Publications: Weapons Cleanup Monitor

Twenty-five years ago, after terrorists flew airplanes into New York’s World Trade Center and the Pentagon in Virginia, then-Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham ordered all Department of Energy facilities be placed in high security status. “All non-essential DOE personnel are evacuated and sent home,” according to a DOE webpage on Sept. 11, 2001. As for […]

West Virginia has been selected as a finalist to host a nuclear campus under a high-profile Department of Energy program Gov. Patrick Morrisey (R) announced in a Tuesday press conference. West Virginia is now the sixth state to be considered for a Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campus, joining Idaho, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Utah, which were […]

The South Carolina Environmental Law Project (SCELP) is demanding the Department of Energy and its National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) conduct a public environmental review of plans to provide 19.7 metric tons of surplus weapons-grade plutonium to private nuclear companies. SCELP published the letter of demand Sept. 8 on behalf of Nuclear Watch New Mexico, […]

An independent assessment by a branch of the Department of Energy last month issued a couple of findings calling for Bechtel National and its subcontractor to make certain improvements at the Hanford Site Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP). DOE’s Office of Enterprise Assessments issued the report last month calling for Bechtel and subcontractor Waste […]

A Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) resident inspector watched an emergency drill at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state in August to see how crews might handle an earthquake that damaged facilities within the tank farms. “An RI [resident inspector] observed an emergency preparedness event-scene limited drill simulating a seismic event […]

The Department of Energy has sent its first shipment of remote-handled transuranic waste since 2009 from the Savannah River Site in South Carolina to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) using a new shipping container. Remote-handled waste is more radioactive than contact-handled transuranic (TRU) waste, which accounts for the vast majority of TRU waste disposed […]

A Mexican national living illegally in the United States has been sentenced to two years in federal prison for identity theft and passport fraud after working at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site (SRS) in Aiken, S.C., under a false identity.  The South Carolina division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced Thursday that Ricardo […]

The Department of Energy’s cleanup contractor for Los Alamos National Laboratory recently drilled a borehole more than 1,000-feet deep for a new groundwater monitoring well to help keep tabs on a hexavalent chromium plume. DOE’s Office of Environmental Management announced Sept. 1 that legacy cleanup contractor Newport News Nuclear BWXT-Los Alamos (N3B) had finished drilling […]

Although the maintenance program at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site tank farms and liquid waste facilities is satisfactory, there are a couple of issues that demand attention, according to a recent DOE report. The facilities at the complex are overseen by BWX Technologies-led contractor Hanford Tank Waste Operations & Closure (H2C), which needs to […]

Multiple blue state attorneys this week announced their opposition to various Nuclear Regulatory Commission rulemakings called for in President Donald Trump’s Executive Order 14300 in May 2025.  A coalition of attorneys general made up of California, Colorado, Delaware, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont and Washington submitted comments Monday on the rulemakings affecting radiation […]

The House of Representatives voted 370-48 Tuesday to pass a conferenced, short-term continuing resolution (CR) funding the federal government through Dec. 11, but the House Appropriations chair still criticized the Senate for not working on its individual appropriations bills. President Donald Trump signed the bill into law Wednesday to prevent a government shutdown. The resolution […]

Atlanta-based Perma-Fix Environmental Services reported a fall in revenue for the second quarter, which the company attributed to a decrease in revenue in its treatment segment. The revenue for the second quarter, which ended June 30, was nearly $12.9 million, down from nearly $14.6 million in the year-ago quarter. Factoring in the company’s operating expenses […]

Michael Mikolanis, manager of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Savannah River Field Office, will move back to Los Alamos in September to lead the agency’s field office there, local publication Aiken Standard reported. Mikolanis will succeed Ted Wyka, who retired in June after five years as manager of the NNSA Los Alamos Field Office, according […]

Following an earlier glitch, the Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management has set a Sept. 10 deadline for interested parties to respond to a Request for Information (RFI) on transporting transuranic waste to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico. DOE “has identified a technical issue affecting the WIPPTransportation@cbfo.doe.gov email inbox that […]

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a report publicly issued last week it recommends the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) take steps to improve a system used to monitor contractor performance. A provision in the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act calls for GAO to “examine EM’s oversight of contractors’ assurance systems,” […]

The Department of Energy’s recent decision to cut the size of the Hanford Advisory Board (HAB) in Washington state by nearly half would bring the membership more in line with other nuclear cleanup site advisory panels, based on a review by Exchange Monitor. The DOE Office of Environmental Management (EM) announced last month it would […]

Paul Murray, who has spent decades working on nuclear-related issues in the government and private sectors, could retire soon from the Department of Energy, according to industry sources. Currently a senior adviser for DOE’s Office of Environmental Management, Murray has informed department brass about his plans to retire within days, according to an industry source. […]

The Department of Energy’s national laboratories as well as the National Nuclear Security Administration have made use of uranium oxide produced by conversion plants at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio and the Paducah Site in Kentucky. That was one of the takeaways from an Aug. 20 meeting of the Paducah Citizens Advisory Board, according to […]

Benton County, Wash., where the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site is located, is one of five counties in the state added this week to Gov. Bob Ferguson’s (D) wildfire emergency proclamation. The others are Columbia, Grant, Kittitas, and Whitman counties, according to Ferguson’s Aug. 31 press release. Altogether 12 counties and three tribal nations are […]

In a supplemental environmental analysis this week the Department of Energy reiterates it sees a role for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico into the 2080s, which might strain the already tense relationship with state regulators. The DOE’s Office of Environmental Management foresees a need for eventual excavation of seven more underground […]

Kairos Power is collaborating with several East Tennessee entities, including the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, to form an advanced nuclear manufacturing, construction and workforce development program in Oak Ridge, Tenn.  The initiative, the Nuclear Center for Advanced Manufacturing and Precast – or NuCAMP, will go through a year-long exploration phase to figure […]

A fifth, 30-million-gallon salt waste disposal unit has been cleared for operations at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site, reflecting the increase in waste treatment operations the site has seen in recent years.  DOE announced Tuesday that Saltstone Disposal Unit (SDU) 10 can begin receiving decontaminated salt waste. Construction of the unit was completed […]

Earnings rose at Amentum, Chantilly, Va., in the third quarter of fiscal 2026 although its near-term revenue dipped from contract protest delays and other factors. That is according to Amentum’s Aug. 10 earnings release. Net earnings for the quarter ended July 3 were $66 million, or $0.27 a share, up from $10 million, or $0.04 […]

The Department of Energy surprised the Hanford Advisory Board (HAB) in Richland, Wash., this month when it unveiled plans to shrink the number of board members and shift appointment authority to the federal government. In an Aug 12 press release, DOE announced plans to “strengthen” and “modernize” the HAB, partly by cutting the federal advisory […]

Lynchburg, Va., -based BWX Technologies (BWXT) has tapped industry executive Suzanne Maddux as its senior vice president for operations, reporting directly to CEO Rex Geveden, the company said last week. In this role, Maddux “will support the company’s continued growth in nuclear national security and commercial nuclear power markets,” BWXT said in an Aug. 20 […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management has promoted Mindy Toothman to be deputy manager at the Carlsbad Field Office in New Mexico. In the new role, Toothman will assist DOE Carlsbad Manager Mark Bollinger in overseeing operations at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), which is the nation’s only deep disposal site for […]

The Department of Energy and a handful of its contractors are gearing up to receive a high burnup research cask shipment at the Idaho National Laboratory in the coming year. The high burnup research cask will be shipped out of Dominion Energy’s North Anna Power Station in Mineral, Va. DOE said last June it will […]

Carlsbad and Eddy County, N.M., the area where the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) is located, is sweated through a week of high temperatures at or above 100 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the National Weather Service. The high Monday was expected to reach 106 degrees with a heat advisory in effect, according […]