Office of Environmental Management (EM)

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management should bring in an outside entity to gauge the effectiveness of the overhauled procurement strategy implemented in 2019 to improve its multi-billion-dollar nuclear cleanup operation, the Government Accountability Office said Wednesday. The head of DOE’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) should also develop specific performance goals for […]

Expedited spent fuel removal is underway at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina, now that the agency has decided not to recover high-enriched uranium from the L-Basin storage area, a manager told a federal advisory board Tuesday. “We just kept recovering and kept recovering … and we did not have a […]

Management at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site is participating in daily calls about Hurricane Ian with emergency officials for the state of South Carolina, a spokesperson at the federal complex said Tuesday. “Site resources have been identified and will be available to respond to any potential site hurricane impacts,” the spokesperson said via […]

The head of the Department of Energy field office overseeing the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., expects the facility to finish fiscal 2022 with 225 shipments of transuranic waste, short of its target of 299. As of Aug. 29, the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) has received 217 shipments of defense-related transuranic waste […]

The Department of Energy plans to ink a contract extension by Friday with the management and operations manager for the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, an agency executive told a federal advisory board Monday. “A new contract should be signed sometime this week because Sept. 30 is approaching fast,” said Jimmy “Mac” McMillian, DOE […]

The Santa Susana Field Laboratory, including the portion being cleaned up by the Department of Energy, will have a new congressional representative in January 2023 thanks to redistricting. Following the 2020 Census, the independent California Citizens Redistricting Commission redrew the state’s congressional districts, moving the 2,850-acre Santa Susana Field Laboratory in Ventura County, Calif., to […]

ARLINGTON, VA — During a conference dominated by workforce continuity issues, it was noted Friday that Department of Energy field office managers for nuclear cleanup, who often head the biggest employers in rural locales, have been in their current posts for less than five years.  Being a major government employer in small-town America poses unique […]

The award of seven field site technical assistance contracts together worth up to $120 million over five years was announced this week by the Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup office. The indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contracts were awarded to S&K Mission Support, AKIMA Systems Engineering, ARS Aleut Remediation, Catawba Engineering and Environmental Services, Energy Technology Alliance, […]

ARLINGTON, VA — Coaxing new waste treatment facilities to run smoothly and tackling a variety of issues tied to a mature but graying workforce are among top challenges facing the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management, agency execs said here Friday. On the upside, Environmental Management (EM) is approaching yearly funding of almost $8 […]

David Campbell, former senior vice president of Veolia Nuclear Solutions Federal Services, is joining EnergySolutions, the Salt Lake-City based company said Tuesday. Campbell, whose background includes executive stints at Bechtel as well as the Department of Energy’s semi-autonomous National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), will be joining EnergySolutions as the company’s executive vice president for business […]

The legacy nuclear cleanup contractor for the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico said Tuesday it recently awarded a total of $120 million in subcontracts for soil contamination work to three companies. Newport News Nuclear BWXT Los Alamos (N3B) said in a press release that Idaho-based North Wind Group will assist […]

The Department of Energy has suspended centralized collection of weekly COVID-19 summary information from its labs, plants, and nuclear cleanup sites, a spokesperson with the agency’s Office of Environmental Management said Monday. “Most DOE locations are at a low COVID-19 transmission rate in accordance with CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] Community Levels,” the […]

The Department of Energy and the state of Tennessee have agreed to devote $42 million to address natural resource damages around the 32,000-acre Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee, according to a recently-published assessment. The state and federal agencies that serve as the trustees for natural resources at the Oak Ridge Site have agreed in principle […]

ARLINGTON, VA — Talks about the contractual future of the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, ongoing for years between the Office of Environmental Management and the semi-autonomous National Nuclear Security Administration, could bear fruit within three months, the head of the cleanup office said here Thursday. William (Ike) White made the remark Thursday during […]

ARLINGTON, VA. —The Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup contractor at the West Valley Demonstration Project in upstate New York has started tearing down the Main Plant Process Building this week, executives said here Thursday during the National Cleanup Workshop. John Rendall, president and general manager of Jacobs-led CH2M HILL BWXT West Valley, announced the start […]

ARLINGTON, VA. — The Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management should transfer the Biology Complex, or Mouse House, to the National Nuclear Security Administration at the Oak Ridge Site Y-12 National Security Complex by the end of December, the head of the cleanup team said here Thursday. That was the word from Ken Rueter, […]

ARLINGTON, VA — Talks about the contractual future of the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, ongoing for years between the Office of Environmental Management and the semi-autonomous National Nuclear Security Administration, could bear fruit within three months, the head of the cleanup office said here Thursday. William (Ike) White made the remark Thursday during […]

ARLINGTON, VA. — The Department of Energy should have an interim storage site for nuclear fuel within 10-to-15 years, an Office of Nuclear Energy official told the National Cleanup Workshop here Thursday. “The Department of Energy has a trust problem; I understand that,” said Sam Brinton, deputy assistant secretary for spent fuel and waste disposition,” […]

ARLINGTON, VA —The acting boss of the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management, a top manager from the agency’s Office of Nuclear Energy and key congressional representatives were to kick off the National Cleanup Workshop here Tuesday.    The workshop is hosted annually by the Energy Communities Alliance in cooperation with DOE and the Energy […]

At least one Department of Energy nuclear cleanup property, the Portsmouth Site, is assured of replacing a seasoned lawmaker in November’s midterm election, with Sen. Portman (R-Ohio) not seeking a third term in the U.S. Senate. Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) , the incumbent from Ohio’s 13th congressional district, is running against J.D. Vance, the GOP […]

David Campbell, former senior vice president of Veolia Nuclear Solutions Federal Services, is joining EnergySolutions, the Salt Lake-City based company said Tuesday. Campbell, whose background includes executive stints at Bechtel as well as the Department of Energy’s semi-autonomous National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), will be joining EnergySolutions as the company’s executive vice president for business […]

The legacy nuclear cleanup contractor for the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico said Tuesday it recently awarded a total of $120 million in subcontracts for soil contamination work to three companies. Newport News Nuclear BWXT Los Alamos (N3B) said in a press release that Idaho-based North Wind Group will assist […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management expects decommissioning for Building 235-F at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina to be finished in fiscal 2030, William (Ike) White, the office’s acting head, said. Current remediation efforts focus on removing hazardous material from the facility, where deactivation started in July 2019, White said in […]

The Department of Energy and the state of Tennessee have agreed to devote $42 million to address natural resource damages around the 32,000-acre Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee, according to a recently-published assessment. The state and federal agencies that serve as the trustees for natural resources at the Oak Ridge Site have agreed in principle […]

The Department of Energy has suspended centralized collection of weekly COVID-19 summary information from its labs, plants, and nuclear cleanup sites, a spokesperson with the agency’s Office of Environmental Management said Monday. “Most DOE locations are at a low COVID-19 transmission rate in accordance with CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] Community Levels,” the […]

The U.S. Army Corp of Engineers expects to solicit bids by the end of October for a small business to build a viewing platform next to a museum at the old K-25 gaseous diffusion plant grounds at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee. The Nashville District of the US Army Corps of […]

Dallas-based Jacobs announced Thursday that Steve Demetriou, the CEO of the international engineering, construction and procurement company for seven years, is stepping down from the top job in January but will stay with the company as executive chair of the board. Jacobs current president and chief operating officer Bob Pragada will succeed Demetriou as CEO […]

Nuclear services company Orano Federal Services and environmental services contractor Spectra Tech created a joint-venture company to pursue small business set-aside contracts, the two said in a joint press release. The new joint venture, dubbed Spectrano, will “leverage its history of performance at federal sites across the country,” Orano said in the Wednesday release. The […]

Atkins Nuclear Secured Holding Corp. broke ground Tuesday on a new $20-million technology center in Richland, Wash., near the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site. Located next door to the current Atkins Engineering Laboratory, the new facility will have a 16,000-square-foot high-bay testing area specifically to develop innovative nuclear and environmental cleanup technologies, the SNC-Lavalin company […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Legacy Management, long-term custodian of 101 previously contaminated sites cleaned up by other federal entities, expects to see its portfolio nearly double over time, a top administrator said last week. The Office of Legacy Management will take charge of 20 more sites over the next five years, Jay Glascock, […]