Publications: Weapons Cleanup Monitor

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 […]

While the Department of Energy is doing an adequate job of detecting improper payments or overpayments to contractors, there is still need for improvement, DOE’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) said recently. During fiscal 2025, DOE’s vetting turned up $53.6 million “of improper payments and unknown payments, which resulted in an improper payment rate of […]

The Department of Energy and the environmental cleanup contractor at the Hanford Site in Richland, Wash., have started certifying containers of transuranic waste in preparation for eventual shipment to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico. DOE’s Office of Environmental Management said in a Tuesday announcement that it is working with Amentum-led contractor […]

Idaho-based North Wind Group recently announced the death of its President and CEO Richard Driggs followed by the appointment of an interim CEO, John Bukowski. “It is with profound sadness that North Wind Group shares the passing of our President and CEO, Rich Driggs,” North Wind Group announced online Aug. 18. “Rich was a valued […]

A joint venture between Navarro Research & Engineering and Los Alamos Technical Associates (LATA) has been awarded a subcontract for waste management at the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Y-12 Nuclear Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn. The contract, awarded by Y-12’s Bechtel-led prime Consolidated Nuclear Security (CNS) could be worth up to $160 million […]

The federal government has concluded certain tank farm waste in the 200 West Area of the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Richland, Wash., can be treated as low-level radioactive waste. DOE’s Office of Environmental Management said in a Friday press release that a Waste Incidental to Reprocessing (WIR) determination has been made for treated […]

The Senate Appropriations Committee is working on a framework for a stopgap funding resolution to keep the federal government through Dec. 11 and the full Senate was expected to vote on it sometime Friday.  The government’s fiscal year ends on Sept. 30. Unless a bill codifies that funding is rolled over into the next fiscal […]

Earnings fell at Fluor, Irving, Texas, in the second quarter, which the engineering and construction company attributed to factors affecting its non-nuclear markets. Net earnings for the second quarter ended June 30 were $114 million, or $0.81 a share, down from $2.46 billion, or $14.81 a share, in the year-ago quarter. That is according to […]

The Department of Energy contractor that runs the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) said on Wednesday the underground transuranic waste repository has resumed operations after an unplanned outage of nearly two months caused by problems with two aging hoists and other complications.  Ryan Flynn, deputy program manager for Bechtel-led Salado Isolation Mining Contractors, told a […]

Earnings rose at BWX Technologies (BWXT), Lynchburg, Va., in the 2nd quarter, which the government contractor attributed to growing interest in the nuclear industry. Net earnings for the second quarter ended June 30 were $89.1 million, or $0.97 a share, up from $78.5 million, or $0.85 a share, in the year-ago quarter, according to the […]

Smoke from regional wildfires caused the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Richland, Wash., to face an air quality alert most of the week.  The National Weather Service forecast for the region had an air quality alert in effect most of hte past week for Kennewick, Pasco and Richland as well as the counties that […]

In figures that sound like something out of a TV commercial for insurance, there are an average of 135 automobile wrecks annually at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina that involve either deer or wild pigs, according to the Department of Energy. Research by the University of Georgia’s Savannah River Ecology Laboratory found in […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management plans to keep on Amentum-led Four Rivers Nuclear Partnership as the remediation contractor at the Paducah Site in Kentucky through September 2030. In an online notice of intent posted this week, DOE’s Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office said it plans to modify the existing Deactivation and Remediation contract to […]

A Republican member of the Yakima County Commission and a Democrat who is a retired Air Force major that once worked at the Hanford Site were the top two finishers in Washington state’s open primary for the 4th congressional district. As a result, Amanda McKinney (R) and John Duresky (D) will go head-to-head in the […]

The Department of Energy said this week its nuclear cleanup branch has now removed radioactive waste from 24 of its single-shell tanks at the Hanford Site in Richland, Wash. It has only taken about seven months for DOE’s BWXT-led contractor, Hanford Tank Waste Operations and Closure (H2C), to move 79,000 gallons of waste from Single-Shell […]