Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP)

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) has set the new date for a public hearing on two radioactive waste drum accidents in the Energy Department weapons complex. The hearing, originally set for last month, is now scheduled for noon to 4 p.m. Thursday, June 20, at DNFSB headquarters in Washington D.C. The hearing was […]

After a former Los Alamos National Laboratory scientist was indicted for allegedly lying about contacts with the Chinese government, the Energy Department prohibited its employees and contractors from participating in certain foreign “talent recruitment programs.” Deputy Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette approved that prohibition Friday by signing DOE Order 486.1. The order bars agency employees and […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) has set the new date for a public hearing on two radioactive waste drum accidents in the Energy Department weapons complex. The hearing, originally set for last month, is now scheduled for noon to 4 p.m. Thursday, June 20, at DNFSB headquarters in Washington D.C.. The hearing was delayed due […]

The Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico now expects to hold its next WIPP Town Hall briefing sometime in July, rather than June 20 as previously announced. Due to personnel changes within DOE, the meeting is being rescheduled, a city of Carlsbad representative said by email Thursday. Todd Shrader, manager of […]

Don’t expect another Senate-confirmed nominee during President Donald Trump’s current term to succeed Anne Marie White at the helm of the Energy Department Office of Environmental Management. That was the assessment offered this week by several observers of the DOE weapons complex. The chances of the White House finding a qualified and willing candidate – […]

The Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) will hold its next WIPP Town Hall briefing June 20 at 5:30 p.m. Pacific time at the Carlsbad, N.M., City Hall Annex on June 20. An agenda for the meeting will be released closer to the date, a city of Carlsbad representative said by email Monday. The […]

Don’t expect another Senate-confirmed nominee during President Donald Trump’s current term to succeed Anne Marie White at the helm of the Energy Department Office of Environmental Management. That was the assessment offered Monday by several observers of the DOE weapons complex. The chances of the White House finding a qualified and willing candidate – and […]

Supporters of the departing Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management Anne Marie White say she refocused the Energy Department’s $7 billion nuclear cleanup office on completing work, rather than just safely maintaining 16 Cold War sites. But when Energy Secretary Rick Perry confirmed in a Friday email to DOE staff White has resigned effective June 14, […]

Assistant Energy Secretary for Environmental Management Anne Marie White has resigned effective June 14. In an email obtained by Weapons Complex Monitor, Energy Secretary Rick Perry and Deputy Secretary Dan Brouillette confirmed widespread industry chatter that White is leaving the agency after less than two years. The same email, distributed to a DOE mailing list, confirmed longtime […]

The Department of Energy as of Thursday had neither officially confirmed nor denied widespread chatter regarding the resignation of Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management Anne Marie White. A number of sources first said last week that White had been asked to step down after 14 months leading the office charged with cleanup of 16 radioactively […]

Face-to-face mediation is expected in June between public interest groups and the New Mexico Environment Department over changes to the way waste volume is calculated underground at the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). The New Mexico Court of Appeals often encourages mediation in cases involving state agencies in hopes parties can bridge their […]

The House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday affirmed a plan to keep Energy Department Office of Environmental Management funding at about $7.2 billion for fiscal 2020. The funding is included in the energy and water development appropriations legislation for the budget year starting Oct. 1, which the committee reported to the full House. The measure would […]

Face-to-face mediation is expected in June between public interest groups and the New Mexico Environment Department over changes to the way waste volume is calculated underground at the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). The New Mexico Court of Appeals often encourages mediation in cases involving state agencies in hopes parties can bridge their […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) has postponed its scheduled May 22 public hearing in Washington, D.C., on past radioactive waste accidents at the Energy Department’s Idaho National Laboratory and its Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico. In a notice on its website, the DNFSB said the half-day public hearing is being rescheduled […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) has postponed its scheduled May 22 public hearing in Washington, D.C., on past radioactive waste accidents at the Energy Department’s Idaho National Laboratory and its Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico. In a notice on its website, the DNFSB said the half-day public hearing is being rescheduled […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) has set a public hearing for May 22 in Washington, D.C., to consider the Department of Energy’s efforts to prevent future accidents during nuclear waste operations. The half-day meeting is broken into two sessions, according to the recently released agenda. In the first, the DNFSB will focus on improved […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) has set a public hearing for May 22 in Washington, D.C., to consider the Department of Energy’s efforts to prevent future accidents during nuclear waste operations. The half-day meeting is broken into two sessions, according to the recently released agenda. In the first, the DNFSB will focus on […]

The AECOM-led Nuclear Waste Partnership (NWP) pocketed nearly $10.8 million of a potential $12.5 million in fees for its operation of the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico during fiscal 2018. The NWP return would have been higher, but DOE deducted $100,000 for “breakdowns” in the contractor’s industrial hygiene program to protect […]

The Energy Department should prepare comprehensive assessments of Cold War nuclear sites now storing high-level radioactive waste to determine how much of it could safely be handled as low-level or transuranic waste, the Energy Communities Alliance said Monday. That is one of a set of recommendations in an ECA report, which aims to build on […]

Lynchburg, Va.,-based BWX Technologies on Wednesday reported a drop in both revenue and profit during the first quarter of 2019. The Department of Energy contractor recorded revenue of $416 million, down 9% from $457 million in the first three months of 2018, according to a press release. Meanwhile, net income dropped from $66.4 million, or […]

The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California has finished a readiness assessment as it prepares to make its first shipment of transuranic waste in 14 years to the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico. The national laboratory on March 29 completed the formal evaluation of its ability to characterize TRU waste and […]

Lynchburg, Va., -based BWX Technologies on Wednesday reported a drop in both revenue and profit during the first quarter of 2019. The company recorded revenue of $416 million, down 9% from $457 million in the first three months of 2018, according to a press release. Meanwhile, net income dropped from $66.4 million, or $0.66 per […]

The AECOM-led Nuclear Waste Partnership pocketed nearly $10.8 million of a potential $12.5 million in fees for its operation of the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico during fiscal 2018. The NWP return would have been higher, but DOE deducted $100,000 from the award because of “breakdowns” in the contractor’s industrial hygiene […]

The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California has finished a readiness assessment as it prepares to make its first shipment of transuranic waste in 14 years to the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico. The national laboratory on March 29 completed the formal evaluation of its ability to characterize TRU waste and […]

The Energy Department should make a “full evaluation” of Cold War sites now storing high-level radioactive waste to determine how much of it could safely be handled as low-level or transuranic waste, the Energy Communities Alliance said Monday. That is one of a set of recommendations in an ECA report, which aims to build on […]

An advocacy group has asked the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) to hold public meetings soon on the Energy Department’s plan to build a new underground multi-use shaft into the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M. In an April 15 letter to NMED, Southwest Research and Information Center Administrator Don Hancock said the state […]

WASHINGTON — While more than three months passed since the public comment period closed, the Energy Communities Alliance (ECA) is “trying to keep this conversation going” on reinterpreting what material should be deemed high-level radioactive waste (HLW) by the Department of Energy. That was the word Wednesday from the ECA’s director of nuclear energy policy, […]

An advocacy group has asked the New Mexico Environment Department to hold public meetings soon on the Energy Department’s plan to build a new underground multi-use shaft into the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M. In an April 15 letter to the state agency, Southwest Research and Information Center Administrator Don Hancock said the […]

The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) last recertification of the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico lasted more than three years. The protracted review followed the February 2014 underground radiological accident at the DOE transuranic waste disposal site near Carlsbad, N.M., according to April 16 slide presentation by EPA supervisory environmental scientist Thomas […]

The Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) expects in October to solicit bids for design and construction of a facility to treat liquid transuranic waste generated by future production of fissile nuclear-weapon cores, called plutonium pits, according to a recent procurement note. Triad National Security, which since November has managed the New Mexico facility for the National Nuclear […]