Publications: Weapons Cleanup Monitor

Geosyntec, a global environmental engineering and consulting company, said Wednesday morning it has signed a deal to buy Las Vegas-based Department of Energy subcontractor Longenecker & Associates (L&A) for an undisclosed amount. “This strategic acquisition accelerates Geosyntec’s growth in the federal sector, broadens service capabilities, and expands global market access for the combined organizations,” Florida-based […]

Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.), who used his post on the House Appropriations Committee to push for remediation of the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site, said Wednesday he will not stand for re-election. Newhouse, who also holds the unofficial status as perhaps one of President Donald Trump’s least favorite House members, made the announcement on his […]

The Department of Energy’s Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center is seeking responses  until Dec. 18 to its request for information for technical assistance contracts at certain nuclear complex sites. According to the procurement notice posted online Nov. 26, DOE’s Office of Environmental Management is looking for a small business to provide technical assistance to field […]

New Mexico environmental officials said Friday Dec. 5 remediation is getting underway at four old uranium mine and mill sites within the state under a collaborative effort called the New Mexico Mine Cleanup Initiative. With the New Mexico Legislature having provided a total of $20 million toward remediation of abandoned mine and mill sites, work […]

Defense Environmental Cleanup, the largest tranche of funding for the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management, could receive almost $7 billion under the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal 2026. The final version of the NDAA was released Monday after a House and Senate Conference Committee harmonized differences between the earlier NDAA versions […]

Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn. recently downgraded Building 9206 from nuclear facility status to radiologically contaminated, local publication The Oak Ridger said Monday. Building 9206 was constructed in 1944 and was used for processes such as uranium recovery and processing, as well as chemical recycling. The Y-12 building was shut down in […]

Over 20 containers of low-level radioactive sludge have now been solidified into a glass form at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state, feds said this week. The DOE Office of Environmental Management said in a Tuesday news release that the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) built by Bechtel National recently reached […]

Bechtel-led Salado Isolation Mining Contractors (SIMCO) is receiving three additional years to manage and operate the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M., DOE said early Wednesday. With the three-year extension, Salado will continue to run WIPP from Oct. 1, 2026 through Sept. 30, 2029, DOE said in a news release. […]

Navarro-ATL has been awarded a one-year extension of its management and operations contract for the 222-S Laboratory at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state. Navarro-ATL, previously known as Hanford Laboratory Management and Integration, LLC, announced the extension Tuesday in a LinkedIn post. The original contract started in 2021. The contract includes a […]

After clearing regulatory review, the BWX Technologies-led Nuclear Laboratories Partners of Canada is taking over as management contractor for Canadian National Laboratories this week. AECL selected the Nuclear Laboratories Partners of Canada to be the preferred bidder in June. Nuclear Laboratories Partners of Canada is composed of BWXT, Amentum and Kinectrics. Battelle Memorial Institute is […]

A public meeting has been set for Tuesday Dec. 9 for federal officials to discuss data from the depressurization of four flanged tritium waste containers at the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory. The DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) will conduct the meeting set for 5:30 p.m. local time at the Sala Event […]

Secretary of Energy Chris Wright is logging a lot of miles before Christmas, visiting the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site as well as the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory this week. Wright is then scheduled to round out his western swing on Monday Dec. 8 with a stopover at Idaho National Laboratory, according to notices released […]

The Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has provided more information on land available for lease at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina for development of a data center powered by a small modular reactor (SMR). The online procurement notice published Monday in the System for Award Management (SAM.gov) now lists 5 […]

A former security officer at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site state will avoid spending time behind bars after pleading guilty to making false statements to obtain payroll protection loans during the COVID-19 pandemic. Leif Gerlad Larsen was sentenced this week in federal court in Washington state to two years probation, according to filings with […]

After spending 40 years with the federal government, Daniel Ogg, currently executive director of U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board (NWTRB), will retire effective Dec. 31. Ogg has headed NWTRB for more than three years and has been with the board, as a member of its professional staff, since 2014, according to a post Tuesday […]

Holtec and the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) will each receive $400 million from the Department of Energy to support early deployments of advanced light-water small modular reactors (SMRs), DOE said Tuesday. The federal cost-shared funding will help advance early SMR projects in Tennessee and Michigan, DOE said in a press release. The financial support helps […]

The Department of Energy and other agencies said Wednesday nearly half of the 33,000-plus acres at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee are suitable for reuse without any additional cleanup. Research by DOE’s Office of Environmental Management, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) “show 16,377 of the […]

Earnings rose at Amentum, Chantilly, Va., in the past quarter, which the company attributed to “tailwinds” in nuclear power and defense. This is Amentum’s first year as a publicly traded company following its combination with the government contracting branches of Dallas-based Jacobs.  Net earnings for the quarter ended Oct. 3 were $3.9 billion, or $0.16 […]

More than three-dozen nuclear critics and environmental groups contend in a recent letter that President Donald Trump’s executive actions could weaken radiation protections and endanger public health. “The Trump White House has issued numerous executive orders (EO), including one directing the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to revise its long-standing radiation rule, Standards for Protection Against […]

A month after starting up the long-awaited plant to turn liquid waste into glass form, crews at the Hanford Site in Richland, Wash., took another key step on an environmental project to protect the Columbia River. “Over the weekend, crews removed the first cesium capsules from the underground pool at the Waste Encapsulation and Storage […]

Due to the Thanksgiving holiday, Weapons Complex Monitor will not be published on Friday Nov. 28. Exchange Monitor Publications will not be staffed Nov. 27 or Nov. 28. Enjoy your holiday. Your next weekly publication will be on Friday Dec. 5. 

Jim Bernhard, who founded The Shaw Group and later Bernhard Capital Partners, has died at age 71, according to published reports. Bernhard died Sunday following a brief illness, the Shreveport Times reported Wednesday. The current and former governors of Louisiana lamented Bernhard’s passing in the article, as did the current Congressman from the New Orleans […]

Secretary of Energy Chris Wright Thursday announced reorganization of the Department of Energy with a prominent role in the organizational chart for the semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). The reorganization is designed “to strengthen DOE’s ability to execute President Trump’s bold agenda to restore American energy dominance,” Wright said in a press release. “This […]

The South Carolina Supreme Court ruled the lawyers who successfully sued the Department of Energy over the Savannah River Site’s mismanaged Mixed Oxide (MOX) plutonium facility are entitled to $75 million of the $600 million settlement the state received.  The ruling was issued last Wednesday Nov. 12. South Carolina has litigation against DOE dating to […]

Ken Rueter, top executive for the Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup contractor at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee, will retire in March 2026, the Amentum-led joint venture said Tuesday. Rueter, the president and CEO of United Cleanup Oak Ridge (UCOR), will retire effective March 30, UCOR said in a press release. He will remain […]

While much of the government was shut down, the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico stayed open and received 45 waste shipments in October based upon figures from DOE’s public website for the disposal site.  That’s a drop from the 61 shipments the plant received a month prior in September […]

Cleanup crews at the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site in Piketon, Ohio have started tearing down another of the sprawling process buildings once used in uranium enrichment work at the property. DOE announced Tuesday that demolition is underway at the mammoth X-333 Process Building. It is the second of three massive process buildings being taken […]