Department of Energy

The legacy cleanup contractor at the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico won 70% of its subjective fee and 77% of its overall fee during fiscal 2022. Newport News Nuclear BWXT (N3B) won about $7.2 million out of a potential $9.3 million for the 12-month period ended Sept. 30. The DOE […]

Idaho Environmental Coalition won 86% of its subjective fee and 94% of its total potential fee for five months of cleanup work in 2022 at the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory, including preparing a nuclear waste treatment plant for startup. Idaho Environmental Coalition, which took over from Fluor Idaho on the Idaho Cleanup Project […]

WATERFORD, CT — Congress probably will not allow the Department of Energy to build an interim storage site for nuclear waste any time soon, one of Capitol Hill’s foremost advocates for spent fuel solutions said this week. Federal law passed as part of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act says the Department of Energy has to […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board could be left without a quorum within 10 months if President Joe Biden fails to nominate and win Senate approval of at least one individual before the term ends for a long-serving member. It increasingly appears 2022 will draw to a close without the White House nominating anyone to […]

WATERFORD, CT — The Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy will begin looking for a new head of spent fuel and waste disposition soon, the head of the office said this week. DOE plans to open applications for deputy assistant secretary of spent fuel and waste disposition “in the coming days,” Assistant Secretary of […]

Amentum-led Washington River Protection Solutions claimed 82% of its subjective fee and 87% of its total potential fee for its tank management work at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state for the 2022 fiscal year, the agency reported Tuesday. Also on Tuesday, DOE officials at Hanford issued the latest fee performance documents […]

The company in charge of decommissioning a shuttered Michigan nuclear power plant said this week that it would make another attempt to restart the facility via a federal bailout scheme. Although it had previously tamped down the possibility that it could participate in the second round of the Department of Energy’s civil nuclear credits program, […]

Savannah River Mission Completion, the BWX Technologies-led liquid waste contractor, received high marks for its opening months on the job at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina. Also this week, DOE issued fee scorecards for three other contractors at the federal complex adjacent to the Georgia state line. The liquid-waste contractor […]

The Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup branch would see its annual budget increase to nearly $8.3 billion, or $359 million than the $7.9 billion it received during fiscal 2022, under an omnibus 2023 spending bill released Tuesday and passed by the Senate Thursday. It’s the same figure the Senate Appropriations Committee recommended this summer and […]

The Department of Energy last week issued a task order for Jacobs-led Four Rivers Nuclear Partnership to continue with shipment and destruction of legacy R-114 refrigerant, better known under the brand name Freon, from the Paducah Site in Kentucky. Four Rivers, which also has Fluor and BWX Technologies on its team, received its $16 million […]

The outgoing prime contractor for the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., earned 66% of its subjective fee and about 72% of its total potential fee for its work during fiscal 2022, according to a fee scorecard released Tuesday. In a Dec. 20 letter to Nuclear Waste Partnership’s president and project […]

A Veolia affiliate has started operating its new GeoMelt vitrification facility in Andrews County, Texas that will be used to convert certain low-level radioactive wastes into a solid glass form, according to a Tuesday press release. In June, Veolia Nuclear Solutions Federal Service formally dedicated the GeoMelt facility at the Waste Control Specialists site in […]

The New Mexico Environment Department on Tuesday kicked off a 60-day comment period on a 10-year permit renewal for the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, with the state fighting the federal government’s attempt to keep the mine’s closure date open-ended. The DOE has said it needs the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) to […]

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) took to Twitter Tuesday to praise an increase in cleanup funding for the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in the fiscal 2023 omnibus bill, and remind President Joe Biden’s White House more is expected in the future. “The federal funding bill includes a $141 million funding INCREASE for the Hanford […]

The New Mexico Environment Department on Tuesday kicked off a 60-day comment period on a 10-year permit renewal for the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, with the state fighting the federal government’s attempt to keep the mine’s closure date open-ended. The DOE has said it needs the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) to […]

A Veolia affiliate has started operating its new GeoMelt vitrification facility in Andrews County, Texas that will be used to convert certain low-level radioactive wastes into a solid glass form, according to a Tuesday press release. In June, Veolia Nuclear Solutions Federal Service formally dedicated the GeoMelt facility at the Waste Control Specialists site in […]

The long-running, closed-door talks between Washington state and federal agencies over future cleanup of the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site are continuing, a Washington state Department of Ecology spokesman said Tuesday. “Holistic negotiations are still ongoing,” Ryan Miller, communications manager for Ecology said in a Tuesday email response to an Exchange Monitor inquiry. “The parties […]

The outgoing prime contractor for the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., earned 66% of its subjective fee and about 72% of its total potential fee for its work during fiscal 2022, according to a fee scorecard released Tuesday. In a Dec. 20 letter to Nuclear Waste Partnership’s president and project […]

Thanks to emergency funding from Congress, the Department of Energy’s civilian nuclear power program will get about what the White House asked for in 2023 under a proposed spending plan unveiled by congressional appropriators early Tuesday morning. Under usual 2023 appropriations, DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy (NE) should get around $1.5 billion from the spending […]

Amentum-led Washington River Protection Solutions claimed 82% of its subjective fee and 87% of its total potential fee for its tank management work at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state for the 2022 fiscal year, the agency reported Tuesday. Also on Tuesday, DOE officials at Hanford issued the latest fee performance documents […]

The Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup branch would see its annual budget swell to nearly $8.3 billion, or $359 million than the $7.9 billion it received during fiscal 2022, under an omnibus 2023 spending bill released Tuesday. It’s the same figure the Senate Appropriations Committee recommended this summer after the House approves the $7.9 billion […]

WATERFORD, CT — Congress probably will not allow the Department of Energy to build an interim storage site for nuclear waste any time soon, one of Capitol Hill’s foremost advocates for spent fuel solutions said here Tuesday. Federal law passed as part of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act says the Department of Energy has to […]

WATERFORD, CT — The Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy will begin looking for a new head of spent fuel and waste disposition soon, the head of the office said here Tuesday. DOE plans to open applications for deputy assistant secretary of spent fuel and waste disposition “in the coming days,” Assistant Secretary of […]

The company in charge of decommissioning a shuttered Michigan nuclear power plant said Monday that it would make another attempt to restart the facility via a federal bailout scheme. Although it had previously tamped down the possibility that it could participate in the second round of the Department of Energy’s civil nuclear credits program, a […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board could be left without a quorum within 10 months if President Joe Biden fails to nominate and win Senate approval of at least one individual before the term ends for a long-serving member. It increasingly appears 2022 will draw to a close without the White House nominating anyone to […]

Although a drone used to probe the innards of a highly-radioactive calcine storage facility at the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory got stuck inside last month, it poses no threat to successful removal of the calcine, federal officials said recently. “On the third flight, in which the drone attempted to collect radiological data, a […]

The Department of Energy last week issued a task order for Jacobs-led Four Rivers Nuclear Partnership to continue with shipment and destruction of legacy R-114 refrigerant, better known under the brand name Freon, from the Paducah Site in Kentucky. Four Rivers, which also has Fluor and BWX Technologies on its team, received its $16 million […]

On Thursday, Congress passed the $858-billion 2023 National Defense Authorization Act and a bill to keep the Department of Energy and the rest of the U.S. government running at fiscal 2022 spending levels for another week. The defense authorization bill awaited the signature of President Joe Biden at deadline friday. The stopgap budget, signed Friday […]

Sam Brinton, hired over the summer to lead the Department of Energy’s efforts to find a disposal solution for the nation’s spent nuclear fuel, was fired from the agency following multiple accusations of felony theft, according to reports. Brinton was removed from their post as DOE’s deputy assistant secretary for spent fuel and waste disposition, […]

The incoming Bechtel National prime for the Departments of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico expects to get most of its hiring done by mid-January, according to the new contractor website. “We are working diligently to complete the majority of the hiring activities by mid-January and declare readiness to perform operations by late […]