Transuranic Waste

Nuclear waste will pile up at the Los Alamos National Laboratory under the National Nuclear Security Administration’s plan to make nuclear-weapon cores there, according to the New Mexico Environment Department. In six pages of comments filed last month about the plan, the state agency also challenged the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) March finding that the […]

Cold War nuclear waste will pile up at the Los Alamos National Laboratory under the National Nuclear Security Administration’s plan to make nuclear-weapon cores there, the New Mexico Environment Department told the agency last month. In six pages of comments about the plan, the state agency also challenged the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) March […]

The Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico has entered Phase 1 of its gradual return to normal operations, which have been reduced for months during the COVID-19 pandemic, officials said Tuesday. Like nearly all of the 16 nuclear cleanup sites overseen by DOE’s Office of Environmental Management, the transuranic waste disposal […]

The Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico received 47 shipments of transuranic waste during the first four months of 2020. That is down from 83 for the same period in 2019, according to the Energy Department’s public database for the waste disposal facility. In late March, WIPP reduced operations due to […]

The Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico received 47 shipments of transuranic waste during the first four months of 2020. That is down from 83 for the same period in 2019, according to the Energy Department’s public database for the waste disposal facility. In late March, WIPP reduced operations due to […]

The Energy Department intends to issue a sole-source contract to Waste Control Specialists (WCS) for continued administrative support for certain radioactive material already stored at its Andrews County, Texas, facility. In a pair of notices published Monday and Tuesday on a federal procurement website, the Energy Department said it wants to prevent a lapse in […]

The Energy Department intends to issue a sole-source contract to Waste Control Specialists (WCS) for continued administrative support for certain radioactive material already stored at its Andrews County, Texas, facility. In a pair of notices published Monday and Tuesday on a federal procurement website, the Energy Department said it wants to prevent a lapse in […]

The Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico on Monday reported its second confirmed case of COVID-19. An employee of subcontractor Constructors Inc. received a positive test for the novel coronavirus 2019 on Friday, DOE and WIPP prime Nuclear Waste Partnership said in a Facebook post. The worker developed symptoms, which can […]

The North Access Road Bypass at the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico opened to traffic on May 8. The $9 million, 3-mile bypass connects north and south access roads for the DOE site and directs other traffic away from the underground disposal facility, particularly the construction area on the surface […]

The Energy Department expects to issue a final request for proposals this month for the Idaho Cleanup Contract, according to a procurement update made public last week. The potential 15-year, $6.4 billion agreement will replace Fluor Idaho’s nearly $2 billion, five-year deal that runs through May 2021. It would also replace Spectra Tech’s roughly five-year, […]

The North Access Road Bypass at the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico opened to traffic on Friday. The $9 million, 3-mile bypass connects north and south access roads for the DOE site and directs other traffic away from the underground disposal facility, particularly the construction area on the surface for […]

The Energy Department expects to issue a final request for proposals this month for the Idaho Cleanup Contract, according to a procurement update made public Thursday. The potential 15-year, $6.4 billion agreement will replace Fluor Idaho’s nearly $2 billion, five-year deal that runs through May 2021. It would also replace Spectra Tech’s roughly five-year, $45 […]

The Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management is renewing a $14.4 million grant for New Mexico State University to continue environmental monitoring near the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). The Energy Department’s Carlsbad Field Office, which oversees WIPP, announced the five-year financial assistance grant April 30 to support the NMSU engineering college’s Carlsbad Environmental Monitoring […]

AECOM, the former owner of what is now Department of Energy contractor Amentum, generated $3.2 billion in revenue during its second quarter of fiscal 2020, down from $3.4 billion for the same period a year earlier. Net income for the Los Angeles-based engineering and infrastructure multinational landed at $49 million, or $0.31 per share, for […]

The Energy Department’s Carlsbad Field Office should update the technical review process for sites that ship transuranic material to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico, according to a new interim federal report. The DOE Office of Enterprise Assessments (EA) said April 29 it wants the Carlsbad Field Office to carry out technical reviews […]

Even as the Energy Department stays mum on the schedule for staffing up operations that have been depopulated during the COVID-19 pandemic, there are increasing indicators that nuclear remediation sites will gradually start bring more workers back inside the fence before the end of June. This is based on comments from sources around the DOE […]

AECOM, the former owner of what is now Department of Energy contractor Amentum, generated $3.2 billion in revenue during its second quarter of fiscal 2020, down from $3.4 billion for the same period a year earlier. Net income for the Los Angeles-based engineering and infrastructure multinational landed at $49 million, or $0.31 per share, for […]

The Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management is renewing a $14.4 million grant for New Mexico State University to continue environmental monitoring near the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). The Energy Department’s Carlsbad Field Office, which oversees WIPP, announced the five-year financial assistance Thursday to support the NMSU engineering college’s Carlsbad Environmental Monitoring & Research […]

The primary obstacle to the Department of Energy’s plan for diluting and disposing of surplus plutonium deep underground in New Mexico is scaling up the technology and workforce to do the job, a National Academies panel said Thursday in a long-awaited final report. At the same time, the congressionally chartered group warned, DOE’s semiautonomous National Nuclear […]

An Albuquerque advocacy organization is asking the New Mexico Court of Appeals to block last week’s temporary state approval for the U.S. Department of Energy to sink a new underground shaft at the Waste isolation Pilot Plant. The Southwest Research and Information Center (SRIC) filed its motion for a stay with the court on April […]

The Energy Department’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina on Thursday confirmed two more cases of COVID-19, bringing its total to 13 of the 20 known instances of infection among personnel working at sites overseen by the agency’s Office of Environmental Management. A spokesperson for the DOE office at Savannah River declined to provide any […]

A New Mexico advocacy organization is asking the state Court of Appeals to block last week’s temporary state approval for the U.S. Department of Energy to sink a new underground shaft at the Waste isolation Pilot Plant. The Southwest Research and Information Center (SRIC) filed its motion with the court Friday. That same day, the […]

A contractor employee at the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, who recently tested positive for COVID-19, left New Mexico on March 23. An article in the Monday Weapons Complex Morning Briefing misstated the date.

An employee of the technical services vendor for the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico has contracted COVID-19. This marks the facility’s first confirmed infection of novel coronavirus 2019. The employee of North Wind Portage tested positive Friday after working remotely since March 18, according to a news release from DOE’s […]

The Department of Energy expects within 60 days to issue a final request for proposals for a small business to provide technical assistance to the Carlsbad Field Office in New Mexico. The DOE Office of Environmental Management announced its plans Thursday on a federal procurement website. Idaho-based North Wind Group is the incumbent, with a […]

The Energy Department office that oversees the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in Carlsbad, N.M., is in the market for a satellite location about four hours north in the city of Albuquerque. “Due to the low availability of housing and high cost of living in Carlsbad, New Mexico, multiple offices in the Carlsbad Field Office are short […]

The Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M., emplaced 40 shipments of transuranic waste during the first three months of 2020, according to data from its public website. That is down significantly from 59 shipments in the first three months of 2019. The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant completed a three-week maintenance outage […]

The Energy Department has applied for renewal of the state permit to operate the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico. The New Mexico Environment Department issued the current Hazardous Waste Facility Permit to DOE and WIPP contractor Nuclear Waste Partnership in late November 2010. The state agency has said it has no timetable for […]

The Energy Department has applied for renewal of the state permit to operate the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico. The New Mexico Environment Department issued the current Hazardous Waste Facility Permit to DOE and WIPP contractor Nuclear Waste Partnership in late November 2010. The state agency has said it has no timetable for […]

The Idaho congressional delegation last week urged Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette to prioritize preparation of spent nuclear fuel at the Idaho National Laboratory for shipment out of state by the end of 2034. The Energy Department should follow the U.S. Navy’s lead in getting spent fuel at INL “road ready,” according to an April 8 […]