Vol. 28, No. 25 
New DOE EM Chief Could be Six Months Away
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Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile
Podonsky Leaving DOE Office of Enterprise Assessments
The head of the Department of Energy’s Office of Enterprise Assessments (EA) — the agency’s independent nuclear safety and security enforcer — will retire “at the end of the summer,” according to a letter he sent to industry colleagues Thursday. “Last Friday I informed Secretary Perry’s [chief of staff] and [deputy chief of staff] that […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
DOE Racks Up Growing Fine Over Idaho Waste Treatment Unit
The Department of Energy has racked up more than $1 million in new penalties from the state of Idaho over the failure to begin operation of a liquid waste treatment facility at the Idaho National Laboratory. The total fines levied against DOE and its current and former contractors on the project now stands at just […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
Los Alamos Faces Challenges in Nitrate Salts Treatment
The Los Alamos National Laboratory this week was about one-sixth of the way through treatment of dozens of containers of potentially explosive waste, an official with a watchdog organization said Thursday following a visit to the Department of Energy facility in northern New Mexico. Workers as of Wednesday were processing a ninth container of inappropriately remediated […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
Lawmakers Press Hanford Cleanup in Budget Hearings
Been there, heard that, was the reaction from Washington state’s two U.S. senators as Energy Secretary Rick Perry defended budget cuts proposed in the administration’s fiscal 2018 request for the Hanford Site. Perry was in the hot seat for three days in succession this week, answering questions about proposed funding levels for cleanup at the […]
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Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile
Lawmakers Ask Secretary Perry to Act on MOX
Lawmakers challenged Energy Secretary Rick Perry on Tuesday to commit to resolving the issues that are preventing Congress from taking a definitive stance on the future of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility in South Carolina. Perry reaffirmed the Energy Department’s intentions on MOX during a House Appropriations energy and water subcommittee budget hearing, saying […]
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High-Level & Tank Waste
SRS In Line to Receive $787M for FY18 Liquid Waste Work
Money for liquid waste processing and tank closures at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site (SRS) would tick up if Congress approves funding levels proposed by President Donald Trump for fiscal 2018. All told, the budget proposal would provide $1.28 billion for the DOE facility in South Carolina, according to the detailed version of the budget […]
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Interim Storage & Waste Disposal
Perry Walks Back Talk of Interim Storage in Three States
Energy Secretary Rick Perry raised eyebrows this week by listing facilities in Nevada, New Mexico, and Texas as possible interim storage sites for U.S. nuclear waste, then a day later clarified that his agency has made no decisions on any potential locations. In successive budget hearings before House and Senate Appropriations committees, though, Perry left no […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
SRS Coal Ash Cleanup on Pace For Completion in 2019
The Savannah River Site expects to complete its coal ash remediation project in early 2019, according to the Department of Energy. The $74 million cleanup project involves burying 1.3 million cubic yards of ash now stored on 90 acres of land at the Department of Energy facility in South Carolina. The ash was generated by coal-fueled facilities used […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
Wrap Up: New Trial Date Set in Hanford Vapor Safety Trial
Trial in the lawsuit over worker protection from vapors at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state has been reset for June 11, 2018, at the request of all parties in the case. This is the third time plaintiffs and defendants have jointly requested a delay in the federal trial to allow for […]
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Transuranic Waste
Clarification
An article in the June 16 edition of Weapons Complex Monitor, “DOE Budget Plan Doubles Funding for WIPP Ventilation,” did not include the full fiscal 2018 Environmental Management funding request for the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge, Tenn., site. The total amount is $390.2 million.