Office of Environmental Management (EM)

Workers at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state recently finished removing 346,000 gallons of radioactive and chemical waste from Tank AX-101, the 21st single-shell tank to be emptied at Hanford, DOE said this week. The retrieval project was completed by June, DOE said in a Tuesday press release. Amentum-led contractor Washington River […]

The Washington state Department of Ecology in June formally signed off on a Department of Energy plan to solidify into a concrete-like grout up to 2,000 gallons of low-level liquid radioactive waste from the Hanford Site. Filtering of cesium and other radionuclides, what DOE calls pretreatment, will happen onsite at the former plutonium production complex, […]

The security guard’s union at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state accuses Leidos-led Hanford Mission Integration Solutions in court papers of trying to run out the clock on the existing labor contract without first resolving an overtime dispute. Hanford Mission Integration Solutions (HMIS), the DOE landlord contractor, has twice canceled arbitration sessions […]

Bruce Covert, a longtime executive with Amentum and its predecessors, who held many senior jobs across the Department of Energy’s weapons complex, retired June 30, the company confirmed Tuesday. Covert in May announced he would retire as deputy general manager at Amentum-led Waste Treatment Completion Co. He will be succeeded by another longtime senior manager […]

A relatively new federal district judge in South Carolina will preside over an employment discrimination case against the Department of Energy’s management prime for the Savannah River Site. U.S. District Judge Jacquelyn Austin will hear the job discrimination and retaliation lawsuit against Fluor-led Savannah River Nuclear Solutions filed this spring by a former employee, a […]

Leidos-led Hanford Mission Integration Solutions, the contractor for roads, grounds and essential infrastructure-related chores at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site, appointed Todd Synoground acting chief operations officer. Synoground, listed as senior vice president of infrastructure and site services on the contractor’s website, will step in as acting operations chief with Amy Basche moving up […]

The Washington state Department of Ecology in June formally signed off on a Department of Energy plan to solidify into a concrete-like grout up to 2,000 gallons of low-level liquid radioactive waste from the Hanford Site. Filtering of cesium and other radionuclides, what DOE calls pretreatment, will happen onsite at the former plutonium production complex, […]

Leidos-led Hanford Mission Integration Solutions, the contractor for roads, grounds and essential infrastructure-related chores at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site, appointed Todd Synoground acting chief operations officer. Synoground, listed as senior vice president of infrastructure and site services on the contractor’s website, will step in as acting operations chief with Amy Basche moving up […]

The lame duck cleanup contractor at the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio and the provider of depleted uranium hexafluoride services there and at the Paducah Site in Kentucky each collected most of the available fee for the opening four months of fiscal 2024, DOE said Tuesday. In a press release, DOE’s Portsmouth/Paducah Project […]

In a Friday voice vote, the House Appropriations  Energy & Water Subcommittee advanced to the full committee a Department of Energy budget bill that proposes more than $8.3 billion for the agency’s Office of Environmental Management, down about $160 million from this year. The 2025 spending bill was reported to the full House Appropriations Committee […]

The head of an Amentum-led cleanup prime at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site is leaving and will be replaced by the top executive of the Leidos-led landlord contractor at the former plutonium production complex in Washington state. In a Monday press release, Central Plateau Cleanup President John Eschenberg said he was leaving the remediation […]

The construction subcontractor could formally transfer possession of the new underground ventilation system at the Department of Energy’s transuranic waste disposal site in New Mexico to the Bechtel-led prime contractor by the end of August, according to a government safety board. The tentative date for turnover from the construction subcontractor to Waste Isolation Pilot Plant […]

Two citizen groups in Washington state that track the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site said Friday they were not surprised to see a delay in cold commissioning of the multibillion-dollar plant to turn liquid radioactive waste into glass. DOE said last week it expects to miss the Aug. 1 target for starting cold commissioning, which […]

At a time of much Department of Energy turnover at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, a government safety watchdog says DOE relies too heavily on staff expertise. As a result, Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) Chair Joyce Connery wants a report and briefing before Christmas on DOE steps to upgrade its facility […]

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has ordered final briefs by July 18 in a COVID-19 vaccination lawsuit brought by a former employee against the Department of Energy’s environmental prime at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee. The Cincinnati-based federal appeals court said May 31 it “has determined that oral argument is […]

A BWX Technologies-led joint venture that twice won a $45-billion liquid waste contract at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site, last week withdrew its 2023 case with a federal appeals court, seemingly clearing the way for a U.S. Federal Claims Court to again rule on a contract challenge by the losing bidder. According to online […]

Louisiana-based Aptim Federal Services has landed a maximum $630 million worth of naval reactor cleanup work at sites in the Northeast, the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management said Thursday. The new task order contract is being issued via the Nationwide Deactivation, Decommissioning, and Removal program and involves tearing down decaying facilities and related […]

House appropriators on Thursday rolled out a Department of Energy budget bill that proposes $8.32 billion for the agency’s Office of Environmental Management, down about $160 million from this year. Still, the topline figure for DOE’s nuclear cleanup branch is $100 million more than what President Joe Biden’s administration sought. The act, announced via press […]

At a time of much Department of Energy turnover at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, a government safety watchdog says DOE relies too heavily on staff expertise. As a result, Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) Chair Joyce Connery wants a report and briefing before Christmas on DOE steps to upgrade its facility […]

The lame duck cleanup contractor at the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio and the provider of depleted uranium hexafluoride services there and at the Paducah Site in Kentucky each collected most of the available fee for the opening four months of fiscal 2024, DOE said Tuesday. In a press release, DOE’s Portsmouth/Paducah Project […]

A BWX Technologies-led joint venture that twice won a $45-billion liquid waste contract at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site, Friday withdrew its 2023 case with a federal appeals court, seemingly clearing the way for a U.S. Federal Claims Court to again rule on a contract challenge by the losing bidder. According to online court […]

Two citizen groups in Washington state that track the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site said Friday they were not surprised to see a delay in cold commissioning of the multibillion-dollar plant to turn liquid radioactive waste into glass. DOE said last Thursday it expects to miss the Aug. 1 target for starting cold commissioning, which […]

The Department of Energy expects to miss a legally binding Aug. 1 milestone for starting cold commissioning, making glass from non-radioactive liquid, at the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant at the Hanford Site in Washington state. DOE’s site manager for the former plutonium production complex, Brian Vance, told the Washington Department of Ecology of the […]

Two final Department of Energy small business solicitations, one for technical support at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee and another for a landlord contract at the Paducah Site in Kentucky, could be released as early as July, the agency said Thursday. In a June 20 online notice,  DOE’s Office of Environmental Management said final […]

After spending five years as acting boss of the Department of Energy’s $8-billion Office of Environmental Management, William (Ike) White has passed the keys to another longtime fed, Candice Robertson. The previously-announced transition is officially reflected in a new organizational chart posted Friday by DOE’s nuclear cleanup office. The chart shows Robertson as senior adviser […]

A U.S. Court of Federal Claims judge held a closed-door hearing June 14 but had yet to issue a decision in a legal fight over a potential $45-billion Department of Energy contract for emptying liquid waste tanks at the Hanford Site in Washington state. In a Washington, D.C. courtroom, U.S. Court of Federal Claims Judge […]

ARLINGTON, VA — Candice Robertson, the new senior adviser in charge of the Department of Energy’s $8-billion Office of Environmental Management, said here Tuesday she first became acquainted with nuclear cleanup issues by growing up around Nye County, Nev., the home of DOE’s Nevada National Security Site. Robertson would subsequently win a “landslide” election by […]

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., received 51 shipments of transuranic waste during May, according to the facility’s public website. Also this week, DOE formally announced construction completion of the Safety Significant Confinement Ventilation System after crews finished ductwork on the project.  The majority, 36, of the May shipments to […]

As signaled earlier in the week by the new head of the Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup branch, a developer for a carbon-free electricity project at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina was selected. DOE announced in a Thursday press release that it chose Dallas-based Stellar Renewable Power to enter negotiations for a utility-scale […]

The Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state has awarded an $8.3 million contract to California-based Innovative Claim Solutions to run the workers compensation processing program at the nuclear cleanup site. DOE procurement managers at Hanford said in a Monday press release that Innovative Claims has won a potential five-year contract to be the […]