Vol. 28, No. 26 
Second Hanford Tunnel at “High” Risk of Collapse, DOE Says
-
Cleanup & Remediation
Cange Leads EM Personnel Exodus
The Energy Department replaced Susan Cange as the acting head of its nuclear cleanup program this week, the most prominent of a trio of June departures from the Office of Environmental Management’s Washington headquarters. DOE veteran James Owendoff replaces Cange as both acting assistant secretary and principal deputy assistant secretary for the Office of Environmental Management […]
-
Budget & Policy
DOE EM About Even in House Subcommittee’s Proposed 2018 Budget
A House subcommittee on Wednesday approved a fiscal 2018 spending bill that would hold the Energy Department’s nuclear cleanup budget roughly even with the current appropriation. That is about all that is known about the lower chamber’s plans for the department’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) for the fiscal year beginnng Oct. 1, as lawmakers will not […]
-
Cleanup & Remediation
Piketon Mayor Says DOE Building Portsmouth Landfill on Cracked Bedrock
The village of Piketon, Ohio, has renewed calls for the Energy Department to cancel a planned nuclear waste disposal facility at the nearby Portsmouth Site, citing a new report that claims the agency plans to build the landfill on fractured bedrock. Piketon Mayor Billy Spencer, who for years has opposed what is officially known as an […]
-
Cleanup & Remediation
Hanford Workers’ Compensation Bill Revived in Wash. State
Three Washington state Democrats made a last-minute attempt to revive a proposal in the state Legislature to help ill personnel from the Hanford Site win easier approval of workers’ compensation claims. Their bill was scheduled for discussion Wednesday in an executive session of the Senate Commerce, Labor and, Sports Committee, but the meeting was canceled […]
-
High-Level & Tank Waste
McCaskill Wants Briefing on WTP Subcontracting
Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) on Thursday demanded the Energy Department brief Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs staff by July 21 about what the senior senator from Missouri considers a questionable contracting arrangement between Bechtel National and AECOM at DOE’s Hanford Site in Washington state. McCaskill, the committee’s ranking Democrat, questioned in a letter to […]
-
Cleanup & Remediation
Cost of Venture to Expedite SRS Cleanup May Increase
A venture aimed at expediting remediation of nuclear waste at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina could cost more than the original $50 million estimate unless the management team in charge can rein in expenses, a project stakeholder said this week. The site’s management and operations contractor, Savannah River Nuclear Solutions […]
-
Cleanup & Remediation
UCOR Nets Nearly All of Available Award Fee at Oak Ridge
UCOR, prime cleanup contractor for the Energy Department’s Oak Ridge site in Tennessee, took home about 92 percent of its possible award fee for the six-month period that ended March 31, raking in roughly $3.6 million. The company, an AECOM-led consortium now working under the first and final option of a nine-year contract set to expire […]
-
Transuranic Waste
WIPP Shipments Hit Three a Week in May
Through June 9, the Energy Department had made 21 shipments of transuranic waste to the reopened Waste Isolation Pilot Plant for disposal, according to the latest official DOE records. The count includes only shipments that have been buried at the deep-underground salt mine near Carlsbad, N.M., for two weeks, meaning the actual shipment total in […]
-
Transuranic Waste
DOE EM Renews Environmental Oversight Grant for New Mexico Environment Dept.
The New Mexico Environment Department will continue non-regulatory oversight of the Energy Department’s environmental monitoring programs at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant under a five-year, $2-million grant extension announced Thursday. The grant now will run through June 30, 2022, DOE’s Office of Environmental Management wrote in a press release. The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) […]