Department of Energy

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) […]

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 […]

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) […]

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 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 […]

Plenty of nuclear amendments proposed for House 2027 energy & water bill 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 […]

The Washington state Department of Ecology Monday officially launched its 120-day public comment period on Revision 9A to the Department of Energy’s sitewide permit for the Hanford Site in Richland, Wash. In an online notice, the state regulator said the sitewide permit is one of its key tools for monitoring the “treatment, storage, and disposal […]

The Department of Energy’s Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) and United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority have agreed to a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to collaborate on fusion technology. The MOU builds on the King Charles III address to the joint meeting of Congress in Washington, D.C. in April, according to the U.K. Atomic Energy Authority’s […]

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 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 […]

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. Under the Department of […]

A third advanced reactor is expected to hit criticality in coming days and beat the July 4 deadline, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said at a Thursday event held near the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory (INL). Last year, DOE, under Executive Order 14301, established a reactor pilot program with the goal of having at […]

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 has revealed its third round of selections for its Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear’s (GAIN) energy voucher program in fiscal 2026. According to DOE GAIN’s Wednesday press release, the recipients are: Aalo Atomics, based in Austin, Texas. OrganiCore Nuclear, based in New York, N.Y. Raven-Flint Nuclear Corp., based in Idaho […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Dominance Financing has issued a conditional loan commitment program of $17.5 billion to finance the purchase of long-lead time components for nuclear reactors. DOE said in a Tuesday press release that the nuclear supply chain loans will finance five eligible projects sponsored by utilities and companies across the […]

Another non-light reactor has reached criticality under the Department of Energy’s reactor pilot program, as California-based Valar Atomics achieved the milestone on June 18. Valar Atomics conducted its zero-power criticality testing at Utah San Rafael Energy Lab in Emery County, Utah, marking the first reactor to hit this feat outside of a national laboratory, according […]

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 […]

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 […]

The Department of Energy has revealed its third round of selections for its Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear’s (GAIN) nuclear energy voucher program in fiscal 2026. According to DOE GAIN’s Wednesday press release, the recipients are: Aalo Atomics, based in Austin, Texas. OrganiCore Nuclear, based in New York, N.Y. Raven-Flint Nuclear Corp., based in […]

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 have finished stabilizing four hot cells at the the 324 Building, DOE said in a Tuesday […]

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 Energy Dominance Financing has issued a conditional loan commitment program of $17.5 billion to finance the purchase of long-lead time components for nuclear reactors. DOE said in a Tuesday press release that the nuclear supply chain loans will finance five eligible projects sponsored by utilities and companies across the […]

Kaveh Farzad, President Trump’s pick to be assistant secretary of energy for International Affairs, told the Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee Tuesday he would use the Department of Energy’s national labs to help the U.S. win the artificial intelligence (AI) race. Farzad said in his testimony, AI will help advance the Trump administration’s “energy […]

The New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) last week approved the Department of Energy’s request extending how long the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) can hold certain drums of transuranic waste in temporary storage areas pending underground disposal. Meanwhile, the comment period on a separate WIPP issue, where the state of New Mexico is seeking to […]

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 […]