Cleanup & Remediation

While it has taken initial steps, the U.S. Department of Energy is not collecting the information it needs to attack its $377 billion in environmental liability, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said Wednesday. Liabilities at the Energy Department, including those of the Office of Environmental Management and the semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration, are examined […]

The Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) last month promoted Betsy Connell to associate principal deputy assistant secretary for the Office of Regulatory and Policy Affairs, deleting the “acting” from her title. Connell has been running the office on an interim basis since November. She took over for Mark Gilbertson, who became principal deputy […]

The Energy Department Office of Environmental Management should focus more on “breakthrough technologies” in nuclear cleanup operations, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine said this week. Such technologies could cut the time needed for environmental remediation jobs, the National Academies said in a report Monday. The DOE Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) should […]

While it has taken initial steps, the U.S. Department of Energy is not collecting the information it needs to attack its $377 billion in environmental liability, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said Wednesday. Liabilities at the Energy Department, including those of the Office of Environmental Management and the semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration, are examined […]

PHOENIX, Ariz. – While the Energy Department and its nuclear cleanup contractors acknowledge they are learning on the job, both sides Wednesday stressed the urgency of meeting deadlines for the first set of solicitations issued under the agency’s overhauled approach to procurement. Requests for proposals are due March 18 for two potential 10-year, multibillion-dollar contracts […]

PHOENIX, Ariz. — With the Energy Department’s nuclear cleanup office implementing its end-state contracting model, don’t expect many traditional management and operations contracts in the future. “M&Os are probably going to be a thing of the past,” Assistant Energy Secretary for Environmental Management Anne Marie White said on the sidelines of the 2019 Waste Management […]

The Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup office should reconsider what work is deemed “operations” as opposed to “capital asset projects,” the Government Accountability Office said Tuesday. Some operations, such as treatment and storage of radioactive liquid tank waste, should be subject to the higher degree of scrutiny applied to capital projects, the government watchdog said. […]

Brian Stickney as of this week is the new assistant manager for safety and environment for the Department of Energy Richland Operations Office at the Hanford Site in Washington state. Stickney had been the deputy assistant manager for safety and environment since August 2016 and served as manager in an acting capacity for eight months, […]

PHOENIX, Ariz. — The head of the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management said Monday she intends for the new end-state contracting approach to halt “ever-extending site closure dates” for cleanup of Cold War-era nuclear sites. The Energy Department cannot “simply keep treading water,” but must drive these sites toward completion, Assistant Secretary of Energy […]

Registration opens at 9 a.m. March 19 for all of the Department of Energy’s 2019 environmental cleanup tours of the Hanford Site in Washington state. Twenty tours will be offered this year, with all bus seats expected to be claimed in a matter of hours. Registration is only available via the Hanford.gov website. However, a […]

The Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) last month promoted Betsy Connell to associate principal deputy assistant secretary for the Office of Regulatory and Policy Affairs, deleting the “acting” from her title. Connell has been running the office on an interim basis since November. She took over for Mark Gilbertson, who became principal deputy […]

The U.S. Department of Justice has detailed its complaints about a new Washington state law that makes it easier for Hanford Site personnel to have their workers’ compensation claims approved. The Justice Department filed a motion for summary judgment late on March 1 in U.S. District Court for Eastern Washington state, asking that the court […]

Department of Energy contractor Fluor Idaho intends in April to resume sludge repackaging at an Idaho National Laboratory fabric filter building where four drums of radioactive waste overheated and ejected their lids about one year earlier. The company informed the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality of its plans on Feb. 28 in a monthly report […]

Retirees of former Hanford Site contractor Lockheed Martin Services Inc. have petitioned the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit to hear their appeal of a U.S. Court of Federal Claims decision in a class action lawsuit against the Department of Energy. In early February, a three-judge panel of the appeals court upheld […]

The latest procurement schedule from the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management indicates draft requests for proposals for major work at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee and the West Valley Demonstration Project in New York could be issued this spring. A draft RFP for a new Idaho Cleanup Project contract could go out this […]

A Department of Energy official acknowledged on Feb. 21 that the Idaho National Laboratory missed its Dec. 31, 2018, deadline to move defense-related transuranic waste to the federal disposal facility in New Mexico. Under a 1995 settlement between DOE, Idaho, and the U.S. Navy over in-state nuclear waste storage, the Energy Department was supposed to […]

Department of Energy contractor CH2M HILL BWXT West Valley (CHBWV) has removed virtually all the waste generated from demolition of the vitrification plant at the West Valley Demonstration Project in New York state. About 460 containers of debris have been sent from the site at the town of Ashford to off-site facilities, the Energy Department […]

Department of Energy contractor CH2M HILL BWXT West Valley (CHBWV) has removed virtually all the waste generated from demolition of the vitrification plant at the West Valley Demonstration Project in New York state. About 460 containers of debris have been sent from the site at the town of Ashford to off-site facilities, the Energy Department […]

Retirees of former Hanford Site contractor Lockheed Martin Services Inc. have petitioned the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit to hear their appeal of a U.S. Court of Federal Claims decision in a class action lawsuit against the Department of Energy. In early February, a three-judge panel of the appeals court upheld […]

Three Department of Energy field managers in New Mexico said Thursday that an agency order issued last year will bring little change in a good relationship with an independent federal watchdog, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB). The officials offered the commitment at a DNFSB public hearing in Albuquerque, N.M. The four board members […]

The U.S. Department of Justice and Washington state have agreed that a federal lawsuit over a new state law easing workers’ compensation requirements for ill Hanford Site workers likely can be resolved without a trial. Both have told the court they plan to file motions for summary judgment in the case. Judge Stanley Bastian, of […]

The Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management wants vendor feedback on a potential new contract to provide infrastructure support services at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio and the Paducah Site in Kentucky. The request for information/sources sought notice was issued Tuesday by DOE’s Cincinnati-based Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center. The Energy Department is in the […]

The Energy Department plans to extend a sole-source task order so contractor CDM can generate additional reports on the cleanup of the Energy Technology Engineering Center (ETEC) at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory in California. The agency announced its intention to keep CDM on the job through the end of the year in a Wednesday […]

U.S. Rep. Tom Reed (R-N.Y.) last week again introduced legislation to reauthorize the Department of Energy’s West Valley Demonstration Project in New York. The measure, co-sponsored by Rep. Brian Higgins (D-N.Y.), was filed Feb. 11 and assigned to the House Energy and Commerce Committee. As of Thursday, the text has not been received for the […]

Three Department of Energy field managers in New Mexico said Thursday that an agency order issued last year will bring little change in a good relationship with an independent federal watchdog, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB). The officials spoke at a DNFSB public hearing in Albuquerque, N.M. The four board members and about […]

The U.S. Department of Justice and Washington state have agreed that a federal lawsuit over a new state law easing workers’ compensation requirements for ill Hanford Site workers likely can be resolved without a trial. Both have told the court they plan to file motions for summary judgment in the case. Judge Stanley Bastian, of […]

The Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management is seeking vendor feedback on a potential new contract to provide infrastructure support services at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio and the Paducah Site in Kentucky. The request for information/sources sought notice was issued Tuesday by DOE’s Cincinnati-based Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center. The Energy Department is in […]

U.S. Rep. Tom Reed (R-N.Y.) last week again introduced legislation to reauthorize the Department of Energy’s West Valley Demonstration Project in New York. The measure, co-sponsored by Rep. Brian Higgins (D-N.Y.), was filed Feb. 11 and assigned to the House Energy and Commerce Committee. As of this morning, the text has not been received for […]

A lawsuit filed by local landowners claims negligence by Boeing and Southern California Edison is partly to blame for a wildfire that charred almost 100,000 acres of land in Los Angeles and Ventura counties in California. The complaint against the airplane manufacturer and the electric power company was filed Feb. 5 in California Superior Court […]

The manager of the Department of Energy Office of River Protection at the Hanford Site, Brian Vance, has been selected as acting manager of the Hanford Richland Operations Office. This is the first time since the Office of River Protection (ORP) was established in 1998 that there has been one top manager for the entire […]