates deciding […]

The primary cleanup vendor for the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state has lined up a subcontractor to stabilize three underground structures with grout, according to a Tuesday press release. Jacobs subsidiary CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation is issuing a $3.9 million subcontract to engineering firm White Shield, of Pasco, Wash., to design and apply […]

Vendors have until Thursday to file important paperwork for two significant procurements from the Energy Department Office of Environmental Management. Barring another extension, bids are due by 4 p.m. ET for the potential five-year, $250 million support services contract at the Paducah Site in Kentucky. Incumbent Swift & Staley’s existing five-year, $192 million landlord contract […]

The Energy Department has applied for renewal of the state permit to operate the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico. The New Mexico Environment Department issued the current Hazardous Waste Facility Permit to DOE and WIPP contractor Nuclear Waste Partnership in late November 2010. The state agency has said it has no timetable for […]

The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency said Friday it has no plans for a public hearing on the Department of Energy’s waste acceptance criteria for the On-Site Disposal Facility being built at the Portsmouth Site. The document is available online, an agency spokeswoman noted by email. “There is no requirement for a public hearing,” Heidi Griesmer […]

The Idaho congressional delegation last week urged Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette to prioritize preparation of spent nuclear fuel at the Idaho National Laboratory for shipment out of state by the end of 2034. The Energy Department should follow the U.S. Navy’s lead in getting spent fuel at INL “road ready,” the lawmakers said in a […]

A couple of smaller vendors to the nuclear industry say they are prepared to help clients withstand the current COVID-19 pandemic. UniTech Services Group, a provider of personal protective equipment for the nuclear industry in North America, last week predicted no “service disruptions” through the second quarter. “We’re going to take the right preventative measures […]

The Energy Department plans to retain the Jacobs-led incumbent cleanup contractor at the West Valley Demonstration Project in New York state through June 2023. The DOE Office of Environmental Management announced the 39-month extension for CH2M Hill BWXT West Valley (CHBWV) in a Thursday press release. The vendor is working under a $571 million contractor […]

The Moab Uranium Mill Tailings Remediation Action (UMTRA) project in Utah as of this week was the sole Energy Department Office of Environmental Management nuclear cleanup site maintaining normal operations during the COVID-19 crisis. The project’s two work sites are “fully operational” while following Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines to minimize the risk […]

Long-anticipated talks between the Energy Department and Washington state on remediation milestones at the Hanford Site could go forward remotely. “We are moving forward on holistic negotiations, but when they might start depends on the availability of the [federal] mediator, and how successful we are at kicking off the negotiations through remote communications,” Randy Bradbury, […]

The Energy Department on Thursday issued its draft request for proposals for a potential 10-year, $3.8 billion stand-alone contract for management of the Savannah River National Laboratory in South Carolina. The facility is currently run through the $14.8 billion contract held by Fluor-led Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) for management of DOE’s entire Savannah River […]

The current COVID-19 public health emergency, which has laid waste to scheduled events great and small, is delaying plans to sample for potential radiological contamination around a Pike County, Ohio, middle school near the Energy Department’s Portsmouth Site. Officials from the DOE Office of Environmental Management said during a March industry conference in Phoenix they […]

Federal and industry sources said this week they don’t foresee major environmental or public safety concerns emerging if the current level of reduced staffing at Energy Department nuclear cleanup sites due to COVID-19 lingers for months. Nearly all of the 16 remediation sites overseen by DOE’s Office of Environmental Management have temporarily reduced their workforce […]