Department of Energy

PHOENIX — Demolition of the X-326 Process Building could be completed this July at the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio and around the time, depleted uranium hexafluoride conversion operations might resume at the former gaseous diffusion plant, speakers told the attendees of Waste Management Symposia here Wednesday. Remediation contractor Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth aims to […]

The final fiscal 2022 compromise budget reached by Congress this week continues the era of flush funding for the Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup branch, which swells to nearly $7.9 billion for the 12 months ending Sept. 30, up from $7.6 billion. Under the spending plan, which on Thursday morning awaited President Joe Biden’s signature, […]

PHOENIX — After finishing major demolition and remediation last fall of the Y-12 National Security Complex’s Biology center or “mouse house,” the Department of Energy cleanup contractor is “very close” to turning the property back to Y-12 prime Consolidated Nuclear Services, a speaker told the Waste Management Symposia session Wednesday. “It is imminent,” Tommy Morgan, […]

Idaho-based North Wind Portage has received the green light from the Department of Energy to commence transition to its new Moab Remedial Action Contract, potentially worth $614 million over 10 years for cleanup of uranium mill tailings in Utah. “The transition task order may last up to 60 days,” a DOE spokesperson said by email […]

Over the next 10 years, the Department of Energy’s $7.6-billion Office of Environmental Management hopes to realize several of its long-desired objectives around the nuclear weapons cleanup complex. According to its Strategic Vision 2022-2032, published Tuesday by the Environmental Management (EM) branch, the feds expect to start converting low-level radioactive tank waste into glass at […]

PHOENIX — The Department of Energy planned to give some cash to communities interested in hosting a federal interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel but the agency’s spent fuel czar declined to provide details during a panel discussion here Tuesday. DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy is “in the development phases” of a funding opportunity […]

PHOENIX — The final solicitations could be out in May for multi-billion-dollar contracts at the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio and the Paducah Site in Kentucky, an agency procurement manager said here Tuesday. Aaron Deckard, procurement director for DOE’s Cincinnati-based Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center, offered the assessment at the agency’s spring quarterly […]

The Department of Energy was eyeing an “easy fix” for the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit in Idaho, knocked offline Feb. 26 during the final demo run preceding treatment of nearly 1 million gallons of liquid radioactive waste, an agency official said here Tuesday. The long-delayed Integrated Waste Treatment Unit (IWTU) was processing a simulant, non-radioactive […]

PHOENIX— The Department of Energy’s $7.6 billion Office of Environmental Management is now responsible for only 15 cleanup sites, with the Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York coming off the board. Meanwhile, DOE Environmental Management planned to sign a new collaboration agreement with the United Kingdom’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority later today (Monday) at the 2022 […]

Todd Shrader, second in command at the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management since 2019, is leaving the cleanup office for a clean energy job at the agency, according to an internal email sent Monday. Longtime DOE hand Candice Robertson will step in for Shrader on an acting basis, William (Ike) White, senior advisor […]

This past week there were only 65 confirmed cases of COVID-19 within the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management, down from 82 the prior week, according to an agency spokesperson. By comparison only a month ago, with the nation still experiencing a surge in the highly transmissible Omicron variant, there were 775 cases within […]

A federal judge in Knoxville overseeing litigation brought by a half-dozen employees refusing vaccination against COVID-19 at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, has called for parties in the case to confer with him by telephone March 25. U.S. District Judge Charles Atchley Jr. issued an order Monday setting the scheduling conference in […]

Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) is back in the U.S. Senate more than a month after the 49-year-old lawmaker suffered a stroke. “Great to be back at work!” Luján said on this Twitter feed Thursday. The post includes pictures of the legislator in a meeting room, in what appears to be a Congressional corridor and […]

The Department of Energy and its semi-autonomous National Nuclear Security Administration are window shopping at this stage for a ground-mounted solar-electric system at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) posted a request for information Thursday on the SAM.gov federal procurement website for help “in determining the optimal […]

Four Rivers Nuclear Partnership, the Department of Energy contractor in charge of remediation at the Paducah Site in Kentucky, was deemed mostly “satisfactory” during fiscal 2021 and earned roughly half of its potential “adjective” fee, according to a recently-released scorecard from the agency. The joint venture made up of Jacobs, Fluor and BWX Technologies, earned […]

A bipartisan bill introduced in the Senate this week would prevent the government from using federal funds to develop privately-owned interim storage facilities for spent nuclear fuel, according to a press release. If it became law, the bipartisan legislation unveiled Wednesday by Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) would bar the feds from […]

Fewer people than five years ago want to share ideas about how to site a federally owned interim storage site for nuclear waste, a Department of Energy official told the federal government’s nuclear agency this week. As of Tuesday, DOE had gotten just around 125 comments on its interim storage request for information (RFI) since […]

The Department of Energy could begin doling out the first installments of credits for financially-troubled nuclear power plants this summer, the agency’s nuclear fuel cycle chief said this week. Mid-June “is the best estimate we can offer” on when DOE’s initial payments could go out, said Andrew Griffith, the Office of Nuclear Energy’s deputy assistant […]

The White House this week officially nominated Kathryn Huff to lead the Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy, sending her nomination to the Senate about a month after announcing its intention to do so. Next up for Huff, whose nomination to become the deputy assistant secretary of nuclear energy (NE-1) in DOE’s Office of […]

The Department of Energy’s facility to treat sodium-bearing radioactive waste at the Idaho National Laboratory was taken offline again after getting 17 days into a scheduled 50-day demonstration intended to clear the way for radioactive operations. The DOE and cleanup contractor Idaho Environmental Coalition decided to curtail operations of the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit (IWTU) […]

A New Mexico citizens group and the Department of Energy filed a proposed settlement agreement Tuesday with a U.S. District Court in a long-running legal fight over a 2016 consent decree governing legacy nuclear cleanup around the Los Alamos National Laboratory. A 33-page agreement outlining proposed changes to the 2016 “compliance order on consent” was […]

After being offline for nearly two years due to a combination of the COVID-19 pandemic and plant upgrades, the Department of Energy says conversion of depleted uranium hexafluoride to a more stable form is resuming at the Paducah Site in Kentucky. Likewise, depleted uranium hexafluoride (DUF6) conversion into uranium oxide at the Portsmouth Site in […]

A joint venture led by BWX Technologies, Savannah River Mission Completion, has taken over liquid waste operations now at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina. Savannah River Mission Completion (SRMC), which began its transition at the end of November, was to officially assume control of the waste management operations from Amentum-led […]

Four Rivers Nuclear Partnership, the Department of Energy contractor in charge of remediation at the Paducah Site in Kentucky, was deemed mostly “satisfactory” during fiscal 2021 and earned roughly half of its potential “adjective” fee, according to a recently-released scorecard from the agency. The joint venture made up of Jacobs, Fluor and BWX Technologies, earned […]

The Department of Energy Monday released fee scorecards for four contractors in charge of major reclamation, tank waste management, laboratory operation and site services at the sprawling Hanford Site in Washington state. In its first eight months on the job, Amentum-led Central Plateau Cleanup Co. (CPCC) won 79%, or $20.8 million, of a potential $26.5 […]

A bipartisan bill introduced Wednesday in the Senate would prevent the government from using federal funds to develop privately-owned interim storage facilities for spent nuclear fuel, according to a press release. If it became law, the bipartisan legislation unveiled Wednesday by Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) would bar the feds from using […]

Fewer people than five years ago want to share ideas about how to site a federally owned interim storage site for nuclear waste, a Department of Energy official told the federal government’s nuclear agency Wednesday. As of Tuesday, DOE had gotten just around 125 comments on its interim storage request for information (RFI) since the […]

A New Mexico citizens group and the Department of Energy filed a proposed settlement agreement Tuesday with a U.S. District Court in a long-running legal fight over a 2016 consent decree governing legacy nuclear cleanup around the Los Alamos National Laboratory. A 33-page agreement outlining proposed changes to the 2016 “compliance order on consent” was […]

The Department of Energy Monday released fee scorecards for four contractors in charge of major reclamation, tank waste management, laboratory operation and site services at the sprawling Hanford Site in Washington state. In its first eight months on the job, Amentum-led Central Plateau Cleanup Co. (CPCC) won 79%, or $20.8 million, of a potential $26.5 […]

Four Rivers Nuclear Partnership, the Department of Energy contractor in charge of remediation at the Paducah Site in Kentucky, was deemed mostly “satisfactory” during fiscal 2021 and earned roughly half of its potential “adjective” fee, according to a recently-released scorecard from the agency. The joint venture made up of Jacobs, Fluor and BWX Technologies, earned […]