Office of Environmental Management (EM)

A nuclear watchdog and the Washington, D.C.-based Energy Communities Alliance (ECA) differ on a Department of Energy proposal to ship up to 10,000 gallons of recycled wastewater from the Savannah River Site to a commercial low-level radioactive waste facility somewhere outside South Carolina. In December, DOE published an environmental assessment, and invited public comments, on […]

The Energy Department on Tuesday issued a draft request for proposals for the potential 10-year, $6.4 billion contract for the Idaho Cleanup Project. The Idaho National Laboratory cleanup contract includes operation of the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit, management and disposal of both low-level radioactive and transuranic waste, decommissioning old facilities, and spent fuel management of […]

Several of the 16 nuclear cleanup sites overseen by the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management would receive less money during the upcoming fiscal 2021 than they do in the current budget, under the latest spending proposal from the administration of President Donald Trump. Environmental remediation funding for the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee would […]

Key Pacific Northwest lawmakers in the House and Senate pledged this week to ensure the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state gets more than the nearly $2 billion proposed in President Donald Trump’s fiscal 2021 budget request. The two DOE offices that oversee cleanup and radioactive waste management at the former plutonium manufacturing complex […]

The Donald Trump administration on Monday requested $6.1 billion for the Energy Department Office of Environmental Management during fiscal 2021, which would be an 18% reduction from the $7.5 billion enacted by Congress in the current budget year. It also represents a $400 million slice from the $6.5 billion the White House sought last March […]

A transportation provider for the cleanup contractor at the Energy Department’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee was involved a January fender-bender while moving low-level radioactive waste along a highway in Arkansas. No injuries resulted and no radioactive soil spilled in the accident, according to a Feb.7 DOE accident report. The unidentified subcontractor hired by URS/CH2M […]

It could be nearly a decade before the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state ships more transuranic waste to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico, an Oregon official said last week. However, “eventually Hanford will be the predominant shipper of waste to WIPP,” Ken Niles, administrator for the Hanford and Nuclear […]

The Department of Energy last week appealed a $1 million fine filed by the Washington state Department of Ecology for allegedly withholding safety information regarding the Hanford Site. The notice of appeal was filed Feb. 6 with the state’s Pollution Control Hearings Board. The federal agency on Jan. 3 appealed the underlying violation. The first […]

A lawsuit claiming the Savannah River Site’s security contractor discriminated against a former employee should be dismissed because it was filed past the time allowed under the statute of limitations, a federal magistrate judge recommended. Judge Paige Gossett also noted on Jan. 30 that Marcialena Brown’s $3.5 million complaint covers both Centerra-SRS and two company […]

Energy Department Office of Environmental Management leaders on Thursday said three longtime supervisors are getting new roles. Dae Chung will become the new associate principal deputy assistant secretary for corporate services; Connie Flohr will head DOE’s Idaho Cleanup Project; and Candice Roberson will be the new senior site liaison coordinator within Environmental Management’s (EM) Field […]

Vendors have recently updated protests filed with the Government Accountability Office over two new contract awards, together potentially worth $14 billion, for work at the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state. Both additions were filed since Jan. 27 by corporate teams that days earlier filed protests against DOE awards for Hanford Site Mission Essential […]

The Energy Department and a contractor are gearing up to seek renewal of their 10-year state hazardous waste facility permit for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico. The current state permit was issued to DOE and WIPP management contractor Nuclear Waste Partnership on Nov. 30, 2010, becoming effective one month later, according to […]

While Amentum is a new company, it is far from a new face doing business for government nuclear and environmental agencies, a senior executive said Tuesday. The former AECOM Management Services division officially became Amentum on Jan. 31 with the closure of the $2.4 billion sale to affiliates of New York-based investment firms Lindsay Goldberg […]

Engineering and construction giant AECOM has completed the $2.4 billion sale of its Management Service business to an affiliate of two New York investment firms. Sale of the subsidiary to American Securities LLC and Lindsay Goldberg LLC closed on Jan. 31, according to an AECOM press release Monday. The new company, called Amentum, is now […]

The Energy Department on Tuesday issued a request for proposals (RFP) for a new small business set-aside contract to provide support services at the Paducah Site in Kentucky. Incumbent Swift & Staley’s five-year, $185 million contract expires in September. The DOE Office of Environmental Management said last month it could soon issue a solicitation for […]

WASHINGTON, D.C. – A hyper-partisan political climate, as reflected by the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump and the start of presidential primaries, reduces the chances of timely passage of appropriations bills to fund the government for fiscal 2021, issue watchers said last week. The Energy Department and other federal agencies are likely to be […]

Long-anticipated talks between the Department of Energy and the Washington state Department of Ecology on cleanup issues at the Hanford Site should finally begin by early March. The two sides have agreed on the scope of the talks, Ecology Nuclear Waste Program Manager Alex Smith said Wednesday during a meeting of the Hanford Advisory Board. […]

After the Energy Department picked a rival contractor for the major cleanup contract at the Hanford Site in Washington state, Jacobs is anxiously awaiting a decision on a 10-year award for management of the facility’s radioactive tank waste. Jacobs subsidiary CH2M is the incumbent on the Hanford Central Plateau remediation project, but a Jacobs-led team […]

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Under pressure from the state of Texas, the Energy Department’s nuclear cleanup office has agreed to relocate drums containing potentially combustible radioactive transuranic waste stored since 2014 at the privately operated Waste Control Specialists facility in Andrews County. “We are going to work to disposition the legacy TRU waste from Los Alamos […]

There has been no apparent movement by the Trump administration over the last year to fill vacant and expired terms on the federal Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board (NWTRB). The only change to the board in that time was the departure last May of another member, Linda Nozick, a civil and environmental engineering professor at […]

The Energy Department and contractor CH2M Plateau Remediation have finished taking down the main processing facility at the Hanford Site’s Plutonium Finishing Plant. With the building’s demolition, full removal of the Plutonium Finishing Plant should be finished this summer by the Jacobs subsidiary. Remaining work involves packaging and disposal of the rubble from the Plutonium […]

The Energy Department and contractor CH2M Plateau Remediation have finished taking down the main processing facility at the Hanford Site’s Plutonium Finishing Plant. With the building’s demolition, full removal of the Plutonium Finishing Plant should be finished this summer by the Jacobs subsidiary. Remaining work involves packaging and disposal of the rubble from the Plutonium […]

Long-anticipated talks between the Department of Energy and the Washington state Department of Ecology on cleanup issues at the Hanford Site should finally begin by early March. The two sides have agreed on the scope of the talks, Ecology Nuclear Waste Program Manager Alex Smith said Wednesday during a meeting of the Hanford Advisory Board. […]

After the Energy Department picked a rival contractor for the major cleanup contract at the Hanford Site in Washington state, Jacobs is anxiously awaiting a decision on a 10-year award for management of the facility’s radioactive tank waste. Jacobs subsidiary CH2M is the incumbent on the Hanford Central Plateau remediation project, but a Jacobs-led team […]

Vendors appear to have recently updated protests filed with the Government Accountability Office over two new contract awards, together potentially worth $14 billion, for work at the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state. Both additions were filed since Jan. 27 by corporate teams that days earlier filed protests against DOE awards for Hanford Site […]

Having successfully divested its government-contracting business, AECOM continues to look for a successor to Chairman and CEO Michael Burke. Burke, 56, announced in November that he plans to retire pending selection of a replacement. Speaking to financial analysts Monday during AECOM’s quarterly earnings call, he said a search committee is making good progress on finding […]

While Amentum is a new company, it is far from a new face doing business for government nuclear and environmental agencies, a senior executive said Tuesday. The former AECOM Management Services branch officially became Amentum on Friday with the closure of the $2.4 billion sale to affiliates of New York-based investment firms Lindsay Goldberg and […]

The Energy Department on Tuesday issued a request for proposals (RFP) for a new small business set-aside contract to provide support services at the Paducah Site in Kentucky. Incumbent Swift & Staley’s five-year, $185 million contract expires in September. The DOE Office of Environmental Management had said last month it could soon issue a solicitation […]

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Under pressure from the state of Texas, the Energy Department’s nuclear cleanup office has agreed to relocate drums containing potentially combustible radioactive transuranic waste stored since 2014 at the privately operated Waste Control Specialists facility in Andrews County. “We are going to work to disposition the legacy TRU waste from Los Alamos […]

Engineering and construction giant AECOM said Monday it has completed the $2.4 billion sale of its Management Service business to a joint venture of two New York investment firms. Sale of the subsidiary to American Securities LLC and Lindsay Goldberg LLC closed on Friday, according to an AECOM press release. The new company, which will […]