Cleanup & Remediation

Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) used a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing Tuesday to question Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm on why the Joe Biden administration’s $7.6-billion budget request for nuclear cleanup trims funding for the Hanford Site during fiscal 2022. The White House has proposed to split about $2.47 billion between Hanford’s two […]

The Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, like much of the Southwest, is suffering through an “exceptional drought,” a program manager for the legacy cleanup contractor said during an online meeting Wednesday. The U.S. Drought Monitor, a service run by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and other federal entities, places 60% […]

Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) used a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing Tuesday to question Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm on why the Joe Biden administration’s $7.6-billion budget request for nuclear cleanup trims funding for the Hanford Site during fiscal 2022. The White House has proposed to split about $2.47 billion between Hanford’s two […]

The Hanford Site in Washington State would receive a haircut under President Joe Biden’s budget request for the Department of Energy in fiscal 2022, but still account for nearly a third of the entire $7.6-billion budget sought for the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management. Should the spending package for cleanup at the former […]

The Department of Energy’s environmental liability, which stands at more than a half-trillion dollars, continues to grow and most of it is concentrated in the agency’s nuclear cleanup office, the Government Accountability Office said Tuesday in an update to Congress. The DOE liability stands at $512 billion as of fiscal 2020, which is the most […]

Fluor-led Savannah River Nuclear Solutions took home $44.6 or 96% of nearly $46 million in available fee for its work as operator of the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina for the 16-month period ended Nov. 30. That is according to the latest fee scorecard for the joint venture published Tuesday by […]

Frank Sheppard, former Parsons senior vice president and project manager of the Salt Waste Processing Facility at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina, is now part of a senior leadership board with Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII), a company spokesperson confirmed Thursday. Parsons joined Huntington Ingalls in January and “is part of […]

A federal judge in South Carolina has dismissed a racial discrimination lawsuit brought by a white former employee of the management contractor for the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site. In a May 27 order, U.S. District Court Judge Joseph Anderson, Jr., dismissed the case brought against Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) by plaintiff Christopher […]

The Joe Biden administration’s $7.6-billion budget request for the Office of Environmental Management was the largest request for nuclear-weapons cleanup since 2015, the office’s acting head told contractors Thursday. Biden’s ask is the “largest administrative request for environmental management that I can recall,” William (Ike) White, acting assistant secretary for environmental management, told the Energy […]

While not divulging details yet, the manager of the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state says the complex will loosen its COVID-19 protocols for fully-vaccinated workers next week. The relaxed rules will technically go into effect Friday, which is not a workday at the site, Brian Vance, the top federal boss at the […]

After a Department of Energy review prompted by a contract challenge, a joint venture led by Securitas CIS is keeping its $1-billion Security Services contract at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. The DOE Office of Environmental Management said in a Thursday press release that SRS Critical Infrastructure Security is retaining the contract awarded […]

While not divulging details yet, the manager of the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state says the complex will loosen its COVID-19 protocols for fully-vaccinated workers next week. The relaxed rules will technically go into effect Friday, which is not a workday at the site, Brian Vance, the top federal boss at the […]

The Department of Energy’s environmental liability, which stands at more than a half-trillion dollars, continues to grow and most of it is concentrated in the agency’s nuclear cleanup office, the Government Accountability Office said Tuesday in an update to Congress. The DOE liability stands at $512 billion as of fiscal 2020, which is the most […]

With the Joe Biden administration yet to nominate a permanent assistant secretary for the Office of Environmental Management, William (Ike) White is nearing the two-year mark at the helm of the $7-billion-plus nuclear cleanup branch. White, a career federal employee, has been the top boss at the Environmental Management (EM) since mid-June 2019, initially given […]

A federal judge in South Carolina has dismissed a racial discrimination lawsuit brought by a white former employee of the management contractor for the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site. In a May 27 order, U.S. District Court Judge Joseph Anderson, Jr., dismissed the case brought against Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) by plaintiff Christopher […]

The Washington state Department of Ecology will continue so-called “holistic” negotiations on Hanford Site cleanup milestones with the Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency at least through the end of June, a state spokesman said this week. “We do have authorization to continue talks through June. No timeline yet for documentation of an […]

New Mexico-based Department of Energy contractor Strategic Management Solutions hired Michael Nosbisch as its director of project controls, effective this week. A former infantry officer in the U.S.Marine Corps who attained the rank of captain before leaving the service in 1994, Nosbisch has more than 30 years of management experience, according to a Strategic Management […]

A week after the Department of Energy awarded a Jacobs-led joint venture remediation business potentially worth $6.4-billion over 10 years, no contract challenges had been announced on the Government Accountability Office website. The Tennessee-based winner, the Idaho Environmental Coalition, comprises Jacobs and North Wind Portage along with three teaming subcontractors: Navarro Research and Engineering, Oak […]

There have been 4,867 confirmed cases of COVID-19 among the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management workforce since the pandemic took root in the United States in early 2020, according to figures provided Thursday by the agency’s cleanup branch. This week there are 47 active confirmed cases of COVID-19 within the Environmental Management (EM) […]

CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co. , a former Hanford prime contractor, has agreed to pay a $3.04 million settlement to the feds for falsely and knowingly claiming two subcontractors were in Historically Underutilized Business Zones. However, CH2M Hill does not admit guilt in agreeing to the payment. Until its contract expired early this year, CH2M […]

A federal district court in New Mexico has set a Nov. 17 settlement conference for federal and state agencies to bridge their differences surrounding a 2016 consent order on cleanup of legacy waste around the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory. U.S. Magistrate Judge John Robbenhaar issued a May 18 order scheduling the formal […]

The Department of Energy said this week that rubble removal at the Hanford Site’s Plutonium Finishing Plant in Washington state is resuming after an extended COVID-19 hiatus. After taking down the last major processing facility at the Plutonium Finishing Plant (PFP), DOE said last February it anticipated removing all the rubble from the site by […]

The Department of Energy spending request put forward Friday by the Joe Biden administration for fiscal 2022 would increase funding for environmental cleanup of past weapons work at several National Nuclear Security Administration sites. The DOE Office of Environmental Management budget for physical cleanup of this legacy contamination would rise by about a third, to […]

The Joe Biden administration proposed putting the Department of Energy back in charge of Manhattan Project site cleanup efforts as part of its fiscal year 2022 budget request, according to a recent press release. The Army Corps of Engineers, which currently oversees the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP), would continue cleaning up the […]

At deadline Friday, President Joe Biden’s administration had yet to publish a detailed Department of Energy budget request for fiscal 2022, but figures provided May 28 by the Office of Management and Budget show that the White House is willing to spend big on nuclear-weapons cleanup. The nearly $7.6-billion fiscal 2022 request for the DOE […]

A federal district court in New Mexico has set a Nov. 17 settlement conference for federal and state agencies to bridge their differences surrounding a 2016 consent order on cleanup of legacy waste around the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory. U.S. Magistrate Judge John Robbenhaar issued a May 18 order scheduling the formal […]

The Joe Biden administration proposed putting the Department of Energy back in charge of Manhattan Project site cleanup efforts as part of its fiscal year 2022 budget request, according to a recent press release. The Army Corps of Engineers, which currently oversees the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP), would continue cleaning up the […]

A May 24 article in Weapons Complex Morning Briefing, “Nevada DOE Managers Make Plans for Transuranic Waste” should have said the Honeywell-led Mission Support and Test Services is overseeing preparation of Nevada spheres for shipment to the Idaho National Laboratory from the Nevada National Security Site. In Idaho, the transuranic waste will be processed for […]

The nearly $7.6-billion fiscal 2022 budget request the Joe Biden administration made Friday for the Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management is larger than White House requests for nuclear cleanup made during the Donald Trump administration and, if enacted by Congress, would continue a run of beefy appropriations. In February 2020, the Trump White […]

The Joe Biden administration Friday afternoon proposed level-funding the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management at about $7.6-billion during fiscal 2022, which begins in a little more than four months. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm told Congress recently that the request for the budget year starting Oct. 1 would “sustain” cleanup of nuclear sites […]