Office of Environmental Management (EM)

The House of Representatives on Wednesday passed its first fiscal 2020 appropriations bill without any discussion of or changes to its $7.2 billion spending proposal for the Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup office. After several days of debate, House members voted 226-203 in favor of a “minibus” appropriations bill that would fund the Energy Department, […]

The Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico received 115 shipments of transuranic defense waste during the first five months of 2019. Based on 21.5 calendar weeks through May 31, that is an average of 5.4 shipments per week. By contrast, the facility received 138 shipments for the first five months of […]

The White House wants federal agencies including the Department of Energy to kill off some of their Federal Advisory Committees by September, according to a presidential order published June 14. Federal Advisory Committees are nominally independent, government-chartered groups that provide advice to U.S. agencies. Either the president or Congress can require an agency to create […]

The Department of Energy proposes to pay for five environmental projects valued at just over $1 million to work off some of the penalties assessed by the state of Idaho over the agency’s failure to start treating sodium-bearing waste at the Idaho National Laboratory. The rest of the $2.19 million penalty incurred for the 12 […]

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) said this week he has been unable to persuade the White House to take a direct interest in addressing findings of off-site radiological contamination near the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth cleanup project in his state. “I’ve begged the Department of Energy and I tried to get the president of the United […]

AECOM plans next year to spin off the business that contracts with the U.S. Departments of Energy and Defense into a separate publicly traded company. The Los Angeles-based infrastructure multinational said Monday its Board of Directors unanimously signed off on the separation, which is expected to be completed in the second half of 2020. The […]

The House of Represenatives on Wednesday approved a fiscal 2020 spending bill that would provide more funding than requested by the White House to clean up nuclear weapons sites and less funding that requested for active weapons programs. The Democrat-led House approved the bill on an essentially party line vote of 226-203. The so-called minibus spending […]

The House on Wednesday approved a 2020 spending bill that would provide more funding that sought to clean up shuttered nuclear weapons sites, and less funding that requested for active weapons programs. The Democrat-led House approved the bill on an essentially party line vote of 226 to 203. The so-called minibus spending measure funds the […]

Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) said this week he has been unable to persuade the White House to take a direct interest in addressing findings of off-site radiological contamination near the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth cleanup project in his state. “I’ve begged the Department of Energy and I tried to get the president of the United […]

The Energy Department proposes to pay for five environmental projects valued at just over $1 million to work off some of the penalties assessed by the state of Idaho over the agency’s failure to start treating sodium-bearing waste at the Idaho National Laboratory. The rest of the $2.19 million penalty incurred for the 12 months […]

The White House wants federal agencies including the Department of Energy to kill off one-third of their Federal Advisory Committees by September, according to a presidential order published Friday. Federal Advisory Committees are nominally independent, government-chartered groups that provide advice to federal agencies. Either the president or Congress can require an agency to create a […]

A defense policy bill unveiled last week by the Senate Armed Services Committee would require the Department of Energy to report to Congress on its progress in closing radioactive waste storage tanks at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina and the Idaho National Laboratory. The committee is also looking for a report from the […]

It will take at least three months longer than expected for a new salt waste treatment method at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site to complete a demonstration period that began in January. That is because the method, known as tank closure cesium removal (TCCR), has had difficulties dissolving the salt waste, a DOE […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) has set the new date for a public hearing on two radioactive waste drum accidents in the Energy Department weapons complex. The hearing, originally set for last month, is now scheduled for noon to 4 p.m. Thursday, June 20, at DNFSB headquarters in Washington D.C. The hearing was […]

After a former Los Alamos National Laboratory scientist was indicted for allegedly lying about contacts with the Chinese government, the Energy Department prohibited its employees and contractors from participating in certain foreign “talent recruitment programs.” Deputy Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette approved that prohibition Friday by signing DOE Order 486.1. The order bars agency employees and […]

The Energy Department withdrew its state permit application for the Hanford Site Test Bed Initiative last week after the Washington state Department of Ecology sought federal-state negotiations over tank waste remediation. In a May 29 letter, Ecology Director Maia Bellon told Anne Marie White, the departing DOE assistant secretary for environmental management, it is time […]

An article in the June 7 issue of Weapons Complex Monitor misspelled the name of Mark Senderling, the Energy Department Office of Environmental Management deputy assistant secretary for waste and materials management. The article should also have reported that the agency, under the National Environmental Policy Act, has not decided whether certain high-level radioactive waste at […]

The legacy cleanup vendor at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico is seeking a subcontractor to excavate several old concrete slabs and provide related deactivation and decommissioning work at Technical Area 21. Newport News Nuclear BWXT-Los Alamos (N3B) expects to sign a firm-fixed-price contract with the subcontractor that will be chosen based on […]

The Department of Energy acknowledged last week that a “minor miscalculation” by contractor Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth resulted in the under-reporting of doses of some radioactive contaminants for many years around the agency’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio. That said, the radioactive dose rates “remain far below” the point of being a health and safety concern, DOE Undersecretary […]

The Department of Energy formally published its reinterpretation of the definition of high-level radioactive waste (HLW) in Monday’s Federal Register. As telegraphed for months, and officially announced on June 5, DOE now interprets that the existing HLW definition in the Atomic Energy Act and the Nuclear Waste Policy Act means not all wastes from spent […]

A federal court on Thursday upheld a Washington state law making it easier for employees of contractors at the Energy Department’s Hanford Site to qualify for workers’ compensation benefits. State Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced the ruling by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington. The U.S. Justice Department challenged the law […]

The House Armed Services Committee on Thursday proposed a nearly $5.6 billion cap on defense environmental remediation spending at the Department of Energy for fiscal 2020, about $400 less than recommended by the lower chamber’s Appropriations Committee. The National Defense Authorization Act sets policy and annual spending limits for the largest funding tranche of legacy […]

William “Ike” White will begin managing the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) effective Monday. White for now is taking the title of senior adviser at EM, following the resignation of Anne Marie White about 15 months into her tenure as assistant energy secretary for environmental management. Ike White could eventually be named […]

The Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) still hopes in coming months to award several major contracts, an agency procurement official said Wednesday. The potential $6 billion Hanford Mission Essential Services contract for the Hanford Site in Washington state could be announced within the next couple months, according to Norbert Doyle, EM deputy assistant […]

The House Armed Services Committee this morning approved its version of the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) after about 20 hours of debate. The annual defense policy bill, now headed to the House floor, authorizes about 4% less funding than sought for active nuclear weapons programs managed by the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear […]

The Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) still hopes in coming months to award several major contracts, an agency procurement official said Wednesday. The potential $6 billion Hanford Mission Essential Services contract for the Hanford Site in Washington state could be announced within the next couple months, according to Norbert Doyle, EM deputy assistant […]

The legacy cleanup vendor at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico is seeking a subcontractor to excavate several old concrete slabs and provide related deactivation and decommissioning work at Technical Area 21. Newport News Nuclear BWXT-Los Alamos (N3B) expects to sign a firm-fixed-price contract with the subcontractor that will be chosen based on […]

The Energy Facility Contractors Group (EFCOG), which represents companies that do business within the Energy Department nuclear cleanup and weapons complex, picked new officers during its annual meeting last week in Washington, D.C. Michael Lempke, president of the Nuclear and Environmental Group at Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Technical Solutions division, was selected as EFCOG’s new chairman, […]

The Department of Energy on Friday issued a request for quote for a small business to administer the workers’ compensation program for contractor employees at the Hanford Site in Washington state. The agency plans to award a firm-fixed-price contract for up to five years for workers’ compensation support. Washington-based Penser North America holds the current […]

The Department of Energy acknowledged last week that a “minor miscalculation” by contractor Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth resulted in the under-reporting of doses of some radioactive contaminants for many years around the agency’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio. That said, the radioactive dose rates “remain far below” the point of being a health and safety concern, Undersecretary of […]