Office of Environmental Management (EM)

An advocacy group has asked the New Mexico Environment Department to hold public meetings soon on the Energy Department’s plan to build a new underground multi-use shaft into the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M. In an April 15 letter to the state agency, Southwest Research and Information Center Administrator Don Hancock said the […]

With the addition of Darcey Bolin as her chief of staff, Assistant Energy Secretary for Environmental Management Anne Marie White filled one of the few remaining openings in her organizational brain trust. Now five of the top six management posts under White are filled with permanent rather than “acting” officials, according to the April 1 […]

Assistant Energy Secretary for Environmental Management Anne Marie White says 90% of remediation at the East Tennessee Technology Park at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee should be finished in the upcoming federal budget year. The ETTP site enriched uranium for the U.S. nuclear deterrent, and later for commercial nuclear power plants, from 1945 through […]

The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) last recertification of the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico lasted more than three years. The protracted review followed the February 2014 underground radiological accident at the DOE transuranic waste disposal site near Carlsbad, N.M., according to April 16 slide presentation by EPA supervisory environmental scientist Thomas […]

The Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) expects in October to solicit bids for design and construction of a facility to treat liquid transuranic waste generated by future production of fissile nuclear-weapon cores, called plutonium pits, according to a recent procurement note. Triad National Security, which since November has managed the New Mexico facility for the National Nuclear […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) this week revealed new details about its proposed dilute-and-dispose plan to eliminate 34 metric tons of weapon-usable plutonium — including that the agency is close to beginning a yearlong environmental review of its new approach. The agency will release its draft dilute-and-dispose supplemental environmental impact statement “in the very […]

A two-time employee at CH2M is the new chief of staff for Energy Department Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management Anne Marie White. Darcey Bolin took the job in March, according to her LinkedIn profile and a new organizational chart posted April 1 on the Office of Environmental Management website. She has been with the Energy […]

The Department of Energy is seeking another five-year certification from the Environmental Protection Agency for its Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M. The WIPP Land Withdrawal Act requires EPA recertification every five years to ensure the site’s compliance with federal radioactive waste disposal requirements, according to an executive summary of the application. The package […]

Michael Graham, a principal vice president at Bechtel and general manager of its environmental, nuclear, security and environmental business line, is retiring this month. “After a distinguished, 40-year career, 23 of them with Bechtel, Michael Graham is retiring,” company spokesman Fred deSousa said by email Tuesday. “Michael has held senior environmental leadership roles at many […]

Watchers of the Department of Energy’s defense nuclear waste and weapons budgets will endure two more weeks of added uncertainty about those programs after Congress blew town for an extended spring break without making progress on a deal to avert automatic spending cuts that will kick in on Oct. 1. The House did make an […]

The newly reopened Radioactive Assay Nondestructive Testing (RANT) facility at the Energy Department’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico has made its first shipment of transuranic material to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in nearly five years. Prior to last week, there had been no TRU waste loading at the facility since May 2014. […]

The Idaho Department of Environmental Quality is reviewing Fluor Idaho’s plan to restart sludge waste repackaging at the site where four drums of radioactive waste overheated and blew off their lids at the Energy Department’s Idaho National Laboratory a year ago. The state agency received formal submittal of the corrective action plan April 11, the […]

Mission Support Alliance (MSA) has asked a federal judge to dismiss on summary judgment a lawsuit brought by 13 current and former fire captains or platoon sergeants at Hanford who are seeking overtime pay for time routinely worked beyond 40 hours a week. The case was filed against the Hanford support services contractor in April […]

Idaho-based Energy Department contractor North Wind Group has appointed Jim Furr as its chief information officer. Furr will remain president of subsidiary North Wind Services, the company said in a March press release. North Wind said it is revamping information technology to support growth, data management, and cybersecurity. Furr has been with North Wind for […]

The Energy Department’s Office of Inspector General would not confirm or deny this week whether it is investigating a regional organization in New Mexico that advocates for local governments around the Los Alamos National Laboratory. The office does not comment on the existence of any “investigative matters,” the DOE IG’s Felicia Jones said by telephone […]

After a fraud case resulting in prison time for a subcontractor, the Energy Department’s Office of Inspector General recommended URS-CH2M Oak Ridge (UCOR) strengthen financial audits of firms employed to support cleanup of the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee. The manager of the DOE Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, Jay Mullis, agreed more in-depth […]

EnergySolutions said Thursday it has finished on-site remediation of the Southwest Experimental Fast Oxide Reactor (SEFOR) near Fayetteville, Ark. “The application of the EnergySolutions Decommissioning Management Model at SEFOR produced results that exceeded our expectations,” EnergySolutions Chief Nuclear Officer John Sauger said in a press release. “A site that pioneered research for reactivity control in […]

In a reversal, the current Energy Department contractor will start tearing down the Main Plant Process Building at the West Valley Demonstration Project in New York state. The Energy Department said earlier this year the demolition would be conducted under a successor to the current site cleanup contract held by CH2M HILL BWXT West Valley […]

The Department of Energy is seeking another five-year certification from the Environmental Protection Agency for its Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M. The WIPP Land Withdrawal Act requires DOE to seek recertification every five years to ensure the site’s compliance with federal radioactive waste disposal requirements, according to an executive summary of the application. […]

EnergySolutions said Thursday it has finished on-site remediation of the Southwest Experimental Fast Oxide Reactor (SEFOR) near Fayetteville, Ark. “The application of the EnergySolutions Decommissioning Management Model at SEFOR produced results that exceeded our expectations,” EnergySolutions Chief Nuclear Officer John Sauger said in a press release. “A site that pioneered research for reactivity control in […]

The Idaho Department of Environmental Quality is reviewing Fluor Idaho’s plan to restart sludge waste repackaging at the site where four drums of radioactive waste overheated and blew off their lids at the Energy Department’s Idaho National Laboratory a year ago. The state agency received formal submittal of the corrective action plan last Thursday and […]

Michael Graham, a principal vice president at Bechtel and general manager of its environmental, nuclear, security and environmental business line, is retiring this month. “After a distinguished, 40-year career, 23 of them with Bechtel, Michael Graham is retiring,” company spokesman Fred deSousa said by email Tuesday. “Michael has held senior environmental leadership roles at many […]

The Energy Department’s Office of Inspector General would not confirm or deny this week whether it is investigating a regional organization in New Mexico that advocates for local governments around the Los Alamos National Laboratory. The office does not comment on the existence of any “investigative matters,” the DOE IG’s Felicia Jones said by telephone […]

A bipartisan pair of senators last week introduced a bill to tighten ethics and transparency requirements for members of federal advisory committees: expert groups that advise federal agencies including the Department of Energy. The bill from Sens. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) would require, among other things, that agencies creating and maintaining such committees openly […]

Watchers of the Department of Energy’s defense nuclear waste and weapons budgets will endure two more weeks of added uncertainty about those programs after Congress blew town for an extended spring break without making progress on a deal to avert automatic spending cuts that will kick in on Oct. 1. The House did make an […]

In a reversal, the current Energy Department contractor will start tearing down the Main Plant Process Building at the West Valley Demonstration Project in New York state . The Energy Department said earlier this year the demolition would be conducted under a successor to the current site cleanup contract held by CH2M HILL BWXT West […]

Idaho-based Energy Department contractor North Wind Group has appointed Jim Furr as its chief information officer. Furr will remain president of subsidiary North Wind Services, the company said in a March press release. The company said it is revamping information technology to support growth, data management, and cyber security. Furr has been with North Wind […]

An April 11 article in Weapons Complex Morning Briefing should have said that: Fluor Idaho holds the five-year, $1.6 billion Idaho Cleanup Project contract, which runs through May 2021; and Spectra Tech has a five-year, $41 million contract for work at Nuclear Regulatory Commission licensed facilities at Idaho National Laboratories, through March 2021.

After a fraud case resulting in prison time for a subcontractor, the Energy Department’s Office of Inspector General recommends URS-CH2M Oak Ridge (UCOR) strengthen financial audits of firms employed to support cleanup of the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee. The manager of the DOE Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, Jay Mullis, agreed more in-depth […]

The Energy Department is extending the deadline for bids on the paramilitary security services contract at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina from April 22 until May 7. In a question-and-answer exchange posted online April 5, a prospective contractor asked for a two-week extension, noting the pre-bid meeting and tour on March 26, “coupled with Good […]