Office of Environmental Management (EM)

With 2023 winding down, the Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup office on Tuesday offered a broad overview of how most of its nuclear-weapons cleanup contractors performed during the year. Most results shared in the Office of Environmental Management’s house newsletter were for fiscal 2023, which ended Sept. 30. DOE had not published all the contractor […]

The Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup branch could issue a trio of final solicitations for new contracts during the first six months of 2024, according to a notice issued Monday. In a notice posted online Monday, DOE’s Office of Environmental Management said final request for proposals (RFP) for Phase 1B of cleanup of the West […]

After its waste shipment rate declined briefly due to staffing, the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory is again sending about 12 shipments most weeks to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico, according to a recent report. After bosses at the Idaho National Laboratory cut the number of weekly shipments during October to […]

A federal court wants to know more, by Jan. 5, about a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit brought by a citizens group seeking access to some U.S. Environmental Protection Agency documents about a radioactive waste landfill at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee. U.S. District Court Judge Ana Reyes ordered a status […]

Oak Ridge, Tenn.-based Boston Government Services this month announced a pair of management moves, appointing a vice president for energy and environmental work as well as a head of cybersecurity. Longtime Boston Government executive Karen Harris, who was chief executive of a small technical services business for a decade and has 25 years of experience […]

S&K Logistics, a tribally-owned government contractor, has won a potential three-year, $24-million award for support services at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina. The indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract for professional services, ranging from liquid waste cleanup to legal support, at Savannah River runs from Dec. 12, 2023 through Dec. 11, […]

Supreme Court agrees to vacate ruling against Biden’s contractor vax mandate The U.S. Supreme Court Monday agreed to vacate a national preliminary injunction against President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 vaccination mandate for federal contractors, after the Justice Department argued the issue became moot when pandemic emergency measures ended this spring. The court Monday granted a petition […]

With maintenance almost complete, the Department of Energy expects to restart operations of an Idaho National Laboratory treatment facility for radioactive sodium-bearing waste early in 2024. Workers for DOE ‘s Jacobs-led environmental cleanup contractor have replaced mercury-laden beds of granular activated carbon in two vessels of the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit (IWTU), which has been […]

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., remains on pace to have its best calendar year performance since it returned to service in 2017 following an underground accident three years earlier. The nation’s only deep geologic disposal site for defense-related transuranic waste has received 441 shipments between Jan. 1 and Nov. […]

The Department of Energy’s environmental prime at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee said in a  court filing last week that as a U.S. contractor it is shielded from a lawsuit brought under a state law by a former employee fired after refusing to be vaccinated for COVID-19. In November, U.S. District Court Judge Charles […]

A federal judge in Washington, D.C. has given the U.S. government until this Friday, Dec. 15, to answer a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by an environmental group over documents concerning a low-level radioactive waste landfill at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee. U.S. District Court Judge Ana Reyes agreed to the […]

President Joe Biden (D) was set to sign a fiscal 2024 National Defense Authorization Act that authorizes raises for nuclear weapons programs and flat spending for nuclear-weapons cleanup but no major changes for civilian nuclear energy policies. This week, with overwhelming bipartisan majorities, both chambers of Congress approved the bill, a compromise version of separate […]

With publication of a draft solicitation Thursday, the Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup branch is shopping for a new small business to provide technical support for its project office serving the Portsmouth Site in Ohio and the Paducah Site in Kentucky. DOE’s Office of Environmental Management announced its draft request for proposals (RFP) for a […]

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., remains on pace to have its best calendar year performance since it returned to service in 2017 following an underground accident three years earlier. The nation’s only deep geologic disposal site for defense-related transuranic waste has received 434 shipments between Jan. 1 and Nov. […]

With maintenance almost complete, the Department of Energy expects to restart operations of an Idaho National Laboratory treatment facility for radioactive sodium-bearing waste early in 2024. Workers for DOE ‘s Jacobs-led environmental cleanup contractor have replaced mercury-laden beds of granular activated carbon in two vessels of the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit (IWTU), which has been […]

The U.S. Supreme Court Monday agreed to vacate a national preliminary injunction against President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 vaccination mandate for federal contractors, after the Justice Department argued the issue became moot when pandemic emergency measures ended this spring. The court Monday granted a petition filed by Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar in July asking the high […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board representatives held eight briefings for congressional committees or staffers in fiscal 2023, according to a recently-released financial report. According to its financial report to congress, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) also held met with other groups: the Hanford Advisory Board, Savannah River Site Watch, Citizens for Nuclear […]

The Government Accountability Office said Thursday the Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup wing should reach deals with key federal entities that rely on H-Canyon at DOE’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina Site to process spent reactor fuel. H-Canyon is the nation’s only nuclear chemical separations facility and the DOE Office of Environmental Management plans […]

HANFORD SITE, WASH. — Workers at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site filled its first canister with melted non-radioactive glass last week, the site’s leaders announced Monday. “It was not obvious to everyone except this team that we’d be here today,” said the Department of Energy’s Hanford Manager Brian Vance at a Monday ceremony at […]

Jacobs’ government contracting and cybersecurity businesses, which are expected to merge with Virginia-based Amentum in 2024, account for more than a third of the revenue at Jacobs, according to material released following the Nov. 21 consolidation announcement. Depending on the way it’s counted, Critical Mission Solutions with the cyber and intelligence business line were responsible […]

A unified 2024 National Defense Authorization Act unveiled this week provides about what President Joe Biden sought for cleanup of Department of Energy nuclear weapon sites, but won’t expand a compensation program for sick nuclear workers. The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) report published Wednesday by a House-Senate conference committee, does not reauthorize the Radiation […]

Some cleanup will continue at DOE’s Building 324 at the Hanford Site in Washington state even as the government takes public comment on proposed changes to the work, federal officials told an advisory committee Tuesday. Department of Energy Hanford Site manager Brian Vance and David Einan, the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Region 10 Superfund manager […]

Personnel at the Hanford site in Washington state have prepared nearly 800,000 gallons of liquid radioactive waste for conversion into glass form in 2025, the site’s federal manager said Tuesday. Contractor Washington River Protection Solutions has started its fifth batch run at the Tank Side Cesium Removal (TSCR) project, Department of Energy site manager Brian […]

The Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup office would mostly stay hands-off off any clean energy generation that comes to the Hanford Site in Washington state, an official said Tuesday.  DOE’s Hanford office will be “limited to being a good landlord” federal manager Brian Vance said Tuesday at a meeting of the Hanford Advisory Board. About […]

Personnel at the Hanford site in Washington state have prepared nearly 800,000 gallons of liquid radioactive waste for conversion into glass form in 2025, the site’s federal manager said Tuesday. Contractor Washington River Protection Solutions has started its fifth batch run at the Tank Side Cesium Removal (TSCR) project, Department of Energy site manager Brian […]

The Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup office would mostly stay hands-off off any clean energy generation that comes to the Hanford Site in Washington state, an official said Tuesday.  DOE’s Hanford office will be “limited to being a good landlord” federal manager Brian Vance said Tuesday at a meeting of the Hanford Advisory Board. About […]

Some cleanup will continue at DOE’s Building 324 at the Hanford Site in Washington state even as the government takes public comment on proposed changes to the work, federal officials told an advisory committee Tuesday. Department of Energy Hanford Site manager Brian Vance and David Einan, the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Region 10 Superfund manager […]

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is taking comments between now and Feb. 29, 2024, on storm water discharge rules affecting the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico and surrounding areas. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) wants to fix water quality standards violations raised in a petition by a Taos-based water advocacy […]

The Department of Energy and its prime contractor for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico are investigating a Nov. 20 accident in which a basket of tools and material fell roughly 2,200 feet to the bottom of the new underground utility shaft. “All work on the Utility Shaft was immediately paused and the […]

Leidos-led Hanford Mission Integration Solutions, the Department of Energy prime that acts as city manager of the Hanford Site in Washington state, is shopping for a subcontractor to overhaul aging power distribution lines and related infrastructure. The work, in the 100 Area near the Columbia River, involves tearing down or refurbishing old infrastructure and installing […]