Cleanup & Remediation

The DOE Office of Environmental Management released a new organizational chart on Monday, on which William (Ike) White is labelled as acting assistant secretary for environmental management.  As recently as Jan. 20, White was still listed as a senior adviser for DOE environmental management (EM). The retooled org tree also lists John Jones as acting […]

Managers at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state received confirmation of six positive COVID-19 tests among its workers over the weekend. There were two positive cases reported at Hanford Friday evening and four more on Sunday, according to advisories, posted on a DOE operations website for Hanford run by a contractor. There […]

Here are some public events related to defense- and civilian-nuclear matters that the ExchangeMonitor staff is tracking this week. February 09 Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant Briefing for New Mexico legislators. Virtual event. DOE Carlsbad Field Office and Nuclear Waste Partnership. 6:30 a.m. Mountain Time. Center for Strategic and International Studies. “Post-New START Arms Control: […]

The Department of Energy’s plans to kick off a public comment period next month on options for removing seven aging structures within the 200 West Area of the Hanford Site in Washington state. In a Monday announcement, DOE said these are “Tier 2” structures, meaning the facilities are chemically or radiologically contaminated due to Hanford’s […]

The New Mexico Environment Department expects the Department of Energy will start work this spring cleaning up contaminated land along DP Road, just outside the Los Alamos National Laboratory, a state spokeswoman said this week.  The DOE and legacy cleanup contractor Newport News Nuclear BWXT-Los Alamos submitted the preliminary screening plan on Dec. 21 to […]

The Department of Energy is about 85% finished shoring up the three sagging underground waste structures around the Plutonium Finishing Plant at the Hanford Site, a Department of Energy spokesperson at the former plutonium production site said late last week. “We have finished stabilizing the largest structure, the Z-9 crib, and the settling tank, Z-361,” […]

There are currently 335 active COVID-19 cases within the Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup complex this week, a spokesperson said Thursday. The number, provided via email by a DOE Office of Environmental Management (EM) spokesperson, is 56 fewer than the prior week’s total of 391 active confirmed cases. It is also well below the 423 […]

While it is still early in the four-year ritual over speculation over key federal jobs, Joyce Connery, a longtime government hand who chairs the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, is being mentioned as a possible Joe Biden administration choice to head the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management. The Biden administration is just a […]

The Huntington Ingalls Industries-led team handling legacy nuclear-waste cleanup at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico might get kicked off the site in 2023, halfway through the potential end-date of its contract with the Department of Energy, multiple industry sources said this week. DOE’s Office of Environmental Management awarded Newport News Nuclear BWXT […]

The Department of Energy’s plans to kick off a public comment period next month on options for removing seven aging structures within the 200 West Area of the Hanford Site in Washington state. In a Monday announcement, DOE said these are “Tier 2” structures, meaning the facilities are chemically or radiologically contaminated due to Hanford’s […]

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico has now confirmed a total of 243 cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic began in the United States a little more than a year ago while the Hanford Site in Washington state is up to about 645 cases during the same period. That is […]

Los Alamos County, N.M., is awaiting the New Mexico Environment Department’s reaction to a Department of Energy plan for cleanup of contaminated land just outside the Los Alamos National Laboratory, Harry Burgess, county manager said by phone Monday. The DOE and legacy cleanup contractor Newport News Nuclear BWXT-Los Alamos submitted the plan on Dec. 21 […]

The Washington state Department of Ecology kicked off a 45-day comment period Monday on proposed changes to its permit for the Waste Treatment Plant being built by Bechtel at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site. The state is inviting public comment until March 17 on the closure plan for the $17-billion facility designed to convert […]

The Department of Energy is about 85% finished shoring up the three sagging underground waste structures around the Plutonium Finishing Plant at the Hanford Site, a Department of Energy spokesperson at the former plutonium production site said Friday. “We have finished stabilizing the largest structure, the Z-9 crib, and the settling tank, Z-361,” the spokesperson […]

Here are some public events related to defense- and civilian-nuclear matters that the ExchangeMonitor staff is tracking this week. February 04 Nuclear Diplomacy: Biden’s Middle East Aspirations. Virtual event. Carnegi Middle East Center. 5 p.m. – 6 p.m. Eastern.  05 Nuclear Policy and Posture in the Biden Administration. Virtual event. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. […]

The Outfall 200 Mercury Treatment Facility being built at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee is roughly 25% complete and construction should be finished by the end of 2022, an agency spokesperson said by email this week. A joint venture of APTIM and North Wind Construction was awarded the contract to build […]

The Department of Justice wants the U.S. Civilian Board of Contract Appeals to lift a stay with implications for a federal False Claims Act lawsuit against the Department of Energy contractor Mission Support Alliance.  The Leidos-led Mission Support Alliance (MSA), which in the past week ended its nearly 12-year run as landlord for DOE’s Hanford […]

Two new contractors, for Central Plateau remediation and site services, took charge this week at the Hanford Site in Washington state. Sunday was the end of the transition period and today marked the first Monday on the job for both Central Plateau Cleanup Co. as well as Hanford Mission Integration Solutions. Central Plateau is composed […]

Jennifer Granholm, President Joe Biden’s pick for secretary of energy, vowed Wednesday that cleaning up the Hanford Site would be a top priority if she is confirmed by the Senate. “You have my assurance that this is going to be a priority,” Granholm, the former Michigan governor, said in response to questioning from Sen. Ron […]

Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), an advocate for environmental cleanup at the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site, said in a statement Monday he will not run for re-election in November 2022. “This doesn’t mean I’m leaving now – I still have two more years in my term and I intend to use that time to get […]

There are currently 391 active COVID-19 cases within the Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup complex, a spokesperson for the Office of Environmental Management said via email Thursday. The latest figure represents a decrease from the 423 active cases confirmed by Environmental Management (EM) the prior week as well as the 473 from two weeks ago.  […]

Jennifer Granholm, President Joe Biden’s pick for secretary of energy, vowed Wednesday that cleaning up the Hanford Site would be a top priority if she is confirmed by the Senate. “You have my assurance that this is going to be a priority,” Granholm, the former Michigan governor, said in response to questioning from Sen. Ron […]

The Outfall 200 Mercury Treatment Facility being built at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee is roughly 25% complete and construction should be finished by the end of 2022, an agency spokesperson said by email Wednesday. A joint venture of APTIM and North Wind Construction was awarded the contract to build the […]

The Department of Justice wants the U.S. Civilian Board of Contract Appeals to lift a stay with implications for a False Claims Act lawsuit against a Department of Energy contractor, Mission Support Alliance, before a federal court in Washington state. The Leidos-led Mission Support Alliance (MSA), which recently ended its nearly 12-year run as landlord […]

Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), an advocate for environmental cleanup at the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site, said in a statement Monday he will not run for re-election in November 2022. “This doesn’t mean I’m leaving now – I still have two more years in my term and I intend to use that time to get […]

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., had 14 more employees test positive for COVID-19 between Jan. 13 and Jan. 19, the prime contractor said in a Saturday Twitter post, while a half-dozen more cases were confirmed Sunday at the Hanford Site in Washington state. Eleven of the 14 at the […]

Here are some public events related to defense- and civilian-nuclear matters that the ExchangeMonitor staff is tracking this week. January 25 The Savannah River Site Citizens Advisory Board is scheduled to meet at 1 p.m. Eastern Time today. 27 The West Valley Citizen Task Force is scheduled to meet at 6:30 p.m. To register for […]

Two new contractors, for Central Plateau remediation and site services, are taking charge today at the Hanford Site in Washington state. Sunday was the end of the transition period and today marks the first Monday on the job for both Central Plateau Cleanup Co. as well as Hanford Mission Integration Solutions. Central Plateau is composed […]

The number of active cases of COVID-19 within the Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup complex dropped by about 50 this week but remained above 400.  There are currently 423 active cases at properties run by the DOE’s Office of Environmental Management (EM), a spokesperson for the cleanup branch said in a Thursday email.  That marks […]

Remaining cleanup costs at the West Valley Demonstration Project site in New York could run anywhere from $1.4 billion to $10.6 billion depending on how much contamination is dug up and shipped off-site, the Government Accountability Office said in its report last week on waste disposal at the site. As of February 2020, the Department […]