Vol. 30, No. 23 
Parties Anticipate Legal Fight Over Energy Dept. HLW Reinterpretation
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Cleanup & Remediation
Washington State Officials Pan Waste Policy
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee along with state Attorney General Bob Ferguson voiced their opposition Thursday to the Energy Department’s decision to reinterpret the definition of high-level radioactive waste at the Hanford Site and elsewhere in the weapons complex. Washington currently holds 60% of the nation’s high-level waste with 56 million gallons stored in 177 underground […]
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Transuranic Waste
Another Senate-Confirmed EM-1 Unlikely at DOE Cleanup Anytime Soon
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 – […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
Washington Ecology Could Ask Court for Ruling Against DOE at Hanford
Washington state wants a “frank discussion” with the Energy Department about tank waste cleanup at the Hanford Site, and could seek relief in court if a mutually acceptable plan can’t be agreed upon. Washington Department of Ecology is frustrated by DOE Office of River Protection’s frequent failure to meet timelines in both a 2010 federal […]
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Uranium Enrichment & Fuel Cycle
Energy Dept. Makes Case for Non-Compete Centrus Contract for HALEU
The Energy Department published its justification May 31 for contracting a Centrus Energy subsidiary to demonstrate high-assay low enriched uranium (HALEU) production without competitive bidding. The federal government wants to deploy a 16-machine cascade at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio to demonstrate production of 19.75% enriched uranium fuel by June 2022 using domestic technology. Centrus’ […]
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Budget & Policy
Big Funding, Policy Bills Due for House Action on Wednesday
The House Armed Services Committee will vote on the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) even as the full House considers a multi-bill appropriations package, or minibus, that contains the Department of Energy’s spending bill for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1. The minibus provides almost $7.2 billion to the DOE Office of Environmental […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
Fluor’s Waste Treatment Unit Moves Closer to Reality at INL
The long-anticipated start of a facility to treat sodium-bearing liquid radioactive and hazardous waste at the Energy Department’s Idaho National Laboratory recently took another step toward reality, Fluor Idaho said. The contractor said Tuesday it finished a 50-day demonstration of the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit (IWTU). During the longest trial run to date the plant […]
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Contracts & Procurement
Texas Site Still Seen as Effective Storage Location for Mercury
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 […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
House Panel Wants DOE to Follow Prior Consent Orders at Santa Susana
Language in a fiscal 2020 spending package passed by the full House Appropriations Committee May 21 says the Energy Department should comply with prior consent decrees when it comes to remediation its portion of the Santa Susana Field Laboratory (SSFL) in California. A provision of the report accompanying the Energy and Water Development appropriations bill […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
SRR, Ex-Employee, Object to Magistrate’s Recommendations in Discrimination Suit
The Savannah River Site’s liquid waste contractor was under no obligation to rehire a former employee, the company wrote in a recent letter objecting to a magistrate judge’s opinion in a 2016 lawsuit. Savannah River Remediation (SRR) added that it did not discriminate against former employee Adrienne Saulsberry, who is black, when it opted not […]
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Transuranic Waste
Wrap Up: WIPP Town Hall Meeting Delayed
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 […]