Publications: Weapons Cleanup Monitor

The Department of Energy Waste Treatment Plant (WTP) at the Hanford Site in Washington state has filled seven canisters with vitrified tank waste as of Friday Oct. 17, according to DOE. As of Friday morning, Oct. 17 at Hanford “7 containers were full, an 8th was almost complete, and the 9th was in the process […]

United Steelworkers (USW) representatives at the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth and Paducah Sites say they are troubled by lack of information coming from DOE and its contractors during the government shutdown. In an online conversation Wednesday, union representatives told Exchange Monitor they are reaching out to elected officials from Kentucky and Ohio about confusion and […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) officially announced Saturday Oct. 18 that Acting Chair Thomas Summers has ended his service with the agency following the expiration of his five-year term. “Mr. Summers served the board with distinction, most recently as acting chairman, leading the agency during a period of significant transition and sustained operational […]

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) should stay open to shippers of defense-related transuranic waste from across-the-country, the Energy Communities Alliance told New Mexico’s Environment Secretary James Kenney in a letter Friday. The Washington, D.C.-based Energy Communities Alliance (ECA) wrote to Kenney in reaction to statements that the head of the New […]

Already offline for most of 2025, the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit (IWTU) at the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory, will remain out of service until early 2026, a DOE spokesperson said this week. After DOE and Amentum-led contractor Idaho Environmental Coalition returned the facility to operation July 17, the IWTU shut down five days […]

A federal district judge in California has temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s administration from laying off thousands of additional federal workers during the ongoing government shutdown, various news organizations reported Wednesday. Following a hearing, U.S. District Judge Susan Illston in San Francisco agreed to a request from unions, such as the American Federation of Government […]

Lawmakers from Washington state reacted this week to news that the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) has finally turned some of its less-radioactive tank waste in glass form for disposal at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site. “It’s difficult to overstate how important this milestone is in the Hanford cleanup effort,” Washington Gov. Bob […]

“House of Dynamite,” a major motion picture about a potential nuclear strike on a major U.S. city, has opened in theatres and streams on Netflix Oct. 24. The thriller, directed by Oscar-winner Kathryn Bigelow, known for movies “The Hurt Locker” and “Zero Dark Thirty,” centers around the U.S. Strategic Command, the White House Situation Room […]

The Department of Energy will consider the potential return to the government when it weighs proposals for developing data centers and power plants around the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee, a DOE official said during a virtual meeting Wednesday. DOE will be looking at the “financial capability” of the applicants, Marla Larson-Williams of Oak Ridge […]

The Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington is expected to start operations this week with only one melter in operation, an Oregon panel heard last week. The plant, designed to vitrify radioactive liquid tank waste into a glass-like solid, will start up this week operating only […]

Twenty-five years after the Department of Energy contracted Bechtel National to build a plant to vitrify radioactive sludge into a glass form, the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) began operation this week at the Hanford Site at Richland, Wash. DOE’s Office of Environmental Management said Wednesday Hanford’s Direct-Feed Low-Activity Waste Facility (DFLAW) at WTP […]

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico received 61 shipments of transuranic (TRU) waste during September, marking its highest monthly total for the 2025 fiscal year and the calendar year thus far. Last month’s total is six more than the 55 shipments of TRU waste sent in August, and the […]

While sad to see what is designed as a five-person panel of experts fall to a lone member, the departing acting chair of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) feels cautiously optimistic about its future during a time of government cutbacks. During an interview Thursday with Exchange Monitor, DNFSB Acting Chair Thomas Summers said […]

Holtec International has canceled plans to build an interim nuclear waste storage facility in New Mexico, months after an U.S. Supreme Court ruling that made way for such projects in New Mexico and Texas. “After discussions with our longtime partner in the HI-STORE project, the Eddy-Lea Energy Alliance [ELEA], and due to the untenable path […]

The current government shutdown should not affect startup and early operation of a new multi-billion-dollar plant to convert radioactive tank waste into glass at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site at Richland, Wash., an Oregon panel heard Tuesday. Separately, the Tri-City Herald newspaper reported Thursday that the Hanford tank waste contractor, BWXT-led Hanford Tank Waste […]

The United States Supreme Court has agreed to hear arguments concerning litigation brought by two sisters who claim their cancer is connected to radioactive contamination in the St. Louis area dating back to the Manhattan Project.  In a notice made public Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court “invited” the U.S. Solicitor General to file written arguments […]

The Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration will move into “emergency shutdown procedures” Friday if the government does not reopen, Secretary of Energy Chris Wright said last week on Fox News. “We have about eight more days of funding for the National Nuclear Security Administration [NNSA],” Wright said in an Oct. 2 interview with […]

The Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup office said last week it has taken down a major 1960s era contaminated facility at the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS). After three years of labor intensive work, crews directed by DOE’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) have dismantled Test Cell C at the Nevada site’s Area 25, according […]

Tim Walsh, a combat veteran and Colorado real estate developer, was confirmed by the full U.S. Senate Tuesday to head the Department of Energy’s $8-billion Office of Environmental Management. Walsh was confirmed 51-to-47 by the Senate Tuesday as part of a bloc of dozens of nominees from President Donald Trump who have been awaiting a […]

For the time being at least, the Department of Energy plans to hold a virtual meeting of the chairs for its Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Boards later this month. The online meeting is currently scheduled from  10:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Eastern Time on Tuesday, Oct. 28. That is according to a Sept. 25 Federal Register notice. […]

Thomas Summers, the acting chair of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB), is scheduled to see his tenure on the safety watchdog for Department of Energy defense nuclear sites come to an end later this month. Summers, a retired Air Force colonel who has also served as a senior adviser in the Office of […]

Veolia said this week it has selected Nadège Petit as CEO of the North America Zone, effective Dec. 1. Petit will join the group’s executive committee in a move to support Veolia’s expansion efforts in the United States. Petit is a prominent international executive with much experience in energy, new technologies and business development, Veolia […]

The Department of Energy acknowledged Thursday morning that the first liquid radioactive and chemical sludge from underground tanks at the Hanford Site is being transferred into the new Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) in Richland, Wash. “With radioactive tank waste now being transferred to Hanford’s Waste Treatment Plant, the Low Activity Waste Facility hot […]

Last week, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) introduced the Emergency Relief for Federal Contractors Act to allow federal contractors working without pay to withdraw pay from their retirement savings without penalty. Cortez Masto’s district includes the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Nevada National Security Site. It is the largest NNSA site that […]

Dae Chung, a longtime senior federal manager who retired from the Department of Energy earlier this year, has accepted a post as executive vice president at HukariAscendent. According to its website, HukariAscendent is a technical consulting and engineering company that works with DOE as well as the nuclear industry and power generation business. Chung announced […]

ARLINGTON, VA — The Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico is weighing a new strategy for moving transuranic waste stuck for years at Waste Control Specialists (WCS) in Texas, a federal manager said Thursday Sept. 25.  The prior plan declared several acres inside the WCS property in Andrews, Texas a temporary […]

The contractor in charge of a major laboratory at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state said this week it has appointed Mark Hughey as its new general manager. Navarro-led Navarro-ATL announced it has turned to Hughey to run Hanford’s 222-S laboratory. He will replace Ray Geimer, who became manager of DOE’s Hanford […]