Office of Environmental Management (EM)

The findings of a recent report questioning the cohesion of the bedrock on which a nuclear waste disposal facility is to be built in Ohio has not deterred the Energy Department from moving forward with the project. “Based on the intensive review of all the information provided in the Ferguson Group Report, DOE does not […]

SUMMERLIN, Nev. — The Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) is establishing a new unit that will focus on completing the Hanford Site’s Waste Treatment Plant, Roger Jarrell, senior adviser to the secretary of energy for environmental management, said Tuesday. Efforts are being made to streamline management decisions at EM, a roughly $6 billion-per-year […]

The Energy Department is likely to extend the nearly expired contract for environmental management services at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in New Mexico ahead of awarding a new deal, an observer said Thursday. Lab management and operations prime Los Alamos National Security holds a two-year, $230 million “bridge” legacy nuclear cleanup contract that ends […]

The Oak Ridge Site Specific Advisory Board (ORSSAB) has identified five priorities in fiscal 2019 for cleanup of the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Reservation in Tennessee. The federally appointed advisory panel submitted a two-page list of remediation recommendations for consideration by DOE’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (EM) in preparing the funding request […]

The Department of Energy has officially acknowledged it will miss the Sept. 30 milestone set under the Tri-Party Agreement to have the Hanford Site’s Plutonium Finishing Plant torn down to slab on grade. The federal agency notified its regulators, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Washington state Department of Ecology, on Sept. 1.  “Tremendous progress […]

The Department of Energy should take a number of steps to ensure it comprehensively understands its transuranic waste management needs as it looks to dispose of 34 metric tons of diluted plutonium at its Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico, the Government Accountability Office said in a report Tuesday. WIPP is the nation’s sole permanent underground […]

The Energy Department isn’t releasing any additional details on the timeline for announcing a new environmental management contractor at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in New Mexico. “DOE does not comment on ongoing procurements,” a spokesperson said Wednesday. The current “bridge” contract for legacy cleanup at LANL, held by lab management and operations prime […]

The Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) is establishing a new unit that will focus on the Hanford Site’s Waste Treatment Plant, Roger Jarrell, senior adviser to the secretary of energy for environmental management, said Tuesday. Efforts are being made to streamline management decisions at EM, a roughly $6 billion-per-year office that oversees cleanup […]

The general manager of Waste Treatment Completion Co., the new subcontractor for the Waste Treatment Plant at the Hanford Site in Washington state, is on medical leave. Acting general manager Mike Costas is filling in for general manager Scott Oxenford. Costas previously served as the manager of functions for the Waste Treatment Plant, which included […]

The findings of a recent report questioning the cohesion of the bedrock on which a nuclear waste disposal facility is to be built in Ohio has not deterred the Energy Department from moving forward with the project. “Based on the intensive review of all the information provided in the Ferguson Group Report, DOE does not […]

The Oak Ridge Site Specific Advisory Board (ORSSAB) has identified five priorities in fiscal 2019 for cleanup of the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Reservation in Tennessee. The fiscal 2019 plan targets continued mercury cleanup in East Poplar Creek; groundwater monitoring; future waste disposal capacity (including trust fund maintenance); excess facilities disposition — including removal […]

The Department of Energy has officially acknowledged it will miss the Sept. 30 milestone set under the Tri-Party Agreement to have the Hanford Site’s Plutonium Finishing Plant torn down to slab on grade. The federal agency notified its regulators, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Washington state Department of Ecology, on Friday.  “Tremendous progress has […]

Hanford Office of River Protection Manager Retiring Kevin Smith, the manager of the Department of Energy Office of River Protection at the Hanford Site in Washington state, plans to retire Sept. 30. He gave the word to Energy Secretary Rick Perry on Aug. 15 when the DOE chief visited Hanford. “The Department of Energy is […]

A panel of experts studying options for stabilizing the second radioactive waste storage tunnel at the Hanford Site’s PUREX Plant is scheduled to meet in teleconference for a second time today. The group’s first meeting, held a week earlier, was largely organizational, with no decisions made or a firm schedule set for future meetings. The […]

A system-wide liquid waste processing outage at the Savannah River Site (SRS) is still expected to last through the end of the year, as workers continue to make strides in other key areas of the Energy Department facility’s liquid waste mission. The site reported in February that it was halting all liquid waste processing due to […]

Don’t be surprised to see acting Assistant Energy Secretary for Environmental Management James Owendoff continue to lead the Energy Department’s nuclear cleanup program for several more months, a longtime industry observer told Weapons Complex Monitor this week. “I think they have got a clean slate at DOE on EM-1 candidates,” the source said. Owendoff, a longtime […]

The Washington state Department of Ecology on Thursday issued a $16,000 penalty against the Department of Energy and one of its contractors for failing to identify white powder found during the last two annual inspections of the Hanford Site’s PUREX Plant. The state requires annual detailed inspections of the plant, outlining specific routes through the […]

The Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) might have to wait to get the funding boost being considered on Capitol Hill, assuming an anticipated short-term budget measure becomes reality in the next few weeks. Congress, returning to Washington on Tuesday after its August recess, has only a few weeks to pass some sort of […]

The Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico has as of this week treated half of its stock of containers filled with a volatile mix of remediated nitrate salts and organic kitty litter, a spokesman said Tuesday. Thirty of 60 drums of waste from Cold War-era nuclear weapons operations have been processed at the Energy […]

The Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico has as of this week treated half of its stock of containers filled with a combustible mix of remediated nitrate salts and organic kitty litter, a spokesman said Tuesday. Thirty of 60 drums have been processed at the Energy Department site’s Waste Characterization, Reduction, and Repackaging Facility. […]

Waste Control Specialists has withdrawn a request for an exemption from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to store select radioactive waste from the Los Alamos National Laboratory. The exemption became unnecessary after all shipments of transuranic waste to Waste Control Specialists’ storage complex in West Texas were halted when a container of material from Los Alamos […]

Don’t be surprised to see acting Assistant Energy Secretary for Environmental Management James Owendoff continue to lead the Energy Department’s nuclear cleanup program for several more months, a longtime industry observer told Weapons Complex Morning Briefing on Tuesday. “I think they have got a clean slate at DOE on EM-1 candidates,” the source said. Owendoff, […]

The Sept. 6-7 meeting of the Hanford Advisory Board has been canceled after Department of Energy officials in Washington, D.C., did not approve membership applications and renewals for more than a third of the board positions. The meeting, to be held in Hood River, Ore., was the fourth and final meeting of the full board […]

The Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico last week halted treatment of remediated nitrate salts for two days after a fire suppression system was damaged at the facility where the work is being conducted. The Department of Energy lab is treating 60 drums filled with a combustible mix of organic kitty litter and irradiated salt […]

Kevin Smith, the manager of the Department of Energy Office of River Protection at the Hanford Site in Washington state, plans to retire Sept. 30. He gave the word to Energy Secretary Rick Perry on Aug. 15 when the DOE chief visited Hanford. “The Department of Energy is grateful for Kevin’s service and wishes him […]

About four dozen people representing a host of security companies and Energy Department contractors attended the Aug. 14 industry day for the new paramilitary services contract for DOE’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina. Among the companies represented were current security provider Centerra, BWX Technologies, Wastren Advantage, the Government Training Institute, Paragon Systems, Professional Project […]

The state of Idaho and the Department of Energy have resolved a $648,000 fine levied for the federal agency’s failure to start operating a liquid waste treatment facility at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL). The Integrated Waste Treatment Unit (IWTU) was built to process 900,000 gallons of liquid sodium-bearing waste produced during Cold War-era spent […]

Management at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico has acknowledged it will not meet upcoming contractual milestones for treatment of nitrate salts, according to a recently released site report from the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. The news comes just days ahead of the scheduled period for the Department of Energy to award […]

Atkins executive Alan Parker has voluntarily withdrawn his name from consideration as a candidate for the position of Energy Department assistant secretary for environmental management, industry sources said. Parker, president and project manager for the Atkins-led DOE contractor Mid-America Conversion Services (now providing depleted uranium hexafluoride conversion at facilities in Ohio and Kentucky), was reported in […]

The Department of Energy is taking additional steps to stabilize two decades-old underground tunnels filled with radioactive waste at the Hanford Site in Washington state, after one of them partially collapsed earlier this year. Hanford cleanup contractor CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co. announced Tuesday that it had selected a subcontractor to fill the damaged PUREX […]