Office of Environmental Management (EM)

Longtime Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.) is expected to become the new chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee next month when Democrats take over leadership in the House of Representatives. Pallone, elected last month to his 16th term in the lower chamber, is currently ranking Democrat on the panel. He would succeed current […]

A Hanford Advisory Board meeting scheduled in Richland, Wash., for Dec. 5-6 has been canceled after President Donald Trump declared Wednesday a national day of mourning for former President George H.W. Bush. Federal offices will be closed and federal employees have the day off. Bush died Friday at age 94. The Hanford Advisory Board meeting […]

Kentucky-based Swift & Staley has won an $88 million, 22-month contract extension to continue providing infrastructure support services at the Energy Department’s Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Kentucky. The Energy Department announced the contract extension Thursday, one day before the initial three-year agreement was scheduled to expire. The new deal keeps the contractor on the […]

While details have not been released, Fluor Idaho has presented Energy Department officials with its corrective action plan for preventing another radioactive-waste drum breach at an Idaho National Laboratory facility. Energy Department officials in Idaho are expected to finish their adequacy review of the plan by Dec. 21. At dates yet to be determined, Fluor […]

The Department of Energy should consider performing a lengthy environmental review of its plan to dispose of 34 metric tons of surplus weapon-usable plutonium by burying the material deep underground, a congressionally chartered panel said Friday. The department’s semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) might find the disposal plan easier to manage if it produces […]

The Department of Energy has awarded four indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contracts for technical support services at the Hanford Site in Washington state. The agency’s Office of River Protection at Hanford issued the awards on Nov. 20 to Independent Strategic Management Solutions Inc., of Richland, Wash.; Street Legal, of Oak Ridge, Tenn.; JFA-RC Technical […]

The Department of Energy should increase use of solar power at the Savannah River Site as it addresses aging infrastructure issues, the SRS Citizens Advisory Board (CAB) said Tuesday. The recommendation was forwarded to DOE headquarters on a 17-0 board vote. It emphasizes the 310-square-mile South Carolina facility’s suitability for solar power: plenty of cleared land on which solar panels could […]

U.S. Energy Department veteran Mark Gilbertson has officially been named principal deputy assistant secretary (PDAS) for the agency’s Office of Environmental Management (EM). The move was announced in a Nov. 20 email to Energy Department officials from Assistant Secretary of Energy for Environmental Management Anne Marie White. “Mark has excellent skills, temperament, and knowledge that […]

WASHINGTON, D.C. – While the Energy Department’s top nuclear cleanup manager said Wednesday her office will not use a new agency order to thwart oversight by the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB), members of the panel remained apprehensive. Order 140.1, issued in May, will not change the relationship between DOE’s Office of Environmental Management […]

The Energy Department expects to soon issue a request for proposals for paramilitary security services at the Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina. The notice of the upcoming solicitation was posted Tuesday on the Federal Business Opportunities website. The RFP is due to go out within 15 to 60 days, which translates to the […]

The Energy Department could reissue the liquid waste management contract for the Savannah River Site in South Carolina within hours, according to the most recent schedule for major procurements at its Office of Environmental Management. The DOE nuclear cleanup office posted the latest timeline on Nov. 19, and said the waste contract could be awarded […]

Critical Applications Alliance (CAA), a venture comprised of two Houston companies, has won a $135 million contract to build a new permanent ventilation system at the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M. The award to the team of Christensen Building Group and Kilgore Industries was announced Nov. 19 by the Energy […]

While the Department of Energy has spent $164 billion since 1989 to remediate Cold War-related nuclear and hazardous waste, its environmental liability has grown, according to the agency’s Office of Inspector General. The department’s environmental liability has more than doubled from a low of $176 billion in fiscal 1997 to $384 billion in fiscal 2017, […]

Weapons Complex Monitor took a break last week for the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, but out affiliate publication, Weapons Complex Morning Briefing did not. Here’s a recap of some of the nuclear security enterprise news covered last week. Work Resumes at WIPP After Rock Fall Work resumed underground before Thanksgiving at the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation […]

Bechtel has hired a veteran Energy Department and nuclear energy industry manager as chief for nuclear safety and operations within its Engineering division. Chip Lagdon will oversee nuclear safety analyses for Bechtel’s DOE cleanup and nuclear security missions, the company said in a press release last week. Lagdon will also work on safety and licensing […]

A new law easing Washington state workers’ compensation program requirements for claims from employees of the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site violates the U.S. Constitution, according to the Department of Justice. The agency plans to file a civil lawsuit against the state near the end of this week to block the law, if a resolution […]

Oak Ridge, Tenn.-based Atkins Nuclear Secured Holdings Corp. on Nov. 8 named William Madia to its Board of Directors. In addition to heading his own energy consulting firm, Madia is chairman of the board and vice president for the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory at Stanford University in California. Originally called the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, […]

WASHINGTON, D.C. – While the Energy Department’s top nuclear cleanup manager said Wednesday her office will not use a new agency order to thwart oversight by the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB), members of the panel remained apprehensive. Order 140.1, issued in May, will not change the relationship between DOE’s Office of Environmental Management […]

The Energy Department expects to soon issue a request for proposals for paramilitary security services at the Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina. The notice of the upcoming solicitation was posted Tuesday on the Federal Business Opportunities website. The Energy Department expects to issue the actual RFP within 15 to 60 days. The new […]

Nearly lost amid higher-profile nomination hearings in high-octane committees this week is a nuts-and-bolts piece of legislation that could open the door for more whistleblower disclosures in the nuclear weapons, waste, and power industries. The bill, slated for a hearing Thursday in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee along with several other pieces of legislation, […]

Mark Gilbertson’s official promotion to the No. 2 spot at the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management means added responsibility for his acting replacement as the cleanup office’s head of regulatory and policy issues. Assistant Secretary of Energy for Environmental Management Anne Marie White on Nov. 20 named Gilbertson her permanent principal deputy assistant secretary, […]

The Energy Department now anticipates reissuing the liquid waste management contract for the Savannah River Site in South Carolina by the end of this month, according to the latest schedule for major procurements at its Office of Environmental Management. The DOE nuclear cleanup office posted the latest timeline on Nov. 19. It supersedes an Oct. […]

Work resumed underground last week at the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M., following a recent rock fall, a New Mexico newspaper reported Nov. 20. The Carlsbad Current-Argus reported work resumed Nov. 16 after a rock fall in Room 6 of Panel 7 on Nov. 14. The newspaper also cited Donavan Mager, […]

The Department of Energy’s (DOE) fiscal 2018 budget increase handily outpaced the rise in dollars under contract, according to a report from the agency’s Office of the Inspector General late last week. The DOE budget rose about 10 percent to some $34.5 billion between fiscal 2017 and fiscal 2018, while the amount of money under […]

Energy Department veteran Mark Gilbertson has officially been named principal deputy assistant secretary (PDAS) for the agency’s Office of Environmental Management. The move was announced in a Tuesday email to Energy Department representatives from Assistant Secretary of Energy for Environmental Management Anne Marie White. “Mark has excellent skills, temperament, and knowledge that compliment mine and […]

The Energy Department could by the end of this month issue a revised decision on a consolidated technical support services contract for the Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office (PPPO), a source said Tuesday. The source said DOE could take one of several steps: reaffirm its initial award of a five-year, $137 million contract to a Professional Project […]

Jacobs Engineering Group on Tuesday reported rrevenue of $4.1 billion for the quarter ended Sept. 30, up significantly from the $2.7 billion reported a year earlier. Net earnings, however, showed a $23 million loss (-$0.16 per share) in the latest quarter compared to a $94 million or $0.78 per share, in net earnings for quarter […]

Critical Applications Alliance (CAA), a venture comprised of two Houston-based companies, has won a $135 million contract to build a new permanent ventilation system at the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M. The award to the team of Christensen Building Group and Kilgore Industries was announced Monday by the Energy Department […]

Dallas-based Jacobs Engineering Group will hold its quarterly earnings call with Wall Street analysts today at 10 a.m. ET. The financial performance figures for the quarter ended Sept. 30, which marks the end of the company’s 2018 fiscal year, will be released prior to the market opening. Access to the conference call webcast is available […]

Nuclear Waste Partnership (NWP), the Energy Department’s management contractor for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M., has not yet awarded the construction contract for a new $288 million permanent underground ventilation system, although it should come soon, a spokesman said recently. The Energy Department and its contractor have been talking about awarding […]