Office of Environmental Management (EM)

While the Department of Energy is satisfying a New Mexico push to move more transuranic waste from Los Alamos National Laboratory to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., the Idaho National Laboratory remains the underground mine’s top shipper, a DOE panel heard Thursday. Although a 2019 update to a legal settlement between the […]

The partial evacuation Tuesday afternoon at the 222-S Laboratory at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state was done as a precaution after “about a thimble full” of a legacy chemical was discovered prior to disposal, an agency spokesperson said in Wednesday emails. The evacuation of 50 to 60 people, initially reported by […]

The Amentum-led environmental prime at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee this week told a federal appeals court it should have sovereign immunity, as a federal contractor, from a lawsuit by a radiation technician who was fired after refusing COVID- 19 vaccination. In its 36-page filing Tuesday, UCOR LLC told the U.S. […]

A private equity firm that acquired and merged several businesses that work for the Department of Energy sold the rolled-up companies to Cadre Holdings, a Jacksonville, Fla., maker of law-enforcement equipment. Cadre acquired Alpha Safety Group, created by Benford Capital Partners of Chicago in 2021 from the former Nuclear Filter Technologies, for a little more […]

The 222-S Laboratory at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state was evacuated Tuesday afternoon due to concerns over chemical exposure, the Tri-City Herald reported. The evacuation occurred around 2:20 p.m. Pacific Time after an employee at the 222-S Laboratory, managed by Navarro-led Hanford Laboratory Management and Integration, handled a vial of the […]

Proposals are due by the end of February from subcontractors interested in overhauling the electric power infrastructure within Area 100 of the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state, according to an updated procurement notice. Proposals in response to the solicitation launched by Leidos-led Hanford Mission Integration Solutions, which acts as city manager for […]

The cleanup contractor at the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory is on track to resume treating sodium-bearing liquid waste in March, but some fixes are still needed, according to a Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board update. Jacobs-led Idaho Environmental Coalition finished a maintenance outage at the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit (IWTU) in mid-January after […]

A group of 21 plaintiffs who claim they were fired after seeking a religious exemption from COVID-19 vaccinations have filed a lawsuit in federal court against the Department of Energy’s cleanup contractor at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee. The former employees of Amentum-led United Cleanup Oak Ridge (UCOR) filed suit against the contractor Feb. […]

Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.), a member of the House Appropriations Committee who champions increased cleanup funding for the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site, will have a primary challenger again this cycle for his fourth district congressional seat.   So far, there are only two announced candidates for a nonpartisan primary scheduled for Aug. 6: Newhouse and […]

The Oak Ridge, Tenn., City Airport, to be built on remediated land transferred from the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Site, could still run a deficit in its fifth year of operation, according to a recent analysis from an aviation consulting firm in Kentucky. Financial performance in the fifth year, when the general aviation airport […]

In roughly a month the Washington state Department of Ecology will take comments on a Department of Energy proposal that could lead to offsite solidification and disposal of 2,000 gallons of less-radioactive tank waste from the Hanford Site in Washington state. The 45-day public comment period, on whether to grant a Research, Development, and Demonstration […]

The Department of Energy said Tuesday workers have installed startup heaters to warm up the second 300-ton melter for the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant at the Hanford Site in Washington state. The 18 temporary startup heaters are meant to raise the operating temperature of the second melter to 2,100 degrees Fahrenheit, DOE said in […]

Honeywell this month marked its 75th year of work at what is now the Kansas City National Security Campus in Kansas City, Mo. Run by the National Nuclear Security Administration today, the campus relocated in 2014 from the old Bannister Federal Complex, portions of which were scheduled for transfer to the Department of Energy’s Office […]

It is both “premature and improper” to grant employees fired from a Department of Energy contractor at the Oak Ridge Site a break from the normal statute of limitations before they even join a lawsuit, a federal judge ruled in Tennessee last week. “Plaintiffs’ motion for joinder is improper because they have no authority to […]

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico received 50 shipments of transuranic waste during January, according to the facility’s public website. 39 of the 50 came from the Idaho National Laboratory while five were shipped from the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, four from the Savannah River Site in […]

The Oak Ridge, Tenn., City Council voted Monday to continue pursuit of a grant worth up to $2 million from the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management, according to online documents. The decision to go ahead with a full grant application to DOE was approved without comment as part of the council’s “consent agenda,” […]

The Department of Energy said Wednesday evening it will promote Mark Brown to become the new cleanup project manager at the Idaho National Laboratory where he will replace Connie Flohr who plans to retire from the agency in April and take a job in industry. Brown is deputy manager of the Idaho Cleanup Project and […]

The Department of Energy said Wednesday evening it will promote Mark Brown to become the new cleanup project manager at the Idaho National Laboratory where he will replace Connie Flohr who plans to retire from the agency in April and take a job in industry. Brown is deputy manager of the Idaho Cleanup Project and […]

The Department of Energy said Tuesday workers have installed startup heaters to warm up the second 300-ton melter for the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant at the Hanford Site in Washington state. The 18 temporary startup heaters are meant to raise the operating temperature of the second melter to 2,100 degrees Fahrenheit, DOE said in […]

The Oak Ridge, Tenn., City Council is scheduled to vote Monday evening on whether to continue pursuit of a grant worth up to $2 million from the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management, according to online documents. Should the city win funding from DOE’s Community Capacity Building Grant Program, it plans to establish a […]

In roughly a month the Washington state Department of Ecology will take comments on a Department of Energy proposal that could lead to offsite solidification and disposal of 2,000 gallons of less-radioactive tank waste from the Hanford Site in Washington state. The 45-day public comment period, on whether to grant a Research, Development, and Demonstration […]

It is both “premature and improper” to grant employees fired from a Department of Energy contractor at the Oak Ridge Site a break from the normal statute of limitations before they even join a lawsuit, a federal judge ruled in Tennessee last week. “Plaintiffs’ motion for joinder is improper because they have no authority to […]

The Department of Energy expects the number of transuranic waste shipments to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant will increase by more than 50 in fiscal year 2024, and DOE is also in the early stages of a carbon-free energy procurement for the site, New Mexico lawmakers heard last week. Total shipments to the underground salt […]

Former and current Department of Energy contractors at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio have filed an unopposed motion in federal court seeking until Feb. 26 to answer a complaint by a local resident who blames his leukemia on radioactive contamination from the property. The motion, seeking three weeks beyond the original Feb. 5 deadline, was […]

Those interested in bidding on a potentially $3 billion contract for Phase 1B remediation work at the West Valley Demonstration Project in New York state will get an extra week, until March 4, to submit their proposals, the Department of Energy said last week.  In the package of questions and answers released Feb. 1, DOE’s Office of […]

The Department of Energy contractor in charge of tank waste at the Hanford Site in Washington state is shopping for potential subcontractors capable of refurbishing up to 10 miles of underground pipeline for double-shelled waste-storage tanks. Amentum-led Washington River Protection Solutions published its notice seeking expressions of interest in the project on Jan. 30. Replies are due […]

Department of Energy contractors at the Hanford Site in Washington state are making headway on remaining problems before crews can start turning some less-radioactive tank waste at the property into a solid glass form, the Hanford Advisory Board heard Tuesday. After making a batch of non-radioactive test glass in December, DOE wants to start vitrification of direct-feed-low-activity-waste […]

Butte County, Idaho has not shown the Department of Energy’s storage of spent nuclear fuel at Idaho National Laboratory violates the law, but the county may amend its complaint to preserve its lawsuit, a federal district judge ruled last week. U.S. District Court Judge David Nye on Thursday granted DOE’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit […]

Department of Energy contractors at the Hanford Site in Washington state are making headway on remaining problems before crews can start turning some less-radioactive tank waste at the property into a solid glass form, the Hanford Advisory Board heard Tuesday. After making a batch of non-radioactive test glass in December, DOE wants to start vitrification […]

Former and current Department of Energy contractors at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio have filed an unopposed motion in federal court seeking until Feb. 26 to answer a complaint by a local resident who blames his leukemia on radioactive contamination from the property. The motion, seeking three weeks beyond the original Feb. 5 deadline, was […]