Office of Environmental Management (EM)

The Energy Department has awarded a potential seven-year, $152 million contract for occupational medical services at the Hanford Site in Washington state to incumbent vendor HPM Corp. of Kennewick, Wash. The contract includes a three-year base, followed by a pair of two-year option periods, DOE said in a Monday press release. The release did not […]

Contractor Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth (FBP) said Monday it plans a voluntary separation program for up to 75 of its estimated 1,500 employees at the Energy Department’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio. The voluntary separation package is being offered to a mix of union and salaried workers, said Fluor-BWXT spokesman Jack Williams. Workers who exercise this option will […]

A trio of contractors enjoyed significant fees in their latest performance scorecards from the Department of Energy. The AECOM-led URS-CH2M Oak Ridge (UCOR) earned 96 percent of its potential fee from April 1 through Sept. 30 of this year for its remediation at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee. AECOM-led Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) […]

The Energy Department on Tuesday issued its final environmental impact statement (EIS) for tearing down buildings and cleaning up soil and groundwater on its portion of the 2,850-acre Santa Susana Field Laboratory (SSFL) in Ventura County, Calif. The EIS for Area IV and the Northern Buffer Zone is one of the last steps prior to […]

The Energy Department has chosen agency veteran Laura Wilkerson as deputy manager at the Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM) in Tennessee. Wilkerson has been at DOE for 25 years and was previously director of OREM’s Planning and Execution Division, which helps coordinate remediation at the East Tennessee Technology Park, the Y-12 National Security […]

The federal government’s nuclear health-and-safety watchdog has raised concerns about whether an exhaust tunnel at the Savannah River Site’s nuclear materials processing facility can withstand the impact of an earthquake. The concern is related to two ongoing issues at the facility that have not yet been remedied, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) said […]

Stakeholders now have through Jan. 9 to weigh in on the proposed new 2.2-million-cubic yard-landfill to eventually replace the existing facility at the Energy Department’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee. An Energy Department spokesman confirmed by email the public comment deadline has been extended from Dec. 10. This marks the second extension — DOE had […]

A New Mexico hearing officer has endorsed the Energy Department’s request to revise how transuranic waste “volume” is calculated at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) under the 1992 WIPP Land Withdrawal Act. The Dec. 10 report by state Hearing Officer Max Shepherd is now before New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) Secretary Butch Tongate, who […]

Barring a last-minute announcement from the Department of Energy, 2018 will end much like it started: With many major contractors waiting to see who will win a multibillion-dollar, 10-year contract for liquid waste management at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. The most recent procurement schedule for DOE’s Office of Environmental Management, from Nov. […]

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) on Monday announced he will leave the Senate after 2020. Alexander chairs the Senate Appropriations energy and water subcommittee, in which capacity he is the gatekeeper for upper chamber funding of the Department of Energy and its semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration. He has held the gavel there since 2015. The […]

Smoke and ash from the recent Woolsey Fire did not spread radiation or contamination from the Santa Susana Field Laboratory (SSFL) in Ventura County to neighboring communities, two California agencies said Wednesday. In an interim report, the state Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) and Environmental Protection Agency said field inspections and computer simulations turned […]

The Energy Department has chosen agency veteran Laura Wilkerson as deputy manager at the Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM) in Tennessee. Wilkerson has been at DOE for 25 years and was previously director of OREM’s Planning and Execution Division, which helps coordinate remediation at the East Tennessee Technology Park, the Y-12 National Security […]

Albuquerque, N.M.-based Energy Department contractor Strategic Management Solutions Inc. has promoted longtime executive David O’Flynn to president effective Jan. 1. O’Flynn, currently senior vice president at SMSI, is a veteran of project management, construction, engineering, and nuclear infrastructure work across the Energy Department and National Nuclear Security Administration complex, the company said in a Wednesday […]

A New Mexico hearing officer has endorsed the Energy Department’s request to revise how transuranic waste “volume” is calculated at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) under the 1992 WIPP Land Withdrawal Act. The Dec. 10 report by state Hearing Officer Max Shepherd is now before New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) Secretary Butch Tongate, who […]

The Energy Department on Tuesday issued its final environmental impact statement (EIS) for tearing down buildings and cleaning up soil and groundwater on its portion of the 2,850-acre Santa Susana Field Laboratory (SSFL) in Ventura County, Calif. The EIS for Area IV and the Northern Buffer Zone is one of the last steps prior to […]

Contractor Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth (FBP) said Tuesday it informed labor unions at the Energy Department’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio before announcing a voluntary separation program to trim about 75 people from the cleanup workforce. Company spokesman Jack Williams took issue with comments made in a Tuesday article of Weapons Complex Morning Briefing by United Steelworkers (USW) […]

Contractor Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth (FBP) said Monday it plans a voluntary separation program for up to 75 of its estimated 1,500 employees at the Energy Department’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio. The voluntary separation package is being offered to a mix of union and salaried workers, said Fluor-BWXT spokesman Jack Williams. Workers who exercise this option will […]

Leaving problem waste from the Energy Department’s Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) at the Waste Control Specialists (WCS) site in Texas for two more years should not cause any significant environmental risks, according to Nuclear Regulatory Commission. With the current extension to a 2014 order set to expire in days, the NRC is publishing an […]

Stakeholders now have through Jan. 9 to weigh in on the proposed new 2.2-million-cubic yard-landfill to eventually replace the existing facility at the Energy Department’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee. An Energy Department spokesman confirmed by email the public comment deadline has been extended from Dec. 10. This marks the second extension — DOE had […]

The Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico expects within days to take a shipment of remote-handled waste from the Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois, which has a higher radiation dose than most shipments over the past nearly two years. The Argonne shipment will be one of the last WIPP takes this […]

The sitting leaders of the Senate Appropriations energy and water development subcommittee plan to remain in place when the next Congress convenes in January. Staffers for both subcommittee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) this week confirmed their bosses’ intentions for the 116th Congress. Alexander has held the post since 2015, […]

A California Superior Court judge has rejected arguments by the Los Angeles branch of Physicians for Social Responsibility and other groups that state regulators could prevent Boeing from tearing down several old structures at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory (SSFL) site. The advocacy groups argued in a 2013 lawsuit that the state allowed demolition of […]

The sitting leaders of the Senate Appropriations energy and water development subcommittee plan to remain in place when the next Congress convenes in January. Staffers for both subcommittee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) confirmed their bosses’ intentions this week. Alexander has held the post since 2015, taking over from Feinstein […]

The U.S. Department of Justice on Monday sued the state of Washington over a new law that eases state workers’ compensation requirements for claims from employees of the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for Eastern Washington after a telephone discussion Monday between attorneys with the Justice Department […]

The Savannah River Site expects in 2019 to use a mixture of new and old methods to increase removal of mercury from its liquid waste system. In late 2017, officials at the Department of Energy facility in South Carolina discovered they could raise pH levels in the waste evaporator tank, a part of the site’s […]

The Department of Energy is accepting comments about security at the Hanford Site as it updates the security section of its dangerous waste permit for the Washington state facility. The proposed update in the permit from the Washington state Department of Ecology spells out in detail the security measures in place, including signs, surveillance systems, […]

A hearings officer for the New Mexico Environment Department has recommended the state approve a request by the Department of Energy to change the way underground waste is counted at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). The recommendation, issued this week, must now be considered by NMED Secretary Butch Tongate, DOE Carlsbad Field Office Manager […]

An economic development executive in eastern Idaho said Wednesday that a number of questions remain about the Energy Department’s decision to close the Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project (AMWTP) at the Idaho National Laboratory. Dana Kirkham, CEO of the Regional Economic Development for Eastern Idaho, will attend a meeting with DOE officials in a few […]

While the Savannah River Site’s multibillion-dollar Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF) was at one time projected to be operational this month, the U.S. Department of Energy and contractor Parsons have yet to agree on a new project baseline for the facility. The Energy Department is reviewing the document laying out new cost and schedule milestones […]

The Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) is tweaking its approach to the so-called “end states” road map to environmental remediation for the Central Plateau at the Hanford Site in Washington state. The office on Wednesday published a notice of its modification to the end-state model championed by Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management Anne […]