Office of Environmental Management (EM)

The U.S. Government Accountability Office said Tuesday the Department of Energy should provide better documentation of how it manages the payments in lieu of taxes (PILT) program for communities around nuclear facilities. The Energy Department handed out $23 million in PILT revenue to communities near a dozen nuclear laboratory and cleanup sites in fiscal 2017. […]

Engineering, construction, and procurement giant Fluor continues to experience rough waters a month after announcing plans to sell its government services branch, which includes its U.S. Department of Energy contracts. For its third quarter ended Sept. 30, Fluor reported a net loss from continuing operations of $782 million, or $5.57 per diluted share, compared to […]

Engineering, construction, and procurement giant Fluor continues to experience rough waters a month after announcing plans to sell its government services branch, which includes its U.S. Department of Energy contracts. For its third quarter ended Sept. 30, Fluor reported a net loss from continuing operations of $782 million, or $5.57 per diluted share, compared to […]

Two regulatory agencies in California stress the U.S. Department of Energy must receive state approval before it can legally tear down 18 buildings within Area IV of the Santa Susana Field Laboratory cleanup site in Ventura County. The Energy Department last month issued a record of decision formalizing its intention to demolish the remaining structures […]

The U.S. Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) wants information from the Energy Department by mid-November on potentially flammable radioactive waste storage drums at sites other than the Idaho National Laboratory. To date, DOE has only partly provided the federal nuclear health-and-safety watchdog with requested information regarding its review of an April 2018 incident in […]

The U.S. Government Accountability Office said Tuesday the Department of Energy should provide better documentation of how it manages the payments in lieu of taxes (PILT) program for communities around nuclear facilities. The Energy Department handed out $23 million in PILT revenue to communities near a dozen nuclear laboratory and cleanup sites in fiscal 2017. […]

U.S. Rep. Katie Hill (D-Calif.), who represents the congressional district that includes the Santa Susana Field Laboratory cleanup site, resigned from Congress Sunday days after the House Ethics Committee launched an investigation into whether she violated congressional rules. The panel announced plans Oct. 23 to investigate allegations that Hill engaged in a sexual relationship with […]

The planned release of a draft record of decision (ROD) for a new 2.2-million-cubic yard landfill for the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee has been delayed again, with the new target release date set for Dec. 19, a U.S. Energy Department spokesperson said Monday by email. The document had most recently been scheduled to drop […]

U.S. Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.), a longtime supporter of cleaning up the U.S. Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state, said Monday he would not run for re-election in 2020. “So, I will not seek re-election to the U.S. House of Representatives, nor election to any other office, but instead I will close the public […]

Less than a month after being awarded $1.5 million from a federal jury for discrimination during a rehiring process, a former employee of the Savannah River Site’s liquid waste contractor is seeking an additional $1 million in compensation. That amount represents the pay she would have received from the time she was terminated in 2013 […]

Texas-based Fluor will discuss its quarterly financial performance Thursday for the first time since announcing its plans last month to divest its government contracting business. It’s also the engineering and construction company’s first quarterly review since another Energy Department contractor, AECOM, said earlier this month it has agreed to sell its government contracting branch to […]

A National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine panel will hold a day-long data gathering session Thursday in Richland, Wash., on alternatives to vitrifying all low-activity radioactive waste at the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state. The nearly-complete Waste Treatment Plant (WTP) being built by Bechtel National lacks capacity to convert all 56 million […]

Mechanical and industrial contractor Intermech will build a dry storage area for highly radioactive cesium and strontium now stored underwater at the U.S. Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state. The North Carolina-based company on Oct. 17 received a $5.5 million subcontract from Hanford cleanup contractor CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co. Construction of the dry […]

An independent opinion that could help determine the outcome of a federal lawsuit claiming a Savannah River Site contractor overcharged the federal government by $5 million is still being decided after nearly three years, according to a status report recently filed in the case. The joint status report was submitted by the U.S. Department of Energy and […]

Atkins Nuclear Secured Holdings has won a 13-month extension to its ongoing research contract for the U.S. Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state. The SNC-Lavalin Group subsidiary said Monday it is providing technology support testing for the Hanford Office of River Protection in preparation for vitrification of low-activity radioactive waste at the Waste Treatment […]

Startup of the Savannah River Site’s $2.3 billion Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF) has been pushed back to the first quarter of next year, following initial efforts to begin operations in December 2018 and a more recent target of December 2019. Meanwhile, Parsons said it has received an undisclosed amount of back pay owed by […]

Both AECOM and the investment group planning to buy its government contracting business could call off the deal if it takes too long to complete, according to a recent financial filing. AECOM plans to sell its Management Services business to Maverick Purchaser Sub LLC, a joint venture formed by investment firms American Securities and Lindsay […]

The leader of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) plans to introduce a stripped-down version of the fiscal 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) next week as a last-ditch effort to push colleagues to reach consensus on a number of partisan issues while the conference bill flounders. “This is sincere, but this is only in […]

The U.S. Department of Energy and the Washington state Department of Ecology on Wednesday kicked off talks they hope will result in a mutually agreeable future plan to address key issues in management of radioactive tank waste at the Hanford Site. An Energy Department spokesperson confirmed the talks were underway. “The Department appreciates the discussions […]

The U.S. Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management should revamp its 2017 nuclear cleanup policy to make its remediation decisions more risk-informed, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO). Reports issued since the 1990s by the GAO and DOE’s Office of Inspector General, among others, urged the nuclear cleanup office, when making decisions about remediation, […]

The new method used by the U.S. Energy Department to calculate waste-disposal volumes at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., is significantly increasing the amount of radioactive material that can be interred, an advocacy group says. Last December, the New Mexico Environment Department approved a modification to DOE’s hazardous waste permit for the […]

Solutient Technologies is near final approval to start taking air and dust samples at Zahn’s Corner Middle School and other properties near the U.S. Energy Department’s Portsmouth Site in Pike County, Ohio, in order to check on potential radiological contamination. In September, the Canton, Ohio-based radiological services and remediation specialist submitted its final scope of […]

Leidos-led Mission Support Alliance (MSA) appears set to remain in place another six months, through May 25, 2020, as the support services contractor at the U.S. Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state. The department’s Office of Environmental Management cited the timeline in an email sent Monday to employees at the Hanford Site. The current […]

President Donald Trump said he plans to nominate Deputy Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette to replace Rick Perry as head of the agency responsible for U.S. nuclear weapons and Cold War nuclear-waste cleanup. Brouillette has been Perry's deputy secretary for just over two years. When Trump first nominated him, a source said the longtime insurance […]

The U.S. Department of Energy and the Washington state Department of Ecology on Wednesday kicked off talks they hope will result in a mutually agreeable future plan to address key issues in management of radioactive tank waste at the Hanford Site. While scant details were available at deadline, a DOE spokesperson confirmed the talks were […]

Both AECOM and the investment group planning to buy its government contracting business could call off the deal if it takes too long to complete, according to a recent financial filing. AECOM plans to sell its Management Services business to Maverick Purchaser Sub LLC, a joint venture formed by investment firms American Securities and Lindsay […]

Atkins Nuclear Secured Holdings has won a 13-month extension to its ongoing research contract for the U.S. Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state. The SNC-Lavalin Group subsidiary said Monday it is providing technology support testing for the Hanford Office of River Protection in preparation for vitrification of low-activity radioactive waste at the Waste Treatment […]

One local mayor is throwing his support behind the Department of Energy’s recent move to consolidate operations at the Hanford Site in Washington state under one manager. “It’s the natural evolution of things,” Richland Mayor Bob Thompson said in a telephone interview. He spoke a week after Energy Secretary Rick Perry announced that Brian Vance […]

The U.S. Energy Department and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have extended the public comment period from 30 days to 60 days for the next stage of remediation of the 100-BC Area of the Hanford Site in Washington state. The agencies said in a Monday email announcement they are pushing back the comment deadline […]

Mechanical and industrial contractor Intermech will build a dry storage area for highly radioactive cesium and strontium now stored underwater at the U.S. Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state. The North Carolina-based company on Thursday received a $5.5 million subcontract from Hanford cleanup contractor CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co. Construction of the dry storage […]