Publications: Weapons Complex Monitor

With dignitaries such as U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.) on hand, Amentum Thursday formally opened what it calls its Global Nuclear headquarters in Oak Ridge, Tenn. The offices at 151 Lafayette Drive will house more than 150 staff and serve as a hub for Amentum’s international nuclear operations as well as providing the company a […]

The Department of Energy has removed “acting” from the title of Idaho Cleanup Project Manager Nick Balsmeier at the Idaho National Laboratory. “17 years ago today, I started my career at the Idaho Cleanup Project (ICP) as a United Steelworker (Local 652),” Balsmeier said in an Oct. 5 post on LinkedIn. “Today, I started my […]

Early delivery of equipment for a Savannah River Site (SRS) training facility is helping accelerate preparations for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) plutonium pit production mission, the agency said in a press release. NNSA Principal Deputy Administrator Scott Pappano visited SRS in September to review construction of the High-Fidelity Training and Operations Center (HFTOC), […]

Members of the New Mexico Congressional delegation serving the area around the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) have lined up $10 million for upkeep of the haul road leading to the nation’s only disposal site for defense-related transuranic waste. The federal money will help shore up the U.S. 285 Relief Route, a […]

Ashton Hamed Ellaboudy, a Department of Energy employee at the Hanford Site in Richland, Wash., was to appear in federal court Thursday in connection with Justice Department allegations that he aided a foreign terror group, according to news first reported in the Tri-City Herald. Ellaboudy is in the Benton County jail after being arrested on […]

If you are in the mood to travel back in time more than a half century and watch government-made black-and-white films designed to make the public feel better about nuclear technology, the Department of Energy can fill that need online. DOE’s Office of Legacy Management recently announced it is offering films from the Atomic Energy […]

The Department of Energy’s final request for proposals (RFP) for operation of the 70,000-square-foot 222-S Laboratory at the Hanford Site in Richland, Wash., could be out this month, DOE said in a recent procurement update. That projection, shared Sept. 29 on the online procurement site, SAM.gov, is consistent with the timeline posted by the DOE […]

The United States Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board (NWTRB) appointed Michael Janicke to be its executive director effective Monday, the independent federal agency said. Janicke takes over as the official head of the NWTRB almost a year after the former executive director Daniel Ogg retired from the position in December 2025. Neysa Slater-Chandler was the […]

The head of the environmental contractor for the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site told a South Carolina nuclear advisory board last week production accelerated at the Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF), a vital cog in cleaning up the site’s radioactive waste tanks. “When we took over the job, SWPF was processing at a rate […]

The Department of Energy and its Hanford tank waste contractor are preparing to begin retrieving radioactive and chemical waste from the site’s 25th single-shell tank, marking another milestone in the decades-long cleanup effort. DOE’s Hanford Field Office and Hanford Tank Waste Operations & Closure are preparing to retrieve waste from Tank A-103 in the 200 […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) found multiple problems with how Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) has implemented nuclear safety controls, including deficiencies involving transuranic waste containers, and said the laboratory’s process for verifying safety-basis implementation needs improvement. The findings come from a DNFSB staff review of Revision 3 of SRNL’s documented safety analysis […]

State and federal agencies are incrementally addressing some of the many issues required for the Department of Energy to start grouting some of its less radioactive waste at the Hanford Site in Richland, Wash. The DOE issued a final greenlight to the final waste incidental to reprocessing (WIR) finding for the contents of underground storage […]

BWXT Technologies (BWXT) sees a potential multibillion-dollar opportunity as the U.S. government rebuilds domestic nuclear-fuel capabilities for national security, including enrichment capacity and production of unobligated uranium, company executives said during a Sept. 29 investor day. The company is currently working under a roughly $1.5 billion National Nuclear Security Administration contract to develop capabilities for […]

The Department of Energy is preparing a Manhattan Project-era facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex for demolition while recovering equipment that can be reused across dozens of National Nuclear Security Administration facilities. The department’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM) and NNSA are working with their respective contractors, United Cleanup Oak Ridge (UCOR) […]

Amentum’s joint venture was selected by United Kingdom-based Sellafield for a contract worth up to $2.78 billion (£2.1 billion) to be a “preferred supplier” for an asset care program. A preferred supplier agreement is a legal contract between a vendor and company that essentially selects the vendor as the company’s primary choice for a selected […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management has removed 17 million tons of uranium mill tailings from the banks of the Colorado River near Moab, Utah, the agency said in a newsletter this week. Since 2009, crews have transported the tailings by rail to an engineered disposal cell about 30 miles away in Crescent […]

LOS ALAMOS, N.M. — The U.S. Department of Energy’s Environmental Management Los Alamos Field Office (EM-LA) says it is continuing technical work on the site’s hexavalent chromium plume despite a state directive to shut down its interim measure, while discussions with regulators and the Pueblo of San Ildefonso continue. At a Sept. 30 community forum, […]

The Department of Energy’s environmental contractor at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina has started building its final supersized Saltstone Disposal Unit (SDU) at the nuclear property near Aiken, S.C. Like its half-dozen jumbo-sized SDU predecessors, SDU-12 will be 43 feet high, 375 feet in diameter, and have a total capacity of 34.5 million […]

The Department of Energy is planning to renew another multiple year funding agreement with the Nye County, Nev. Sheriff’s office to help protect the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS), located 65 miles outside of Las Vegas. The department will conclude its current two-year agreement with Nye County on Dec. 31. The existing cooperative agreement provides […]

Two Department of Energy contractors, one in in charge of operations and the other responsible for liquid waste and cleanup, touted recent developments at the Savannah River Site Thursday a meeting of the South Carolina Governor’s Nuclear Advisory Council (GNAC), A $1.4 billion training facility to support the Savannah River Plutonium Production Facility (SRPPF) is […]

The Department of Energy is seeking expressions of interest (EOI) from vendors that could potentially help recover valuable critical materials from nuclear cleanup sites. DOE expects it can reclaim rare earth elements and other materials important to industry from Cold War and Manhattan Project sites overseen by the department’s Office of Environmental Management, according to […]

The Hanford Site’s Tank-side Cesium Removal (TSCR) system is back in operation for the first time since February, the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management said in a Sept. 15 press release. DOE contractor Hanford Tank Waste Operations & Closure (H2C) suspended operations Feb. 25 because Tank AP-106 was too full to take more […]

ARLINGTON, VA — The head of the Department of Energy’s Hanford Field Office in Richland, Wash., said at a conference here last week it would be feasible to treat 80% of the Hanford Site’s underground tank waste by 2040. Hanford Field Office Manager Ray Geimer made the remark during a Sept. 15 panel discussion during […]

ARLINGTON, VA — The Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup wing recently delayed or paused a couple of contract procurements, participants in the National Cleanup Workshop heard here Sept 15. The Los Alamos Legacy Cleanup solicitation in New Mexico has been delayed, as well as the Paducah Decontamination and Decommissioning Contract in Kentucky, said Aaron Deckard, […]

Uranium recovery at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina will resume next month when the site’s H Canyon facility restarts head end operations, meaning it will begin the initial processing stage.  During an SRS Citizens Advisory Board (CAB) meeting on Tuesday, the site’s DOE Office of Environmental Management executive Edwin Deshong […]

ARLINGTON, VA – Within weeks the Department of Energy could announce potential winners of a solicitation to set up a nuclear fuel recycling demonstration at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL), the department’s head of nuclear cleanup said here last week. Tim Walsh, the head of DOE’s Office of Environmental Management, said Sept. 15 at the […]

Nuclear cleanup crews at the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio have taken down a huge chunk of the X-333 Process Building as part of the ongoing demolition of the 33-acre facility. The DOE Office of Environmental Management said in a Tuesday press release that workers have torn down the 66,000-square-foot southwest corner of […]