Publications: Weapons Cleanup Monitor

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 […]

Holtec International confirmed in a press release Thursday it is pausing its planned initial public  offering (IPO),due to a combination of market factors including plummeting support for artificial intelligence data centers.  “The decision to postpone the offering has been caused by the unusual confluence of developments that has impaired investor confidence in the market for […]

ARLINGTON, VA – The head of the Department of Energy’s $8-billion nuclear cleanup branch said here Tuesday the Office of Environmental Management (EM) is indeed being renamed. In his “State of EM” speech, Walsh again said the Environmental Management office is being rebranded as the “Office of Nuclear Restoration and Revitalization. His remarks came at […]

The Integrated Waste Treatment Unit (IWTU) at Idaho National Laboratory is still in an outage that began in June, a Department of Energy spokesperson said Monday. “The IWTU entered a scheduled outage in early June to replace the facility’s process gas filters,” the DOE spokesperson said in a Monday email reply to an Exchange Monitor […]

ARLINGTON, VA – Tim Walsh, the Department of Energy’s Assistant Secretary for the Office of Environmental Management (EM) said here Tuesday that his department is close to reaching an agreement with New Mexico officials over the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M. Walsh said EM has been in productive negotiations with the New […]

Savannah River Site is moving beyond its traditional environmental cleanup mission as the Department of Energy and National Nuclear Security Administration prepare to expand nuclear-fuel, plutonium and other national-security activities at the South Carolina site. The NNSA took over landlord responsibilities from DOE’s Environmental Management in October 2024. Edwin Deshong, manager of DOE Environmental Management’s […]

ARLINGTON, Va. — The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M., will spend about half of 2027 down for maintenance, DOE and contractor officials told the National Cleanup Workshop here Tuesday. WIPP will be essentially offline and not receiving waste for two three-month cycles during 2027, said Ken Harrawood, president and […]

ARLINGTON, Va. – Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.) told the National Cleanup Workshop here on Wednesday he expects the Energy & Water Development bill for fiscal 2027 to pass during the so-called “lame duck” session after Congress returns following the November election. Fleischmann, a member of the House Appropriation Committee, chairs the Energy & Water subcommittee […]

ARLINGTON, Va. – Someone who mistakenly stumbled into the Department of Energy’s National Cleanup Workshop without an agenda might be excused for confusing it with a conference on artificial intelligence (AI). Many conversations from the podium and in the hallways here this week have focused to some extent on the potential and perils of AI. […]

ARLINGTON, Va. – The anticipated expansion of missions and private-sector projects around Savannah River Site could require the surrounding region to build as many as 17,000 homes over the next five years, according to a local official here Tuesday. Chuck Smith, a former city councilman in Aiken, S.C. where Savannah River Site (SRS) is located, […]

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico received 29 transuranic (TRU) waste shipments in August, in its first full month following hoist repairs that paused disposal back in May.  By comparison, the facility received 55 waste shipments in August 2025, and 55 shipments in April of this year, when operations […]

ARLINGTON, VA — The Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup branch is about a third smaller than it was a few years ago, although more people could be brought on following a pending regional reorganization. “You know today we are at about 820 federal employees,” Tim Walsh, the head of DOE’s Office of Environmental Management said […]