High-Level & Tank Waste

The Energy Facility Contractors Group (EFCOG) has thrown its weight behind the Department of Energy’s case for reinterpreting the definition of high-level radioactive waste based primarily on its risk characteristics and not its source of origin. The organization, representing about 100 DOE contractors, filed its formal comments endorsing the reinterpretation shortly after the department proposed […]

The Energy Facility Contractors Group (EFCOG) has thrown its weight behind the Department of Energy’s case for reinterpreting the definition of high-level radioactive waste based primarily on its risk characteristics and not its source of origin. The organization, representing about 100 DOE contractors, filed its formal comments endorsing the reinterpretation shortly after the department proposed […]

Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS), the tank management contractor at the Hanford Site in Washington state, is seeking expressions of interest from potential subcontractors willing to manage secondary process waste from the Effluent Treatment Facility. The facility, located in the 200 Area at Hanford, currently treats 28,000 gallons of wastewater each year from processing activities […]

The Energy Facility Contractors Group (EFCOG) has thrown its weight behind the Department of Energy’s case for reinterpreting the definition of high-level radioactive waste based primarily on its risk characteristics and not its source of origin. The organization, representing about 100 DOE contractors, filed its formal comments endorsing the reinterpretation shortly after the department proposed […]

In strongly worded comments, the Natural Resources Defense Council and other advocacy groups said the Department of Energy’s proposed plan to reinterpret the definition of high-level radioactive waste would violate the law and should be withdrawn. The Energy Department “has issued this HLW Reinterpretation Proposal in hopes of providing for itself the authority to define […]

The Department of Energy said Monday it plans to release a final request for proposals (RFP) for the Tank Closure Contract at the Hanford Site in Washington state within 45 days. The final RFP, for a full and open competition, will be posted at www.fedconnect.net. The closure contract that results from the solicitation will replace […]

The states of Washington and Oregon have declared their formal opposition to a federal proposal for a new interpretation of the definition of high-level radioactive waste. Meanwhile, industry and community stakeholder groups are pressing the Department of Energy to proceed with the revised interpretation. The Energy Department is proposing to reconsider its interpretation of material […]

Both the Energy Communities Alliance and the U.S. Nuclear Industry Council favor changing the Energy Department’s interpretation of high-level radioactive waste to focus less on how it was produced and more on its hazard profile. The comment deadline was set to end Wednesday for DOE’s proposed reinterpretation of what constitutes high-level waste (HLW). “We are […]

The Department of Energy said Monday it plans to release a final request for proposals (RFP) for the Tank Closure Contract at the Hanford Site in Washington state within 45 days. The final RFP will be posted at www.fedconnect.net As DOE said last week, the closure contract that results from the solicitation will replace the […]

The states of Washington and Oregon have stated their formal opposition to a federal proposal for a new interpretation of the definition of high-level radioactive waste. The Department of Energy is proposing to reconsider its interpretation of material classified as high-level radioactive waste, which requires disposal in a deep geological repository. The definition now is tied […]

The Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management announced Monday it would split the previously single Tank Waste Cleanup Contract at the Hanford Site in Washington state into two solicitations in the follow-on procurement. Priority will be given to a contract emphasizing closure of radioactive-waste storage tanks and “feed delivery” to the Waste Treatment Plant that […]

The Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management announced Monday it would split the previously single Tank Waste Cleanup Contract at the Hanford Site in Washington state into two solicitations. Priority will be given to a contract emphasizing closure of radioactive-waste storage tanks and “feed delivery” to the Waste Treatment Plant that Bechtel is building at […]

While the Savannah River Site’s multibillion-dollar Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF) was at one time projected to be operational this month, the U.S. Department of Energy and contractor Parsons have yet to agree on a new project baseline for the facility. The Energy Department is reviewing the document laying out new cost and schedule milestones […]

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Government Accountability Office (GAO) plans to publish three reports during January and February that will detail challenges facing the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management (EM). That was a major takeaway from a Tuesday presentation to a panel of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine by GAO Director of […]

The United States needs an all-new organization separated from the federal government if it hopes to finally end the decades-long impasse in building a permanent resting place for the nation’s nuclear waste, a panel of experts said Monday. That was one of a long series of recommendations listed in the 126-page “Reset of America’s Nuclear […]

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) hopes to remain chairman of the Senate Appropriations energy and water development subcommittee when the next Congress convenes in January, a staffer confirmed. The longtime lawmaker has held the post since 2015. There was no word Tuesday on whether Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) expects to stay on as her party’s ranking […]

The United States needs an all-new organization separated from the federal government if it hopes to overcome the long delay in disposal of tens of thousands of tons of nuclear waste, a panel of experts said Monday. The steering committee that produced the 126-page “Reset of America’s Nuclear Waste Management” report said it is “unanimous […]

Two workers at Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state were checked for radioactive contamination after they were sprayed with water when a hose connection failed in the Effluent Treatment Facility Wednesday evening. No radioactive contamination was found on the workers, but they were in a posted radioactive contamination area of the facility. Low […]

The Energy Department is giving interested parties more time to weigh in on the proposed new interpretation of high-level radioactive waste (HLW). The public comment deadline has been pushed back from Dec. 10 to Jan. 9, according to a DOE notice Tuesday in the Federal Register. Comments can be emailed to HLWnotice@em.doe.gov. After the department […]

In approving a very-short-term federal appropriations bill this week, Congress postponed a possible tussle over funding for the nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. Several federal agencies are still waiting on a full budget for fiscal 2019, operating on a continuing resolution since Oct. 1. That bill expires today. Rather than try to […]

The Savannah River Site’s management and operations contractor wants a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit that claims the company is responsible for injuries an employee suffered while working on a trailer. In the Nov. 29 response to a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for South Carolina, lawyers for Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) wrote that […]

The Energy Department could reissue the liquid waste management contract for the Savannah River Site in South Carolina within hours, according to the most recent schedule for major procurements at its Office of Environmental Management. The DOE nuclear cleanup office posted the latest timeline on Nov. 19, and said the waste contract could be awarded […]

The federal government has paid $7.4 billion to resolve dozens of lawsuits from nuclear utilities over the Department of Energy’s failure to meet its legal obligation to dispose of spent nuclear fuel from commercial power reactors, the DOE Inspector General’s Office said in a new report. The Energy Department estimates its ultimate liability could exceed […]

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Tuesday signed off on the Trump administration’s nominee to lead the Energy Department’s Office of Nuclear Energy. Rita Baranwal, currently director of DOE’s Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear (GAIN) program, now waits for a vote by the full Senate in the waning days of the 115th Congress. […]

Oak Ridge, Tenn.-based Atkins Nuclear Secured Holdings Corp. on Nov. 8 named William Madia to its Board of Directors. In addition to heading his own energy consulting firm, Madia is chairman of the board and vice president for the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory at Stanford University in California. Originally called the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, […]

The Energy Department now anticipates reissuing the liquid waste management contract for the Savannah River Site in South Carolina by the end of this month, according to the latest schedule for major procurements at its Office of Environmental Management. The DOE nuclear cleanup office posted the latest timeline on Nov. 19. It supersedes an Oct. […]

Bechtel has hired a veteran Energy Department and nuclear energy industry manager as chief for nuclear safety and operations within its Engineering division. Chip Lagdon will oversee nuclear safety analyses for Bechtel’s DOE cleanup and nuclear security missions, the company said in a press release last week. Lagdon will also work on safety and licensing […]

U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) has added his support to a call by 76 nongovernmental groups across the nation to allow more time to comment on a Department of Energy proposal to change its interpretation of the definition of high-level radioactive waste. The current 60-day comment period ends Dec. 10. Wyden and the stakeholder groups […]

The Department of Energy’s waste tank management contractor at the Hanford Site in Washington state has issued a request for proposals (RFP) for a construction services subcontractor to support its work. AECOM-led Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS), which manages about 56 million gallons of radioactive waste in 177 underground tanks, issued the small business set-aside […]

More than 2,000 people submitted comments and signed petitions urging the Department of Energy to withdraw a proposal to reclassify the remaining radioactive waste in the Hanford Site’s C Tank Farm as low-level waste. The reclassification would be a step toward allowing DOE to fill the 16 tanks in the tank farm with concrete-like grout […]