Office of Environmental Management (EM)

Current and former Department of Energy contractors at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio have until Aug. 30 to file a reply to a federal lawsuit filed by a father who claims offsite radioactive contamination contributed to the cancer that claimed the life of his 13-year-old son. The deadlines for the answers to the complaint was […]

The Department of Energy’s special adviser for Environmental Management, William (Ike) White, told a Congressional panel Wednesday the agency’s cleanup branch is addressing research and development problems raised in an October 2021 Government Accountability Office report. The Office of Environmental Management has issued a definition for research and development (R&D) and is in the early […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management has selected a manager from the semi autonomous National Nuclear Security Administration, Cathy Tullis, to be its next chief of staff effective July 17. Tullis, currently chief of staff for the associate administrator for management and budget for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), will fill the […]

The Department of Energy and South Carolina are investigating a July 4 spill of contaminated water around H Canyon at the Savannah River Site, officials confirmed this week. There was a spill of low-level radiologically-contaminated water from a temporary above-ground tank system used to take liquid from the pumping of a sump, which happens periodically […]

The Department of Energy has approved its plan to speed up spent fuel removal from the L-Basin storage area at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. In a Monday press release, DOE announced approval of what it calls accelerated basin de-inventory ABD, which would use H Canyon to dissolve spent nuclear fuel without processing […]

Department of Energy contractor Mid-America Conversion Services is restarting the depleted uranium hexafluoride conversion plant at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio for the first time since 2020, but operations at the Paducah Site in Kentucky are expected to be down until next month after a June 10 accident there, the agency said. Both depleted uranium […]

The Department of Energy has issued an enforcement letter to an Amentum-Jacobs joint venture and its subcontractor GEM Technologies over “concerns with improper asbestos exposure monitoring” during cleanup at the Y-12 National Security Complex’s Mouse House. The DOE’s Office of Enforcement, however, plans no additional action against URS-CH2M Oak Ridge (UCOR) or GEM over asbestos […]

In keeping with federal guidance on COVID-19, many Department of Energy nuclear weapons complex sites are again requiring masks indoors. These include the Portsmouth Site in Ohio, the Paducah Site in Kentucky, their joint headquarters office in Lexington, Ky. All three have “high” community rates,  according to county-by-country transmission data from the Centers for Disease […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management has selected a Bechtel National-led joint venture to manage the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., starting as soon as October. In a Monday afternoon press release, the federal agency announced the award of the potential 10-year, $3-billion contract to Reston, Va.,-based Tularosa Basin Range Services, […]

Improving low shipping rates at the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico and awarding a new prime contract are high priority issues for the disposal site, Reinhard Knerr, DOE’s Carlsbad Field Office manager, said in a recent town meeting. “And finally, we expect transition to the new M&O [management and operations] […]

A major underground ventilation project key to the future of the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico is almost two-thirds of the way finished, a manager for the prime contractor told a virtual “town hall” meeting Thursday. The Safety Significant Confinement Ventilation System is 63% percent complete, Nuclear Waste Partnership president […]

A Honeywell-owned prime contractor for Sandia National Laboratories said in a Tuesday filing a wrongful firing suit brought against it by a scientist who worked on data for the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant should remain in federal court. National Technology and Engineering Solutions of Sandia said the wrongful termination suit brought by […]

A parent’s wrongful death suit against current and former Department of Energy contractors at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio will be overseen by the same federal judge hearing a radiation contamination case brought by residents near the shuttered gaseous diffusion plant. An order Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for Southern Ohio said the June […]

New Mexico and the federal government this week asked a federal magistrate to give them until Oct. 3 to resolve litigation about the 2016 consent order governing legacy nuclear-weapons cleanup at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. The Department of Justice, on behalf of the Department of Energy, and the attorney general’s office for New Mexico […]

Mid-America Conversion Services, the Atkins-led incumbent running the Department of Energy’s depleted uranium hexafluoride conversion program, employs a workforce of more than 400 people in Kentucky and Ohio, according to procurement information recently posted online. As of June 1 Mid-America has 200 employees at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio, 119 union members and the rest […]

Maryland-based Amentum, a leading government contractor for the Department of Energy and the Department of Defense, announced the addition of two new senior managers June 30. Amentum, which leads multibillion-dollar joint ventures across the DOE weapons complex, announced the personnel additions in a June 30 press release. Sean Mullen was appointed executive vice president for […]

The House Appropriations Committee, which last week advanced a spending bill with about $7.9-billion in fiscal 2023 funds for the Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup office, is still concerned about long-term remediation costs of the Hanford Site in Washington state. House appropriators remain antsy about the money and time needed to fully clean up the […]

The Department of Energy has taken care of seven of 25 priority issues identified by the Government Accountability Office in 2021 and should get to work on the rest, Congress’ investigative arm wrote in a letter to the agency. “We are also adding eight new recommendations related to project, program, and portfolio management; contract management; […]

The Department of Energy could start a federal readiness assessment this month at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory facilities in California that prepare transuranic waste for shipment to the agency’s underground disposal site in New Mexico, according to a government safety board. On May 31, 2022, the lab began the contractor readiness assessment for restarting operations […]

Workers employed by the Department of Energy’s prime contractor for the Savannah River Site in South Carolina withdrew a legal challenge to the site’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate from a federal appeals court. “The dismissal of this interlocutory appeal from the denial of a preliminary injunction does not affect either party’s right to appeal any final […]

Confirmed COVID-19 cases among onsite workers at the Department of Energy’s nuclear-cleanup branch declined for the seven days ended Thursday after spiking in recent weeks, an agency spokesperson said. There were 119 confirmed and active COVID cases at DOE Office of Environmental Management (EM) worksites this week, down 52 from the 171 recorded the prior […]

A Honeywell-owned prime contractor for Sandia National Laboratories said in a Tuesday filing a wrongful firing suit brought against it by a scientist who worked on data for the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant should remain in federal court. National Technology and Engineering Solutions of Sandia said the wrongful termination suit brought by […]

The Department of Energy has taken care of seven of 25 priority issues identified by the Government Accountability Office in 2021 and should get to work on the rest, Congress’ investigative arm wrote in a letter to the agency. “We are also adding eight new recommendations related to project, program, and portfolio management; contract management; […]

The Department of Energy could start a federal readiness assessment sometime this month at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory facilities in California that prepare transuranic waste for shipment to the agency’s underground disposal site in New Mexico, according to a government safety board. On May 31, 2022, the lab began the contractor readiness assessment for restarting […]

New Mexico and the federal government this week asked a federal magistrate to give them until Oct. 3 to resolve litigation about the 2016 consent order governing legacy nuclear-weapons cleanup at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. The Department of Justice, on behalf of the Department of Energy, and the attorney general’s office for New Mexico […]

With local data suggesting rising COVID-19 infection risks, the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state and the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico are reinstating some stricter masking and testing requirements. While masks are still optional for employees at Hanford, some workers take a COVID-19 test when they come onsite, according to […]

Halfway through the fiscal year, the Department of Energy’s Nevada National Security Site appears on pace to dispose of more radioactive and classified waste than during fiscal 2021, according to the latest quarterly report from the site. During the second quarter of the fiscal year, which ended March 31, the site disposed of 154,000 cubic […]

Maryland-based Amentum, a leading government contractor for the Department of Energy and the Department of Defense, announced the addition of two new senior managers June 30. Amentum, which leads multibillion-dollar joint ventures across the DOE weapons complex, announced the personnel additions in a June 30 press release. Sean Mullen was appointed executive vice president for […]

The House Appropriations Committee, which last week advanced a spending bill with about $7.9-billion in fiscal 2023 funds for the Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup office, is still concerned about long-term remediation costs of the Hanford Site in Washington state. House appropriators remain antsy about the money and time needed to fully clean up the […]

Mid-America Conversion Services, the Atkins-led incumbent running the Department of Energy’s depleted uranium hexafluoride conversion program, employs a workforce of more than 400 in Kentucky and Ohio, according to procurement information recently posted online. As of June 1 Mid-America has 200 employees at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio, 119 union members and the rest salaried, […]