Office of Environmental Management (EM)

President Donald Trump plans to appoint Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) acting Chairman Bruce Hamilton to the top position on a permanent basis, the White House said Tuesday. Hamilton, a Navy veteran who spent decades in the nuclear energy industry, joined the board in August 2015 and was elevated to vice chairman in the […]

Less than two months after stepping aside as the No. 2 official in the Energy Department’s nuclear cleanup office, James Owendoff is taking a new job within the agency. Starting next week, Owendoff will be DOE-wide chief risk officer, a senior executive position within the office of the Chief Financial Officer John Vonglis. He formally […]

It could be days or possibly weeks before the Energy Department takes a second stab at issuing a decade-long liquid contract for management of liquid radioactive waste in storage at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. “It’s always soon,” a source in South Carolina quipped Wednesday to Weapons Complex Morning Briefing. Energy Department officials […]

There was no word Tuesday from either the Energy Department or Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth on any sort of extension for the contractor’s current deal for cleanup of the Portsmouth Site in Ohio. The first of two potential 30-month option periods for the contract is set to expire Sept. 30. The company started work on its potential […]

The House of Representatives passed in voice vote Tuesday a bill to reauthorize the Department of Energy’s West Valley Demonstration Project in New York state, legislation approved by the House Energy and Commerce Committee in July. The amended version of the bill would immediately hike cleanup funding to $75 million annually through fiscal 2028 and […]

The Department of Energy is accepting registrations through Thursday for its next Office of Environmental Management (EM) Business Opportunities Forum, slated for Oct. 4 in Knoxville, Tenn. While there is no fee to attend the event, scheduled from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. at the Knoxville Convention Center, participants must register in advance with Mary Wilson […]

Parsons could end up sacrificing a significant amount of its fee for delays in startup of the Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF) at the Energy Department’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina, a DOE official said Monday. Parsons was expected Monday to submit a new cost and schedule update for the facility, SWPF Federal Project […]

The Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M., expects to start receiving transuranic waste from the Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois by the end of this year, DOE Carlsbad Field Office Manager Todd Shrader said recently. “We are about to add a new site, Argonne, this fall,” Shrader said Sept. 12 at […]

The New Mexico Environment Department issued notice Saturday it is moving ahead with an Oct. 23 public hearing in Carlsbad on the Department of Energy’s application to amend the state hazardous waste facility permit for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). The hearing will be held at 9 a.m. the Carlsbad branch of New Mexico […]

When President Trump signed a multiagency appropriations package Friday afternoon, it assured the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management about $7.2 billion in funding for the 2019 fiscal year starting Oct. 1. The DOE-funding “minibus,” approved by Congress earlier this month, provides the largest budget for the department’s nuclear cleanup office since it received almost […]

The liquid waste contractor for the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina is asking a federal judge to dismiss a discrimination lawsuit filed by a former employee. In a Sept. 14 motion for summary judgment, Savannah River Remediation (SRR) said Adrienne Saulsberry was terminated for legitimate reasons. The contractor said its fact […]

After a pause this summer, the contractor for the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M., expects during the first week of October to resume salt mining to dig out more disposal space. This will be the first mining in storage Panel 8 since July 22, according to Nuclear Waste Partnership spokesman […]

Despite threats of severe weather that required the Savannah River Site to brace for impact, the facility emerged unscathed after Hurricane Florence slammed into South Carolina last week. The storm, which has been linked to dozens of deaths in several coastal states, had no impact on missions or facilities at the 310-square-mile Department of Energy […]

The Department of Energy and several other parties on Wednesday signed a settlement agree to a 3-year-old federal lawsuit seeking better protection from chemical vapors for workers at the Hanford Site in Washington state. The agreement, if approved by the court, would freeze the case as Hanford tank farm contractor Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) […]

Waste Control Specialists (WCS) has asked the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for permission to keep stranded transuranic waste from the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in New Mexico for an additional two years. The Dallas-based company asked the agency for an extension until Dec. 23, 2020, to allow the state of Texas, the Department of Energy, […]

An article in the Sept. 14 Weapons Complex Monitor mischaracterized the nature of the Government Accountability Office’s ruling upholding a contract protest against a liquid waste management contract award at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina. The GAO ruled the Energy Department failed to evaluate the viability of the winning bidder’s […]

The Energy Department apparently still hasn’t submitted a report to Congress due Feb. 1 on classifying certain defense nuclear waste. The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal 2018, signed last December, said the “Secretary of Energy shall conduct an evaluation of the feasibility, costs, and cost savings of classifying covered defense nuclear waste as […]

The Department of Energy on Thursday released the request for proposals for the Hanford Mission Essentials Services Contract. The award has a projected value of $4 billion to $6 billion over 10 years, including option periods. The work is now performed at the Hanford Site in Washington state by Mission Support Alliance, owned by Leidos […]

Layoffs are expected within a couple months at Fluor Idaho’s Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project (AMWTP), Idaho Falls Mayor Rebecca Casper said last week. The facility workforce at the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory “is on its way out the door,” Casper said. This is expected “before the New Year, before the holidays,” she […]

The New Mexico Environment Department has wrapped up the public comment period on an application by the Energy Department to amend the state hazardous waste facility permit for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad. The state received about 100 pages of comments by Sept. 20, from dozens of individuals and groups, both praising […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) will hold two more public hearings about a controversial Department of Energy order the independent nuclear health-and-safety watchdog said would prevent it from exercising its lawful authority to inspect nuclear weapons sites. Acting DNFSB Chairman Bruce Hamilton mentioned the meetings in a Sept. 17 letter to Energy Secretary Rick […]

The Department of Energy Office of Enforcement has issued a final notice of violation to Bechtel National for a Nov. 4, 2016, industrial accident at the Hanford Site in Washington state. A worker sustained broken vertebrae and cuts to the head when a 12-inch pipe unexpectedly separated at a joint and sprayed a pressurized stream […]

The Energy Department’s Paducah Site in Kentucky lost power for about three hours Saturday. A failed piece of electrical equipment caused one Tennessee Valley Authority power line to fall into other power lines that morning, Scott Brooks, a spokesman for the federal utility, said by email Wednesday. The TVA system provides electricity to the Paducah […]

The Department of Energy and several other parties on Wednesday signed a settlement agree to a 3-year-old federal lawsuit seeking better protection from chemical vapors for workers at the Hanford Site in Washington state. The agreement, if approved by the court, would freeze the case as Hanford tank farm contractor Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) […]

The Energy Department’s Paducah Site in Kentucky lost power for about three hours Saturday. A failed piece of electrical equipment caused one Tennessee Valley Authority power line to fall into other power lines that morning, Scott Brooks, a spokesman for the federal utility, said by email Wednesday. The TVA system provides electricity to the Paducah […]

Energy Department employees and contractors, and anyone with a smartphone, can now follow Assistant Secretary of Energy for Environmental Management Anne Marie White on Twitter. White, who made her introductory tweet as DOE cleanup chief on Sept. 12, goes by the handle @EMAssistantSec. As of Wednesday afternoon she had 124 followers and seven tweets. A […]

The Energy Department apparently still hasn’t submitted a report to Congress due on Feb. 1 on classifying certain defense nuclear waste. The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal 2018, signed last December, said the “Secretary of Energy shall conduct an evaluation of the feasibility, costs, and cost savings of classifying covered defense nuclear waste […]

The Energy Department has renewed a five-year grant worth roughly $7 million to the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) to familiarize state lawmakers and tribal governments with radioactive waste cleanup issues around the nuclear complex. The DOE Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center announced the grant on Monday. The funding is designed to help state […]

After a pause this summer, the contractor for the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M., expects next week to resume salt mining to dig out more disposal space. This will be the first mining in storage Panel 8 since late July or early August, according to Nuclear Waste Partnership spokesman Donavan […]

An article in the Sept. 13 Weapons Complex Morning Briefing mischaracterized the nature of the Government Accountability Office’s ruling upholding a contract protest against a liquid waste management contract award at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina. The GAO ruled the Energy Department failed to evaluate the viability of the winning […]