Publications: Weapons Cleanup Monitor

The Department of Energy’s Northern New Mexico Advisory Board, which provides input on cleanup issues at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, asked the acting head of the DOE’s Office of Environmental Management last week about expanding its role to include the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad. William (Ike) White, the senior adviser for DOE’s […]

Government conferences can rarely boast of a speech by a well-known actor featured in Home Box Office’s series, including ‘The Wire’ — except maybe when the actor has a brother who is a Department of Energy manager. The DOE Small Business Forum & Expo last week in New Orleans included a keynote address from actor […]

The Senate Appropriations Committee’s energy and water development bill would provide about $8.5 billion in fiscal 2024 funds for the Department of Energy’s cleanup of Cold War and Manhattan Project nuclear sites, according to the bill unanimously passed out of committee Thursday.  Altogether, DOE’s Office of Environmental Management would be funded at $8.5 billion under […]

The Department of Energy and New Mexico should work with a third-party mediator “to build trust” on legacy cleanup at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, a Congressional watchdog reported Wednesday. Without “clearer communication that leads to smoother relationships with the regulators and the public,” DOE and the New Mexico Environment Department could risk, “further delaying […]

The Department of Energy said Tuesday the legacy cleanup contractor at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico started cutting recently dug-up corrugated metal pipes into sections small enough for shipment to the agency’s underground disposal site for transuranic waste. Newport News Nuclear BWXT Los Alamos (N3B) workers are using hydraulic shears to cut […]

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., received 56 shipments of transuranic waste in June, according to the federal agency’s public website for the site. There were 45 during June from the Idaho National Laboratory; four from the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, three from the Oak Ridge Site in […]

An amendment to the Senate’s fiscal 2024 National Defense Authorization Act bill could make it easier for nuclear-site employees to receive compensation for beryllium-related illnesses associated with their work. Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) successfully won approval for her amendment to the Senate version of the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) bill Thursday.  The amendment […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management intends to issue no-bid business to Waste Control Specialists in Andrews County, Texas to relocate containers of long-stranded transuranic waste to a new above-ground storage area at the commercial waste site. “The estimated value of the resulting order is not expected to exceed $16,500,000 ($16.5 million),” DOE’s […]

The Department of Energy first discovered more contaminated soil under Building 324 at the Hanford Site in Washington state last August and suspended work on stabilizing the structure in April, DOE said this month in a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency. The timeline was laid out in a July 5 letter to David Einan, […]

With last week’s award of the Department of Energy’s $5.87-billion environmental remediation contract for the Portsmouth Site in Ohio to an Amentum-led team, two industry sources expect a companion contract is imminent for operations of that property as well as the Paducah Site in Kentucky. The sources, executives who work for different government contractors, also […]

The Department of Energy says no significant environmental impact should result from the Savannah River Site in South Carolina shipping contaminated process equipment, currently managed as a high-level radioactive waste, to a commercial disposal site for low-level waste. The DOE Office of Environmental Management released environmental assessment documents Wednesday backing its conclusion that the grouted […]

The Department of Energy greelit operation of Saltstone Disposal Unit No. 8 at the Savannah River Site near Aiken, S.C., the agency said this week. The DOE Office of Environmental Management said in a Tuesday news release that authorization has been granted for Saltstone Disposal Unit 8 (SDU 8). It is the latest of the […]

With the House passing a defense policy bill laden with non-nuclear amendments, this week’s Senate Armed Services Committee draft of the fiscal 2024 National Defense Authorization Act would allow the Department of Energy to spend up to $7.1 billion on Defense Environmental cleanup and also calls for studies into issues at big nuclear weapons cleanup […]

New Mexico and the Department of Energy this week asked for 90 more days, until Oct. 10, to continue monthslong negotiations about new cleanup rules for the Los Alamos National Laboratory. In a joint status report filed Tuesday with U.S. Magistrate Judge John Robbenhaar in New Mexico, DOE and the New Mexico Environment Department, said […]

The Department of Energy’s cleanup contractor for the Portsmouth Site in Ohio took home about $15 million, or 95%, of its total potential fee for cleaning up after uranium enrichment for the six months ended March 28.  The take includes about 85% of the contractor’s subjective fee: the portion of the earnings for which DOE […]

Stuart MacVean, the president and CEO of Fluor-led Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, the prime contractor for the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina, plans to retire in a few weeks, he said in a Monday memo to employees. “Although I’ll be around for a few more weeks, I bid a fond farewell […]

A transuranic waste container potentially too contaminated to be disposed of, yet already shipped to the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico, will be sent back to the Savannah River Site in South Carolina in August, the prime contractor for disposal site said Tuesday. The standard waste box, now located in […]

A former Honeywell executive will remain at the Savannah River Site, jumping to Huntington Ingalls Industries to remain with Savannah River Nuclear Solutions now that Honeywell has sold its stake in the site prime contractor. James (J.C.) Epting said via LinkedIn on Sunday that he joined Huntington Ingalls as a senior vice president for Savannah […]

The U.S. Department of Justice on Friday said Butte County, Idaho, lacks either a factual or legal basis to win its lawsuit against the Department of Energy over ongoing storage of certain nuclear material at the Idaho National Laboratory. The feds want U.S. District Judge David Nye to toss the lawsuit the county, home to […]

In the face of a legal battle over a contract award at the Hanford Site in Washington state, the Department of Energy said Wednesday it will extend incumbent tank contractor, Washington River Protection Solutions, for up to two more years. The DOE Office of Environmental Management said in an online procurement notice it plans to […]

The Department of Energy is studying disposal options for a radiologically contaminated forklift and other material after crews removed multiple waste drums from a partially-flooded building at the Hanford Site in Washington state, according to reports from a federal safety board. Radiological contamination turned up on an employee’s pant leg and on a forklift tine, […]

After being stuck at a commercial site in West Texas since 2014, 74 containers of problematic Los Alamos National Laboratory transuranic waste should be shipped to the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., by December 2026. That timeline, subject to successful preparation of the solid waste boxes and regulatory approval by […]

Southern Ohio Cleanup Co., a joint venture of Amentum, Fluor and Cavendish Nuclear USA, won the potentially decade-spanning, $5.87-billion Decontamination and Decommissioning Contract at the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio, the agency said Thursday. Another five-years of work could be tacked onto the end of the 10-year ordering period, meaning it could run […]

President Joe Biden’s nomination of Patricia Lee of South Carolina to serve on the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board has been submitted to the Senate, the White House said late Wednesday. Lee, who has worked in radiation protection for decades and is currently portfolio manager for the digital enterprise at the Department of Energy’s Savannah […]

Charlotte, N.C.-based Honeywell has sold its stake in the Fluor-led joint venture that runs the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina, the company said this week. The company has divested its interest in Savannah River Nuclear Solutions to the remaining partners, Fluor and Huntington Ingalls Industries, Honeywell said in a Monday press […]

The No. 2 Department of Energy manager at the West Valley Demonstration Project in western New York, Craig Rieman, has left to take another job within the agency, members of a local task force heard last week. Bryan Bower, DOE’s manager of the West Valley cleanup, announced the move last Wednesday, June 28, during a […]

The Department of Energy and its Amentum-led contractor have suspended work stabilizing the 324 Building within the Hanford Site in Washington state after discovering far more radiologically-contaminated soil underneath than previously thought. Scientists from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have confirmed that “a much larger volume of highly contaminated soil will need to be remediated […]