Transuranic Waste

Members of the Pacific Northwest congressional delegation are prepared to fight a $230 million budget cut for the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state. If approved by Congress, funding for cleanup of the former plutonium production complex would drop to roughly $2.185 billion in the DOE fiscal 2019 budget proposal issued Monday. The […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is moving toward a potential rulemaking on disposal of Greater-Than-Class-C (GTCC) and transuranic (TRU) radioactive wastes from nongovernment sources, this week requesting public input for a regulatory basis that would help guide the process. The commission first requested the regulatory basis in December 2015, after Texas inquired about licensing a […]

The Energy Department expects in April to file a permit application for storage of radioactive and chemically hazardous waste at its Separations Process Research Unit (SPRU) cleanup in upstate New York. A total of 22 containers are expected to hold waste generated by ongoing environmental remediation at the site, according to a recent DOE notice. […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is moving forward with a rulemaking on disposal of Greater Than Class C (GTCC) and transuranic (TRU) radioactive wastes, this week requesting public input for a regulatory basis that would help guide the process. Commissioners first called for the regulatory basis in December 2015, after Texas inquired about licensing a […]

The Energy Department is at risk of missing the 2018 deadline to ship all transuranic waste at the Idaho National Laboratory out of the state, a senior official said recently. That comes even as the agency has increased its pace of shipments to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico for permanent disposal, Energy […]

The Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico would get a funding spike to $403 million in the Trump administration fiscal 2019 budget request released Monday. That would be $79 million over the 2017 enacted level of spending and $99 million more than WIPP’s annualized spending under a series of short-term budgets passed […]

The Trump administration is again proposing to increase the budget for the Energy Department’s nuclear cleanup office, to $6.6 billion for fiscal 2019. That would be $182 million above the fiscal 2017 enacted level and $100 million above the amount proposed for the current budget year for DOE’s Office of Environmental Management (EM). Since the […]

Signs increasingly point toward startup by the end of 2018 of operations of the long-delayed Integrated Waste Treatment Unit (IWTU) at the Energy Department’s Idaho National Laboratory. DOE Idaho Deputy Manager Jack Zimmerman said during a meeting of the Leadership in Nuclear Energy Commission in Boise the IWTU could start treating radioactive waste by the […]

A pair of public meetings have been scheduled in March on proposed changes in the New Mexico hazardous waste facility permit for the U.S. Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. The meetings, scheduled in Carlsbad and Santa Fe, will focus on clarifying transuranic “Mixed Waste Disposal Volume Reporting,” according to a recent notice posted online […]

Department of Energy contractor AECOM on Tuesday reported $4.9 billion in revenue for the first quarter of its fiscal year, ended Dec. 31, 2017. That was 12.7 percent higher than the $4.35 billion recorded in the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2016. The Los Angeles-based global infrastructure company reported quarterly net income and diluted earnings per […]

A pair of public meetings have been scheduled in March on proposed changes in the New Mexico hazardous waste facility permit for the U.S. Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M. The meetings, scheduled in Carlsbad and Santa Fe, will center around clarifying transuranic “Mixed Waste Disposal Volume Reporting,” according to a memo […]

Having completed a two-week maintenance outage, the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., can do same-day salt mining and waste disposal at the underground facility, a spokesman said Friday. The outage finished Jan. 28, and WIPP actually resumed taking transuranic waste the week of Jan. 22, Donavan Mager, a spokesperson for site […]

Stoller Newport News Nuclear (SN3) President Nick Lombardo has been tapped to lead the management team for the joint venture recently awarded the $1.39 billion legacy cleanup contract at the Energy Department’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. Lombardo will serve as program manager for Newport News Nuclear BWXT-Los Alamos, which will be responsible […]

By John Stang A week after announcing that private-equity firm J.F. Lehman had acquired Waste Control Specialists (WCS), the companies are largely closed-mouth about details of the deal. The involved parties – Lehman, WCS, and former owner Valhi Inc. – announced the sale in three separate press releases after market close on Friday, Jan. 26. […]

An advisory board that monitors environmental management issues at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina wants the Department of Energy to reclassify old liquid waste equipment so it can be shipped off-site for permanent disposal. The SRS Citizens Advisory Board (CAB) voted 22-1 Tuesday to request that DOE investigate whether used liquid waste melters and certain […]

The Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., received 133 shipments of transuranic waste from around the DOE complex during 2017, exceeding its own target since resuming waste emplacement. Last March, during a WIPP Town Hall meeting, DOE Carlsbad Field Office Manager Todd Shrader publicly identified a target of 128 shipments from April […]

An advisory board that monitors environmental management issues at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina wants the Department of Energy to reclassify old liquid waste equipment so it can be shipped off-site for permanent disposal. The SRS Citizens Advisory Board (CAB) voted 22-1 Tuesday to request that DOE investigate whether used liquid waste melters and certain […]

The Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., by taking 133 shipments of transuranic waste from around the DOE complex during 2017, beat its own target for resuming waste emplacement. Last March, during a WIPP Town Hall presentation, DOE Carlsbad Field Office Manager Todd Shrader publicly identified a target of 128 shipments from […]

In another step toward normal operations following a pair of February 2014 accidents, the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico resumed long-anticipated salt mining operations on Monday. The Energy Department and WIPP contractor Nuclear Waste Partnership had been talking about resumption of mining for months, and a spokesman for the company confirmed […]

In another step toward normal operations following a pair of February 2014 accidents, the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico resumed long-anticipated salt mining operations on Monday. The Energy Department and WIPP contractor Nuclear Waste Partnership had been talking about resumption of mining for months, and a spokesman for the company confirmed […]

The comment period on a draft environmental assessment (EA) for a planned above-ground storage facility at the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., has been extended by two weeks, DOE said recently. The original 30-day comment period, from Dec. 15 through Jan. 15, will now end Jan. 29, DOE said in a […]

Deputy Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette told a House Energy and Commerce energy subcommittee Tuesday the Energy Department continues to make headway on the massive cleanup of its nuclear weapons complex. “In 2018, we will continue to make progress on key facilities and capabilities,” Brouillette said during a hearing on DOE modernization. For example, DOE continues […]

Since reopening to shipments in April 2017, the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., received 133 transports of transuranic waste as of Dec. 21, the last date for which data is publicly available. The Idaho National Laboratory made nearly two-thirds, or 88, of the shipments. Under a 1995 settlement agreement with Idaho, […]

Like everyone else, the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management and its contractors have turned the page to 2018, which is shaping up to be another year of transition, according to an informal survey of veteran watchers of the DOE nuclear cleanup complex. Here are a few of the issues to watch: A new leader […]

The Energy Department is seeking public comment until Jan. 15 on plans to build a 65,280- cubic-foot above-ground concrete storage facility at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., for contact-handled transuranic waste. The comment period opened Dec. 15 on the draft environmental assessment, required by the National Environmental Policy Act. The surface storage […]

The New Mexico State Auditor’s Office has questioned whether the state Environment Department (NMED) went too easy on the Department of Energy during legal settlements in recent years over cleanup problems and violations at the Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. In a Nov. 21 letter to New Mexico Environment Secretary Butch Tongate, […]

After a transuranic waste fire forced the Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Facility at the Idaho National Laboratory out of service on Dec. 21, the facility has now largely returned to operations, the Department of Energy confirmed Friday. “AMWTP Treatment Facility Operations have resumed following the scheduled holiday curtailment of operations with the exception of the […]

Since it resumed receiving transuranic waste again last April, the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., has received 130 shipments from DOE-approved generator sites as of Dec. 15, 2017. That is the most recent date for which shipment data is publicly available. During its first 36 weeks of operation since reopening, WIPP […]

The Energy Department is seeking public comment until Jan. 15 on plans to build a 65,280- cubic-foot above-ground concrete storage facility at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., for contact-handled transuranic waste. The comment period opened Dec. 15 on the draft environmental assessment, required by the National Environmental Policy Act. The surface storage […]

The New Mexico State Auditor’s Office has questioned whether the state Environment Department (NMED) went too easy on the Department of Energy during legal settlements in recent years over cleanup problems and violations at the Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. In a Nov. 21 letter to New Mexico Environment Secretary […]