Office of Environmental Management (EM)

The Energy Department, Boeing and NASA have submitted a plan to the California Department of Toxic Substances Control outlining how they plan to determine baseline air quality prior to cleanup work at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory. That’s among the recent milestones cited in a September report by (California Department of Toxic Substances Control) DTSC […]

The federally-appointed citizens panel for the Oak Ridge Reservation is getting a half-dozen new members, and many of them have some background with Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management announced Oct. 26. The Oak Ridge Site Specific Advisory Board (ORSSAB) is designed to provide independent advice and recommendations […]

A major waste treatment facility at the Energy Department’s Savannah River Site as of this week remained in deliberate operations, more than four months after it was placed into the slowed work mode due to multiple safety-related incidents. Officials at the South Carolina facility did not respond to an inquiry regarding how much longer the situation […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission Inspector General’s Office plans in the current federal budget year to review the most serious potential vulnerabilities facing the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board as part of the IG’s responsibility to examine management and performance of the Energy Department watchdog. In documents released last week, the NRC IG said challenges include […]

When engineering company and Energy Department contractor CH2M was looking for potential merger partners this past spring, eventual buyer Jacobs Engineering wasn’t the only party showing interest, CH2M noted in a mammoth filing Tuesday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. On Aug. 2, the two companies announced they had entered into an agreement for […]

With the House of Representatives already planning to look at the issue, the Senate on Oct. 19 approved a measure that could result in more predictable Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) for communities surrounding federal facilities, including many across the Energy Department complex. The amendment to the Senate’s fiscal 2018 budget package won approval […]

Piketon, Ohio, Mayor Billy Spencer is urging the state’s U.S. senators to oppose funding to build the on-site disposal cell for waste from cleanup of the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant. “DOE has made it clear that they fully intend to bury radioactive, toxic and hazardous waste in Piketon despite the community’s opposition, and Ohio EPA […]

The acting head of the Energy Department’s nuclear cleanup program is due to brief the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board this week on the 45-day review of his office’s operations and other key issues. An entry on the DNFSB calendar says the five-person board is scheduled to receive one of its periodic briefings from EM-1, […]

CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co. (CHPRC) has been awarded 92 percent of the fee available for fiscal 2016, the Department of Energy announced Monday. That compares to 95 percent the previous year. The Hanford Site cleanup contractor earned $14.1 million of $15.4 million available for the budget year ended Sept. 30, 2016. “CHPRC was very […]

When engineering company and Energy Department contractor CH2M was looking for potential merger partners this past spring, eventual buyer Jacobs Engineering wasn’t the only party showing interest, CH2M noted in a mammoth filing Tuesday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. On Aug. 2, the two companies announced they had entered into an agreement for […]

A major waste treatment facility at the Energy Department’s Savannah River Site as of this week remained in deliberate operations, more than four months after it was placed into the slowed work mode due to multiple safety-related incidents. Officials at the South Carolina facility did not respond to an inquiry regarding how much longer the situation […]

A CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co. project director has been selected as the new manager for the Office of River Protection at the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state. Brian Vance takes over from Kevin Smith, who retired at the end of September. The Office of River Protection is responsible for management of 56 […]

Site managers for the Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management (EM) will discuss with stakeholders, elected officials, and regulators the proposals resulting from a review of the office’s operations that started in late June, according to Stacy Charboneau, EM associate principal deputy assistant secretary for field operations. She discussed the 45-day review initiated by […]

During the next 12 months, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Office of the Inspector General plans to review the most serious potential vulnerabilities facing the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board as part of the office’s ongoing duty to examine management and performance of the Energy Department watchdog. In documents released last week, the NRC IG said […]

The Savannah River Site in South Carolina garnered a 99.9 percent compliance rate last year for the amount of pollutants it discharges into water on and off site, according to the management and operations contractor for the Department of Energy facility. The compliance rate is based on the regularity with which SRS remained in line […]

Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) and the U.S. Justice Department are seeking opinions from a federal board on whether the contractor and one of its parent companies overcharged the federal government to the tune of $5 million, according to a recently filed status report in U.S. District Court. The document, filed on Oct. 10, arrived after six […]

Some 31 of 305 bioassays collected from workers after the airborne spread of radioactive contamination at the Hanford Site’s Plutonium Finishing Plant (PFP) in June have tested positive for internal radioactive contamination. Doses were very low, the Department of Energy said in a statement on Wednesday.  Of the 31 workers with positive results, 18 had […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) said in a new report the Energy Department Office of Environmental Management has more work to do to resolve safety issues connected with criticality and flammable gas at the Waste Treatment Plant’s Pretreatment Facility at the Hanford Site in Washington state. The 100-page-plus technical report centers on four […]

The Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM) has turned over for eventual private use parcels of land that once held two gaseous diffusion facilities at the Oak Ridge Reservation in Tennessee. The sites of the K-31 and K-33 buildings cover about 215 acres in what is now the East Tennessee Technology […]

After a bombshell report that the head of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board wants Congress to dissolve the independent Department of Energy watchdog, several seasoned watchers of the weapons complex — running the gamut from former Department of Energy employees to hardcore anti-nuclear activists — said lawmakers should not eliminate the board. “The Board […]

Honeywell International reported Friday that it took in $10.1 billion in sales and earnings per share of $1.75 during the third quarter of 2017, which both mark a significant increase from the same period in 2016. The sales figure was up 3 percent from $9.8 billion a year ago. Earnings per share spiked by 16 […]

The Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM) has turned over for eventual private use parcels of land that once held two gaseous diffusion facilities at the Oak Ridge Reservation in Tennessee. The sites of the K-31 and K-33 buildings cover about 215 acres in what is now the East Tennessee Technology […]

A Benton County, Wash., Superior Court jury found in favor of a former employee’s lawsuit against Mission Support Alliance on Tuesday, requiring the Hanford Site support services contractor to pay damages of $8.1 million. Manager Julie Atwood resigned when she was told she would be fired from MSA in 2013. She filed a lawsuit claiming […]

Hanford Subcontractor Settles Federal Fraud Case Sage Tec and its owner, Laura Shikashio, have agreed to pay $235,000 to settle allegations of subcontracting fraud at the Hanford Site in Washington state, the Department of Justice said on Oct. 6. The announcement came less than a month after a second Hanford-area company in the federal court […]

The Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management could as early as today announce award of a new contract for liquid waste management at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, an industry observer said Wednesday. Rumors are circulating widely that the department’s nuclear cleanup office will release the news by close of business, the source […]

A Benton County, Wash., Superior Court jury found in favor of a former employee’s lawsuit against Mission Support Alliance on Tuesday, requiring the Hanford Site support services contractor to pay damages of $8.1 million. Manager Julie Atwood had resigned when she was told she would be fired from MSA in 2013. She filed a lawsuit […]

Sage Tec and its owner, Laura Shikashio, have agreed to pay $235,000 to settle allegations of subcontracting fraud at the Hanford Site in Washington state, the Department of Justice said Friday. The announcement came less than a month after a second Hanford-area company in the federal court case, Federal Engineers & Constructors (FE&C), agreed to […]

The federal trial for the Hanford Site chemical vapors safety lawsuit case has been delayed until Aug. 29, 2018. Judge Thomas Rice, of U.S. District Court for Eastern Washington, agreed Thursday to delay the trial and interim deadlines in the case by about 30 days at the request of defendants and plaintiffs. The next deadline […]

Energy Department officials who attended a Monday meeting of the village of Piketon, Ohio, Council to give a progress update on cleanup of the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant, ended up hearing a lot about local opposition to an on-site disposal site for waste from the project. It was a standing room only crowd, Piketon Mayor […]

Crews at the Hanford Site in Washington state on Tuesday night started injecting grout to stabilize the Hanford PUREX Plant waste storage tunnel discovered last spring to be partially collapsed, but halted work as some dirt began to subside into the tunnel, the Department of Energy said Wednesday. After the breach in the top of […]