Budget & Policy

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 10/31/2014 The Department of Energy should take more steps to strengthen its cybersecurity program, DOE’s Office of Inspector General said in a report released this week. Cybersecurity has been a growing area of concern for the Department, especially after a 2013 breach of personal information of over 104,000 individuals. The IG […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 10/31/2014 The Department of Energy is paying the vast majority of surveillance and maintenance costs for former commercial uranium mill sites that are supposed to be covered by fees charged to the mill operators, the DOE Inspector General ‘s Office said in a report released this week. The “Title II” uranium […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 10/31/2014 The Department of Energy should take more steps to strengthen its cybersecurity program, DOE’s Office of Inspector General said in a report released this week. Cybersecurity has been a growing area of concern for the Department, especially after a 2013 breach of personal information of over 104,000 individuals. The IG […]

Kenneth Fletcher RW Monitor 10/31/2014 The Department of Energy is paying the vast majority of surveillance and maintenance costs for former commercial uranium mill sites that are supposed to be covered by fees charged to the mill operators, the DOE Inspector General ‘s Office said in a report released this week. The “Title II” uranium […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 10/31/2014 China is leading the world in the development of coal-to-chemical conversion technologies, and the United States should follow suit, Ren Xiangkun, Chairman of the Board of Beijing Baoju Energy Sci-Tech Co., said during a presentation hosted by the United State Energy Association this week. ”In China the units are […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 10/31/2014 Positive market signals which will spur innovation and a strong economy are potential benefits of the Environmental Protection Agency’s carbon regulations for existing coal-fired power plants, EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy said during the McCourt School LEAD Conference held at Georgetown University late last week. McCarthy called climate change a […]

GHG Monitor 10/31/2014 IN EPA The Environmental Protection Agency filed a motion late last week to dismiss a lawsuit filed by Murray Energy Corporation challenging the agency’s proposed carbon emissions regulations for existing coal-fired power plants.  In the motion, the EPA argues that because the rule has not been finalized, it is not subject to […]

The Department of Energy is paying the vast majority of surveillance and maintenance costs for former commercial uranium mill sites that were supposed to be covered by fees charged to the former operators of the sites, the DOE Inspector General said in a report released yesterday. The “Title II” uranium mill tailings sites were cleaned […]

The Department of Energy should take more steps to strengthen its cybersecurity program, DOE’s Office of Inspector General said in a report released yesterday. “While the Department continued to make progress in correcting deficiencies identified in prior years, additional effort is needed to ensure that the risks of operating systems are identified and that systems […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 10/24/2014 AMELIA ISLAND, Fla.—As the Department of Energy wrestles with revamping its contracting approaches, increasing an emphasis on nuclear safety while cutting back on fee, it doesn’t appear likely to continue the approach pursued in Bechtel’s contract for the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant. The WTP contract sought to incentivize safety culture […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 10/24/2014 The United States could save $70 billion by cutting five planned nuclear modernization programs, an arms control group said in a report released Oct. 20. Authored by Tom Collina, director of policy for the Ploughshares Fund, and Arms Control Association (ACA) research staff, “The Unaffordable Arsenal: Reducing the Costs of […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 10/24/2014 AMELIA ISLAND, Fla.—The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board has easily absorbed recent Congressionally mandated changes to its statute, but outgoing Board Chairman Peter Winokur said this week that he feared that more drastic proposals for the Board would be damaging to the Board’s mission. Led by House Republicans, Congress last […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 10/24/2014 AMELIA ISLAND, Fla.—The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management is taking steps to overcome its challenges and become a “healthier” organization, acting Assistant Energy Secretary for EM Mark Whitney said here this week at the Weapons Complex Monitor Decisionmakers’ Forum. EM “needs to be a healthier organization than it […]

Todd Jacobson WC Monitor 10/24/2014 AMELIA ISLAND, Fla.—The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board has easily absorbed recent Congressionally mandated changes to its statute, but outgoing Board Chairman Peter Winokur said this week that he feared that more drastic proposals for the Board would be damaging to the Board’s mission. Led by House Republicans, Congress last […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 10/24/2014 AMELIA ISLAND, Fla.—A continued lack of a Senate-confirmed assistant secretary is one of several challenges facing the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management, Rep. Doc Hastings (R-Wash.) said here this week at the Weapons Complex Monitor Decisionmakers’ Forum. EM has not had a confirmed assistant secretary since the departure […]

Todd Jacobson WC Monitor 10/24/2014 AMELIA ISLAND, Fla.—As the Department of Energy wrestles with revamping its contracting approaches, increasing an emphasis on nuclear safety while cutting back on fee, it doesn’t appear likely to continue the approach pursued in Bechtel’s contract for the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant. The WTP contract sought to incentivize safety culture […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 10/24/2014 The Department of Energy Inspector General’s Office was unable to determine if a former senior manager at the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant was terminated as an act of retaliation due to a lack of access to information from the main contractors involved on the project, according to a report released […]

WC Monitor 10/24/2014 Rep. Doc Hastings (R-Wash.) was awarded this week with the first annual Leo Duffy Decisionmakers Award by ExchangeMonitor Publications and Forums. Hastings, who is not seeking re-election this fall after serving 20 years in Congress, was presented with the award at this year’s Weapons Complex Monitor Decisionmakers’ Forum. Hastings, who represents Hanford […]

WC Monitor 10/24/2014 Below is the full speech, as prepared for delivery, given by Rep. Doc Hastings (R-Wash.) at this year’s Weapons Complex Monitor Decisionmakers’ Forum, held this week in Amelia Island, Fla. Thank you for inviting me to speak with you this evening. As I complete my final months serving my last term it’s […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 10/24/2014 Officials in the European Commission’s Directorate-General of Climate Action, Committee on Climate Change voted last week to delay by two years the deadline for final investment decisions to be made for projects awarded funds under the Commission’s New Entrants Reserve (NER) 300 program. The funding scheme, which has been […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 10/24/2014 The Environmental Protection Agency pushed back this week against a new analysis prepared on behalf of a group of industry and energy organizations that projects the cost of the EPA’s proposed carbon emission standards for existing coal-fired power plants could increase energy systems costs by up to almost $500 […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 10/24/2014 Capital SkyMine, a first-of-its-kind commercial-scale carbon capture and utilization demonstration project, opened this week outside of San Antonio, Texas. The project, owned by Skyonic, pulls flue gas off of the Capital Aggregates cement plant into the new $125 million Capitol SkyMine plant, where the CO2 is mineralized to create […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 10/24/2014 The government’s use of the rarely utilized section 111(d) of the Clean Air Act to develop proposed Environmental Protection Agency carbon emissions regulations transfers the responsibility of reducing the nation’s carbon emissions to the states, which will likely lead to a wide variety of mitigation actions being taken throughout […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 10/24/2014 A contract for the completion of a front end engineering design (FEED) study for the subsea pipeline portion of Royal Dutch Shell’s Peterhead Carbon Capture and Storage project was awarded late last week to the engineering firm, Wood Group Kenny. The contract will span six months and will include […]

As the Department of Energy wrestles with revamping its management and operating contracting strategy, increasing an emphasis on nuclear safety while cutting back on fee, it doesn’t appear likely to take a cue from Bechtel’s Waste Treatment Plant contract. The WTP contract sought to incentivize safety culture on the project, but Bruce Held, a senior […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management needs a confirmed assistant secretary to address challenges facing the cleanup program, Rep. Doc Hastings (R-Wash.) said yesterday at the Weapons Complex Monitor Decisionmakers’ Forum. EM has not had a confirmed assistant secretary since the departure of Ines Triay in 2011. Currently the role is being filled […]

Responding to calls from South Carolina for the Department of Energy to invest $150 million into increasing Savannah River waste processing, DOE officials yesterday said tank waste cleanup will be funded as much as possible given budget constraints. South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control Director Catherine Templeton this week said DOE must fully […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board has easily absorbed recent Congressionally mandated changes to its statute, but outgoing Board Chairman Peter Winokur said yesterday that he feared that more drastic proposals for the Board would be damaging to the Board’s mission. Led by House Republicans, Congress directed the DNFSB to run its recommendations by the […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management is taking steps to improve its culture and become a “healthier” organization, DOE acting EM Assistant Secretary Mark Whitney said yesterday at the Weapons Complex Monitor Decisionmakers’ Forum in Amelia Island, Fla. EM “needs to be a healthier organization than it is right now,” Whitney said. He […]

The United States could save $70 billion by cutting five planned nuclear modernization programs, an arms control group said in a report released yesterday. Authored by Tom Collina, director of policy for the Ploughshares Fund, and ACA research staff, “The Unaffordable Arsenal: Reducing the Costs of the Bloated U.S. Nuclear Stockpile” suggests that delaying plans […]