Office of Environmental Management (EM)

HENDERSON, Nev. — The head of the Energy Department’s nuclear cleanup office fears remediation efforts have reached a “plateau” and need a push to advance toward closure of remaining sites. Toward that, the office is developing strategic plans both for its full operations and for specific properties over the coming decade. “The analogy that comes […]

Some information of the well decommissioning program at the Hanford Site in Washington state has not been kept up-to-date, the Department of Energy Inspector General’s Office said in an audit report released on Aug. 31. The audit was a follow-up to a January 2005 audit on well decommissioning activities, which found numerous problems. Every time […]

HENDERSON, Nev. — Department of Energy officials and industry executives expressed hope Wednesday that no last-minute snags hold up passage of a fiscal 2019 budget with healthy funding for the agency’s nuclear weapons and cleanup operations. “Who wants to do layoffs in an election year?” Eric Knox, vice president of strategic development, nuclear and environment, […]

Lynchburg, Va.-based BWX Technologies said Wednesday it has promoted Heatherly H. Dukes to the position of president of the company’s Technical Services Group. Dukes has most recently served as the group’s chief operating officer, overseeing BWXT operations at more than a dozen Energy Department and NASA facilities with an annual contract value of about $7 […]

The Department of Energy must hold additional public hearings in the Pacific Northwest on a proposal that could lead to a limited amount of radioactive waste being grouted in place in the Hanford Site’s underground storage tanks, according to three members of Washington state’s congressional delegation. Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, along with Rep. […]

Watchdog group Hanford Challenge is calling for an independent look at the threats that Hanford’s contamination may pose to nearby communities after a small, newly completed study reported radioactive contamination in the personal cars or trucks of three workers at the Energy Department site in Washington. The study said the cars had previously been checked […]

Lynchburg, Va.-based BWX Technologies said Wednesday it has promoted Heatherly H. Dukes to the position of president of the company’s Technical Services Group. Dukes has most recently served as the group’s chief operating officer, overseeing BWXT operations at more than a dozen Energy Department and NASA facilities with an annual contract value of about $7 […]

Department of Energy officials and industry executives expressed hope Wednesday that no last-minute snags hold up passage of a fiscal 2019 Energy Department budget with healthy funding for its nuclear weapons and cleanup operations. “Who wants to do layoffs in an election year?” Eric Knox, vice president of strategic development, nuclear and environment, for the […]

The Energy Department’s nuclear cleanup office is finalizing a study into the economic viability of continued use of the Idaho National Laboratory’s Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project (AMWTP) should it be allowed to process radioactive waste from out of state. “I like to make these decisions based on good data and facts. To that end, […]

The head of the Energy Department’s nuclear cleanup office fears remediation within the weapons complex has reached a “plateau” and needs a push to advance toward closure of many sites. Toward that, the office is developing strategic plans both for its full operations and for specific properties over the coming decade. “The analogy that comes […]

The waste storage tank farm manager at the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state, Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS), is seeking expressions of interest from subcontractors qualified to design and build a 10,000-square-foot modular laboratory facility by the end of 2019. The AECOM-led contractor published the prequalification/expression of interest (EOI) document Aug. 30 on the […]

  AVANTech, which works at the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state, has named a veteran of nuclear waste cleanup as its senior process engineer for the Hanford Tank Side Cesium Removal (TSCR) Project. The Columbia, S.C.-based water treatment provider, a subcontractor to Hanford waste storage tank farm manager Washington River Protection Solutions, said […]

Some information of the well decommissioning program at the Hanford Site in Washington state has not been kept up-to-date, the Department of Energy’s Inspector General’s Office said in an audit report released Friday. The audit was a follow-up to a January 2005 audit on well decommissioning activities, which found numerous problems. Wells are used at […]

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates a House of Representatives bill to reauthorize appropriations for ongoing environmental remediation at the West Valley Demonstration Project in New York state would cost $345 million from fiscal 2019 through 2023. The figure is based on the estimated outlays for the five years, rather than the authorized level of […]

WASHINGTON — The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) is not convinced, despite statements from the deputy secretary of energy here this week, that the Department of Energy intends to preserve the independent federal nuclear-watchdog’s unfettered access to U.S. nuclear-weapon sites. Energy Department officials testified Tuesday before the four-member board about an order published in […]

The failure of the second tunnel storing radioactive waste from the Hanford Site’s PUREX processing plant could be more severe than estimated a year ago, according to Department of Energy cleanup contractor CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co. Dan Wood, chief operating officer for the contractor, said new findings of corrosion in the second tunnel raise […]

The Energy Department appears to have retained a firm to provide leadership training seminars this month for certain officials at the Office of Environmental Management, which coincides with an ongoing reorganization of the nuclear cleanup office. In an award notice posted Wednesday on www.fbo.gov,  DOE justified the noncompetitive contract awarded to Lake Arrowhead, Calif.-based Effectiveness […]

The Energy Department has temporarily halted salt mining at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) disposal site near Carlsbad, N.M. Mining has gone slower than expected since it resumed in January, DOE also recently told the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB). Mining is paused in the newest planned disposal area, Panel 8, until September […]

The California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) confirmed recently the cleanup road map for the entire Santa Susana Field Laboratory site, due this year, will not be published until 2019. State spokesman Sanford Nax confirmed by email the DTSC now expects to issue the program management plan (PMP) for the 2,800-acre site in early […]

There is a diminishing likelihood that the long-awaited Integrated Waste Treatment Unit (IWTU) at the Idaho National Laboratory will begin operations this year, as had been hoped in some quarters, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board indicated recently. The Energy Department and lab cleanup contractor Fluor Idaho have yet to announce a startup date, but […]

Honeywell, a top contractor for the Department of Energy’s nuclear weapons sites, also sees opportunities on the environmental remediation side of the federal agency’s operations, one newly reassigned executive said recently. Former Air Force colonel David “DJ” Johnson last month became vice president and general manager at Honeywell Federal Solutions, where he oversees the company’s four […]

The Energy Department last week issued a request for proposals (RFP) for a small business set-aside contract, potentially worth almost $25 million over five years, to tackle low-risk, low-complexity characterization and remediation for the Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management in Tennessee. The Y-12 National Security Complex, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), and the […]

WASHINGTON — The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) is not convinced, despite statements from the deputy secretary of energy here this week, that the Department of Energy intends to preserve the independent federal nuclear-watchdog’s unfettered access to U.S. nuclear-weapon sites. Energy Department officials testified Tuesday before the four-member board about an order published in […]

The Department of Energy is said to be reviewing a study on options for dealing with troublesome transuranic waste from the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in New Mexico that remains stranded at the Waste Control Specialists (WCS) site in Texas. A source Wednesday said the feasibility study is complete and has been delivered to […]

Representatives from incumbent Navarro Research and Engineering were among the 37 participants registered for an Aug. 14 presolicitation meeting with Energy Department officials on the next Nevada Environmental Program Services contract. Among the other companies that sent staffers to Henderson, Nev., to learn more about the draft request for proposals posted by DOE in July: […]

Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS), the waste storage tank farm contractor at the Hanford Site, has named a new president. John Eschenberg, WRPS deputy project manager of waste feed delivery, will succeed Mark Lindholm as president on Oct. 8 after a transition period. Lindholm, WRPS president and project manager since October 2015, sent a message […]

Leaders in the village of Piketon, Ohio, have asked federal and state agencies to hold a public hearing on the waste that will go into the planned On-Site Disposal Cell at the Energy Department’s nearby Portsmouth Site. The Piketon Village Council on Aug. 20 approved  a resolution asking DOE and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency for […]

The failure of the second tunnel storing radioactive waste from the Hanford Site’s PUREX processing plant could be more severe than estimated a year ago, according to Department of Energy cleanup contractor CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co. Dan Wood, chief operating officer for the contractor, said new findings of corrosion in the second tunnel raise […]

Honeywell, a top contractor for the Department of Energy’s nuclear weapons sites, also sees opportunities on the environmental remediation side of the federal agency’s operations, one newly reassigned executive said recently. Former Air Force colonel David “DJ” Johnson last month became vice president and general manager at Honeywell Federal Solutions, where he oversees the company’s four […]

The Department of Energy is said to be reviewing a study on options for dealing with troublesome transuranic waste from the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in New Mexico that is currently stranded at the Waste Control Specialists (WCS) site in Texas. A source Wednesday said the feasibility study is complete and has been delivered […]