Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board will hold its first public hearing of the Donald Trump administration in Santa Fe, N.M., on Wednesday, when the independent nuclear watchdog will consider the nuclear-safety of the Los Alamos National Laboratory’s plutonium production program. The hearing, “Understanding the Safety Posture of the Plutonium Facility at Los Alamos National Laboratory,” […]

Workers at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site last month identified “three distinctive streams of liquid leaking” from the 3H Evaporator, a large pot that reduces the volume of the salt waste so that space within the facility’s storage tanks is available for continuing liquid waste operations. The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) is after the Energy Department for a long-overdue update on the agency’s plan to tighten emergency preparedness at active and former nuclear weapons sites. Sean Sullivan, appointed DNFSB chairman by President Donald Trump in January, made the request in a Feb. 16 letter to then-acting Energy Secretary Grace […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) is after the Energy Department for a long-overdue update on the agency’s plan to tighten emergency preparedness at active and former nuclear weapons sites. Sean Sullivan, appointed DNFSB chairman by President Donald Trump in January, made the request in a Feb. 16 letter to then-acting Energy Secretary Grace […]

Months before a state regulatory deadline, the Energy Department and its prime contractor at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant have stopped using emergency above-ground waste storage space at the mine, according to a Monday regulatory filing. “On February 9, 2017, [DOE and Nuclear Waste Partnership] reconfigured the TRU [transuranic] mixed waste in storage in the […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) is after the Energy Department for a long-overdue update on the agency’s plan to tighten emergency preparedness at active and former nuclear weapons sites. Sean Sullivan, appointed DNFSB chairman by President Donald Trump in January, made the request in a Feb. 16 letter to then-acting Energy Secretary Grace […]

With key Energy Department officials yet to be officially instilled by the new Donald Trump administration, the 2017 Waste Management Symposium kicks off next Monday, March 6, in Phoenix, Ariz. Sue Cange — a weapons complex veteran who is now the acting assistant energy secretary for environmental management — is on the bill to speak at […]

The Los Alamos National Laboratory’s nuclear criticality safety program in fiscal 2016 fell short of Department of Energy requirements, but an improvement plan has been established, according to an annual nuclear criticality safety program metrics report submitted to the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB). The DNFSB asked DOE in February 2016 to provide a […]

The Los Alamos National Laboratory’s nuclear criticality safety program in fiscal 2016 fell short of DOE requirements, but a program improvement plan has been established, according to an annual nuclear criticality safety program metrics report submitted to the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB). The DNFSB asked DOE in February 2016 to provide a yearly […]

Two weeks into President Donald Trump’s first term, Energy Secretary-designate Rick Perry has crept closer to confirmation in the Senate, and the president’s beachhead and transition teams are laying groundwork to bolster the budget for the National Nuclear Security Administration. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Tuesday approved Perry’s nomination by a vote […]

Sean Sullivan replaced Joyce Connery as chairman of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board on Wednesday, the federal government’s independent nuclear complex watchdog announced Thursday. Connery was appointed to the board, known as DNFSB, in August 2015 by then-President Barack Obama and designated chairman at the same time. She will remain on the board and can […]

  The Department of Energy said it has made significant progress in resolving technical issues that have slowed progress on construction of the Hanford Site’s Waste Treatment Plant since 2012. DOE’s Office of River Protection has sent letters describing resolution of three of the eight technical issues to the agency headquarters, where they are being […]

The Energy Department may assess civil penalties against contractors that retaliate against whistleblowers within their ranks, under a new agency rule that goes into effect Jan. 26. The agency released a summary of the final rule late last year in the Federal Register. Senate Democrats from Washington state and Oregon, major stakeholders in the cleanup of the […]

It will take somewhere between nine months and a year longer than hoped to get 27 new sensors for the Hanford Site’s double-shell waste storage tanks in working order, the Energy Department disclosed last week. DOE was supposed to have the sensors inside the annulus of Hanford’s 28 double-shell tanks working by December 2016, per a […]

A dozen workers this week reported symptoms or suspicious odors that could be related to chemical vapors from waste stored at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state. Thursday afternoon, three workers reported a suspicious ammonia-like odor outside a facility used to switch out empty air bottles for full containers to use with […]

President Barack Obama this week nominated nuclear energy industry veteran Bruce Hamilton to serve a full term on the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board member. Hamilton joined the board in August 2015, replacing Ken Mossman, who has since died. If approved by the Senate, he would serve a full term of five years. Hamilton was president […]

President Barack Obama this week nominated nuclear energy industry veteran Bruce Hamilton to serve a full term on the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. Hamilton joined the board in August 2015, replacing the late Ken Mossman. If approved by the Senate, he would serve a full term of five years. Hamilton was president of nuclear fuel […]

Hanford Site tank farm contractor Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) has reached a settlement agreement with the Department of Energy Office of Enforcement over a subcontractor worker who fell into an abandoned septic system. The company has agreed to pay $45,000 and take actions to improve safety, including with its subcontractors, according to a consent […]