Vol. 28, No. 3 
Legacy Nuclear Cleanup in the Trump Administration – Day 1 of 100
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Budget & Policy
Perry Suggests DOE Cleanup Budget Will Get Hard Look
The Trump administration will take a hard look at the Energy Department’s budget for legacy nuclear waste cleanup, Energy Secretary-designate Rick Perry said Thursday during his Senate confirmation hearing. “[P]rioritizing the funding and managing that funding in an appropriate way to clean up these waste sites is going to be very, very high on the priority […]
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High-Level & Tank Waste
Spent Fuel Shipment in Limbo as IWTU Delays Continue
Idaho National Laboratory officials still hope to bring in a shipment of spent nuclear fuel for a research project with South Korea this spring. But it appears unlikely that will be allowed due to ongoing delays at the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit. Under Idaho’s 1995 settlement agreement with the Energy Department, Idaho Attorney General Lawrence […]
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Transuranic Waste
DOE Likely to Miss Idaho Cleanup Milestone Due to WIPP
The Energy Department is likely next year to miss another major nuclear waste removal milestone set in its 1995 settlement agreement with the state of Idaho. Under the agreement, DOE committed to remove from the Idaho National Laboratory site some 65,000 cubic meters of stored transuranic waste by the end of 2018. But limited operations […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
Worker Vapor Concerns Persist at Hanford, DOE Report Finds
Despite progress made to address vapors from radioactive waste storage tanks at the Hanford Site in Washington state, union worker concerns have not decreased, according to a new review from the Department of Energy’s Office of Enterprise Assessments (EA). The review largely echoed findings released in late November by the Centers for Disease Control and […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
Hanford Contractor to Pay $5.3M to Settle Time-Card Fraud Case
The Hanford Site’s tank farm contractor has agreed to pay a $5.275 million settlement to resolve federal allegations of time-card fraud. Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) was accused of submitting false claims to the Department of Energy between October 2008 and July 2013 concerning internal audit processes, along with time cards seeking payment for worker […]
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High-Level & Tank Waste
Bill for Emptying AY-102 Over $40 Million, DOE Estimates
The Energy Department is on track to empty most of the waste in a leaky double-shell tank at the Hanford Site in Washington state by a March 4 regulatory deadline — a job likely to cost more than $40 million, a DOE official said Wednesday. The final bill for draining waste from Tank AY-102 is […]
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Decommissioning
PFP Demo Still on Schedule, Despite Hanford Snow Days
Despite a few unplanned days off due to wicked winter weather in Washington state, the Energy Department still expects to tear down the Plutonium Finishing Plant at the Hanford Site to the concrete slab on which it was built by a Sept. 30 regulatory deadline, a DOE official said Monday. “Right now, we still think we […]
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Uranium Enrichment & Fuel Cycle
ACP Waste Going to Nevada in March, Centrus Says
Centrus Energy Corp. plans to ship low-level waste from the decommissioned American Centrifuge uranium enrichment demonstration facility in Piketon, Ohio, to the Nevada National Security Site for disposal beginning in March, company filings with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission show. “Planning and budgeting for the waste shipments by Centrus, the waste disposal contractor and the transportation […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
West Valley DOE Cleanup Contractor Rating Dips Slightly
The environmental remediation contractor for the Department of Energy’s West Valley Demonstration Project in upstate New York earned “very good” ratings in all four categories of its latest performance evaluation. That was a slight dip from the previous evaluation but enough to earn CH2M Hill BWXT West Valley (CHBWV) a $360,000 award fee, 80 percent of the […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
Local Mayor Wants More Information About Proposed Portsmouth Landfill
The mayor of the village of Piketon wants the Energy Department to fund an independent assessment of the nuclear landfill the agency wants to build at the former uranium enrichment site near the small town in southeast Ohio. DOE formally decided to build the proposed 100-acre on-site disposal cell in 2015, saying it was the least […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
Hanford Advisory Board Gets New Management Services Contractor
Prosidian Consulting of North Carolina has been awarded a firm-fixed-price contract worth up to $2 million for management and facilitation services to the Hanford Advisory Board in Washington state. The Department of Energy contract is for a one-year-base period with four one-year options. Prosidian replaces EnviroIssues, which has offices in the Northwest, including near the […]
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High-Level & Tank Waste
SRS Tank Waste Drops Below 35M Gallons For First Time in 18 Years
The Savannah River Site liquid waste tank farms hold less than 35 million gallons of waste for the first time since 1999, according to a Jan. 9 Facebook post from Savannah River Remediation (SRR), the Department of Energy facility’s liquid waste contractor. Since taking over the contract in 2009, SRR’s goal has been to rid the […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
New Mexico Environment Official Joining Longenecker & Associates
Kathryn Roberts, who helped regulate major nuclear cleanup projects in New Mexico, is leaving the New Mexico Environment Department to become a project manager at consulting shop Longenecker & Associates, the firm said Tuesday. Roberts, most recently director of the state agency’s Resource Protection Division, will join the firm on Jan. 23, Martin Schneider, senior vice president […]
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Budget & Policy
Commentary — Investment In DOE Cleanup A Key Opportunity for New Administration
By Todd Wright This is a period of change for America and for the Department of Energy (DOE). Fittingly, the transition to a new president and new administration offers the chance to reflect on one of DOE’s core programs: the Office of Environmental Management (EM), and the opportunities that lie ahead. While DOE, like all […]