Archive

Department of Energy

The U.S. Department of Energy oversees the nation’s nuclear weapons complex, environmental cleanup program, and national laboratory system. Coverage here tracks DOE budget requests, contract awards, policy decisions, regulatory action, and leadership changes across the agency’s defense and civilian nuclear missions.

  • Ex-DNFSB tech director lands DOE health safety post, board seeks to fill slots

    Christopher Roscetti, the former technical director for the government’s independent nuclear safety watchdog, is now the Department of Energy’s deputy director for environmental health and safety, according to a DOE website.  Roscetti, a career civil servant, assumed the No. 2 post for DOE’s Office of Environment, Health, Safety, and Security in July after serving more […]

  • Appeals court declines to combine Hanford contract dispute with another case

    The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said Wednesday it will not lump together litigation over a Department of Energy liquid waste contract potentially worth $45 billion with a separate government procurement case. In a brief order, the appeals circuit rejected a joint motion by BWX-Technologies-led Hanford Tank Waste Operations & Closure and […]

  • No deal yet, but New Mexico, DOE discuss ‘conceptual agreement’ on new cleanup order

    The Department of Energy and its New Mexico regulator could be close to reaching a deal to replace the 2016 Compliance Order on Consent that governs most cleanup at DOE’s Los Alamos National Laboratory, according to a federal court filing this week. The parties Tuesday sought and received an extension from a federal judge in […]

  • Mediator appointed in Portsmouth wrongful death case

    A federal district court in Ohio has assigned a Columbus attorney to act as mediator in a wrongful death lawsuit brought against current and former contractors at the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site. John Camillus was assigned Oct. 2 to be mediator in the case, surrounding the death of a 13-year-old Piketon, Ohio boy, Braden […]

  • Presentation details Jacobs government contracting biz, now on the sales block

    Jacobs’ government contracting segment, which is up for sale, accounted for 42% of the entire company’s business in fiscal year 2022, according to a recent investor presentation. Another Department of Energy weapons complex contractor, Amentum, is reportedly in the running to acquire Jacobs’ contracting business. There are at least two other suitors in the running, […]

  • North Wind appoints new Northeastern boss

    Idaho-based North Wind Group has appointed Jeff Dulgarian as its new Northeast regional director, the Department of Energy contractor said last week. Dulgarian was previously deputy Northeast regional manager as well as head of operations for North Wind Site Services, according to the company’s Oct. 3 press release. He spent the past five years with […]

  • ‘Richland’ nuclear documentary opens in Washington state

    A documentary film about Richland, Wash., and the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site, which debuted during June at the famous Tribeca Film Festival in New York, is about to get screen time in Washington state. Richland is “a town that produced weapons-grade plutonium for decades, and its citizens have pridefully embraced their identity,” according to […]

  • North Wind’s ETEC environmental task order extended by DOE

    The Department of Energy awarded North Wind Portage a nine-month, $1.9-million extension to continue various environmental chores at the DOE-controlled portion of the Santa Susana Field Laboratory in California, according to a recent procurement notice. Following the mid-September extension, the company’s current task order is now valued at $66.4-million. Without the extension, North Wind’s work […]

  • Middle DP Road cleanup complete, N3B says

    The legacy cleanup contractor for the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico said recently it has completed the multi-million-dollar remediation of Middle DP Road in Los Alamos County. Newport News Nuclear BWXT Los Alamos (N3B) said late last month that recent sampling confirmed “contamination removal and cleanup is complete,” according to […]

  • DOE probe finds no fault with nuclear courier’s time off practices

    The Department of Energy’s watchdog found no evidence that personnel at the Office of Secure Transport abused their administrative leave in a recent investigation.  The DOE Inspector General received allegations in March that Office of Secure Transport (OST) – the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) internal paramilitary force tasked with transporting nuclear weapons and material […]

  • Idaho National Lab clean energy industry day scheduled in October

    The Department of Energy Cleanup to Clean Energy Program will hold its second industry day at a DOE nuclear site, this time at the Idaho National Laboratory on Oct. 25. While the notice shared by DOE does not yet list an exact meeting time, the day-long session is scheduled for the Idaho National Laboratory’s meeting […]

  • Wrap Up: DOE expands Idaho landfill; DNFSB seeks ops director; Orano makes changes

    The Department of Energy and its environmental contractor broke ground last week on a major new expansion to more than double the capacity of the low-level radioactive waste landfill at the Idaho National Laboratory. The current 390,000 cubic meters of capacity at the Idaho Comprehensive Disposal Facility is 80% filled, DOE said in a Tuesday […]

  • Wind, solar companies among those window-shopping Hanford clean energy potential

    About 30 companies, many better known for electric generation than work around the weapons complex, took part in the Department of Energy’s Cleanup to Clean Energy day at the Hanford Site in Washington state, according to data posted after the Sept. 22 gathering. Some of the big names include Shell, Next Era Energy, which describes […]

  • West Valley draft RFP presentation draws big crowd

    About three dozen businesses turned out Sept. 21-22 to learn about the potential $3 billion contract for Phase 1B of Department of Energy cleanup at the West Valley Demonstration Project in New York state, according to online documents. While the big crowd included plenty of the usual names around the weapons complex, one curiously absent […]

  • It’s official, WIPP receives 10-year permit renewal from New Mexico

    The New Mexico Environment Department this week approved 10 more years of operation for the nation’s only deep underground disposal site for defense-related transuranic waste. The order was issued Wednesday authorizing renewal of the state’s hazardous waste facility permit for the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). The document was signed by Michelle […]

  • Carlsbad not looking for WIPP to add waste treatment

    The Department of Energy’s Carlsbad Field Office in New Mexico is not planning to add any treatment capabilities for problem shipments of transuranic waste arriving at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, a federal manager said Tuesday. “We don’t have any measures in our permit, we are not a treatment facility,” said Ken Princen, assistant manager […]

  • Amentum, financial groups reported to be in hunt for Jacobs’ government contracting biz

    A mainstay within the Department of Energy’s weapons complex along with two private equity firms are in the running to land Jacobs’ multi-billion-dollar government contracting branch, Reuters reported this week. The news service reported Wednesday Virginia-based Amentum along with two financial firms, Veritas Capital and Platinum Equity, are seeking to acquire the Critical Mission Solutions […]

  • Registration error should not sink $45B Hanford tank contract, winning bidder tells court

    A flub with its corporate registration should not void one of the largest awards in the history of nuclear-weapons cleanup, the joint venture that won the contract at the Hanford Site in Washington state said this week in a court filing. BWX Technologies (BWXT)-led Hanford Tank Waste Operations & Closure filed a 120-page-plus brief, which […]

  • Coal phased out, greenhouse emissions slashed at Savannah River Site, report finds

    The Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina is cutting its greenhouse gas emissions by curtailing coal-burning, buying more electric vehicles and curbing business travel, according to a recent environmental report. Ameresco Federal Solutions operates an on-site cogeneration power plant that uses biomass such as wood chips to supply steam and eliminate the […]

  • Grout could be cheaper than glass for much Hanford low-level tank waste, GAO says

    In a follow-up to prior reports, the Government Accountability Office said again Friday that using concrete-like grout would be a cheaper way to solidify the less-radioactive tank waste at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state. The Savannah River Site in South Carolina has treated 4 million gallons of its radioactive salt waste […]

  • GAO says DOE needs better measure of direct nuclear cleanup spending

    The Department of Energy’s nuclear remediation office should draft clearer guidance to differentiate contractor work that directly advances cleanup from other chores, the Government Accountability Office said in a report published Monday. Until it does, DOE’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) lacks a clear understanding of how much of its multi-billion-dollar budget directly hastens cleanup, […]

  • Hearing set Oct. 30 in Butte County case against DOE over INL storage

    A federal district judge in Idaho has penciled in an Oct. 30 hearing date to consider the U.S. government’s motion to throw out Butte County’s lawsuit against the Department of Energy. The case, scheduled for 11 a.m. Mountain Time at the Pocatello, Idaho federal courthouse, will be presided over by U.S. District Court Judge David […]

  • WIPP shipments hit post-2014 high in fiscal 2023

    The Department of Energy Waste Isolation Pilot Plant received 473 shipments of transuranic waste during fiscal 2023, the most in about a decade, a DOE manager said Tuesday during a public meeting in New Mexico. The 473 shipments for the 12 months ended Sept. 30 is the most since before February 2014 when an underground […]

  • Portsmouth, Paducah contracts extended by DOE; agency tight-lipped about follow-up award

    The Department of Energy has extended through January existing contracts for environmental cleanup and depleted uranium work at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio and the Paducah Site in Kentucky. The contracts for both Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth, which handles decontamination and decommissioning, and Atkins-led Mid-America Conversion Services, which does the depleted uranium work, will now run through […]

  • Ex-Orano man is new assistant secretary for spent fuel

    Paul Murray, most recently chief technology officer for Orano Federal Services, will lead spent nuclear fuel programs in the Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy effective next week. Murray will join the agency at its headquarters in the Forrestal Building in Washington on Oct. 10 as the deputy assistant secretary for spent fuel and […]

  • West Valley draft RFP presentation draws big crowd

    About three dozen businesses turned out Sept. 21-22 to learn about the potential $3 billion contract for Phase 1B of Department of Energy cleanup at the West Valley Demonstration Project in New York state, according to online documents. While the big crowd included plenty of the usual names around the weapons complex, one curiously absent […]

  • Wind, solar companies among those window-shopping Hanford clean energy potential

    About 30 companies, many better known for electric generation than work around the weapons complex, took part in the Department of Energy’s Cleanup to Clean Energy day at the Hanford Site in Washington state, according to data posted after the Sept. 22 gathering. Some of the big names include Shell, Next Era Energy, which describes […]

  • Portsmouth, Paducah contracts extended by DOE; agency tight-lipped about follow-up award

    The Department of Energy has extended through January existing contracts for environmental cleanup and depleted uranium work at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio and the Paducah Site in Kentucky. The contracts for both Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth, which handles decontamination and decommissioning, and Atkins-led Mid-America Conversion Services, which does the depleted uranium work, will now run through […]

  • WIPP shipments hit post-2014 high in fiscal 2023

    The Department of Energy Waste Isolation Pilot Plant received 473 shipments of transuranic waste during fiscal 2023, the most in about a decade, a DOE manager said Tuesday during a public meeting in New Mexico. The 473 shipments for the 12 months ended Sept. 30 is the most since before February 2014 when an underground […]

  • DOE kicks off major expansion of Idaho National Laboratory landfill

    The Department of Energy and its environmental contractor broke ground last week on a major new expansion to more than double the capacity of the low-level radioactive waste landfill at the Idaho National Laboratory. The current 390,000 cubic meters of capacity at the Idaho Comprehensive Disposal Facility is 80% filled, DOE said in a Tuesday […]