Office of Environmental Management (EM)

The Department of Energy has sent its first shipment of remote-handled transuranic waste since 2009 from the Savannah River Site in South Carolina to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) using a new shipping container. Remote-handled waste is more radioactive than contact-handled transuranic (TRU) waste, which accounts for the vast majority of TRU waste disposed […]

The Department of Energy’s cleanup contractor for Los Alamos National Laboratory recently drilled a borehole more than 1,000-feet deep for a new groundwater monitoring well to help keep tabs on a hexavalent chromium plume. DOE’s Office of Environmental Management announced Sept. 1 that legacy cleanup contractor Newport News Nuclear BWXT-Los Alamos (N3B) had finished drilling […]

Although the maintenance program at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site tank farms and liquid waste facilities is satisfactory, there are a couple of issues that demand attention, according to a recent DOE report. The facilities at the complex are overseen by BWX Technologies-led contractor Hanford Tank Waste Operations & Closure (H2C), which needs to […]

Although the maintenance program at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site tank farms and liquid waste facilities is satisfactory, there are a couple of issues that demand attention, according to a recent DOE report. The facilities at the complex are overseen by BWX Technologies-led contractor Hanford Tank Waste Operations & Closure (H2C), which needs to […]

The Department of Energy’s cleanup contractor for Los Alamos National Laboratory recently drilled a borehole more than 1,000-feet deep for a new groundwater monitoring well to help keep tabs on a hexavalent chromium plume. DOE’s Office of Environmental Management announced Sept. 1 that legacy cleanup contractor Newport News Nuclear BWXT-Los Alamos (N3B) had finished drilling […]

The Department of Energy has sent its first shipment of remote-handled transuranic waste since 2009 from the Savannah River Site in South Carolina to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) using a new shipping container. Remote-handled waste is more radioactive than contact-handled transuranic (TRU) waste, which accounts for the vast majority of TRU waste disposed […]

Here are events related to nuclear matters that Exchange Monitor staff are tracking:  September: 9: Meeting (hybrid): Nevada Site-Specific Advisory Board meets starting at 4 p.m. Pacific Time at the Molasky Corporate Center, 15th Floor Conference Room, 100 North City Parkway, Las Vegas, NV 89106.  15: Workshop: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission holds its annual data […]

Michael Mikolanis, manager of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Savannah River Field Office, will move back to Los Alamos in September to lead the agency’s field office there, local publication Aiken Standard reported. Mikolanis will succeed Ted Wyka, who retired in June after five years as manager of the NNSA Los Alamos Field Office, according […]

Following an earlier glitch, the Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management has set a Sept. 10 deadline for interested parties to respond to a Request for Information (RFI) on transporting transuranic waste to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico. DOE “has identified a technical issue affecting the WIPPTransportation@cbfo.doe.gov email inbox that […]

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a report publicly issued last week it recommends the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) take steps to improve a system used to monitor contractor performance. A provision in the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act calls for GAO to “examine EM’s oversight of contractors’ assurance systems,” […]

The Department of Energy’s recent decision to cut the size of the Hanford Advisory Board (HAB) in Washington state by nearly half would bring the membership more in line with other nuclear cleanup site advisory panels, based on a review by Exchange Monitor. The DOE Office of Environmental Management (EM) announced last month it would […]

Benton County, Wash., where the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site is located, is one of five counties in the state added this week to Gov. Bob Ferguson’s (D) wildfire emergency proclamation. The others are Columbia, Grant, Kittitas, and Whitman counties, according to Ferguson’s Aug. 31 press release. Altogether 12 counties and three tribal nations are […]

The Department of Energy’s recent decision to cut the size of the Hanford Advisory Board (HAB) in Washington state by nearly half would bring the membership more in line with other nuclear cleanup site advisory panels, based on a review by Exchange Monitor. The DOE Office of Environmental Management (EM) announced last month it would […]

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a report publicly issued last week it recommends the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) take steps to improve a system used to monitor contractor performance. A provision in the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act calls for GAO to “examine EM’s oversight of contractors’ assurance systems,” […]

Following an earlier glitch, the Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management has set a Sept. 10 deadline for interested parties to respond to a Request for Information (RFI) on transporting transuranic waste to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico. DOE “has identified a technical issue affecting the WIPPTransportation@cbfo.doe.gov email inbox that […]

A fifth, 30-million-gallon salt waste disposal unit has been cleared for operations at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site, reflecting the increase in waste treatment operations the site has seen in recent years.  DOE announced Tuesday that Saltstone Disposal Unit (SDU) 10 can begin receiving decontaminated salt waste. Construction of the unit was completed […]

The Department of Energy surprised the Hanford Advisory Board (HAB) in Richland, Wash., this month when it unveiled plans to shrink the number of board members and shift appointment authority to the federal government. In an Aug 12 press release, DOE announced plans to “strengthen” and “modernize” the HAB, partly by cutting the federal advisory […]

The Department of Energy and a handful of its contractors are gearing up to receive a high burnup research cask shipment at the Idaho National Laboratory in the coming year. The high burnup research cask will be shipped out of Dominion Energy’s North Anna Power Station in Mineral, Va. DOE said last June it will […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management has promoted Mindy Toothman to be deputy manager at the Carlsbad Field Office in New Mexico. In the new role, Toothman will assist DOE Carlsbad Manager Mark Bollinger in overseeing operations at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), which is the nation’s only deep disposal site for […]

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico received 17 transuranic (TRU) waste shipments in July, after shipments were paused in May due to issues with the plant’s underground hoists.  For comparison, WIPP received 48 TRU waste shipments in July 2025. The facility received 23 shipments in May 2026, before the […]

A year after a new off-site research center opened, Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) management is planning to put robotics, artificial intelligence (AI) and other technologies into motion to reduce the Department of Energy’s $500 billion environmental cleanup projection. In an interview with Exchange Monitor, SRNL Director Johney Green said the first year of operation […]

The technology company Nvidia said Monday it has reached a lease agreement for “land, power and shell” or LPS facilities for an artificial intelligence (AI) data center at the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site in Piketon, Ohio. “Today, we are partnering with SB Energy to secure LPS capacity at the exceptional PORTS-Pike Technology Campus in […]

The Department of Energy and state of Washington plan a public meeting Sept. 2 on expanding cesium-removal facilities for liquid tank waste at the Hanford Site in Richland, Wash. DOE’s Office of Environmental Management kicked off a 60-day public comment period Aug. 14 on the planned Advanced Modular Pretreatment System (AMPS), which would double the […]

The New Mexico Environment Department rejected U.S. Environmental Protection Agency concerns about proposed changes to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) hazardous waste permit, including a warning that the overhaul could jeopardize the state’s authority to run its federally accredited program.  In an Aug. 11 response to EPA Region 6 Administrator Scott Mason, NMED defended […]

The Department of Energy’s Hanford Site has submitted two permit modification requests to Washington State’s Department of Ecology that aim to speed cleanup and save funding, DOE said Monday. According to DOE’s press release, DOE contractor Bechtel National Incorporated’s request would allow tank-side treated low-activity waste from Hanford’s AP-106 to be sent to the Effluent […]

A joint venture between Navarro Research & Engineering and Los Alamos Technical Associates (LATA) has been awarded a subcontract for waste management at the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Y-12 Nuclear Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn. The contract, awarded by Y-12’s Bechtel-led prime Consolidated Nuclear Security (CNS) could be worth up to $160 million […]

The federal government has concluded certain tank farm waste in the 200 West Area of the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Richland, Wash., can be treated as low-level radioactive waste. DOE’s Office of Environmental Management said in a Friday press release that a Waste Incidental to Reprocessing (WIR) determination has been made for treated […]

The Department of Energy contractor that runs the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) said on Wednesday the underground transuranic waste repository has resumed operations after an unplanned outage of nearly two months caused by problems with two aging hoists and other complications.  Ryan Flynn, deputy program manager for Bechtel-led Salado Isolation Mining Contractors, told a […]

Smoke from regional wildfires caused the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Richland, Wash., to face an air quality alert most of the week.  The National Weather Service forecast for the region had an air quality alert in effect most of hte past week for Kennewick, Pasco and Richland as well as the counties that […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management plans to keep on Amentum-led Four Rivers Nuclear Partnership as the remediation contractor at the Paducah Site in Kentucky through September 2030. In an online notice of intent posted this week, DOE’s Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office said it plans to modify the existing Deactivation and Remediation contract to […]