Office of Environmental Management (EM)

Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-Wash.), one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach then-President Donald Trump following the Jan. 6 capitol insurrection, Tuesday conceded her loss in Washington’s 3rd Congressional district primary on Aug. 2. “I’m proud that I always told the truth, stuck to my principles, and did what I knew to be […]

A University of Georgia research associate at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina was “treated and hospitalized for a few days for observation,” after being bitten by a poisonous copperhead snake July 22, a spokesperson said Wednesday. “The individual is fully recovered and returned to work,” Vicky Sutton-Jackson, a spokesperson for […]

With Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm set to visit the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state later this week, a coalition of organizations wrote President Joe Biden Tuesday urging a $1 billion increase in cleanup funding for the former plutonium production site. “Given its role as the workhorse for plutonium production, the scope of […]

A batch of documents were made public Monday after previously being under seal in the ongoing legal battle on whether Swift & Staley should have been disqualified for the new Paducah Infrastructure Support Services Contract awarded by the Department of Energy in December 2020. Swift & Staley, the Justice Department and a rival bidder for […]

Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.), one of 10 Republicans who voted to impeach then-President Donald Trump after the Jan. 6 insurrection, holds the No. 1 spot in a primary for his 4th Congressional district, while a similarly-situated Washington incumbent has lost her lead for the crucial runner-up slot in her primary. The Associated Press called the […]

A lawsuit against the Department of Energy’s prime contractor at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, filed by about 80 employees who objected to its COVID-19 vaccination policy, was dismissed. The plaintiffs, led by Shawn Phillip Rhoades, and defendant Savannah River Nuclear Solutions filed a joint motion for dismissal dated Thursday in the U.S. […]

While it did not generate much chatter Monday during a quarterly earnings call focused on strong numbers, BWX Technologies is in the running for billions more in government contracts across the Department of Energy weapons complex over the next year. Having already won the $21-billion, 15-year Savannah River Integrated Mission contract for liquid waste cleanup […]

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality is still “considering potential enforcement action” against the Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup branch for failure to move stranded drums of transuranic waste out of Waste Control Specialists’ facility in Andrews County, a commission spokesperson said last week. The DOE Office of Environmental Management wrote the state July 11 […]

A New Mexico citizens group that is a frequent critic of the Department of Energy wants a firm end date for closure of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant  near Carlsbad, N.M., and greater transparency surrounding the federal transuranic waste program. In addition, Don Hancock, nuclear waste program director at Southwest Research and Information Center, told […]

The Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina will maintain precautions for “high” community rates for transmission of COVID-19, a DOE spokesperson said Monday. Savannah River DOE managers made the decision after learning the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control failed to update its COVID case numbers last week with the […]

An APTIM-North Wind joint venture that ran into bad luck and bedrock while building the Outfall 200 Mercury Treatment Facility at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee may have its contract extended beyond the current Dec. 5 expiration, a Department of Energy spokesperson said recently. “The Mercury Treatment Facility is scheduled to be operational in […]

Counties surrounding the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state, Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee and DOE nuclear cleanup sites in Utah and Nevada no longer have high transmission levels of COVID-19. That is according to the latest data posted on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website Friday. When local CDC […]

The new Amentum-led cleanup contractor at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee will be taking over transuranic waste operations at the property from North Wind Group later this year, an agency spokesperson confirmed this week.  Transition to United Cleanup Oak Ridge (UCOR) from North Wind was to begin at the end of […]

As of Thursday evening, House Appropriations Committee member Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.) was narrowly leading an open primary in his 4th Congressional district that encompasses the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state with a Democratic Party challenger 1,000 votes behind. Newhouse, one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach then-President Donald Trump […]

The highly-contaminated Hanford Site in Washington state accounted for over half the environmental liability for the entire Department of Energy, but opportunities exist for curbing increasing costs at the property, according to a congressional watchdog. In a new report, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said DOE could save “tens of billions of dollars” by abandoning […]

Amid a profitable quarter, Fluor, Irving, Texas, said Friday the Department of Energy plans to extend a Fluor-led joint venture’s tenure as prime contractor at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina for up to five years. During an earnings call, Fluor CEO David Constable also expressed optimism about the company’s chances of landing individual […]

The entire Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments Sept. 13 in New Orleans on a case surrounding the Joe Biden administration’s authority to require most federal employees be vaccinated against COVID-19. That’s according to a notice posted recently on the appeals court’s website announcing the date of the “en banc” or […]

Swift & Staley, the incumbent landlord contractor at the Department of Energy’s Paducah Site in Kentucky, is urging an appeals court to set a hearing so the company can argue a lower court and the federal government were wrong to find the contractor too large to qualify for a follow-on contract. Swift & Staley Inc. […]

A draft energy and water development bill for fiscal 2023 posted last week by the chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee directs the Department of Energy to spend $2 million on a “reindustrialization” study at the Paducah Site in Kentucky. The document did not provide any detail on the scope of the study or when […]

Earnings rose at Jacobs, Dallas, in the 3rd quarter of fiscal 2022, which the engineering, procurement and construction contractor, active in the Department of Energy nuclear weapons complex, attributed to strong performances in the climate, data and consulting sectors. Net earnings for the third quarter ended July 1 were $196 million, or  $1.52 a share, […]

While the Department of Energy’s latest environmental review of the problem picked no preferred site for long-term storage of elemental mercury, the feds favor placing the metal in an existing facility that could accept the material quickly. “Because statutory milestone dates have now passed, DOE needs to designate a facility and begin accepting elemental mercury […]

The final major test run of the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit at the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory concluded last week and, after a decade of trying, the agency is hoping to start radiological operations this fall. The confirmatory run of the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit (IWTU) ended July 27 after DOE and its […]

A worker who on July 5, experienced radiological contamination on “unprotected areas” of the head and arm, at the Hanford Site 222-S laboratory tested negative for any internal contamination, a Department of Energy spokesperson said Tuesday. “The contamination was successfully removed from the individual’s skin and clothing without incident in the facility,” the DOE spokesperson […]

A venture called Carlsbad Operations Alliance LLC has filed a bid protest with the Government Accountability Office challenging the Department of Energy’s selection of a Bechtel-led entity to serve as the next prime contractor for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant A notice of the contract challenge dated Monday was filed online with the Government Accountability […]

The entire Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments Sept. 13 in New Orleans on a case surrounding the Joe Biden administration’s authority to require most federal employees be vaccinated against COVID-19. That’s according to a notice posted recently on the appeals court’s website announcing the date of the “en banc” or […]

A venture called Carlsbad Operations Alliance LLC has filed a bid protest with the Government Accountability Office challenging the Department of Energy’s selection of a Bechtel-led entity to serve as the next prime contractor for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant A notice of the contract challenge dated Monday was filed online with the Government Accountability […]

A worker who on July 5, experienced radiological contamination on “unprotected areas” of the head and arm, at the Hanford Site 222-S laboratory tested negative for any internal contamination, a Department of Energy spokesperson said Tuesday. “The contamination was successfully removed from the individual’s skin and clothing without incident in the facility,” the DOE spokesperson […]

As of Wednesday morning, House Appropriations Committee member Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.) was leading an open primary in his 4th Congressional district that encompasses the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state. Newhouse, one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach then-President Donald Trump following the Jan. 6 insurrection, was No. 1 out […]

The final major test run of the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit at the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory concluded last week and, after a decade of trying, the agency is hoping to start radiological operations this fall. The confirmatory run of the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit (IWTU) ended July 27 after DOE and its […]

While the Department of Energy’s latest environmental review of the problem picked no preferred site for long-term storage of elemental mercury, the feds favor placing the metal in an existing facility that could accept the material quickly. “Because statutory milestone dates have now passed, DOE needs to designate a facility and begin accepting elemental mercury […]