Transuranic Waste

The U.S. Energy Department and its prime contractor for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico on Wednesday announced a $75 million award for a subcontractor to build a new underground utility shaft. The contract went to Harrison Western-Shaft Sinkers Joint Venture, the DOE Carlsbad Field Office and AECOM-led Nuclear Waste Partnership said in […]

U.S. Energy Department contractor Fluor Idaho has finished repackaging radioactive sludge waste that was ejected from four overheated drums in April 2018 at the Idaho National Laboratory. The late-night accident spewed much of the sludge waste from the four 55-gallon drums onto the walls and ceiling of a room within a fabric filter building at […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management is doing early planning for a new technical assistance contract for the office in southeastern New Mexico that oversees the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). On Monday, the federal agency issued a request for information (RFI)/sources sought notice for interested businesses with the necessary expertise to serve […]

The contractor that manages the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico will have new leadership starting next month. Sean Dunagan will succeed Bruce Covert as president and project manager for AECOM-led Nuclear Waste Partnership (NWP), according to an announcement Tuesday. He will begin with a two-week transition alongside Covert starting […]

One of three plaintiffs is continuing mediation in hopes of reaching a settlement in a lawsuit against the New Mexico Environment Department over calculating underground waste volume at the U.S. Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety (CCNS) filed the request for extended mediation July 31 with the New Mexico […]

Department of Energy contractor Longenecker & Associates has promoted Mike Briggs to the newly created post of group vice president for High-Hazard Operations support. Briggs joined the Las Vegas-based company last year and helped launch the business line that supports incident response and recovery at DOE sites, the company said in a Monday press release. […]

One of three plaintiffs plans to continue mediation in hopes of reaching a settlement in a lawsuit against the New Mexico Environment Department over calculating underground waste volume at the U.S. Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety (CCNS) filed the request for extended mediation Wednesday with the New Mexico […]

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site (SRS) anticipates sending at least two shipments of transuranic (TRU) waste to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico by the end of the current fiscal year on Sept. 30. “We’re getting pretty close to when we’ll be able to send out that waste,” said […]

The U.S. Energy Department’s nuclear cleanup office on Wednesday awarded a trio of small-business contracts that together could be worth over $62 million. The largest of the deals, a potential $49.5 million indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity (ID/IQ) contract awarded to Oak Ridge, Tenn.-based BTP Services, is for technical support services throughout the Office of Environmental Management (EM) […]

The U.S. Energy Department’s nuclear cleanup office on Wednesday awarded a trio of small-business contracts that together could be worth over $62 million. The largest of the deals, a potential $49.5 million indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity (ID/IQ) contract awarded to Oak Ridge, Tenn.-based BTP Services, is for technical support services throughout the Office of Environmental Management (EM) […]

The Department of Energy is assessing potential vendor interest in processing, shipping, and disposing of radioactive waste from the Separations Process Research Unit (SPRU) in New York state. In a request for information (RFI)/sources sought notice Wednesday, the DOE Office of Environmental Management requested capability statements from interested parties with the expertise to do the […]

Managers at the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., plan more training to help ensure no mislabeled or improperly packaged shipments reach the underground disposal site for defense transuranic waste. Some training could be rolled out in the near future to minimize the chance of any shipments ending up at WIPP without […]

The contractor for the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M., is working on a five-year strategic plan that should be submitted to the agency and made public in August or September. Workshops on the contents of the plan will be held in Carlsbad and Santa Fe, N.M., sometime in those two […]

Managers at the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., plan more training to help ensure no mislabeled or improperly packaged shipments reach the underground disposal site for defense transuranic waste. Some training is being developed and could be rolled out in the near future to minimize the chance of any shipments ending […]

The U.S. Department of Energy expects within 15 to 60 days to issue a draft request for proposals for remediation at the 33,000-acre Oak Ridge Reservation in Tennessee. The agency posted its plans for the solicitation July 2 on a federal procurement website. Vendors should expect a 100% full and open competition with a pre-solicitation […]

The New Mexico Court of Appeals expects a status report by July 31 on mediation between the parties in litigation over changes to the way the Department of Energy calculates the underground volume of transuranic material at its Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad. The mediation began last month between representatives of DOE, the […]

The New Mexico Court of Appeals expects a status report by July 31 on mediation between the parties in litigation over changes to the way the Department of Energy calculates the underground volume of transuranic material at its Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad. The mediation began last month between representatives of DOE, the […]

Repackaging of radioactive sludge waste at the site of an April 2018 drum breach at the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory is nearly complete, according to a monthly report filed with the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality. Site cleanup contractor Fluor Idaho has completed processing all material except three waste trays inside the Accelerated […]

The Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico received 115 shipments of transuranic defense waste during the first five months of 2019. Based on 21.5 calendar weeks through May 31, that is an average of 5.4 shipments per week. By contrast, the facility received 138 shipments for the first five months of […]

The Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico received 115 shipments of transuranic defense waste during the first five months of 2019. Based on 21.5 calendar weeks through May 31, that is an average of 5.4 shipments per week. By contrast, the facility received 138 shipments for the first five months of […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) has set the new date for a public hearing on two radioactive waste drum accidents in the Energy Department weapons complex. The hearing, originally set for last month, is now scheduled for noon to 4 p.m. Thursday, June 20, at DNFSB headquarters in Washington D.C. The hearing was […]

After a former Los Alamos National Laboratory scientist was indicted for allegedly lying about contacts with the Chinese government, the Energy Department prohibited its employees and contractors from participating in certain foreign “talent recruitment programs.” Deputy Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette approved that prohibition Friday by signing DOE Order 486.1. The order bars agency employees and […]

The Department of Energy formally published its reinterpretation of the definition of high-level radioactive waste (HLW) in Monday’s Federal Register. As telegraphed for months, and officially announced on June 5, DOE now interprets that the existing HLW definition in the Atomic Energy Act and the Nuclear Waste Policy Act means not all wastes from spent […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) has set the new date for a public hearing on two radioactive waste drum accidents in the Energy Department weapons complex. The hearing, originally set for last month, is now scheduled for noon to 4 p.m. Thursday, June 20, at DNFSB headquarters in Washington D.C.. The hearing was delayed due […]

The Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico now expects to hold its next WIPP Town Hall briefing sometime in July, rather than June 20 as previously announced. Due to personnel changes within DOE, the meeting is being rescheduled, a city of Carlsbad representative said by email Thursday. Todd Shrader, manager of […]

A legal fight is considered likely over the Energy Department’s new interpretation of what material should be treated high-level radioactive waste, sources suggested this week. Not all waste resulting from reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel should be considered high-level, the DOE reaffirmed Wednesday. Going forward, the key question will be “how radioactive it is,” Undersecretary […]

Don’t expect another Senate-confirmed nominee during President Donald Trump’s current term to succeed Anne Marie White at the helm of the Energy Department Office of Environmental Management. That was the assessment offered this week by several observers of the DOE weapons complex. The chances of the White House finding a qualified and willing candidate – […]

Not all waste resulting from reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel should be considered high-level radioactive waste (HLW), the Energy Department reaffirmed Wednesday. Under its new interpretation, DOE says some lower-risk reprocessing waste can be deemed non-HLW and be disposed of according to its radiological traits rather than its point of origin. That could speed up […]

The Waste Control Specialists (WCS) site in Andrews County, Texas is still an attractive potential home for thousands of metric tons of elemental mercury. That’s according to a supplemental analysis published Monday by DOE’s Office of Environmental Management. The document says facilities at WCS would still be a good option for storage of up to 6,800 […]

The Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) will hold its next WIPP Town Hall briefing June 20 at 5:30 p.m. Pacific time at the Carlsbad, N.M., City Hall Annex on June 20. An agenda for the meeting will be released closer to the date, a city of Carlsbad representative said by email Monday. The […]