Office of Environmental Management (EM)

A Department of Energy spokesperson confirmed Monday the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico sent a problematic shipment of transuranic waste back to the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. The shipment, which sat for nearly a year in a Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) parking lot and required special permission by the U.S. […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission plans an Oct. 19 hearing on a proposal by Kairos Power to build a demonstration reactor in Oak Ridge, Tenn., on land once used for a Department of Energy gaseous diffusion plant. The hearing at Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) headquarters in Rockville, Md., marks the final phase of the agency’s review […]

Fluor Corp. will pay a civil penalty of $14.5 million as part of a settlement agreement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the company said Wednesday. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigated Fluor’s accounting errors on two lump sum engineering, procurement and construction contracts, the company said in a press release. Fluor neither […]

With less than a month left until fiscal year 2024 begins, the White House has asked Congress for a short-term continuing resolution to freeze federal budgets at 2023 levels. Media reported last week that leaders in the House and Senate have remained open to the requested stopgap bill. Fiscal year 2024 begins Oct. 1.  The […]

An unsealed status report filed with the U.S. Court of Federal Claims by the Department of Justice says the Department of Energy might seek updated proposals for the legally embattled liquid waste contract for the Hanford Site in Washington state, potentially worth $45-billion. This time around, a DOE contract officer would have discretion to treat […]

Months after a deal was announced, the Department of Energy and the Washington state Department of Ecology are still not ready to share details from recently-completed closed-door talks on future cleanup of the Hanford Site, though the feds are preparing to publish a new five-year plan for the former plutonium production property. Back in May, […]

A small fire ignited but did not last long last month at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state, according to a report from the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. The small blaze occurred at an area associated with heating up melter No. 1 at the Waste Treatment Immobilization Plant built by Bechtel, […]

The Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio last week made its first rail shipment of depleted uranium oxide containers to the Waste Control Specialists disposal site in West Texas, DOE announced Tuesday. The shipment of 120 storage cylinders from the Mid-America Conversion Services depleted uranium hexafluoride (DUF6) conversion plant at the former gaseous diffusion […]

An unsealed status report filed with the U.S. Court of Federal Claims by the Department of Justice says the Department of Energy might seek updated proposals for the legally embattled liquid waste contract for the Hanford Site in Washington state, potentially worth $45-billion. This time around, a DOE contract officer would have discretion to treat […]

The Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio last week made its first rail shipment of depleted uranium oxide containers to the Waste Control Specialists disposal site in West Texas, DOE announced Tuesday. The shipment of 120 storage cylinders from the Mid-America Conversion Services depleted uranium hexafluoride (DUF6) conversion plant at the former gaseous diffusion […]

A small fire ignited but did not last long last month at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state, according to a report from the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. The small blaze occurred at an area associated with heating up melter No. 1 at the Waste Treatment Immobilization Plant built by Bechtel, […]

Months after a deal was announced, the Department of Energy and the Washington state Department of Ecology are still not ready to share details from recently-completed closed-door talks on future cleanup of the Hanford Site, though the feds are preparing to publish a new five-year plan for the former plutonium production property. Back in May, […]

The Environmental Protection Agency said in a recent letter it has not agreed to change cleanup plans for Building 324 and the contaminated soil under it at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) “does not concur on any activities towards placing the 324 Building in a […]

A March incident where a subcontractor at the Paducah Site in Kentucky might have been overexposed to a chemical will trigger an internal investigation at the Department of Energy, , according to a notice from the agency’s Office of Enterprise Assessments. On Aug. 21, the office notified Atkins-led Mid-America Conversion Services and two of its […]

In keeping with a White House-backed program to develop clean energy on Department of Energy weapons complex land, the Hanford Site in Washington state plans to host industry players this month in order to learn more about the property’s potential for carbon-free electricity. DOE on Wednesday issued a request for information to seek out companies […]

Energy Northwest, an electric generator that already has a nuclear plant outside Richland, Wash., plans to be on hand Sept. 22 when the Department of Energy hosts an industry day for enterprises interested in generating carbon-free electricity at the Hanford Site. “We have a long relationship leasing DOE land for clean energy generation projects. For […]

The Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup office is shopping around for potential providers of Transportation Emergency Preparedness Program support. According to a sources sought notice posted online Tuesday, the agency’s Cincinnati-based Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center said the contractor will tackle “preparedness issues for shipments of DOE radiological material and waste,” across the weapons complex. […]

The Department of Energy is more than halfway toward its goal of removing cesium from a million gallons of liquid radioactive waste at the Hanford Site in Washington state, a prerequisite for solidifying the waste in the coming years, a DOE manager told the Hanford Advisory Board Aug. 23 Cesium removal should resume in September […]

On Tuesday the Department of Energy rolled out a draft solicitation for the next stage of remediation at the West Valley Demonstration Project in Western New York, a contract potentially worth $3 billion over a decade. The new indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract would replace the existing pact held by a team of Jacobs and BWX Technologies […]

The Department of Energy will buy a total of $164,000 in renewable energy credits from a Virginia-based company to help the Paducah Site in Kentucky and the Portsmouth Site in Ohio comply with a presidential executive order on clean energy. The renewable credits for Paducah and Portsmouth  are being purchased from WGL Energy Services in […]

Energy Northwest, an electric generator that already has a nuclear plant outside Richland, Wash., plans to be on hand Sept. 22 when the Department of Energy hosts an industry day for enterprises interested in generating carbon-free electricity at the Hanford Site. “We have a long relationship leasing DOE land for clean energy generation projects. For […]

The Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup office is shopping around for potential providers of Transportation Emergency Preparedness Program support. According to a sources sought notice posted online Tuesday, the agency’s Cincinnati-based Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center said the contractor will tackle “preparedness issues for shipments of DOE radiological material and waste,” across the weapons complex. […]

In keeping with a White House-backed program to develop clean energy on Department of Energy weapons complex land, the Hanford Site in Washington state plans to host industry players this month in order to learn more about the property’s potential for carbon-free electricity. DOE on Wednesday issued a request for information to seek out companies […]

On Tuesday the Department of Energy rolled out a draft solicitation for the next stage of remediation at the West Valley Demonstration Project in Western New York, a contract potentially worth $3 billion over a decade. The new indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract would replace the existing pact held by a team of Jacobs and BWX Technologies […]

William “Ike” White, senior adviser and acting head of the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management, spoke Monday to an international forum in Japan on Decommissioning of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, the nuclear cleanup office said Tuesday. The 7th annual international forum on Fukushima cleanup sponsored by Japan’s Nuclear Damage Compensation and […]

The Environmental Protection Agency said in a recent letter it has not agreed to change cleanup plans for Building 324 and the contaminated soil under it at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) “does not concur on any activities towards placing the 324 Building in a […]

A March incident where a subcontractor at the Paducah Site in Kentucky might have been overexposed to a chemical will trigger an internal investigation at the Department of Energy, , according to a notice from the agency’s Office of Enterprise Assessments. On Aug. 21, the office notified Atkins-led Mid-America Conversion Services and two of its […]

The Department of Energy’s solid-waste cleanup contractor at the Hanford Site in Washington state now recommends tearing down the above-ground portion of the decaying 324 Building before digging up radioactively-contaminated soil under the structure’s B cell. In an Aug. 23 presentation to the Hanford Advisory Board, Central Plateau Cleanup Co. President John Eschenberg said he […]

A $1.4-billion facility that since April has solidified more than 60,000 gallons of sodium-bearing waste at the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory received “minor superficial damage” from a crane accident in July, an agency spokesperson said Wednesday. The Integrated Waste Treatment Unit (IWTU) was repaired and the IWTU maintenance crane was returned to service […]

Thanks to retirements, the Department of Energy and its Washington state regulator have some new managers at the Hanford Site, the Hanford Advisory Board heard Wednesday. Hanford Advisory Board member Pam Lasen also announced during the start of the two-day board meeting that a former longtime board member from Oregon, Norma Jean Germond, died this […]