Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP)

Leaving problem waste from the Energy Department’s Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) at the Waste Control Specialists (WCS) site in Texas for two more years should not cause any significant environmental risks, according to Nuclear Regulatory Commission. With the current extension to a 2014 order set to expire in days, the NRC is publishing an […]

The Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico expects within days to take a shipment of remote-handled waste from the Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois, which has a higher radiation dose than most shipments over the past nearly two years. The Argonne shipment will be one of the last WIPP takes this […]

A hearings officer for the New Mexico Environment Department has recommended the state approve a request by the Department of Energy to change the way underground waste is counted at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). The recommendation, issued this week, must now be considered by NMED Secretary Butch Tongate, DOE Carlsbad Field Office Manager […]

An economic development executive in eastern Idaho said Wednesday that a number of questions remain about the Energy Department’s decision to close the Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project (AMWTP) at the Idaho National Laboratory. Dana Kirkham, CEO of the Regional Economic Development for Eastern Idaho, will attend a meeting with DOE officials in a few […]

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Government Accountability Office (GAO) plans to publish three reports during January and February that will detail challenges facing the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management (EM). That was a major takeaway from a Tuesday presentation to a panel of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine by GAO Director of […]

Nuclear Waste Partnership, the Energy Department contractor responsible for running the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M., has hired Gene Balsmeier as its new chief operating officer and deputy project manager. Balsmeier, who has held management posts at a number of sites in the DOE complex, replaces Tammy Reynolds, NWP President and Project […]

An Energy Department analysis made public last week finds there was not a compelling business case to continue operating the Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project (AMWTP) at the Idaho National Laboratory to process transuranic waste from other states. The agency has officially decided to close the facility in mid-to-late 2019 after it completes treating and […]

The Energy Department and its contractor for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) have summed up their arguments to the New Mexico state government for a new system of recording underground waste disposal volume. Together with AECOM-led Nuclear Waste Partnership, DOE filed its closing statement with the New Mexico Environment Department on Nov. 28, following […]

The Idaho Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is taking comments this month on the Energy Department’s annual update to its cleanup plans for the Idaho National Laboratory complex. The comment deadline on DOE’s draft 2019 version of its Site Treatment Plan for the 890-square-mile national laboratory expires at 5 p.m. local time on Dec. 28, […]

The Energy Department and its cleanup contractor for the Idaho National Laboratory confirmed Friday the Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project (AMWTP) will close in 2019 once it has finished its work. “The Department of Energy analyzed the feasibility of extending the AMWTP mission to treat waste from other DOE sites, and concluded it would not […]

The Energy Department and its contractor for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) have summed up their arguments to the New Mexico state government for a new system of recording underground waste disposal volume. Together with AECOM-led Nuclear Waste Partnership, DOE filed its closing statement with the New Mexico Environment Department on Nov. 28, following […]

The Idaho Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is taking comments this month on the Energy Department’s annual update to its cleanup plans for the Idaho National Laboratory complex. The comment deadline on DOE’s draft 2019 version of its Site Treatment Plan for the 890-square-mile national laboratory expires at 5 p.m. local time on Dec. 28, […]

The Department of Energy should consider performing a lengthy environmental review of its plan to dispose of 34 metric tons of surplus weapon-usable plutonium by burying the material deep underground, a congressionally chartered panel said Friday. The department’s semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) might find the disposal plan easier to manage if it produces […]

Critical Applications Alliance (CAA), a venture comprised of two Houston companies, has won a $135 million contract to build a new permanent ventilation system at the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M. The award to the team of Christensen Building Group and Kilgore Industries was announced Nov. 19 by the Energy […]

Weapons Complex Monitor took a break last week for the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, but out affiliate publication, Weapons Complex Morning Briefing did not. Here’s a recap of some of the nuclear security enterprise news covered last week. Work Resumes at WIPP After Rock Fall Work resumed underground before Thanksgiving at the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation […]

Work resumed underground last week at the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M., following a recent rock fall, a New Mexico newspaper reported Nov. 20. The Carlsbad Current-Argus reported work resumed Nov. 16 after a rock fall in Room 6 of Panel 7 on Nov. 14. The newspaper also cited Donavan Mager, […]

Critical Applications Alliance (CAA), a venture comprised of two Houston-based companies, has won a $135 million contract to build a new permanent ventilation system at the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M. The award to the team of Christensen Building Group and Kilgore Industries was announced Monday by the Energy Department […]

Nuclear Waste Partnership (NWP), the Energy Department’s management contractor for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M., has not yet awarded the construction contract for a new $288 million permanent underground ventilation system, although it should come soon, a spokesman said recently. The Energy Department and its contractor have been talking about awarding […]

The contractor for the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico suspended transuranic waste emplacement during the latter part of October while it looked into worker illnesses linked to ventilation. Waste shipments have resumed, Nuclear Waste Partnership (NWP) spokesman Donavan Mager said by email. Mager did not say how long work had been […]

International infrastructure company AECOM expects to be in the running for perhaps a half-dozen contracts from the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management in the next couple years. AECOM Chief Financial Officer Troy Rudd made the observation Monday during the company’s quarterly earnings call. The company expects to bid on five DOE cleanup contracts in […]

The contractor for the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico held off on transuranic waste emplacement during October while it looked into worker illnesses linked to ventilation. The transuranic waste shipments have resumed, Nuclear Waste Partnership (NWP) spokesman Donavan Mager said by email Friday. The spokesman did not say how long work […]

International infrastructure company AECOM expects to be in the running for perhaps a half-dozen contracts from the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management in the next couple years. AECOM Chief Financial Officer Troy Rudd made the observation Monday during the company’s quarterly earnings call. The company expects to bid on five DOE cleanup contracts in […]

While Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) easily won re-election Tuesday, his ability to influence the money flow to the Energy Department’s Idaho National Laboratory, and federal nuclear cleanup operations as a whole, appears to be on the decline. Simpson took more than 60 percent of the vote in Idaho’s 2nd Congressional District to decisively defeat Democrat […]

While Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) easily won re-election Tuesday, his ability to influence the money flow to the Energy Department’s Idaho National Laboratory, and federal nuclear cleanup operations as a whole, appears to be on the decline. Simpson took more than 60 percent of the vote in Idaho’s 2nd Congressional District to decisively defeat Democrat Aaron […]

Fluor Idaho still does not have a date for when sludge repackaging is expected to resume inside the building at Energy Department’s Idaho National Laboratory where four drums of the radioactive waste overheated and blew off their lids on April 11. That is a key takeaway from a monthly report the lab’s cleanup contractor filed […]

The state of Idaho has now assessed the Energy Department $4.77 million in penalties for its failure to start treating sodium-bearing waste at the Idaho National Laboratory. Fluor Idaho has estimated it could be well into 2019 before it begins operation of DOE’s Integrated Waste Treatment Unit (IWTU), Natalie Creed, hazardous waste unit manager at […]

The congressional district that covers the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) will have new representation in January after incumbent Rep. Steve Pearce stepped aside to run for New Mexico governor. Pearce is facing off against a colleague in Congress, Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-N.M.), to succeed term-limited governor Susana Martinez, a Republican. Pearce, […]

Cleanup contractor Fluor Idaho should have taken greater precautions in repackaging sludge prior to an April 11 incident in which four drums of the radioactive waste overheated and blew off their lids at a building inside the Energy Department’s Idaho National Laboratory. That is the crux of a report Thursday from the company, and overseen […]

Despite its unusual circumstances, the 10-year contract for legacy cleanup at the Energy Department’s Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in New Mexico is off to a good start for Newport News Nuclear BWXT-Los Alamos (N3B). The contractor has about 500 employees at the lab, but fewer than 100 came over in April from prior environmental […]

The Energy Department’s Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in New Mexico last year shipped 5,058,687 kilograms of low-level radioactive waste off-site for disposal at federal and commercial properties. Operations at storied nuclear weapons laboratory generate low-level radioactive waste, transuranic waste, mixed low-level waste, and mixed transuranic waste, according to the 2017 Annual Site Environmental Report […]