Department of Energy

The Department of Energy this week unveiled a framework for increasing its workplace diversity as directed by the White House, the agency said in a press release. Under DOE’s new Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility (DEIA) strategic plan, the agency aims to “sustain an inclusive and accessible work environment by strengthening recruitment, retention and promotion, […]

The Department of Energy expects next month to publish its key findings from a review of hundreds of public comments on its ongoing effort to site a federal interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel, an agency spokesperson said this week. DOE is “going through the formal review process” for its November request for information […]

Due in part to this year’s Cerro Pelado wildfire, the New Mexico Environment Department has given the cleanup contractor for the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory until Oct. 30 to perform sampling connected with a hexavalent chromium plume. The state agency officially granted a two-month extension in an Aug. 24 letter to the […]

The prime contractor for the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico is investigating two separate incidents where technical safety requirement violations occurred at the disposal facility for defense-related transuranic waste, a spokesperson said late Wednesday. The incidents that led to the violations occurred Aug. 15 and Aug. 16, said the spokesperson […]

Online data suggests the Portsmouth Site in Pike County, Ohio appears to be the only Department of Energy nuclear cleanup site which still has a high local transmission rate of COVID-19. An Exchange Monitor search of county-by-county data posted on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CDC website listed Pike County, Ohio as about […]

The Department of Energy this week unveiled a framework for increasing its workplace diversity as directed by the White House, the agency said in a press release. Under DOE’s new Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility (DEIA) strategic plan, the agency aims to “sustain an inclusive and accessible work environment by strengthening recruitment, retention and promotion, […]

The procurement office for the Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup branch kicked off its market research this week for small businesses interested in providing technical services to the agency. In addition to the request for information (RFI) for Consolidated Technical Support Services, now provided by incumbent BTP Services, the Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center also […]

The Department of Energy this week unveiled a framework for increasing its workplace diversity as directed by the White House, the agency said in a press release. Under DOE’s new Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility (DEIA) strategic plan, the agency aims to “sustain an inclusive and accessible work environment by strengthening recruitment, retention and promotion, […]

After being criticized for foot-dragging, the Department of Energy and Washington state announced an agreement Aug. 25 to address two leaking underground radioactive tanks at the Hanford Site, as well as future tank leaks. Under a binding order, the federal agency and the Washington Department of Ecology agreed by 2028 to cover the site’s T […]

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit this week gave litigators for contractor Swift & Staley as well as the Department of Justice seven days to specify dates in December they won’t be available for oral arguments. “Briefing is completed in this case,” the appeals court said in a Monday order, instructing litigators […]

Current and former Department of Energy contractors at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio deny responsibility in court papers filed this week for the cancer death of a 13-year-old boy who lived near the nuclear cleanup property. The eight contractors filed a response Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for Southern Ohio to a wrongful death […]

The prime contractor for the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico is investigating two separate incidents where technical safety requirement violations occurred at the disposal facility for defense-related transuranic waste, a spokesperson said late Wednesday. The incidents that led to the violations occurred Aug. 15 and Aug. 16, said the spokesperson […]

Due in part to this year’s Cerro Pelado wildfire, the New Mexico Environment Department has given the cleanup contractor for the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory until Oct. 30 to perform sampling connected with a hexavalent chromium plume. The state agency officially granted a two-month extension in an Aug. 24 letter to the […]

The Department of Energy expects next month to publish its key findings from a review of hundreds of public comments on its ongoing effort to site a federal interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel, an agency spokesperson said Wednesday. DOE is “going through the formal review process” for its November request for information (RFI) […]

The Department of Energy Office of Enterprise Assessments is satisfied overall with safety programs Bechtel National is developing for a waste solidification plant aiming to start up late next year at the Hanford Site in Washington state, but says improvements are needed. One area the agency should address prior to startup of Direct-Feed-Low-Activity Waste (DFLAW) […]

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit this week gave litigators for contractor Swift & Staley as well as the Department of Justice seven days to specify dates in December they won’t be available for oral arguments. “Briefing is completed in this case,” the appeals court said in a Monday order, instructing litigators […]

Web-savvy observers might notice the Department of Energy’s Cincinnati-based Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center on Friday overhauled the look and feel of its current procurements website. The redesigned website appears to provide the same previously-available documents and videos on planned requests for proposals (RFP) and market research in an easier-to-follow format. The website appears to […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board wants the Department of Energy and its legacy cleanup contractor to prioritize a new safety analysis for the waste handling area of the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico that is currently in limited operations. Since January 2020, contractor Newport News Nuclear BWXT-Los Alamos (N3B) has declared 24 […]

For the seven days ended Thursday, Aug. 25, there were 84 confirmed onsite cases of COVID-19 at the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management worksites, according to a spokesperson. That is 69 less than the prior week’s total of 153, the spokesperson said in a Thursday email. The DOE recently said it is discontinuing […]

After being criticized for foot-dragging, the Department of Energy and Washington state announced an agreement Thursday Aug. 25 to address two leaking underground radioactive tanks at the Hanford Site, as well as future tank leaks. Under a binding order, the federal agency and the Washington Department of Ecology agreed by 2028 to cover the site’s […]

Land clearing and preparation of haul roads is underway for the final three super-sized Saltstone Disposal Units at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina, the agency said last week. Work crews are also grading the property and installing underground utility lines for the planned Saltstone Disposal Units (SDUs) 10, 11 and […]

As part of a long-running legal slog, Swift & Staley’s attorneys say they could make the case this year for why the company should have won a small-business set-aside award for landlord services at the Department of Energy’s Paducah Site in Kentucky. But Swift & Staley Inc. (SSI), the incumbent landlord services provider, won’t be […]

Joel Spangenberg, the first executive director of operations for the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, is leaving the agency to become deputy director of the Selective Service System.  Spangenberg, a member of the government’s senior executive service, is leaving the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) and should start his job with Selective Service on […]

Republican congressional staffer Joe Sempolinski is the apparent winner of a special election Tuesday for New York’s 23rd Congressional District, enabling him to serve out the final months in the unexpired term of his old boss, former Rep. Tom Reed (R-N.Y.). According to press reports, Sempolinski captured roughly 52% of the vote against Democrat Max […]

Voters in New York’s 23rd Congressional District, which includes the West Valley Demonstration Project nuclear cleanup site, were to go to the polls Tuesday to decide who they want to fill the final months in the unexpired term of former Rep. Tom Reed (R-N.Y.). Democratic Party candidate Max Della Pia goes up against Republican Joe […]

The Department of Energy said Friday it is dropping most pandemic-related safeguards, such as COVID-19 screening and collection of vaccination data for employees and contractors— although indoor mask mandates remain in place in areas with high transmission rates. The DOE announced its “Updated COVID-19 Workplace Safety and Reentry Framework” in an email to “Team DOE” […]

The outcome of long term talks between Washington state and the federal government about liquid waste cleanup at the Hanford site will inform the Department of Energy’s future budget strategy for the sprawling plutonium production complex, the Secretary of Energy said Friday. Visiting the Hanford site for the first time last week, Jennifer Granholm, now […]

A University of Georgia research associate at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina was “treated and hospitalized for a few days for observation,” after being bitten by a poisonous copperhead snake July 22, a spokesperson said Wednesday. “The individual is fully recovered and returned to work,” Vicky Sutton-Jackson, a spokesperson for […]

The number of active onsite cases of COVID-19 at the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management sites fell this week, according to a spokesperson for the cleanup office. There were 162 active cases of the virus among Environmental Management (EM) and contractor staff who don’t telework, the spokesperson said in a Thursday email. That […]

With less than a month left for nuclear plant operators to apply for the Department of Energy’s civil nuclear credits program, the agency is leaving open the possibility that it will need extra time to review submissions, a spokesperson said this week. Although DOE said in April that it would notify awardees around 30 days […]