Office of Environmental Management (EM)
DOE’s Office of Environmental Management runs the cleanup of Cold War nuclear weapons production sites, the largest environmental remediation program in the world. Coverage tracks EM budgets, contract awards, tank waste treatment, and site closure milestones across Hanford, Savannah River, Oak Ridge, Idaho, Portsmouth, and Paducah.
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Contracts & Procurement
Wrap Up: Retired AECOM Exec Honored by S.C. Governor
Todd Wright, who retired last August as vice president and general manager of AECOM’s Aiken, S.C.-based nuclear and environment business, has received South Carolina’s highest civilian award. South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster (R) formally inducted Wright into the Order of the Palmetto during a ceremony in the governor’s office last week. The award is given […]
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High-Level & Tank Waste
DOE Audit: Quicker Decision Needed on Savannah River Waste Storage Space
The U.S. Department of Energy will likely need an updated strategy sooner than anticipated for temporary storage of treated radioactive liquid waste at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, according to the DOE Inspector General’s Office. The department’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) did not properly assess the reliability of its strategy to store […]
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Transuranic Waste
ECA Presses High-Level Waste Issue With Congress
While the Energy Communities Alliance (ECA) hopes the Department of Energy will readjust its classification of high-level radioactive waste, it has not forgotten the federal agency still owes Congress a report on the issue. The ECA asked the House and Senate Armed Services committees on Tuesday to “attempt to require” compliance with a provision of the […]
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Contracts & Procurement
BWXT Earnings Up 50 Percent in 2018 on Federal Work
BWX Technologies, of Lynchburg, Va., said Monday it capped 2018 with better than 50-percent earnings growth after clinching more nuclear naval, environmental cleanup, and uranium downblending work from the Department of Energy. Company-wide net earnings came in at over $225 million in 2018, up more than 50 percent from just under $150 million in 2017. […]
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Contracts & Procurement
Jury Picked in Employee Case Against SRNS
The management and operations contractor for the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site could be headed to trial near the end of the year over a federal negligence lawsuit filed in November by a site employee. A scheduling order filed Monday in U.S. District Court for South Carolina outlines tasks that must be completed by […]
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Contracts & Procurement
GAO Finds Energy Department Contractor Reviews Need More Cost Data
The U.S. Department of Energy could do a better job of monitoring how its contractors spend billions of dollars in federal money, the Government Accountability Office said Tuesday. A new GAO report recommends DOE entities, including the Office of Environmental Management and the semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration, put more emphasis on how management and […]
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Contracts & Procurement
Savannah River Liquid Waste Manager to Get Contract Extension
The current liquid waste management contractor for the Savannah River Site in South Carolina will be kept on past the expiration of its current contract extension on March 31, the Department of Energy said Wednesday, a day after announcing it had canceled the procurement for a follow-on contract. AECOM-led Savannah River Remediation is working under […]
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Vitrification & Grout
West Valley Contractor Has Hauled Away All Vitrification Material
Department of Energy contractor CH2M HILL BWXT West Valley (CHBWV) has removed virtually all the waste generated from demolition of the vitrification plant at the West Valley Demonstration Project in New York state. About 460 containers of debris have been sent from the site at the town of Ashford to off-site facilities, the Energy Department […]
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Contracts & Procurement
Energy Department Pulls the Plug on SRS Liquid Waste Solicitation
The Department of Energy will not reissue a 10-year, multibillion-dollar contract for liquid waste management at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina initially awarded in October 2017. The department said Tuesday afternoon it was canceling the solicitation and that current contractor Savannah River Remediation will remain on the job. The AECOM-team is currently operating […]
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Contracts & Procurement
Energy Department Contractor Reviews Lack Cost Data, GAO Says
The U.S. Department of Energy could do a better job of monitoring how its contractors spend billions of dollars in federal money, the Government Accountability Office said Tuesday. The new GAO report recommends DOE entities, including the Office of Environmental Management and the semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration, put more emphasis on how management and […]
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High-Level & Tank Waste
ECA Pursues High-Level Waste Issue With Congress
While the Energy Communities Alliance (ECA) hopes the Department of Energy will change what it considers high-level radioactive waste, it has not forgotten the federal agency still owes Congress a report on the issue. The ECA asked the House and Senate Armed Services committees on Tuesday to “attempt to require” compliance with a provision of […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
Full Appeals Court Hearing Sought in Hanford Pension Lawsuit
Retirees of former Hanford Site contractor Lockheed Martin Services Inc. have petitioned the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit to hear their appeal of a U.S. Court of Federal Claims decision in a class action lawsuit against the Department of Energy. In early February, a three-judge panel of the appeals court upheld […]
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Transuranic Waste
Idaho Missed Deadline for Moving TRU Waste to WIPP
A Department of Energy official acknowledged Thursday the Idaho National Laboratory missed its Dec. 31, 2018, deadline to move defense-related transuranic waste to the federal disposal facility in New Mexico. Under a 1995 settlement between DOE, Idaho, and the U.S. Navy over in-state nuclear waste storage, the Energy Department was supposed to ship 65,000 cubic […]
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High-Level & Tank Waste
DOE Audit: Earlier Decision Needed on Savannah River Waste Storage Space
The U.S. Department of Energy will likely need an updated strategy sooner than anticipated for temporary storage of treated radioactive liquid waste at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, according to the DOE Inspector General’s Office. The department’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) did not properly assess the reliability of its strategy to store […]
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Contracts & Procurement
Retired AECOM Executive Honored by South Carolina Governor
Todd Wright, who retired last August as vice president and general manager of AECOM’s Aiken, S.C.-based nuclear and environment business, has received South Carolina’s highest civilian award. South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster (R) formally inducted Wright into the Order of the Palmetto during a ceremony in the governor’s office last week. The award is given […]
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Contracts & Procurement
BWXT Prepares 4Q Earnings Report
Lynchburg, Va.-based BWX Technologies will file its fourth-quarter 2018 earnings report after the market closes today, and will discuss the results with financial analysts in an 8:30 a.m. Tuesday conference call. The earnings call, for the quarter ended Dec. 31, will be webcast. During the third quarter of 2018, BWXT reported revenue of $426 million, […]
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Contracts & Procurement
Savannah River Liquid Waste Award Slips Off Procurement Schedule
The Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management issued its latest procurement schedule on Wednesday, but it lists no timeline for awarding the long-awaited liquid waste management contract for the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. The multibillion-dollar re-award is now listed as “TBD,” or to be determined. When the procurement schedule was updated in November, […]
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Budget & Policy
DOE Site Managers Say They Won’t Shut Out DNFSB
Three Department of Energy field managers in New Mexico said Thursday that an agency order issued last year will bring little change in a good relationship with an independent federal watchdog, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB). The officials offered the commitment at a DNFSB public hearing in Albuquerque, N.M. The four board members […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
Feds, Wash. State Aim to Resolve Hanford Workers’ Comp Lawsuit Without Trial
The U.S. Department of Justice and Washington state have agreed that a federal lawsuit over a new state law easing workers’ compensation requirements for ill Hanford Site workers likely can be resolved without a trial. Both have told the court they plan to file motions for summary judgment in the case. Judge Stanley Bastian, of […]
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Contracts & Procurement
Infrastructure Support RFI Issued for Portsmouth-Paducah Operations
The Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management wants vendor feedback on a potential new contract to provide infrastructure support services at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio and the Paducah Site in Kentucky. The request for information/sources sought notice was issued Tuesday by DOE’s Cincinnati-based Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center. The Energy Department is in the […]
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Contracts & Procurement
DOE Extending Contract for Santa Susana Reports
The Energy Department plans to extend a sole-source task order so contractor CDM can generate additional reports on the cleanup of the Energy Technology Engineering Center (ETEC) at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory in California. The agency announced its intention to keep CDM on the job through the end of the year in a Wednesday […]
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Budget & Policy
DNFSB Considers Hiring Executive Director
As part of its efforts to put its house in order, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) intends hire a high-level staff management position, Chairman Bruce Hamilton said Feb. 14 during a meeting in Washington, D.C. “We need to hire this executive secretary, or chief of staff, or whatever you want to call it,” […]
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Transuranic Waste
Energy Dept. Opens Probe Into WIPP Contractor’s Industrial Health Problems
The enforcement arm of the Energy Department’s Office of Enterprise Assessments (EA) has opened an investigation into potential shortcomings in the industrial hygiene program at the agency’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M. The EA Office of Enforcement is studying “potential deficiencies” in implementation of DOE industrial hygiene requirements by WIPP contractor Nuclear Waste […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
New York Congressman Again Files West Valley Bill
U.S. Rep. Tom Reed (R-N.Y.) last week again introduced legislation to reauthorize the Department of Energy’s West Valley Demonstration Project in New York. The measure, co-sponsored by Rep. Brian Higgins (D-N.Y.), was filed Feb. 11 and assigned to the House Energy and Commerce Committee. As of Thursday, the text has not been received for the […]
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Contracts & Procurement
Fluor Earnings Rise, Revenue Drops in 2018
Fluor, a major Energy Department contractor, on Thursday reported a drop in revenue but higher earnings for 2018. The Dallas-area company took in $225 million in earnings attributable to Fluor, $1.59 per diluted share, for the 12 months ended Dec. 31. That was up from roughly $191 million, or $1.36 per diluted share, for 2017, […]
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Contracts & Procurement
Leidos Sees Higher Sales, Earnings in Fourth Quarter
By Calvin Biesecker Leidos on Tuesday posted higher sales and earnings due to top-line growth across its business segments and higher operating income in its Health and Civil segments. Net income increased 65 percent to $188 million, $1.25 earnings per share (EPS), from $114 million (74 cents EPS) a year ago. The strong earnings were […]
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Budget & Policy
DNFSB Chair Won’t Endorse Legal Opinion Endorsing Board Oversight of DOE Workers
Three of four members of the Defense Nuclear Facility Safety Board (DNFSB) concurred with a recently published in-house legal opinion that the small, independent federal nuclear watchdog has the right to make safety recommendations for Department of Energy workers. The sole holdout was board Chairman Bruce Hamilton. The two agencies have disagreed on the point for nearly […]
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Transuranic Waste
WIPP Contractor Working to Curb Underground Air Emissions
The Energy Department’s Carlsbad Field Office has approved a plan by contractor Nuclear Waste Partnership (NWP) to gradually improve underground air quality at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico. The contractor must take small steps because it won’t be ready to meet much tougher underground air quality standards, by the Jan. 17 compliance […]
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Contracts & Procurement
Fluor, Veolia, US Ecology to Report Earnings
A trio of companies involved in nuclear waste management or remediation are set to discuss their latest earnings results this week. Fluor, based near Dallas, has scheduled its quarterly and annual earnings conference call with financial analysts at 5:30 p.m. ET Thursday. The company, a major player in the Energy Department weapons complex, will release […]
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Contracts & Procurement
DOE Issues Infrastructure Support RFI for Portsmouth-Paducah Operations
The Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management is seeking vendor feedback on a potential new contract to provide infrastructure support services at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio and the Paducah Site in Kentucky. The request for information/sources sought notice was issued Tuesday by DOE’s Cincinnati-based Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center. The Energy Department is in […]






