Office of Environmental Management (EM)

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, […]

The political future of Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.), whose 4th Congressional district surrounds the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state, faces a big hurdle Tuesday during an open primary, his first electoral test since casting one of 10 GOP votes in the House of Representatives to impeach former president Donald Trump following the […]

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 […]

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 […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board favors having a national lab study the risk of a potential hydrogen explosion at a high-level radioactive waste vitrification plant being built at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state. In a document dated July 19, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB), charged by Congress with […]

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., this week saw its community rate for COVID-19 drop to “medium” from “high,” according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. As a result, it appears the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) might be the only DOE nuclear cleanup site approved […]

With the retirement of a top executive, Sharon Smoot will step in as president of BWX Technologies’ Nuclear Operations Group effective Aug. 1, the company said in a press release Wednesday morning. In her new role, Smoot will be responsible for the operations group’s complete range of nuclear components and services, “including the manufacture of […]

A top federal manager for the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina said Monday the agency is continuing to investigate the cause of a July 4 spill of low-level radioactively contaminated water near H Canyon. “We are taking a very hard look at exactly what occurred,” Michael Budney, the DOE Office of […]

The Salt Waste Processing Facility at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina has treated over 991,000 gallons of waste so far in fiscal 2022, a Department of Energy official told the Citizens Advisory Board for the site Monday.   “We just recently completed a planned outage,” July 12 at the Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF), […]

The Government Accountability Office is urging the Department of Energy to provide more details on how its nuclear weapons and cleanup programs handle federal funds carried over from prior-year budgets. At the end of fiscal 2021 the DOE’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) had about $3.2 billion in total carryover balances, and the National Nuclear […]

The inventory of defense-related transuranic waste at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico amounts to more than 3,300 containers, but most are not “ready to ship” to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, the Department of Energy’s Carlsbad Field Office manager said last week. While the DOE Office of Environmental Management (EM) has 2,273 […]

Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth earned 75% of its total potential fee and about 82% of its subjective fee from the Department of Energy for its cleanup work at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio for the 12-month period ended March 28, according to a just-released scorecard. Overall, the contractor took home $16.6 million out of a potential $22.1 […]

National TRU Solutions, a joint venture led by Huntington Ingalls Industries, filed a bid protest Tuesday challenging the Department of Energy’s selection of a Bechtel entity for a contract worth up to $3 billion to operate the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M. A notice of the TRU Solutions bid protest is posted on […]

Congress should enact legislation to clarify the Department of Energy’s authority to sell depleted uranium to private entities, the Government Accountability Office said this week, because such a move could curb the $7.2 billion cost to dispose of the material. As of September 2021, the feds estimate it could cost DOE $7.2 billion to convert […]

Senate appropriators on Thursday rejected proposed cuts to cleanup programs at Department of Energy nuclear-weapon sites in a spending bill that would provide around half a billion dollars more than either this year’s budget or the White House’s request for next year. The proposed energy and water appropriations act, published Thursday, would also go above […]

Congress should enact legislation to clarify the Department of Energy’s authority to sell depleted uranium to private entities, the Government Accountability Office said this week, because such a move could curb the $7.2 billion cost to dispose of the material. As of September 2021, the feds estimate it could cost DOE $7.2 billion to convert […]

U.S. District Judge Julianna Michelle Childs, who presided over a number of Department of Energy nuclear cases in South Carolina, and who was publicly discussed as a contender for a U.S. Supreme vacancy, has won confirmation to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Childs was confirmed to the D.C. Circuit […]

Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth earned 75% of its total potential fee and about 82% of its subjective fee from the Department of Energy for its cleanup work at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio for the 12-month period ended March 28, according to a just-released scorecard. Overall, the contractor took home $16.6 million out of a potential $22.1 […]

National TRU Solutions, a joint venture evidently led by Huntington Ingalls Industries, filed a bid protest Tuesday challenging the Department of Energy’s selection of a Bechtel entity for a contract worth up to $3 billion to operate the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M. A notice of the TRU Solutions bid protest is posted […]

The inventory of defense-related transuranic waste at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico amounts to more than 3,300 containers, but most are not “ready to ship” to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, the Department of Energy’s Carlsbad Field Office manager said last week. While the DOE Office of Environmental Management (EM) has 2,273 […]

The Salt Waste Processing Facility at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina has treated over 991,000 gallons of waste so far in fiscal 2022, a Department of Energy official told the Citizens Advisory Board for the site Monday.   “We just recently completed a planned outage,” July 12 at the Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF), […]

The Government Accountability Office is urging the Department of Energy to provide more details on how its nuclear weapons and cleanup programs handle federal funds carried over from prior-year budgets. At the end of fiscal 2021 the DOE’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) had about $3.2 billion in total carryover balances, and the National Nuclear […]

Street Legal Industries, a woman-owned small business based in Oak Ridge, Tenn., has landed two contracts together worth up to $3 million for support services at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state, according to notices posted last week on a federal procurement website, SAM.gov. The general services work includes a wide range […]

A top federal manager for the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina said Monday the agency is continuing to investigate the cause of a July 4 spill of low-level radioactively contaminated water near H Canyon. “We are taking a very hard look at exactly what occurred,” Michael Budney, the DOE Office of […]

The Department of Energy has extended by one week, until 5 p.m. Eastern Time on Aug. 1, the bid deadline for the Portsmouth Paducah Project Office Operations and Site Mission Support Contract, potentially worth $2.9 billion over 10 years. The earlier deadline for proposals was today for the contract that includes conversion of depleted uranium […]

Here are some events related to defense and civilian nuclear matters that Exchange Monitor staff are tracking this week: 24-28 – Institute for Nuclear Materials Management, Virtual Annual Meeting. No in-person participation. Registration required and to be available here. 25: The Savannah River Site Citizens Advisory Board in South Carolina starts a two-day meeting at […]

Anyone visiting indoor facilities at Department of Energy nuclear cleanup sites in coming days should probably take along an approved face mask as COVID-19 community transmission rates are high in most locations. The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management requires masks be worn indoors when local community rates are high as measured by the […]

A federal district judge in Eastern Washington this week approved an unopposed request allowing the Department of Energy another year-and-a-half to start solidifying certain radioactive tank waste into glass and other work for the Hanford Site’s Waste Treatment Plant. The ruling Tuesday by Senior U.S. District Judge Rosanna Malouf Peterson means DOE and contractor Bechtel […]

Joel Duling will resign as president of BWT Technology’s mainstay Nuclear Operations Group effective July 29, the company wrote in a regulatory filing dated Monday. Duling informed the company of his decision on July 12, according to the 8-K filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.  “Joel Duling is retiring from BWXT to pursue other […]

The Department of Energy confirmatory test run for the much-anticipated Integrated Waste Treatment Unit at the Idaho National Laboratory will likely end around the end of July, a state official said recently. “The [Integrated Waste Treatment Unit] continues to run and will do so for approximately two more weeks,” Kim Custer, a senior hazardous waste […]