Publications: Weapons Cleanup Monitor

The Huntington Ingalls Industries-led legacy waste contractor at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico won 95% of its total available fee from the Department of Energy in fiscal 2025. Newport News Nuclear BWXT)-Los Alamos (N3B) earned more than $15.8 million out of a potential $16.7 million in fee for its 12 months of […]

After New Mexico again in November suspended certain Department of Energy efforts to control a hexavalent chromium plume at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, the manager of federal legacy cleanup there said last week the parties are looking for solutions. On Nov. 18, the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) withdrew its temporary authorization for continuation […]

ARLINGTON, VA -The Department of Energy’s semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and its contractors must modernize key infrastructure quickly, a Kiewit Nuclear executive said here Monday. “We are at an inflection point,” Mike Rinehart, president of Kiewit Nuclear Solutions, told Exchange Monitor’s annual Nuclear Deterrence Summit Monday afternoon. “The nuclear security enterprise is expected […]

ARLINGTON, VA –The Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) solidified 40,000 gallons of low-level radioactive tank waste into glass form and filled 26 canisters during the facility’s first quarter of operation at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site. This is one of the chief takeaways from an Exchange Monitor conversation with Brian Hartman Wednesday Jan. […]

ARLINGTON, VA – Centrus Energy has signed contracts worth $2.3 billion to provide low-enriched uranium to electric utilities and virtually all of it involves traditional LEU rather than the high-assay-low-enriched uranium (HALEU) Centrus CEO Amir Vexler said here Tuesday. “The existing market is LEU,” Vexler told Exchange Monitor’s Nuclear Deterrence Summit, “There is no existing […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Tuesday issued the much-anticipated draft solution for management and operation of the Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina. The draft request for proposals (RFP) said bidders will be encouraged to offer updated technical approaches to making plutonium pits at the complex. According to a Jan. 27 procurement document, […]

AtkinsRéalis US Nuclear has appointed Jack Craig to serve as its senior vice president of energy and environment. In Craig’s new role, he will oversee AtkinsRéalis’ major projects portfolio and work with current and prospective partners to expand AtkinsRéalis footprint with the Department of Energy, Department of Defense and National Nuclear Security Administration, according to […]

Workers at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site have successfully moved the first batch of cesium and strontium capsules from wet to dry storage, the Washington state Department of Ecology said Thursday. Within the next few years, all 1,936 of the highly-radioactive capsules, which make up a third of the total radioactivity at the Hanford […]

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico received fewer shipments of transuranic waste (TRU) in 2025 than it did during 2024, according to data from the facility’s public website. WIPP took in 33 shipments in December, to cap off the 2025 calendar year with 441 shipments, which is down from […]

A Jan. 16 Weapons Complex Monitor article on Professional Project Services (Pro2Serve), included a spelling error in the headline. 

The Department of Energy last week denied it has done away with long-time radiation safety standards as reported by a Washington, D.C.-based publication earlier this month. Meanwhile, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said this week it is continuing to review its radiation standards as directed by the White House.  In a Friday Jan. 16 email reply […]

Despite its dwindling number of board members, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) kept busy as a safety watchdog for the Department of Energy during fiscal 2025, according to a recent report. Set up 35 years ago by Congress as a five-member panel, DNFSB is down to a single member, Patricia Lee. Nevertheless, work continues […]

Salas O’Brien, an international employee-owned engineering and technical services firm, announced Wednesday it is purchasing Los Alamos-based TechSource, a government contractor that does work with the Department of Energy. “Salas O’Brien has strengthened its ability to deliver solutions for the most complex federal government and infrastructure challenges with the addition of TechSource, a leading scientific […]

Work crews at the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico will start demolition of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA’s) old Ion Beam Facility this year, a DOE cleanup manager said Wednesday. “We are going to tear down the ion beam and remove the slab” starting in 2026, Jessica Kunkle, who […]

The U.S. Supreme Court Monday denied a petition by the advocacy group Beyond Nuclear seeking to challenge the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) license approval for a Holtec International Consolidated Interim Storage Facility (CISF). Beyond Nuclear hoped the high court would invalidate an NRC license that would allow Holtec to construct an interim waste storage in […]

The Senate Thursday passed a minibus bill 82-15 that includes appropriations for Energy and Water development, which would provide more than $8.4 billion to the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management and $25.4 billion in funds to the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). The measure includes $3.2 billion for ongoing remediation of DOE’s Hanford […]

The Department of Energy’s $8-billion Office of Environmental Management kicked off its 2026  procurement activity Wednesday by seeking proposals on a new five-year Portsmouth Infrastructure Support Services contract in Ohio.  The final  request for proposals (RFPs) issued for the Portsmouth landlord contract includes overseeing roads, grounds and other day-to-day infrastructure essential services at the former […]

A bipartisan panel of radioactive waste experts issued a study Thursday urging formation of a corporation of nuclear reactor owners to manage disposal of spent nuclear fuel from power plants and high-level waste from weapons production. The NuCorp, or Nuclear Corporation, would be required by federal legislation and set up by reactor owners, according to […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) has agreed to give the Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup office a 90-day extension to answer board questions about welding issues for containers at the Hanford Site at Richland, Wash. As a result, the DOE Office of Environmental Management will have until March 16 to address DNFSB questions […]

An annual environmental report released last month on the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico shows the facility is complying with key regulatory standards for air and water, DOE said. The 2024 Annual Site Environmental Report (ASER) for Los Alamos was released in December. The 300-page report shows the lab’s air […]

Standard Nuclear, which bills itself as a “reactor-agnostic” maker of advanced nuclear fuel, has received a shipment of High-Assay Low-Enriched Uranium (HALEU) feedstock at its facility in Oak Ridge, Tenn, the company said last week. This makes Standard Nuclear the first company to get both Department of Energy authorization as well as physically receive HALEU […]

A Professional Project Services (Pro2Serve) subsidiary said Tuesday it has hired Steven Downing to be program director overseeing the company’s Technical Support Services contract at the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth-Paducah Project Office (PPPO). Pro2Serve subsidiary Enterprise Technical Assistance Services (E-TAS) said in the release the company hired Downing, who was formerly with Battelle.  Downing, who […]

Reinhard Knerr, acting manager of the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Paducah Project Office (PPPO) in Lexington, Ky., is retiring from federal service, he told co-workers in a Tuesday email. Knerr is apparently leaving DOE to pursue another professional opportunity, which he did not reveal in an email to colleagues. ` “It is with bittersweet excitement […]

A three-bill minibus appropriations bill with fiscal 2026 funds for Energy and Water development, including $8.5 billion for nuclear cleanup and $25.4 billion to the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), passed the House floor 397-28 Thursday. The bill was released by top appropriators in the Senate and House Monday on both sides of the aisle. […]

Two senior Democrats in the House of Representatives, one in Maryland and one in California, have announced plans to retire once their current term is up. Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), the member of House Democratic leadership who has served in Congress for 45 years, announced this week he would not seek re-election. Meanwhile, Rep. Julia […]

A maintenance outage last year at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina helped improve operations at the site’s Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF), DOE said recently.  The DOE Office of Environmental Management contractor installed larger, higher-capacity cross flow filters at the SWPF during a planned system-wide operational outage in 2025 to […]

The state of Washington and the federal government have agreed to give the Department of Energy another six months to decide where to grout millions of gallons of less-radioactive tank waste from the Hanford Site in Richland, Wash. DOE, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Washington state Department of Ecology have agreed the new […]