Office of Environmental Management (EM)

In a Federal Register notice Tuesday, the Department of Energy said that glass logs produced from low-level radioactive tank waste at the Hanford Site in Washington state can be treated as low-level waste. DOE published that conclusion after consulting with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, tribes and other local stakeholders in the final “Waste Incidental to […]

The chief operating officer for the Amentum-led cleanup contractor at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee, Tom Dieter, will retire March 31 and be succeeded by critical projects director Kent Fortenberry, the contractor said Thursday. “We are grateful for [Dieter’s] leadership in the company maintaining a strong safety performance in our first […]

The prime contractor for the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico has added a new attorney to its defense team in a racial discrimination case brought by an employee who claims he was unfairly passed over for promotion. With a new trial date and new federal magistrate judge in place, the […]

An entity called SRS Critical Infrastructure Security, which appeared to have the business in hand two years ago, filed a bid protest with the Government Accountability Office over the Department of Energy’s award of a new Savannah River Site security contract for incumbent Centerra. The award was announced earlier in January, and the bid protest […]

The Department of Energy’s Carlsbad Field Office in New Mexico is working with Carlsbad city officials to secure federal money for electric vehicle charging stations in the community, a spokesperson said in a Tuesday email. The local Carlsbad Current Argus newspaper reported last week the city and DOE’s Carlsbad field office management have agreed to […]

In a draft report presented this week to  a National Academies panel, a Department of Energy research team said grout represents the safest bet for treating half of the low-level radioactive waste at the Hanford Site in Washington state. “Only alternatives employing grout technology appear to be technically viable, low-to-moderate risk, and flexible enough to […]

Employees suing the Department of Energy’s prime for the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee over its COVID-19 vaccination policy continued settlement talks with the contractor and a mediator, according to a recent court filing.  Since the Dec. 28 joint status report, “the parties have continued to exchange offers and counter-offers,”  according to the update […]

The tank management prime at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state is shopping for a subcontractor to provide containers for immobilized low-activity radioactive waste produced by the new vitrification plant. Amentum-led Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) posted a request for proposals (RFP) notice Wednesday on the federal procurement website SAM.gov. A pre-proposal […]

Employees suing the Department of Energy’s prime for the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee over its COVID-19 vaccination policy continued settlement talks with the contractor and a mediator, according to a recent court filing.  Since the Dec. 28 joint status report, “the parties have continued to exchange offers and counter-offers,”  according to the update […]

In a draft report presented this week to  a National Academies panel, a Department of Energy research team said grout represents the safest bet for treating half of the low-level radioactive waste at the Hanford Site in Washington state. “Only alternatives employing grout technology appear to be technically viable, low-to-moderate risk, and flexible enough to […]

In a Federal Register notice Tuesday, the Department of Energy said that glass logs produced from low-level radioactive tank waste at the Hanford Site in Washington state can be treated as low-level waste. DOE published that conclusion after consulting with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, tribes and other local stakeholders in the final “Waste Incidental to […]

The Department of Energy’s Carlsbad Field Office in New Mexico is working with Carlsbad city officials to secure federal money for electric vehicle charging stations in the community, a spokesperson said in a Tuesday email. The local Carlsbad Current Argus newspaper reported last week the city and DOE’s Carlsbad field office management have agreed to […]

An entity called SRS Critical Infrastructure Security, which appeared to have the business in hand two years ago, filed a bid protest with the Government Accountability Office over the Department of Energy’s award of a new Savannah River Site security contract for incumbent Centerra. The award was announced earlier in January, and the bid protest […]

Mark Bollinger is now the acting manager for the Department of Energy’s Carlsbad Field Office in New Mexico, which oversees the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. The DOE Office of Environmental Management announced earlier in January that Carlsbad manager Reinhard Knerr is moving to the Portsmouth-Paducah Project Office to become the deputy manager helping to oversee […]

The prime contractor for the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico has added a new attorney to its defense team in a racial discrimination case brought by an employee who claims he was unfairly passed over for promotion. With a new trial date and new federal magistrate judge in place, the […]

After skipping a couple of years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the annual controlled deer hunts returned to the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina during December, and 261 deer were killed, according to the site’s top fed. “Finally we did the deer hunts in December,” Michael Budney, who heads DOE’s Office […]

As scheduled, Bob Pragada formally became the new big boss at Jacobs last week, as the former president and chief operating officer succeeded retiring CEO Steve Demetriou, the company announced in a press release. Also last week Jacobs announced the appointment of a new chief financial officer effective in August. The Dallas-based international engineering and […]

Feds at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina are busy planning to transfer responsibility for the complex to DOE’s nuclear weapons office from the cleanup branch in fiscal 2025, a top local boss said Monday. “As we discussed before, we have been charged to come up with a plan by June […]

A joint venture led by a Veolia affiliate has been tapped by Amentum-led Central Plateau Cleanup Co. to run two landfills at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state under a deal potentially worth $124 million over six years, Veolia said Wednesday. The Hanford cleanup prime has picked the joint venture between Veolia […]

A federal appeals court could hear oral arguments this May in Seattle in a legal challenge brought over COVID-19 vaccination policy at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Tuesday informed attorneys for the Justice Department and the Silent Majority Foundation, representing more […]

As expected, citizen groups in New Mexico have asked the state Environment Department to extend the comment period by 60 days on a 10-year permit renewal for the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. The draft permit is more than 1,200 pages long so granting the extension until April 19 is justified, according to […]

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot plant near Carlsbad, N.M., will carry out a three week maintenance outage from Feb. 27 through March 19, a spokesperson for the transuranic waste disposal site said in a Thursday email. Plans include upkeep and calibration of ventilation fans as well as testing and balancing underground ventilation, the […]

With a Department of Energy solicitation for a new Occupational Services contract expected as soon as February for the Hanford Site in Washington state, the agency last week released various details about the work, including a video tour of two existing worker health facilities. DOE’s Cincinnati-based Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center published both a list […]

A federal safety watchdog reports there were two mishaps in radioactive waste storage areas last month at the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory, including one where a container of radioactive waste fell four feet. Both incidents, one on Dec. 10, and another Dec. 20, occurred at Idaho Nuclear Technology and Engineering Center, according to […]

Amentum-led Department of Energy contractor Washington River Protection Solutions asked for expressions of interest from makers of robots that could provide a better view of the pits that lead to underground radioactive waste tanks at the Hanford Site in Washington state. “The robotic solution will be referred to as the Pit Vyper in this document,” […]

Feds at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina are busy planning to transfer responsibility for the complex to DOE’s nuclear weapons office from the cleanup branch in fiscal 2025, a top local boss said Monday. “As we discussed before, we have been charged to come up with a plan by June […]

Earlier this month a Department of Energy contractor started removing radioactive waste from an underground tank at the AX Farm at the Hanford Site in Washington state. Removal of radioactive and chemical waste from Tank AX-101 started Jan. 13, and should take about 18 months, the Department of Energy said in a Tuesday news release. […]

Like football fans, contractors considering bids on Department of Energy business often lack faith they will receive a fair shake from officials, a Tuesday report from a federal watchdog indicates. Representatives from 15 of the 24 industry contractors interviewed by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) on DOE procurement “expressed concerns about the fairness of DOE’s […]

Roughly a quarter of the way through fiscal 2023 the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant has received 107 shipments of transuranic waste, about on pace for meeting its 400-shipment target for the fiscal year ending in September, DOE and its contractor told New Mexico lawmakers Tuesday. There have been 107 shipments to the […]

By John Stang Most viable options for cleaning up highly radioactive liquid waste at the Hanford Site in Washington involve abandoning a partly-built plant that cost billions of dollars, according to a recent Department of Energy analysis. Of 11 viable cleanup options DOE studied in an analysis of alternatives dated Jan. 12, only two include […]