Publications: Weapons Cleanup Monitor

An informal online survey indicates gasoline prices through the Department of Energy nuclear cleanup complex range from $3.50 to $5.59 per gallon. Exchange Monitor used tools such as Gas Buddy and AAA (the American Automobile Association) to gauge gasoline prices at DOE cleanup sites run by the Office of Environmental Management as of Thursday afternoon. […]

Los Alamos National Laboratory updated its sitewide seismic hazard analysis and is expected to influence future facility design, safety-basis evaluations and infrastructure projects supporting the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) nuclear weapons mission. According to a Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) report from May 22, the updated probabilistic seismic hazard analysis was recently approved […]

The Department of Energy is working with the state of Utah on finalizing an agreement to place a Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campus there, Secretary of Energy Chris Wright said during a House hearing Wednesday. Wright provided a brief update on DOE’s Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campus, which the agency has been rather tight-lipped on. He was […]

Tuesday in Arlington, Va., the U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board (NWTRB) heard from various nations developing repository sites for spent nuclear fuel. During its spring board meeting, the NWTRB listened to presentations featuring technical lessons gleaned from the siting and development of geologic repositories in other countries. This includes speakers from countries such as […]

Starting June 29, the state of Washington’s Department of Ecology kicks off a 120-day comment period on revision of the statewide permit for the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Richland, Wash. The state will be taking public comments on Revision 9A between June 29 and Oct. 27, according to a notice on the Ecology […]

The Tri-City Development Council (TRIDEC), based in Kennewick, Wash., said this week it is too early for locals to panic about a proposed fiscal 2027 budget cut for the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site. The House Appropriations Committee last week passed out of committee its version of the Energy & Water spending plan for the […]

Stevan Pearce, a former Republican congressman who represented the area around the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), was confirmed by the Senate last month to be director of the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Pearce was among a large bloc of GOP nominees narrowly confirmed by the Senate 46-to-43 on […]

The head of Washington’s state regulatory agency for the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site said recently he is not opposed to grout so long as DOE keeps its focus on the ongoing operation to turn liquid waste into glass.  In a May letter to DOE, Washington state Department of Ecology Director Casey Sixkiller urged the […]

The Washington, D.C.-based Energy Communities Alliance (ECA) said this week there is no need for New Mexico to revamp the latest state permit for the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M., only two years after it was issued. “It is important to continue and accelerate shipping TRU ]transuranic] waste from […]

The version of the  fiscal 2027 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) passed 44-12 by the House Armed Services Committee Thursday night would endorse the Department of Energy’s nuclear remediation branch to spend up to about $7.2 billion on Defense Environmental Cleanup.  Last month the House Appropriations Committee advanced a proposed Energy & Water Development budget […]

The version of the fiscal 2027 Energy & Water Development bill recently voted out of the House Appropriations Committee endorses key Department of Energy projects getting underway at the Hanford Site in Richland, Wash and the Savannah River Site near Aiken, S.C. At Savannah River Site (SRS) DOE is directed to brief the House Appropriations […]

Four years after an agreement apparently resolved a federal safety watchdog’s access to staff and records at Department of Energy nuclear sites, the dispute appears to be back. In an April 29 letter to Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board’s (DNFSB) lone member said DOE is not complying with its […]

The Department of Energy’s liquid waste contractor at the Hanford Site in Richland, Wash., is inviting expressions of interest (EOI) for vendors interested in the West Area Tank Farms Risk Management (WARM) construction services work. “WARM is being constructed to supply material for off-site treatment and disposal, supporting compliance with regulatory milestones,” according to the […]

The Department of Energy and the Washington state Department of Ecology will hold a public meeting June 17 on a proposed modular system at the Hanford Site’s 200 West Area to remove cesium from tank waste prior to grouting. The hybrid meeting is set for June 17 at 5:30 p.m. PT in the Gallery Room […]

In procurement news you might have missed, the Department of Energy has issued a request for information (RFi) for potential providers of on-site shoeshine services at DOE’s Forrestal Building headquarters in Washington, D.C. Any resulting agreement would be a “no-cost contract” for DOE, according to the procurement notice published online this month. The DOE contact listed […]

A key environmental document and Record of Decision (ROD) issued Thursday by the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) clears the way for expanding operations for Sandia National Laboratories over the next 15 years. The “expanded operations alternative” endorsed the NNSA’s final Site-Wide Environmental Impact Statement and ROD should allow Sandia to build […]

Los Alamos National Laboratory may require significant electrical infrastructure upgrades within several years as artificial intelligence programs, supercomputing systems and weapons modernization activities sharply increase power demand, the lab’s Deputy Director for Mission Operations Mark Davis said this month. Speaking before the Los Alamos County Council, Davis said the laboratory is pursuing plans for a […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) would receive $42 million in fiscal 2027, under the bill advanced by the House Appropriations Committee last week. The $42 million is the same amount that Congress enacted for DNFSB for fiscal 2026, which ends Sept. 30. It is also less than the $45 million that the  Donald […]

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers would receive no additional funding for cleaning up certain old nuclear sites during fiscal 2027, according to the Energy & Water Development bill advanced by the House Appropriations Committee last week. “This appropriation funds the cleanup of certain low-level radio active materials and mixed wastes located at sites contaminated […]

As part of its Energy & Water funding bill advanced last week, the House Appropriations Committee wants the Department of Energy’s cleanup office to report within six months on what to do about certain radioactive waste at the West Valley Demonstration Project near Buffalo, N.Y. The bill passed out of House Appropriations would order DOE’s […]

Veolia Nuclear Solutions – Federal Services has made personnel changes in two high-level management positions aimed at improving its engineering and technology business lines, the company said on May 20. According to a Veolia Nuclear Solutions – Federal Services (VNSFS) spokesperson, the company has promoted its former Vice President of Technology Deployment Brett Campbell to […]

The governing board for Benton County, Wash., home to the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site, has urged New Mexico officials not to restrict interstate shipments of transuranic waste to DOE’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M. “The Benton County Board of Commissioners writes to express our concern that the draft permit modification for […]

The wildfire-prone New Mexico county where the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory is located has entered “stage 1 fire restrictions,” according to a recent post from the Los Alamos County Department of Public Utilities. “Fire Marshal Colorado Cordova of the Los Alamos Fire Department (LAFD) has enacted fire restrictions to Stage 1, effective […]

Staffing vacancies in key positions at the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) have grown more acute, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a report made public Tuesday. The office in charge of nuclear cleanup at Cold War and Manhattan Project sites “has become further understaffed since GAO reported on EM’s workforce […]

The full House Appropriations Committee voted 34-25 this week to approve about $7.7 billion for the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management for fiscal 2027. That would be less than the $8.5 billion enacted by Congress for fiscal 2026 and the $8.2 billion sought by the Donald Trump White House. A link to the […]

SANTA FE, N.M. — Residents, advocates and technical experts said here last week that a National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) environmental review on plutonium pit production understates risks to water resources, worker safety and communities along transport routes. Some speakers at a Thursday May 14 public hearing in Santa Fe also said NNSA is failing […]

Shipments to the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) appear to be back in full swing, with the facility receiving 55 waste shipments in April.  That’s the highest total since the 61 shipments of defense-related transuranic (TRU) waste that WIPP received in September 2025. It was also higher than the 47 it received […]