Cleanup & Remediation

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management lacks consistent policy on allowing staff to work remotely, and efforts to use internship-type programs to recruit younger workers have yet to pay off, according to last week’s congressional watchdog report. Those are a couple of sidenotes inside the Government Accountability Office (GAO) report on staffing shortages […]

The Department of Energy has implemented all 34 corrective actions required by a June 2021 settlement agreement over mislabeled waste sent to the Nevada National Security Site from the Y-12 National Security Site in Tennessee, officials said last week. Completion of enhanced waste verification at the Nevada Site, before and after waste arrives, was noted […]

A federal safety watchdog will hear testimony from government agencies next month on best practices for taking care of aging nuclear infrastructure, some of which is a half-century old. The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) has set a public hearing Aug.14 at its Washington, headquarters to hear testimony from representatives of the Government Accountability […]

Workers at the Savannah River Site in June removed the last pieces of plutonium recycling equipment from a building that will house the site’s pit plant, the site’s management contract said Wednesday. Over 18 months, workers removed over 2,500 gross tons of material from the area, according to the press release from Savannah River Nuclear […]

A joint venture that lost twice in a $45B Department of Energy competition at the Hanford Site in Washington state has presented a federal court with a legal ruling it hopes will disqualify the winner. AtkinsRéalis-led Hanford Tank Disposition Alliance (HTDA) on July 18 told Judge Marian Blank Horn a decision in a similar case […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management lacks consistent policy on allowing staff to work remotely, and efforts to use internship-type programs to recruit younger workers have yet to pay off, according to last week’s congressional watchdog report. Those are a couple of sidenotes inside the Government Accountability Office (GAO) report on staffing shortages […]

A federal judge in Washington won’t expedite a collective bargain action brought by the Hanford Guards Union until Department of Energy contractor Hanford Mission Integration Solutions has a chance to answer the union’s complaint. Chief U.S. District Judge Stanley Bastian on July 11 ruled against the Hanford Guards Union Local 21 request to expedite the […]

Two members of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board on Monday praised Senate confirmation of a third, putting the board back at a quorum but two members short of a full roster. “We look forward to her arrival,” Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) Chair Joyce Connery and vice chair Thomas Summers said in a […]

Robert Wilkinson started his new job this week as president and project manager of the Amentum-led solid-waste prime at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state. Wilkinson, previously president of Leidos-led Hanford Mission Integration Solutions, is succeeding John Eschenberg atop Amentum-led Central Plateau Cleanup Company, which also includes Fluor and Atkins. Wilkinson’s first […]

As is often the case, the Senate Armed Service Committee is using a must-pass defense policy bill to have a congressional watchdog delve into issues facing the Department of Energy’s nuclear weapons cleanup complex. Based on the bill report, here is a summary of what Senate Armed Services wants the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to […]

Should former President Donald Trump win a second term, the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management could speed cleanup through expanded use of both commercial nuclear waste disposal sites and a high-level waste reinterpretation, according to a conservative Republican policy document. The GOP convened its national convention in Milwaukee Monday. Along with Saturday’s unsuccessful […]

The Department of Energy has chosen Ameresco for a potential second solar power project at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina as part of the agency’s Cleanup to Clean Energy Initiative. In a Thursday press release, DOE said it has picked Ameresco to enter into lease negotiations on Savannah River Site buffer land for […]

The Department of Energy’s Hanford Site could still use the help of a mediator to resolve its differences with the Washington state Department of Ecology over contaminated soil at the Hanford Site, a congressional watchdog agency said this week. The so-called holistic agreement that DOE, the state and the Environmental Protection Agency reached on Hanford […]

Despite increased efforts to recruit new blood into a graying workforce, the Department of Energy’s $8-billion Office of Environmental Management continues to wrestle with staffing issues, a congressional watchdog said this week. DOE’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) “continues to be understaffed,” the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a report published Thursday. The nuclear […]

Robert (Bob) Wilkinson started his new job this week as president and project manager of the Amentum-led solid-waste prime at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state. Wilkinson, previously president of Leidos-led Hanford Mission Integration Solutions, is succeeding John Eschenberg atop Amentum-led Central Plateau Cleanup Company, which also includes Fluor and Atkins. Wilkinson’s […]

Virginia-based Amentum recently hired Nathan Rutledge for its newly-created position of senior vice president and head of investor relations. Rutledge will lead investor relations activity connected with Amentum’s announced merger with Jacobs’ Critical Mission Solutions and Cyber and Intelligence businesses, according to a July 2  press release. The new blended company will be publicly traded. […]

A half-dozen Department of Energy nuclear sites are being honored by the Global Electronics Council for 2023 purchases that resulted in carbon dioxide emission reductions equal to removing 121,000 cars off the road for a year, according to a DOE press release. The Hanford Site in Washington state, the Moab Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action […]

The Department of Energy’s Hanford Site near Richland, Wash., is having a second straight week of daytime highs in the triple digits as several weapons complex sites are enduring extreme weather this week. The Hanford high Wednesday was expected to hit 104 degrees Fahrenheit and site highs could stay at 100 degrees or above through […]

Should former President Donald Trump win a second term, the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management could speed cleanup through expanded use of both commercial nuclear waste disposal sites and a high-level waste reinterpretation, according to a conservative Republican policy document. The GOP convened its national convention in Milwaukee Monday. Along with Saturday’s unsuccessful […]

A federal judge in Washington won’t expedite a collective bargain action brought by the Hanford Guards Union until Department of Energy contractor Hanford Mission Integration Solutions has a chance to answer the union’s complaint. Chief U.S. District Judge Stanley Bastian on July 11 ruled against the Hanford Guards Union Local 21 request to expedite the […]

As is often the case, the Senate Armed Service Committee is using a must-pass defense policy bill to have a congressional watchdog delve into issues facing the Department of Energy’s nuclear weapons cleanup complex. Based on the bill report, here is a summary of what Senate Armed Services wants the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to […]

The Department of Energy says it will take 60 more days, until mid-September, for it to prepare a report and briefing addressing Defense Nuclear Facilities Board concerns about continuous monitoring for a new ventilation system at the agency’s deep-underground transuranic waste disposal site in New Mexico. The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) said in […]

A federal judge in New Mexico granted the Department of Energy and the New Mexico Environment Department until Oct. 7 to continue settlement talks on changes to agreements governing legacy waste cleanup at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. U.S. Magistrate Judge John Robbenhaar on Tuesday ordered another 90-day extension of the settlement talks after the […]

The Department of Energy’s $8-billion nuclear cleanup branch has started implementing some best practices sought by the Government Accountability Office but still has far to go, according to a report out Monday. The DOE Office of Environmental Management “is updating its site-specific life-cycle cost and schedule estimates to use as baselines to track progress and […]

The House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday voted 30-26, largely along party lines, to approve a budget bill that would provide more than $8.3 billion for the Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup branch in fiscal 2025. There was little mention of DOE’s Office of Environmental Management during the hour-plus markup. The measure will next be considered […]

In notices last week, the Department of Energy said it plans to again extend incumbent cleanup contractors at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio and the Paducah Site in Kentucky for up to a year. DOE published a notice of intent July 2 to extend the Decontamination & Decommissioning services contract held by Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth for […]

The Senate Armed Services Committee’s version of a must-pass defense policy bill would again authorize more than $7 billion for the Department of Energy to carry out Defense Environmental Cleanup at nuclear weapons complex sites. Language in the nearly 1,200-page bill would also allow the secretary of energy to accelerate cleanup at nuclear facilities if […]

By John Stang OLYMPIA, WASH. — The Hanford Site faces an extremely tight schedule to select both a technology and a destination for low-level radioactive waste intended to be immobilized in grout, the site’s top lawyer said here this week. “It is an aggressive timeline” said DOE’s chief Hanford counsel Mark Silberstein on the tight […]

The House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday voted 30-26, largely along party lines, to approve a budget bill that would provide more than $8.3 billion for the Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup branch in fiscal 2025. There was little mention of DOE’s Office of Environmental Management during the hour-plus markup. The measure will next be considered […]

A federal judge in New Mexico granted the Department of Energy and the New Mexico Environment Department until Oct. 7 to continue settlement talks on changes to agreements governing legacy waste cleanup at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. U.S. Magistrate Judge John Robbenhaar on Tuesday ordered another 90-day extension of the settlement talks after the […]