Office of Environmental Management (EM)

As soon as Thursday, the Energy Department could declare it is ready to once again dispose of nuclear waste at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant after a nearly three-year pause. At 8:30 p.m. Eastern time that day, DOE and the city of Carlsbad, N.M., plan to webcast their latest quarterly Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) […]

The Washington state Ecology Department on Monday opened a 60-day public comment period for locals to weigh in on a permit modification Bechtel National and the Energy Department need to start treating radioactive waste at the Hanford Site as soon as 2022. If granted, the modification will smooth the way for Bechtel, prime contractor on the […]

Waste Control Specialists is seeking leniency from federal regulators after apparently violating its federal waste-storage permit to prevent a possible radiation release in 2014, according to an official account the company filed with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The 12-page account, the most detailed Waste Control Specialists (WCS) has offered publicly on the situation, is printed […]

Energy Department contractors Bechtel and AECOM will pay a combined $125 million to settle allegations that they spent federal dollars on non-nuclear-certified parts and services for the Waste Treatment Plant at the Hanford Site in Washington state, the U.S. Justice Department announced late Nov. 23. Bechtel’s payment also covers claims that it improperly used federal funds for lobbying purposes. […]

This week, as the Energy Department weighed decisions that will determine if the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) reopens in 2016, news broke that New Mexico’s U.S. senators believe the facility needs tens of millions of dollars more than expected to safely resume nuclear waste disposal. After numerous setbacks this year, DOE and site contractor […]

The Department of Energy said Thursday it has issued a $39.1 million, five-year contract to e-Management Consultants for information technology services at Office of Environmental Management (EM) headquarters. The Silver Spring, Md.-based company, which specializes in IT services for government, beat 12 other bidders, according to a DOE press release. The contract covers a wide […]

A dozen workers this week reported symptoms or suspicious odors that could be related to chemical vapors from waste stored at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state. Thursday afternoon, three workers reported a suspicious ammonia-like odor outside a facility used to switch out empty air bottles for full containers to use with […]

A recently released report from the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Inspector General (IG) identifies seven significant management challenges facing the agency in fiscal 2017. They are: financial assistance and contract management; cybersecurity; environmental cleanup; nuclear waste disposal; safeguards and security; stockpile stewardship; and infrastructure modernization. All but one of these categories were previously identified […]

A local advisory board wants the Department of Energy to expedite processing of aluminum-clad spent nuclear fuel (SNF) stocks at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. During its bimonthly meeting on Nov. 15, the SRS Citizens Advisory Board (CAB) approved a recommendation asking DOE to “accelerate plans and decisions to process its entire inventory of aluminum-clad SNF […]

Washington state and its co-plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit over chemical vapor protections for workers at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site are asking for five more months to prepare for trial. The proposed delay would move the trial from Sept 18, 2017, to Feb. 19, 2018. The current case schedule cannot be met, in […]

South Carolina wants a U.S. District Court judge to reconsider her recent opinion that she has no jurisdiction to rule on the $100 million the state is seeking in its lawsuit over disposition of DOE plutonium stored at the Savannah River Site near Aiken, S.C. State Attorney General Alan Wilson sued the Energy Department, Energy Secretary […]

With the impending ascension of former NASA hand Rex Geveden to the top spot at BWX Technologies, the Lynchburg, Va.-company has set an an outsider from the aerospace business in charge of an effort to grow the company’s legacy nuclear cleanup business with the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management. “We remain strongly committed to […]

With the impending ascension of former NASA hand Rex Geveden to the top spot at BWX Technologies, the Lynchburg, Va.-company has set an outsider from the aerospace business in charge of an effort to grow the company’s legacy nuclear cleanup business with the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management. “We remain strongly committed to that […]

A recently released report from the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Inspector General (IG) identifies seven significant management challenges facing the agency in fiscal 2017. They are: financial assistance and contract management; cybersecurity; environmental cleanup; nuclear waste disposal; safeguards and security; stockpile stewardship; and infrastructure modernization. All but one of these categories were previously identified […]

Six workers received “precautionary medical evaluation” Wednesday following possible exposure to vapors from waste tanks at the Hanford Site in Washington state, tank farm contractor Washington River Protection Solutions said. The workers said they detected odors Wednesday morning near the AX Tank Farm, and four indicated they were experiencing symptoms of exposure. All were approved to […]

The Energy Department is scheduled on Friday to complete the last agency-led review standing in the way of reopening the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) for transuranic waste-disposal operations, sources in New Mexico said Wednesday. DOE is set to conduct its exit interview with WIPP prime contractor Nuclear Waste Partnership (NWP) in the early afternoon, local […]

The Washington state Ecology Department on Monday opened a 60-day public comment period for locals to weigh in on a permit modification Bechtel National and the Energy Department need to start treating radioactive waste at the Hanford Site as soon as 2022. If granted, the modification will smooth the way for Bechtel, prime contractor on the […]

Waste Control Specialists is seeking leniency from federal regulators after apparently violating its federal waste-storage permit to prevent a possible radiation release in 2014, according to an official account the company filed with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The 12-page account, the most detailed Waste Control Specialists (WCS) has offered publicly on the situation, is printed […]

Energy Department contractors Bechtel and AECOM will pay a combined $125 million to settle allegations that they spent federal dollars on non-nuclear-certified parts and services for the Waste Treatment Plant at the Hanford Site in Washington state, the U.S. Justice Department announced late Wednesday. Bechtel’s fine also covers claims that it improperly used federal funds for lobbying purposes.  […]

The Energy Department is due to conclude this week its final review of whether the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico is ready to reopen for transuranic waste disposal nearly three years after a pair of accidents closed the deep-underground facility. DOE on Nov. 14 began an operational readiness review that was expected to take […]

A story in Tuesday’s Weapons Complex Morning Briefing (“Moab Tech Assistance Contract Conference Scheduled,” Nov. 22, 2016) should have said groundwater remediation at the site is handled by the site’s Technical Assistance Contractor, S&K Logistics Services.

A Koch Industries alum without much nuclear experience on his Washington-heavy resume parachuted into President-elect Donald Trump’s Energy Department transition team Tuesday, Trump Tower announced. Thomas Pyle, president of the petrochemical-focused American Energy Alliance advocacy in Washington, will serve under Michael McKenna, the Trump transition team’s point man for the Department of Energy. According to […]

The Department of Energy has scheduled a pre-solicitation conference and site tour for the Moab, Utah, Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action (UMTRA) technical assistance contract. The event is scheduled for 9 a.m. local time on Dec. 14 in Moab. The registration deadline is Wednesday, Dec. 7. Interested parties must send their name, title, and organization to […]

A new report from the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Inspector General (IG) identifies seven significant management challenges facing the agency in fiscal 2017. They are: financial assistance and contract management; cybersecurity; environmental cleanup; nuclear waste disposal; safeguards and security; stockpile stewardship; and infrastructure modernization. All but one of these categories were previously identified as […]

The Energy Department expects this year to finalize contract modifications necessary to begin treatment of the Hanford Site’s liquid waste by 2022, according to a monthly report filed with regulators in Washington state and Oregon. Negotiations with contractor Bechtel National “have been ongoing and are expected to be completed by the end of the calendar […]

A final, crunch-time review to determine if the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) is ready to receive nuclear waste for the first time in nearly three years will take less time to finish than once thought, the Department of Energy announced Tuesday. The DOE-led operational readiness review that began Monday, as first reported in Weapons Complex Morning Briefing, will […]

Twenty workers at the Energy Department’s Savannah River Site will swap badges to Savannah River Remediation from Parsons to ensure liquid waste treatment at the Salt Waste Processing Facility begins around 2019, as scheduled. The AECOM-led Savannah River Remediation (SRR) “recently chose to hire 20 Radiological Protection Inspectors through Parsons, the SWPF [Salt Waste Processing […]

A redesigned version of the large screw-like component designed to break up chunks of solid waste in the troubled Integrated Waste Treatment Unit (IWTU) in Idaho will undergo testing from November to January, the Energy Department announced Thursday. The so-called augur-grinder breaks up solid waste for processing in the IWTU, which was built by former […]

The Department of Energy has completed the amendment process for the request for proposals for the technical services contract at the Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM) in Tennessee, according to a notice posted Wednesday. The RFP was issued in early October, and DOE made three amendments through Nov. 15. “No further amendments to […]

The Energy Department’s prime contractor at the Hanford Site tank farms found affirmation in a federal judge’s ruling this week that workers at the Washington state site do not immediately need extra protection from the noxious vapors that sometimes leak from the site’s Cold War-era liquid waste tanks. U.S. District Judge Thomas Rice ruled against […]