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.

  • House passes Inflation Reduction Act, another lifeline for U.S. nuclear fleet

    The House of Representatives on Friday passed a sweeping spending package that would, if enacted, give economically-troubled nuclear power plants another financial boost in addition to the Department of Energy’s ongoing bailout program. Among the provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act, which the House passed Friday evening on a 220-207 party line vote, the bill […]

  • Appeals court could hear Swift & Staley arguments this year; legal papers unsealed

    A federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., could hear oral arguments as early as October in the long-running litigation on whether Swift & Staley should have been disqualified for the new Paducah Infrastructure Support Services Contract awarded by the Department of Energy in December 2020. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit Tuesday […]

  • New Mexico group presses for a WIPP end date, more transparency

    A New Mexico citizens group that is a frequent critic of the Department of Energy wants a firm end date for closure of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant  near Carlsbad, N.M., and greater transparency surrounding the federal transuranic waste program. In addition, Don Hancock, nuclear waste program director at Southwest Research and Information Center, told […]

  • Texas, DOE remain in holding pattern over stranded waste at WCS

    The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality is still “considering potential enforcement action” against the Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup branch for failure to move stranded drums of transuranic waste out of Waste Control Specialists’ facility in Andrews County, a commission spokesperson said last week. The DOE Office of Environmental Management wrote the state July 11 […]

  • APTIM-North Wind construction contract at Oak Ridge could be extended

    An APTIM-North Wind joint venture that ran into bad luck and bedrock while building the Outfall 200 Mercury Treatment Facility at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee may have its contract extended beyond the current Dec. 5 expiration, a Department of Energy spokesperson said recently. “The Mercury Treatment Facility is scheduled to be operational in […]

  • BWXT reports strong quarter on rising earnings, revenue

    While it did not generate much chatter Monday during a quarterly earnings call focused on strong numbers, BWX Technologies is in the running for billions more in government contracts across the Department of Energy weapons complex over the next year. Having already won the $21-billion, 15-year Savannah River Integrated Mission contract for liquid waste cleanup […]

  • COVID-19 vaccination lawsuit against SRS prime dropped

    A lawsuit against the Department of Energy’s prime contractor at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, filed by about 80 employees who objected to its COVID-19 vaccination policy, was dismissed. The plaintiffs, led by Shawn Phillip Rhoades, and defendant Savannah River Nuclear Solutions filed a joint motion for dismissal dated Thursday in the U.S. […]

  • Groups ask President Biden to increase funding for Hanford cleanup

    With Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm set to visit the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state Friday a coalition of organizations wrote President Joe Biden Tuesday urging a $1 billion increase in cleanup funding for the former plutonium production site. “Given its role as the workhorse for plutonium production, the scope of Hanford’s cleanup […]

  • Newhouse edges Democrat; incumbent Herrera Beutler concedes primary loss

    Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.), whose 4th congressional district includes the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site, is the evident winner of an open primary, despite being one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach then-President Donald Trump following the Jan. 6 capitol insurrection. But Newhouse’s fellow House Appropriations Committee member in a neighboring district, who […]

  • First two TSCR batches have pretreated 380K gallons of waste at Hanford

    The Department of Energy says the Tank-Side Cesium Removal project at the Hanford Site in Washington state has now pretreated 380,000 gallons of low-level radioactive tank waste before entering its latest outage on July 20. More than 182,000 gallons of tank waste was treated in Batch 2, which began on June 18 and concluded July […]

  • National Academies panel to study nuclear threats and global terror

    In keeping with a directive by Congress, a National Academies panel holds a fact-finding session next week on nuclear threats and weapons of mass destruction terrorism. The Nuclear Studies and Radiation Board (NRSB) of the National Academies plans a hybrid meeting for information-sharing between 12:45pm – 4 p.m. Eastern Time on Monday Aug. 15. The […]

  • First two TSCR batches have pretreated 380K gallons of waste at Hanford

    The Department of Energy says the Tank-Side Cesium Removal project at the Hanford Site in Washington state has now pretreated 380,000 gallons of low-level radioactive tank waste before entering its latest outage on July 20. More than 182,000 gallons of tank waste was treated in Batch 2, which began on June 18 and concluded July […]

  • Incumbent Herrera Beutler concedes primary loss

    Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-Wash.), one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach then-President Donald Trump following the Jan. 6 capitol insurrection, Tuesday conceded her loss in Washington’s 3rd Congressional district primary on Aug. 2. “I’m proud that I always told the truth, stuck to my principles, and did what I knew to be […]

  • Researcher at SRS back at work after venomous snake bite

    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 […]

  • Groups ask President Biden to increase funding for Hanford cleanup

    With Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm set to visit the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state later this week, a coalition of organizations wrote President Joe Biden Tuesday urging a $1 billion increase in cleanup funding for the former plutonium production site. “Given its role as the workhorse for plutonium production, the scope of […]

  • Unsealed documents provide more detail into Swift & Staley contract fight

    A batch of documents were made public Monday after previously being under seal in the ongoing legal battle on whether Swift & Staley should have been disqualified for the new Paducah Infrastructure Support Services Contract awarded by the Department of Energy in December 2020. Swift & Staley, the Justice Department and a rival bidder for […]

  • Number of application for nuclear credits could delay rollout, DOE says

    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 Monday. Although DOE had said in April that it would notify awardees around 30 days […]

  • Newhouse advances to general election; neighbor incumbent Herrera Beutler loses lead

    Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.), one of 10 Republicans who voted to impeach then-President Donald Trump after the Jan. 6 insurrection, holds the No. 1 spot in a primary for his 4th Congressional district, while a similarly-situated Washington incumbent has lost her lead for the crucial runner-up slot in her primary. The Associated Press called the […]

  • COVID-19 vaccination lawsuit against SRS prime dropped

    A lawsuit against the Department of Energy’s prime contractor at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, filed by about 80 employees who objected to its COVID-19 vaccination policy, was dismissed. The plaintiffs, led by Shawn Phillip Rhoades, and defendant Savannah River Nuclear Solutions filed a joint motion for dismissal dated Thursday in the U.S. […]

  • BWXT reports strong quarter on rising earnings, revenue

    While it did not generate much chatter Monday during a quarterly earnings call focused on strong numbers, BWX Technologies is in the running for billions more in government contracts across the Department of Energy weapons complex over the next year. Having already won the $21-billion, 15-year Savannah River Integrated Mission contract for liquid waste cleanup […]

  • Texas, DOE remain in holding pattern over stranded waste at WCS

    The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality is still “considering potential enforcement action” against the Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup branch for failure to move stranded drums of transuranic waste out of Waste Control Specialists’ facility in Andrews County, a commission spokesperson said last week. The DOE Office of Environmental Management wrote the state July 11 […]

  • House to vote Friday on big spending bill with nuclear tax credit, HALEU funding

    The House was scheduled to vote Friday on a $370 billion energy, climate and tax bill that included tax credits for nuclear power plants, a budget increase for DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy and more than half a billion dollars for advanced nuclear reactor fuel. A schedule maintained by the office of House Majority Leader […]

  • New Mexico group presses for a WIPP end date, more transparency

    A New Mexico citizens group that is a frequent critic of the Department of Energy wants a firm end date for closure of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant  near Carlsbad, N.M., and greater transparency surrounding the federal transuranic waste program. In addition, Don Hancock, nuclear waste program director at Southwest Research and Information Center, told […]

  • SRS not dropping high COVID precautions yet

    The Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina will maintain precautions for “high” community rates for transmission of COVID-19, a DOE spokesperson said Monday. Savannah River DOE managers made the decision after learning the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control failed to update its COVID case numbers last week with the […]

  • APTIM-North Wind construction contract at Oak Ridge could be extended

    An APTIM-North Wind joint venture that ran into bad luck and bedrock while building the Outfall 200 Mercury Treatment Facility at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee may have its contract extended beyond the current Dec. 5 expiration, a Department of Energy spokesperson said recently. “The Mercury Treatment Facility is scheduled to be operational in […]

  • Hanford, Oak Ridge, other locations see improvement in local COVID rates

    Counties surrounding the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state, Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee and DOE nuclear cleanup sites in Utah and Nevada no longer have high transmission levels of COVID-19. That is according to the latest data posted on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website Friday. When local CDC […]

  • Wrap Up: UCOR taking over TRU; Hoist replacement at WIPP

    The new Amentum-led cleanup contractor at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee will be taking over transuranic waste operations at the property from North Wind Group later this year, an agency spokesperson confirmed this week.  Transition to United Cleanup Oak Ridge (UCOR) from North Wind was to begin at the end of […]

  • Newhouse still leading in Washington open congressional district primary

    As of Thursday evening, House Appropriations Committee member Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.) was narrowly leading an open primary in his 4th Congressional district that encompasses the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state with a Democratic Party challenger 1,000 votes behind. Newhouse, one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach then-President Donald Trump […]

  • Killing pretreatment facility, embracing grout could curb costs at Hanford, GAO says

    The highly-contaminated Hanford Site in Washington state accounted for over half the environmental liability for the entire Department of Energy, but opportunities exist for curbing increasing costs at the property, according to a congressional watchdog. In a new report, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said DOE could save “tens of billions of dollars” by abandoning […]

  • Fluor CEO points to pending Savannah River extension, increased earnings

    Amid a profitable quarter, Fluor, Irving, Texas, said Friday the Department of Energy plans to extend a Fluor-led joint venture’s tenure as prime contractor at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina for up to five years. During an earnings call, Fluor CEO David Constable also expressed optimism about the company’s chances of landing individual […]