Office of Environmental Management (EM)

Fluor Idaho said this week it has not yet lifted a stop work order in effect for certain operations at the Energy Department’s Idaho National Laboratory. The order was issued after a June 5 accident in which an employee suffered a puncture wound while doing cleanup work in a glove box at the Advanced Mixed […]

Respiratory protection requirements have again been eased at a Hanford Site double-shell tank farm, with directives in some additional radioactive waste storage tank farms expected to be reduced later this summer, according to contractor Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS). Workers now are allowed to use full-face air-purifying respirators equipped with filter cartridges as protection from […]

An amendment to a federal spending package, to reverse existing Energy Department policy and treat waste at the West Valley Demonstration Project in western New York state as defense-related, evidently won’t be coming up for a vote. The Senate adjourned without considering the amendment by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.). Lawmakers would have only two hours to […]

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) proposed an amendment to a federal spending package this week to reverse existing Energy Department policy and treat waste at the West Valley Demonstration Project in western New York state as defense-related. The Gillibrand amendment, proposed Tuesday and yet to be voted upon, would treat radioactive waste at the site, as […]

Fluor Idaho said this week it has not yet lifted a stop work order in effect for certain operations at the Energy Department’s Idaho National Laboratory. The order was issued after a June 5 accident in which an employee suffered a puncture wound while doing cleanup work in a glove box at the Advanced Mixed […]

In an introductory letter to new Assistant Energy Secretary for Environmental Management Anne Marie White, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) highlighted a number of safety concerns across the Energy Department’s nuclear cleanup complex. The independent safety watchdog is tracking several issues at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina and the Hanford Site […]

Two workers at the Hanford Site in Washington state on Friday received medical evaluations after one smelled a suspicious odor and developed symptoms consistent with possible exposure to chemical vapors from radioactive tank waste, according to tank farm contractor Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS). The second worker had no symptoms but requested a medical check […]

After searching since late 2017, Nuclear Waste Partnership (NWP), the Energy Department’s prime contractor for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico, has hired a director of underground mining. The contractor and DOE said Tuesday Pete Graham, who previously worked as a plant manager for US Silica in Berkeley Springs, W.Va., started at WIPP […]

The Energy Department found no evidence its conflicts of interest rules were violated when the Portsmouth Site Specific Advisory Board (SSAB) voted May 10 whether to request the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, and DOE, reopen the 2015 record of decision for an on-site waste disposal cell at the cleanup site. Advisory panel member Dennis Foreman, […]

The Senate on Tuesday began debate on the Department of Energy’s fiscal 2019 budget bill, but adjourned after voting only on a few amendments unrelated to the agency’s nuclear weapons and waste programs. Senators were set to resume debate Wednesday and could vote on the measure this week. Like the House, the Senate is considering […]

Los Alamos National Security (LANS) no longer has the Energy Department’s legacy cleanup contract at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, but it posted a strong performance during the most recent fee review period, which ended March 31. LANS took home 94 percent of the total fee available for its last review period as […]

A local branch of the United Steelworkers and contractor Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth remain at odds about the company’s plans to basically stop work during the week of July 4 at the Energy Department’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio. USW Local 1-689 President John Knauff said by telephone Monday he has filed grievances, through the normal dispute procedures […]

A newly updated organizational chart suggests the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management has made further changes to its management hierarchy. Angela Watmore as of June 1 is listed as an acting chief of staff and senior adviser within DOE’s nuclear cleanup branch. The slot was described as “vacant” in an April 19 version of […]

Respiratory protection requirements have again been eased at a Hanford Site double-shell tank farm, with directives in some additional radioactive waste storage tank farms expected to be reduced later this summer, according to contractor Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS). Workers now are allowed to use full-face air-purifying respirators equipped with filter cartridges as protection from […]

Former Idaho Gov. Philip Batt opposes potential Energy Department shipment of transuranic waste from the Hanford Site in Washington state to the Idaho National Laboratory. Batt, a Republican, was governor from 1995 to 1999, and championed a landmark settlement between the state, DOE, and the U.S. Navy that limited nuclear waste storage in Idaho. He […]

The Board of Directors for the Regional Coalition of LANL Communities (RCLC) could hire a new executive director for the organization by the end of the month. The deadline for the RCLC’s request for proposals was June 6, and the board’s executive committee could make a recommendation at a board meeting tentatively set for June […]

The Senate was set to resume consideration of its 2019 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) today, then begin consideration of a three-bill appropriations package that includes the Department of Energy’s 2019 budget. The Senate could vote on the NDAA as soon as 5:30 p.m. today. The bill sets policy and spending limits for defense programs […]

The Department of Energy has yet to determine whether certain members of the Portsmouth Site Specific Advisory Board (SSAB) had conflicts of interest that should have kept them from voting on an issue last month, sources said this week. Dennis Foreman, a Pike County, Ohio, teacher who serves on the advisory panel, made a formal […]

A June 8 article in Weapons Complex Monitor cited the Idaho Site and the Southwest Experimental Fast Oxide Reactor (SEFOR) as “small cites” in Energy Department cleanup operations, and failed to include the Separations Process Research Unit, the West Valley Demonstration Project, and the Nevada National Security Site. While the Energy Department’s fiscal 2019 budget […]

Liquid waste operations at the Savannah River Site restarted this week following a 15-month layup that included multiple delays to resumption due to maintenance issues at the Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF). The DWPF is responsible for converting millions of gallons of radioactive liquid waste at the Energy Department facility in South Carolina into a […]

Watchdog group Hanford Challenge is objecting to a Department of Energy plan to classify the waste remaining in the Hanford Site’s C Tank Farm as residual waste, or waste incidental to reprocessing (WIR). The new classification would allow the remaining waste in the C Farm’s 16 tanks to be considered low-level radioactive waste and the […]

Three technologies are sufficiently developed for consideration to treat some of the low-activity radioactive waste stored at the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state, according to a new report from a National Academies panel. The panel plans to issue four reports on supplemental treatment of Hanford low-activity waste. Congress ordered the study, which is […]

Washington Closure Hanford agreed to pay $3.2 million to settle a civil lawsuit alleging subcontracting fraud at the Hanford Site cleanup in Washington state, the Department of Justice announced on June 8. The parties told U.S. District Judge Sal Mendoza Jr. the day before they had reached an agreement but did not release the amount […]

While actual construction is not scheduled to begin until later this summer, the Energy Department held a ceremonial groundbreaking Thursday for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant’s $288 million Safety Significant Confinement Ventilation System (SSCVS). Site clearing and power line relocation is already underway for the project, which is considered essential to the future of underground […]

Louisiana-based PacTec Inc., a maker of industrial containment bags used at both Energy Department and commercial nuclear cleanup sites, claims in a new federal lawsuit that another company is violating its patents. PacTec claims Pennsylvania-based ICE Service Group and two Tennessee-based affiliates, ICE Packaging and Strategic Packaging, are “making, using, offering for sale, selling, or […]

An Idaho environmental group said this week it has significant concerns about the potential for the Energy Department to move 7,000 cubic meters of transuranic waste from the Hanford Site in Washington state to the Idaho National Laboratory for repackaging. While no written application has been filed, the idea has been kicking around DOE for […]

Vendors have until July 20 to bid on a new consolidated technical support services contract for the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., and other EM sites. The DOE Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center (EMCBC) issued the final request for proposals (RFP) for technical support on June 7. The RFP is […]

Workers at the Hanford Site in Washington state successfully transferred the first batch of highly radioactive sludge out of underwater storage in the K West Reactor Basin late Tuesday afternoon. The Department of Energy had a Tri-Party Agreement deadline, reset most recently in 2015, to start removing sludge from the basin by the end of […]

The Department of Energy on Thursday released its request for proposals for an occupational medical services provider for the Hanford Site in Washington state. The new contract is expected to feature three types of scope: firm-fixed price, cost reimbursement, and indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity. The estimated value of the contract was increased from $120 million when […]

The U.S. Senate on Thursday voted to close debate on its version of the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2019, setting up a floor vote Monday on the measure that sets spending caps on defense environmental cleanup at the Department of Energy. Senators voted 81-15 in favor of cloture. The defense policy bill, passed […]