Publications: Weapons Cleanup Monitor

Aleut Government Services has been awarded a $6.2-million contract by the Department of Energy Office of Science for administrative and business support services at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee. The award notice was posted online July 6. Aleut Government Services business address is listed as Colorado Springs, Colo., according to the notice. Aleut Government […]

Multiple environmental groups have publicly denounced the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s proposal to change radiation protection standards, saying the proposal would loosen protections at the risk of the public.    On July 1, NRC released the proposed new rulemaking that will do away with the “as low as reasonably achievable” – or ALARA radiation protection standard. […]

On the Exchange Monitor homepage is a guest opinion editorial with in-depth analysis on public-private partnership in fusion research. “Guest Column: Former lab execs on fusion’s promise: Leveraging public-private Partnership for 21st century deterrence” by Paul Hommert, former director of Sandia National Laboratories, and Bob Webster, former deputy lab director at Los Alamos National Laboratory, […]

The Department of Energy and local law enforcement are investigating a fatal head-on collision that occurred Wednesday evening inside a Hanford Site security gate after a speeding car, reportedly driven by an ex-Hanford worker, dodged the check point and struck a DOE Hanford Patrol vehicle. The Tri-City Herald reported Thursday that a Toyota Camry driven […]

July 7 marked the deadline for parties interested in learning more about the draft request for proposals (RFP) for the 222-S Laboratory management contract at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Richland, Wash., to sign up for a site tour and information sessions later this month. The department will hold a Hanford Site tour […]

The Department of Energy briefed residents in the Tri-Cities area of Washington state last month on its plans to expand upon its Tank-Side Cesium Removal (TSCR) technology at the Hanford Site. DOE’s Office of Environmental Management provided a public briefing June 17 at the Richland, Wash., public library on plans to “bring existing modular cesium […]

The head of the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management, Tim Walsh, recently wrote the director of Washington state’s Department of Ecology to stress “the urgency” DOE places on state approval of grouting some of Hanford Site’s less-radioactive waste. DOE appreciates Washington state’s “willingness to consider our proposed ‘glass-plus-grout’ strategy” for the 200 East […]

The Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup branch agrees with the Government Accountability Office (GAO) that DOE should not rush into costly infrastructure projects before doing more research up front. By the end of 2026, the DOE Office of Environmental Management (EM) will look to implement two GAO recommendations in a recently-released report, the head of […]

The Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state continues to prepare to ship transuranic waste to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico and could start sending drums there within a year, according to a Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) update. In a DNFSB resident inspector report for the week ended […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management should not rush to embrace costly nuclear cleanup options without first checking with independent experts on less-expensive alternatives, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said Thursday July 2. In the just-released report, GAO said the DOE cleanup branch needs to do more research before advocating megadollar solutions.  DOE […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued proposed rules late last week that would make several changes designed to ease management and disposal of greater-than-class-c (GTCC) radioactive waste.  NRC said in a June 25 press release the proposed rule “would modernize the NRC’s framework for land disposal of low-level radioactive waste by allowing disposal facilities to use […]

The November race for governor in the major nuclear state of South Carolina is now set after state Attorney General Alan Wilson defeated Lieutenant Gov. Pamela Evette, who was backed by President Trump, in a GOP primary runoff last week. Wilson, who as attorney general spearheaded litigation over a cancelled project at the Department of […]

SANTA FE, N.M — State regulators and Department of Energy managers last week presented competing views on how to remedy a decades-old hexavalent chromium plume beneath and beyond the Los Alamos National Laboratory during a New Mexico Environment Department public meeting on ongoing efforts. The plume, linked to old power plant operations at Los Alamos […]

As of Monday afternoon, it appears no date has been set for the full House of Representatives to take up the House Appropriations Committee version of the fiscal 2027 Energy & Water Development bill, which was considered by the House Rules Committee last week. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.) who chairs the House Appropriations Energy & […]

The Pike County, Ohio General Health District wants Congress to extend coverage under the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) to residents in areas around the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site. Localities around DOE’s Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant complex were not included in the last RECA expansion, which became part of the so-called One Big Beautiful […]

Crews at the West Valley Demonstration Project in New York have torn down a ventilation system building and will prepare to dismantle the Fuel Receiving and Storage Facility, the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management said last week. The recently-demolished Replacement Ventilation Unit was only built in the mid-2010s after crews deactivated the shuttered […]

The Integrated Waste Treatment Unit (IWTU) at the Idaho National Laboratory has solidified about 400,000 gallons of radioactive sodium-bearing waste, the Department of Energy said Tuesday. During the current processing run, crews have used the IWTU to treat 130,000 gallons of the liquid waste held at Idaho National Laboratory, DOE’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) […]

The Department of Energy Thursday released its draft request for proposals (RFP) for management of the 222-S Laboratory at the Hanford Site in Richland, Wash. The period of performance on the potential small business set-aside contract is expected to be up to seven years. That includes a five-year base period, a transition period from the […]

In a week of personnel movement for the Department of Energy, a nuclear legal adviser is leaving the organization while a White House nominee to head international affairs appeared before a Senate panel.  In the exit lane Seth Cohen, DOE’s chief counsel for nuclear law and policy, announced over the weekend that he is leaving […]

The head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regional office in Dallas this week took a public stance against New Mexico’s planned permit overhaul for the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M. The set of changes proposed by the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) for WIPP’s hazardous waste permit […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) is making headway on its solicitation for a venture that would demonstrate recycling of defense-related spent fuel to extract high-assay-low-enriched-uranium (HALEU) fuel for advanced reactors. DOE announced the request for applications (RFA) in April for the demo project at the Idaho National Laboratory. An Industry Day […]

Two branches of the Department of Energy have, together with international partners, finished removing all leftover highly enriched uranium from Venezuela’s old RV-1 research reactor. DOE’s semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), the Office of Environmental Management (EM) and the Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina participated in the U.S. effort, according to a […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management said Tuesday crews from an Amentum-led contractor have finished important work to mitigate risk at the highly-contaminated 324 Building at the Hanford Site in Richland, Wash. Crews from Central Plateau Cleanup, a partnership that also includes Fluor and AtkinsRéalis,  have finished stabilizing four hot cells at the […]

The fiscal 2027 House Energy and Water Appropriations bill text was released Wednesday and waits to be debated on the House floor. The bill text and any amendments submitted are available online. While the bill was scheduled to be debated on the House floor this week, debate and votes were postponed. Last month, the House […]

The Department of Energy is targeting late July for resumption of transuranic waste shipments to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M. In a Wednesday email to Exchange Monitor, the DOE Office of Environmental Management said it intends to start disposing of waste again by the end of July. Although the schedule could […]

Zeno Power, a Seattle-based maker of nuclear batteries, has selected the Vallecitos Nuclear Center in Sunol, Calif. For a manufacturing facility, the company said Thursday. Additionally, Zeno also partnered with nuclear decommissioning company NorthStar to help restore specialized hot cell infrastructure to produce nuclear batteries purposed for commercial, defense and space uses, according to the […]