Cleanup & Remediation

The U.S. Department of Justice, representing the Department of Energy this week urged a federal magistrate in Oregon to throw out a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit brought by Columbia Riverkeeper. Columbia Riverkeeper sued DOE in mid-June in the U.S. District Court of Oregon alleging FOIA violations over the Joe Biden administration’s Cleanup to […]

Secretary of Energy Chris Wright issued a statement Tuesday seeking to knock down speculation DOE might cancel the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) weeks before it is scheduled to start converting some radioactive waste into glass at the Hanford Site. “Contrary to news reports, the Department of Energy has made no changes to its […]

Roger Jarrell has left the Department of Energy and as a result is no longer the top federal supervisor at the Office of Environmental Management, DOE confirmed Monday afternoon. Jarrell, the principal deputy assistant secretary for Environmental Management, or EM2, “is no longer with the department,” a spokesperson for DOE headquarters said in an email […]

The Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Paducah Project Office and a contractor are installing a new system meant to cut downtime at depleted uranium hexafluoride (DUF6) plants The current DUF6 conversion process makes use of small vacuum pumps to take out residual uranium hexafluoride (UF6) from heated cylinders, DOE said in a Sept. 2 press release. […]

Here are events related to nuclear matters that Exchange Monitor staff are tracking: September 10: Hybrid meeting: The DOE Site-Specific Advisory Board for the Nevada National Security Site meets starting at 4 p.m. Pacific Time at Molasky Corporate Center, 15th Floor Conference Room, 100 North City Parkway, Las Vegas, Nevada 89106. 16: Meeting: The Portsmouth […]

The new William Wilcox Jr. K-25 Interpretive Center has been dedicated at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee, the department announced this week.  Visitors to the former Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant can view the entire footprint of what was once the world’s largest building, K-25. The 1940’s-era uranium enrichment facility helped […]

In a nail-biting finish, the House passed its version of the fiscal 2026 Energy and Water Appropriations bill on the floor Thursday 214-213 after two days of debate and amendments. The House bill would curb Department of Energy nuclear remediation funding by about three-quarters of a billion dollars.  The four Republicans that voted against the […]

The Department of Energy’s current orders for national low-level and mixed low-level commercial waste treatment are scheduled to expire Dec. 3, according to a DOE Office of Environmental Management website. The nuclear cleanup office announced last week it has awarded five-year basic ordering agreements for five companies: EnergySolutions; Perma-Fix Environmental Services; Veolia Nuclear Solutions Federal […]

The Department of Energy said last week it will shop around for qualified small businesses capable of doing general support service work at the Hanford Site at Richland, Wash. The DOE Office of Environmental Management published a sources sought notice Aug. 26 on Sam.gov and on the Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center website. The DOE […]

The Department of Energy said last week it will shop around for qualified small businesses capable of doing general support service work at the Hanford Site at Richland, Wash. The DOE Office of Environmental Management published a sources sought notice Aug. 26 on Sam.gov and on the Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center website. The DOE […]

The Department of Energy’s current orders for national low-level and mixed low-level commercial waste treatment are scheduled to expire Dec. 3, according to a DOE Office of Environmental Management website. The nuclear cleanup office announced last week it has awarded five-year basic ordering agreements for five companies: EnergySolutions; Perma-Fix Environmental Services; Veolia Nuclear Solutions Federal […]

Here are events related to nuclear matters that Exchange Monitor staff are tracking:   September 10: Hybrid meeting: The DOE Site-Specific Advisory Board for the Nevada National Security Site meets starting at 4 p.m. Pacific Time at Molasky Corporate Center, 15th Floor Conference Room, 100 North City Parkway, Las Vegas, Nevada 89106. 16: Meeting: The […]

Two workers at the Department of Energy’s vitrification plant at the Hanford Site at Richland, Wash., were involved in a “near miss,” according to an August report more than a month after a jobsite evacuation triggered by a smoke alarm. According to the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) report dated Aug. 1, the Low-Activity […]

Greg Sosson, one of the top feds at the Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup office, took part this month in the ninth annual forum on decommissioning of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station in Japan. The annual gathering brings together international cleanup specialists to discuss nuclear remediation and track the progress of remediation following the […]

The Department of Energy has turned to an executive with a contractor running an analysis laboratory to become the next manager of its Hanford Site in Richland, Wash. Ray Geimer, who manages Hanford’s 222-S laboratory for contractor Navarro-ATL, and will take over as the new permanent Hanford Site manager effective Sept. 7, DOE said this […]

A 2018 wildfire that burned large sections of Ventura and Los Angeles Counties did not spread large amounts of radiological contaminants beyond the Department of Energy’s portion of the Santa Susana Field Laboratory in California, according to a new report. DOE Radiological Assistance Program field teams took environmental samples during and after the Woolsey fire […]

Liquid waste work at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina resumed recently, following an annual maintenance outage.  While major waste treatment facilities at the 310-square-mile complex have resumed operations, some outage tasks have not yet been completed, according to DOE.  Liquid waste contractor Savannah River Mission Completion began the outage on […]

The Department of Energy said this week more than 1,000 cylinders of depleted uranium hexafluoride (DUF6) were converted into a more stable oxide form at two former gaseous diffusion plant sites during fiscal 2025. The work took place at DUF6 conversion plants located at the DOE’s Paducah Site in Kentucky and the Portsmouth Site in […]

Tim Walsh, President Donald Trump’s nominee to head the Department of Energy’s $8-billion Office of Environmental Management, has taken a DOE adviser job while he awaits a Senate confirmation vote. “Mr. Walsh will begin working in the Office of Science in the coming weeks as a senior advisor,” a DOE spokesperson said by email Wednesday […]

The Department of Energy said this week more than 1,000 cylinders of depleted uranium hexafluoride (DUF6) were converted into a more stable oxide form at two former gaseous diffusion plant sites during fiscal 2025. The work took place at DUF6 conversion plants located at the DOE’s Paducah Site in Kentucky and the Portsmouth Site in […]

Liquid waste work at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina resumed recently, following an annual maintenance outage.  While major waste treatment facilities at the 310-square-mile complex have resumed operations, some outage tasks have not yet been completed, according to DOE.  Liquid waste contractor Savannah River Mission Completion began the outage on […]

Greg Sosson, one of the top feds at the Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup office, took part this month in the ninth annual forum on decommissioning of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station in Japan. The annual gathering brings together international cleanup specialists to discuss nuclear remediation and track the progress of remediation following the […]

A 2018 wildfire that burned large sections of Ventura and Los Angeles Counties did not spread large amounts of radiological contaminants beyond the Department of Energy’s portion of the Santa Susana Field Laboratory in California, according to a new report. DOE Radiological Assistance Program field teams took environmental samples during and after the Woolsey fire […]

Here are events related to nuclear matters that Exchange Monitor staff are tracking: September 10: Hybrid meeting: The DOE Site-Specific Advisory Board for the Nevada National Security Site meets starting at 4 p.m. Pacific Time at Molasky Corporate Center, 15th Floor Conference Room, 100 North City Parkway, Las Vegas, Nevada 89106. 24: National Cleanup Workshop, […]

At Savannah River Nuclear Solutions’ (SRNS) annual “Signing Day” event, 38 summer interns concluded their 12-week program by signing on to full-service opportunities with the prime contractor at Savannah River Site, according to a press release. The SRNS Internship Program, which caters to students from two-year technical colleges and four-year universities up to a doctoral […]

 Environmental cleanup at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge site in Tennessee will likely extend past its current schedule, a DOE site official said Wednesday Aug. 13. During a meeting of the Oak Ridge Site Specific Advisory Board (ORSSAB), Roger Petrie, DOE’s Federal Facilities Agreement projects manager at Oak Ridge, said the current schedule has […]

Although the Department of Energy missed an August target to start making glass from low-level radioactive waste, the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant is on the brink of operation, an advisory panel for the Hanford Site heard Wednesday. “We are so close, so close to starting that thing up,” DOE’s acting manager for the Hanford […]

Former South Carolina Lt. Gov. André Bauer as shut down his GOP primary challenge against Sen. Lindsey Graham, the four-term incumbent, Bauer said on website X Aug. 8. “I cannot and will not be part of a political climate that rewards deception over honesty, or ambition over unity,” Bauer wrote after campaigning against Graham for […]

Hanford Tank Waste Operations and Closure (H2C), the BWX Technologies-led liquid waste prime, suspended work for a week due to safety concerns at the former plutonium production site at Richland, Wash. “H2C initiated a week-long safety stand down, pausing non-essential operations and holding all-hands meetings with its workforce, including management, to discuss the recent spike […]

Here are events related to nuclear matters that Exchange Monitor staff are tracking: August  13: Hybrid meeting: Hanford Advisory Board meetings starting at 8:30 a.m. Pacific Time from Three Rivers Convention Center, 7016 W Grandridge Boulevard, Kennewick, Wash. 13: Hybrid meeting: Oak Ridge Site Specific Advisory Board starts at 6 p.m. Eastern time from DOE […]