Publications: Weapons Cleanup Monitor

The foray into spent fuel recycling by the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) will take advantage of used nuclear fuel (UNF) from a test reactor at the Idaho National Laboratory. That is according to material issued with the request for applications (RFA) announced April 22.  DOE’s Environmental Management and Nuclear Energy (NE) […]

A 437-page justification for the Donald Trump administration’s request for the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management adds more detail on White House priorities for nuclear cleanup. Overall, the roughly $8.2 billion Environmental Management (EM) budget would be $386 million less than the $8.56 billion enacted by Congress for fiscal 2026, according to the […]

Carlsbad, N.M. — A proposed overhaul of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) hazardous waste permit drew mixed reactions at Tuesday’s community forum, with stakeholders clashing over whether the changes would ease or create a bottleneck in federal cleanup efforts. The New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) is proposing revisions that would require DOE to prioritize […]

During a public meeting Tuesday in Carlsbad, N.M., most local residents voiced support for current operations of the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) and argued a state agency’s proposal to modify WIPP’s permit is unnecessary. Further, most said if the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) thinks too few shipments of legacy transuranic […]

The Department of Energy’s $8.2 billion budget request for its nuclear cleanup branch would help support everything from artificial intelligence (AI) to new emergency facilities. That is among the tidbits emerging from the DOE Office of Environmental Management’s (EM) 437-page budget justification posted online last week. DOE said an initiative, the AI Research and Development […]

A North Wind Group company said this week it has landed a share of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers business worth $275 million. North Wind Site Services said in an April 27 news release it has been awarded a seat on the Corps’ Northwestern Division Regional Pre-Placed Remedial Action Contract Multiple Award Task Order Contract […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy kicked off a new initiative Thursday centered around bolstering the domestic nuclear fuel supply chain by 2033. The new initiative “Nuclear Dominance – 3 by 33” has the federal government working with industry to build up the many aspects of the nuclear supply chain, including uranium enrichment, […]

Tim Walsh, who heads the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management (EM), said this week DOE’s Hanford Site in Washington state remains the program’s biggest nuclear cleanup challenge. But at the same time Hanford, which accounts for about 40% of EM’s budget, is primed for a “breakout year,” Walsh told a Senate Armed Forces […]

Centrus Energy said this week it has selected Geiger Brothers as its construction contractor for the multi-billion expansion project for the Centrus uranium enrichment facility in Piketon, Ohio, a deal potentially worth $900 million. According to a Centrus Securities and Exchange Commission Monday filing, the time-and-materials contract signed by the two companies runs through Jan. […]

The Department of Energy’s Offices of Environmental Management (EM) and Nuclear Energy released request for applications (RFAs) Wednesday seeking partners to start recycling some of the country’s spent nuclear fuel. Submissions for the two solicitations are both due by June 19, while questions surrounding the RFAs are due by May 19. DOE EM will sponsor […]

Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and Secretary of Energy Chris Wright disagreed Tuesday over the severity of reduced funding for the Hanford Site in the Department of Energy’s fiscal 2027 budget request. The following day, Cantwell’s Democratic colleague Patty Murray (D-Wash.) would also challenge the adequacy of the DOE request for Hanford.  Wright told Cantwell during […]

In a letter to Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, lawmakers wrote this week that Congress is investigating “recent unconfirmed public reporting on the disappearance and death of individuals with access to sensitive U.S. scientific information.” As of April 17, 10 scientists were recently reported either dead or missing. All 10 were involved in researching and […]

In the latest sign of friction between the state of New Mexico and the Department of Energy, a state agency Thursday proposed restrictive changes to the hazardous waste permit for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad. Among other things the draft permit changes announced by the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) would set […]

SANTA ANA PUEBLO, N.M. — The Department of Energy’s Office of Legacy Management is reassessing its reliance on natural attenuation at some uranium legacy sites after monitoring showed the approach is not meeting cleanup targets, a senior official said. William “Bill” Frazier, a program manager with DOE Legacy Management (LM), said the office is evaluating […]

The Hanford Site’s Waste Treatment Plant (WTP) should reach full speed for turning less radioactive waste into solid glass form by October 2028, Department of Energy officials told the Hanford Advisory Board Wednesday in Richland, Wash. By that point, the plant should be  converting about 2 million gallons of low-level tank waste into glass form […]

Officials in Grand County, Utah joined Department of Energy representatives April 9 to celebrate removal of 16 million tons of tailings from a site next to the Colorado River as part of the Moab Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action Project. DOE said. Commemorative plaques now honor the Moab Project that started in 2009, according to […]

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) recorded 25 transuranic (TRU) waste shipments in March, following an annual maintenance outage that kept it offline since January.  The 25 shipments are the first since the facility accepted 33 shipments in December, and an uptick from March 2024 when WIPP received 13 shipments, according to […]

In a Sunday editorial, the Tri-City Herald newspaper in Richland, Wash., blasted the Donald Trump administration’s fiscal 2027 request that would cut by more than $390-million the Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup budget for the Hanford Site. While Hanford would still receive around $2.9 billion, more than a third of the budget for the DOE […]

The recent trend of nuclear sector consolidation is continuing as Salt Lake-based EnergySolutions said Thursday it has bought WMG, a provider of engineering services and software. WMG was founded in 1979 and is known in part for its trademarked RADMAN software program for radioactive shipments, EnergySolutions said in a Thursday press release. Over time, WMG […]

The Department of Energy’s $8.2-billion fiscal 2027 request for its nuclear cleanup branch, which includes a budget cut for the Hanford Site in Washington state, would not affect solidification of less radioactive tank waste, Secretary of Energy Chris Wright told a House panel Wednesday. Wright testified on behalf of the White House’s DOE budget request […]

EnergySolutions said Monday on LinkedIn it has appointed a familiar face, Andrew Drom, as its new senior vice president for its Federal Support business unit. Although he just joined the Salt Lake City-based company April 6, this is Drom’s second tour of duty with EnergySolutions. He served in a couple of different international management positions […]

A South Carolina woman pleaded guilty last week to stealing money from her deceased relative’s pension benefits earned from working at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site.  On April 9, the Department of Justice announced Effie Mae Youmans, 71, of Columbia, admitted to theft of public money by wrongly collecting someone else’s pension benefits. […]

The House Appropriations subcommittee on energy and water development and related agencies scheduled a hearing for Wednesday, April 15 to review the Department of Energy’s budget request for fiscal 2027. This hearing comes after the White House issued a budget request for fiscal 2027 that would give $32.8 billion to the DOE’s semiautonomous National Nuclear […]

Jessica Kunkle is the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) newest acting associate administrator for the Office of Infrastructure, a spokesperson for the agency told Exchange Monitor Thursday. Kunkle will be taking over for Nicole Nelson-Jean, who as of March principal associate administrator of NNSA’s Office of Environment, Safety and Health. The Office of Infrastructure is […]

Most Department of Energy nuclear cleanup sites would receive modest reductions in their fiscal 2027 funding, under the budget justification document released last weekend by the White House. At the same time, DOE says the Office of Environmental Management (EM) will play a vital role in future nuclear energy and reindustrialization.  “EM will change the […]

The Donald Trump administration is requesting $7.2-billion for Defense Environmental Cleanup in fiscal 2027, which accounts for most of the funding, for the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management. That would be down slightly from the $7.4-billion estimated figure for fiscal 2026, which ends Sept. 30. It would also be down from the $8.2-billion […]

Under the Department of Energy’s budget request for fiscal 2027, the DOE Office of Legacy Management would receive $200 million or $2.2 million more than in fiscal 2026. If appropriators in the House and Senate should go along with the White House request, the Office of Legacy Management funding would represent a 1% increase over […]