Publications: Weapons Cleanup Monitor

Several key publicly-traded companies serving the Department of Energy’s weapons complex saw their share prices first decline, some by as much as 10%, and then bounce back in roughly a week’s time. The stock market went in a nosedive over much of the past week after President Donald Trump announced aggressive tariffs on goods from […]

Roger Jarrell, a senior adviser at the Department of Energy, was appointed Wednesday to serve as DOE’s principal deputy assistant secretary for Environmental Management. Jarrell’s appointment to the position, sometimes referred to as EM-2, means he will lead the DOE Office of Environmental Management until whatever point an assistant secretary for Environmental Management (EM-1) is […]

The Department of Energy could issue draft solicitations for key contracts at the Paducah Site in Kentucky and the Portsmouth Site in Ohio as soon as July, according to a recent notice. The DOE Office of Environmental Management said last month draft requests for proposals (RFPs) could come as early as July for Paducah environmental […]

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., is winding down its maintenance outage to the point it has resumed disposal of defense-related transuranic waste. DOE and Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) prime, Bechtel’s Salado Isolation Mining Contractors, began the outage for refurbishment in January. The weeks-long outage, conducted for repair and replacement projects […]

In a Tuesday emergency order, the U.S. Supreme Court blocked a preliminary injunction by a U.S. District Judge in California ordering federal agencies including the Department of Energy to rehire 16,000 probationary employees. Also, the Associated Press reported this week that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit voted two-to-one to overturn a […]

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee voted 13 to 7 Wednesday to advance the nomination of James Danly to be deputy secretary of energy. The Danly nomination to be the No. 2 official in the Department of Energy can now go to the full Senate for a confirmation vote. No date for such a […]

With the top two feds at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state leaving, an interim deputy manager, Brian Harkins, has been appointed effective April 3. The selection of Harkins to serve as the acting deputy was announced in a recent staff memo from DOE Hanford Site Manager Brian Vance. Harkins replaced deputy […]

The Senate on Wednesday afternoon unveiled its updated budget resolution that sets a blueprint for passing Trump administration priorities, retaining a proposal to boost defense spending by $150 billion. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), chair of the Budget Committee, said President Trump is “fully on board” with the upper chamber’s new resolution, which also includes raising […]

The Donald Trump administration’s pick to be deputy secretary of energy, told a Senate panel Wednesday that if confirmed his focus would be on easing federal regulatory approval for new infrastructure and electricity projects.   In his prepared testimony to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, James Danly also said keeping the Department of Energy’s […]

The Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site has completed nearly half of the plutonium downblends it scheduled for fiscal year 2025, the site’s interim manager reported earlier this week.  Managers at the DOE site, located near Aiken, S.C., updated South Carolina’s Nuclear Advisory Council on several production and remediation goals on tap for the fiscal […]

Nineteen states and the District of Columbia are appealing a U.S. District judge decision limiting temporary reinstatement of probationary staff at the Department of Energy and many other federal agencies to just states that sued the Donald Trump Administration over mass firings. Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Justice, on behalf of DOE, the Department of […]

The departure of the Department of Energy’s top manager for nuclear cleanup at the Hanford Site in Washington state as well as federal layoffs at site, concern the head of the advocacy group Hanford Challenge. In a Friday email response to Exchange Monitor the executive director of Seattle-based Hanford Challenge said he was caught off […]

John (Jay) Mullis finished his federal career last week as the Department of Energy’s manager for nuclear cleanup at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee, with deputy Eric Olds stepping in as the acting boss. The transition was confirmed via email Monday by a spokesperson for DOE. Exchange Monitor first reported the Mullis retirement plans […]

The Department of Energy cleanup contractor at the Idaho National Laboratory continues to find more old drums of transuranic waste with leaks and corrosion problems at the lab’s Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project, according to a safety board. The issue was cited in a regular report on Idaho National Laboratory (INL) remediation work by the […]

The chair of the House Appropriations Subcommittee for Energy and Water wants to see the Department of Energy’s nuclear-related programs receive as much money as realistically possible during a period of government cutbacks. “I want to see the most robust budgets that we can — understanding that we are in tight fiscal times,” Rep. Chuck […]

The Department of Energy has circulated its own Deferred Resignation Plan, akin to the Office of Personnel Management’s earlier “Fork in the Road” initiative, and responses are due Tuesday April 8, according to a Monday memo from Secretary of Energy Chris Wright. The new DOE buyout is spawned by President Donald Trump’s Feb. 11 executive […]

A virtual public meeting is scheduled April 30 on a proposal to build a facility to analyze, store and process transuranic and mixed low-level wastes at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state. DOE’s Hanford Field Office and the Washington state Department of Ecology will hold the briefing at 5:30 p.m. Pacific Time. […]

The Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory is shopping around for industry partners to invest between $5 million and $10 million in an “incubator” for startup businesses aimed at areas such as nuclear energy and cyber security. In exchange for the seed investment, the startups would gain access to Idaho National Laboratory’s “world-class facilities and […]

A Maryland-based federal district judge on Wednesday called for additional legal briefs from the U.S. Department of Justice and 20 state attorneys general challenging mass layoffs of probationary workers  at the Department of Energy and other federal agencies.  U.S. District Judge James Bredar issued a temporary restraining order against the mass layoffs earlier this month. […]

The lease for a Department of Labor office set up in Richland, Wash., to handle claims from workers made ill from nuclear weapons-related work at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site, could be on the chopping block, Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said last week. In addition to the Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs, the White […]

The manager of the Department of Energy’s largest and most expensive nuclear cleanup property announced Wednesday he is leaving the department. “After much consideration, I have made the very difficult decision to resign as Hanford Field Office manager, effective on April 24, 2025,” said Brian Vance, Hanford Site manager in a Wednesday memo to site […]

Two former high-ranking members of the Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup branch who took some variant of the White House’s buyout program say on social media they are open to new professional opportunities. Candice Robertston, the recent former head of DOE’s Office of Environmental Management (EM), as well as Mike Budney, former EM operations boss […]

President Donald Trump has nominated a trio of officials to lead key Department of Energy branches serving the weapons complex, although as of mid-week Senate committees had not scheduled confirmation hearings on any of them. All three would report to the already confirmed Secretary of Energy Chris Wright. Exchange Monitor will update the nominees’ progress […]

The Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state is accepting public comments between now and April 23 on plans to grout some of the less-radioactive waste from the 200 West Area. The draft analysis under the National Environmental Policy Act looks at DOE’s plans to pretreat tank waste from the 200 West Area and […]

A Department of Energy advisory board on nuclear cleanup at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina this week welcomed Edwin DeShong III as interim manager of the remediation field office. . Phyllis Britt, who chairs the Savannah River Site (SRS) Citizens Advisory Board (CAB), acknowledged DeShong’s promotion from deputy manager of the Environmental Management […]

Substantial demolition of the Main Plant Process Building at the West Valley Demonstration Project in New York state is winding down, the top manager for a Department of Energy contractor told the West Valley Citizen Task Force meeting Tuesday. Jason Casper, president of the current contractor, CH2M HILL BWXT West Valley, said workers are wrapping […]

EnergySolutions appointed Laszlo von Lazar as vice president of operations on Thursday. Lazar has served in previous roles that involved managing operations in the power sector including gas, offshore wind, nuclear and solar. He previously served as president of the Energy and Process Industries and was a member of the board at Black and Veatch.  […]