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.
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Contracts & Procurement
EM biz office shops around for procurement support services
The Department of Energy’s Cincinnati-based Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center is in the market for small companies to support upcoming procurements in the weapons complex. The Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center (EMCBC) on Tuesday published a combined sources sought and request for information for small businesses designated as an Indian Tribe or Alaska Native Corporation […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
Pandemic rules over, but Hanford workers lawyers want to keep litigating COVID suit
The White House has ended remaining COVID-19 federal jobsite vaccination rules triggered by two 2021 executive orders but attorneys for 315 workers at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site say the legal fight should go on. The administration of President Joe Biden (D) and other defendants in David Donovan versus Brian Vance “have not relinquished […]
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Reactor Licensing & Regulation
NRC readies environmental review on stranded Los Alamos waste at WCS
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission could issue a Federal Register notice this week of a draft environmental review to allow Waste Control Specialists to move stranded Department of Energy transuranic waste to a different location within the company’s 1,300-acre property in preparation for its ultimate removal from Texas, a federal spokesperson said Tuesday. The public notice, […]
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Vitrification & Grout
Contractor plans steady climb to double SWPF throughput
The Department of Energy aims to use an advanced new solvent by the end of fiscal 2025 to improve the numbers at the Salt Waste Processing Facility at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, a cleanup contractor boss told a federal advisory board Tuesday. Other glitches at the Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF) should […]
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Interim Storage & Waste Disposal
To save space, ARPA-E seeks information on transmutation of nuclear waste
The Department of Energy wants to hear by June 16 from entities doing research and development on technology to transmute nuclear waste into other things, the agency wrote Monday in a request for information. DOE’s Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E) seeks “novel and disruptive technologies that are early in the R&D cycle” and […]
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Vitrification & Grout
Savannah River citizen panel updated on salt waste, security, NNSA transition
State officials signed off last week on a Department of Energy request to delay installation of what’s known as Next Generation Solvent at the Salt Waste Processing Facility at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, a federal advisory board heard Monday. The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control on May 8 approved […]
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Contracts & Procurement
DOE to delay transition to BWXT-led tank team at Hanford pending court protest
The Department of Energy will not begin transition to a new BWX Technologies-led contractor at the Hanford Site in Washington state until a legal challenge of the $45-billion liquid-waste contract is resolved in court, according to a Friday court filing. The Department of Justice confirmed May 8 that DOE would stay performance of the potentially […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
Oak Ridge, firm searching for new city manager
Oak Ridge, Tenn., City Council is expected to discuss its ongoing search for a new city manager during a regular meeting Tuesday following the May 5 retirement of Mark Watson, 68. Watson is retiring after holding the Oak Ridge post for more than a dozen years. Watson has served as a city manager in four […]
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Transuranic Waste
WIPP appears headed for best year since 2017 reopening
The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico appears headed for its busiest calendar year since the disposal site reopened in 2017. The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) received 47 shipments of defense-related transuranic waste during the month of April, based upon a search of DOE’s public website for the facility on […]
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Contracts & Procurement
Wrap Up: DOE needs procurement people; SRS getting new security booths; LANL staff honored
The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management is looking to beef up its staff devoted to procurement through what it calls the Environmental Management Career Acquisition Program, DOE said Friday. “Given how integral acquisition and contracting is to how we conduct our work, ensuring continuity in the procurement function is essential to the [Environmental […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
In rare move, Atkins-led losing bidder skips GAO, takes DOE to court over $45B Hanford award
An Atkins-led team’s decision to bypass the Government Accountability Office and take a Department of Energy bid protest straight to the Court of Federal Claims is rare but not shocking given that $45 billion hangs in the balance, industry people told Exchange Monitor this week. Hanford Tank Disposition Alliance, which also includes Jacobs and Westinghouse […]
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Contracts & Procurement
GAO denies bid protest over Centerra SRS security contract
The Government Accountability Office this week denied a bid protest challenging the Department of Energy’s award to Centerra of a new security contract at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. In a redacted version of the decision posted online Thursday, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) dismissed Securitas-led SRS Critical Infrastructure Security’s (SCIS) argument that […]
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Decommissioning
84% of Moab uranium mill tailings relocated, liaison says
A contractor for the Department of Energy has removed 13.4 million tons at the Moab uranium tailings site in Utah and transported the debris to a disposal facility near Crescent Junction, a local advisory panel heard recently. “Approximately 96,991 tons of tailings and mill debris were moved in March 2023,” Jessica Thacker, a liaison for […]
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Contracts & Procurement
Proposals due by June 26 on national small biz cleanup contract
The Department of Energy’s final solicitation for small business nuclear deactivation and demolition contractors has hit the streets. Responses to the DOE Office of Environmental Management final request for proposals (RFP) is June 26 for the Small Business Nationwide Deactivation, Decommissioning and Removal procurement, the agency said in the cover letter published Friday. The DOE […]
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Contracts & Procurement
BWXT earnings rise behind Hanford tanks, other government deals
Earnings rose at BWX Technologies, Lynchburg, Va., in the first quarter, which the nuclear services and manufacturing company attributed largely to its government operations. Net earnings for the first quarter ended March 31 were $61 million or $0.67 per share up from $59.1 million, or $0.64 a share, in the year-ago quarter. Quarterly revenue was […]
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Uranium Enrichment & Fuel Cycle
BWXT to process up to twice as much uranium after nearly two tons of scrap found at Y-12
The National Nuclear Security Administration plans to have BWX Technologies process nearly twice as much high-assay low-enriched uranium as recently planned after more than a metric ton of the material was found at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee. A notice of intent filed May 3 on the government’s contracting website outlines NNSA plans […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
Labor Department to discuss benefits for sick nuclear weapons workers at Hanford
The U.S. Department of Labor invited both current and former nuclear-weapons workers to Richland, Wash., near the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site, to discuss eligibility for occupational illness benefits. The Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act outreach session will be held at 9 a.m. Pacific Time at the Holiday Inn Richland, according to a […]
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High-Level & Tank Waste
State, feds, environmental group reach accord on Hanford’s leaking tanks
Washington state, the Department of Energy and the public interest group Heart of America Northwest, have reached a settlement on how the government agencies should respond to leaks of underground radioactive waste tanks at the Hanford Site. The formal settlement agreement was filed with the Washington’s Pollution Control Hearings Board Wednesday, the parties announced. This […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
Jacobs plans to spin off government services biz
Jacobs Solutions, Dallas, announced Tuesday it will spin off its Critical Mission Solutions business, which coordinates business with the Department of Energy, late next year. The DOE business, accounted by the parent company as an equity share from the joint venture companies that manage DOE sites, is only a small part of Critical Mission Solutions […]
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Uranium Enrichment & Fuel Cycle
First big shipment of uranium oxide cylinders arrives at WCS from Paducah
The Department of Energy said Tuesday 60 uranium-oxide storage cylinders recently arrived by rail at a private radioactive waste disposal site in West Texas from the Paducah Site in Kentucky. DOE’s Office of Environmental Management said in a press release the 60 cylinders recently arrived at Waste Control Specialists in Andrews County, Texas from Paducah. […]
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Vitrification & Grout
IWTU starts running 50% radioactive waste
The recently-commissioned treatment plant at the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory is now processing an evenly mixed blend of simulant and liquid sodium-bearing radioactive waste, an agency spokesperson said this week. The $1.4-billion Integrated Waste Treatment Unit (IWTU) at the Idaho National Laboratory, which began radiological operations April 11, has progressed to a half-and-half […]
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High-Level & Tank Waste
State, feds, environmental group reach accord on Hanford’s leaking tanks
Washington state, the Department of Energy and the public interest group Heart of America Northwest, have reached a settlement on how the government agencies should respond to leaks of underground radioactive waste tanks at the Hanford Site. The formal settlement agreement was filed with the Washington’s Pollution Control Hearings Board Wednesday, the parties announced. This […]
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Budget & Policy
Labor Department to discuss benefits for sick nuclear weapons workers at Hanford
The U.S. Department of Labor invited both current and former nuclear-weapons workers to Richland, Wash., near the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site, to discuss eligibility for occupational illness benefits. The Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act outreach session will be held at 9 a.m. Pacific Time at the Holiday Inn Richland, according to a […]
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Contracts & Procurement
GAO denies bid protest over Centerra SRS security contract
The Government Accountability Office Tuesday denied a bid protest challenging the Department of Energy’s award of a new security contract to Centerra at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. While a redacted version of the Government Accountability Office (GAO) opinion likely won’t be available for several days, the federal watchdog posted a notice on […]
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Contracts & Procurement
Rival bidder for Hanford tank contract sues DOE over $45B award
An Atkins-led group that bid and lost on the Department of Energy’s $45-billion Integrated Tank Contract at the Hanford Site in Washington state bypassed the usual channels of protest and sued DOE over the award. Hanford Tank Disposition Alliance, a team with Atkins Nuclear Secured, Jacobs Technology, and Westinghouse Government Services, filed suit under seal […]
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Decommissioning
84% of Moab uranium mill tailings relocated, liaison says
A contractor for the Department of Energy has removed 13.4 million tons at the Moab uranium tailings site in Utah and transported the debris to a disposal facility near Crescent Junction, a local advisory panel heard recently. “Approximately 96,991 tons of tailings and mill debris were moved in March 2023,” Jessica Thacker, a liaison for […]
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Budget & Policy
Granholm to testify before House appropriators on grid security subcommittee
A subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee plans a hearing this week to question White House priorities on the Department of Energy’s budget request for fiscal 2024. The energy, climate, & grid security subcommittee will hear testimony from Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm at 2 p.m. Eastern Time on May 11, according to […]
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Contracts & Procurement
First BWXT call after Hanford tank award on slate for Monday
BWX Technologies CEO Rex Geveden could share new details today on a 10-year, $45-billion Department of Energy contract recently awarded to a joint venture the company is leading at the Hanford Site in Washington state. Lynchburg, Va.,-based BWXT will discuss the company’s first quarter 2023 financial earnings today at 5 p.m. Eastern time during a […]
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Contracts & Procurement
Fluor earnings dip but CEO bullish on DOE work, Hanford
Earnings fell at Fluor, Irving, Texas, in the first quarter, which the government contractor attributed to charges on a defense contract and losses associated with the sale of an international subsidiary. But in an analysts conference call following the morning earnings release, Fluor CEO David Constable was upbeat about prospects for the company’s work in […]
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Transuranic Waste
Wrap Up: $$24.5M earmarked for minority grants; UCOR manager appointed to Tenn. board; longtime WIPP spokesman calls it a career
In its latest effort to expand and diversify its pipeline of future workers, the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management said it is making up to $24.5 million in federal money available to its Minority Serving Institutions Partnership Program. The funding opportunity announcement should result in multiple financial assistance awards ranging from 12-36 months, […]










