Department of Energy

Irving, Texas-based Fluor said in a press release last week CEO David Constable will also become chairman of the company’s board of directors, with executive chairman Alan Boeckmann deciding not to seek re-election to the board during the upcoming shareholders meeting May 5. “Alan rejoined Fluor’s board as executive chairman in 2019 and has served […]

The Department of Energy is required to “fully cooperate” with the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board and will restrict access in only limited cases such as when a representative of the safety watchdog lacks “an appropriate security clearance,” according to a deal reached this week. A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that the two parties have […]

With increased telecommuting, more feds and contractors are eating their chips and candy at home during the COVID-19 pandemic and this in turn has driven down vending machine proceeds at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina, according to a recent procurement notice. In the notice initially posted Jan. 27 on the […]

The Department of Energy last week issued Amentum-led United Cleanup Oak Ridge its 90-day notice-to-proceed on its potential $8.3-billion, long-term Oak Ridge Reservation Cleanup Contract in Tennessee, a DOE spokesperson said this week in an email. The actual transition begins for  United Cleanup Oak Ridge (UCOR), made up of Amentum, Jacobs and Honeywell, on Feb. […]

Maryland-based Amentum, one of the dominant players in the Department of Energy weapons complex, has completed its $1.9-billion purchase of PAE, a Virginia-based defense and government services contractor, the companies said this week. The deal, which PAE characterized as a “merger” was announced by the parties in October. PAE’s “go-shop” period in which it could […]

A bipartisan bill unveiled last week aims to move a California nuclear power plant’s spent fuel inventory to the top of the Department of Energy’s collection list for when it finally starts accepting nuclear waste for disposal. If the “Spent Fuel Prioritization Act,” reintroduced Wednesday by Reps. Mike Levin (D-Calif.) and Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), became […]

The interested public has until mid-March to submit comments to the Department of Energy on its multi-billion dollar bailout program for struggling nuclear power plants, the agency said in a notice this week. March 17 is the latest date that stakeholders can register their input on DOE’s civil nuclear credit program — a date made […]

The Department of Energy is required to “fully cooperate” with the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board and will restrict access in only limited cases such as when a representative of the safety watchdog lacks “an appropriate security clearance,” according to a deal reached this week. A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that the two parties have […]

The Department of Energy’s $7.6-billion cleanup office will soon move to tear down a land-based reactor in Idaho considered integral to development of the United States first nuclear-powered submarine in the 1950s. The DOE Office of Environmental Management said in a release Tuesday it assumed responsibility for deactivation and demolition of the Submarine 1st Generation […]

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico received eight shipments of defense-related transuranic waste during the month of January, according to the latest data on the public website for the disposal facility. During January the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) received four shipments each from the Idaho National Laboratory and an […]

Eighteen more states, some with Department of Energy nuclear cleanup sites, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, filed legal briefs this week supporting a U.S. District Court judge’s ruling that blocked President Joe Biden from requiring most federal contractor employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Amicus curiae or “friend of the court” briefs were filed […]

Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management staffers at the Los Alamos National Laboratory are preparing to return to onsite work starting Feb. 28, Lee Bishop, deputy designated federal officer for the Northern New Mexico Citizens’ Advisory Board said during an online meeting Wednesday. “Not everybody is coming back into the office, some people have […]

Following the lead of the House of Representatives earlier this month, the U.S. Senate voted 65-to-27 Thursday evening to approve a short-term spending deal to keep the federal government open through March 11. President Joe Biden was expected to sign the latest continuing resolution (CR) in order to prevent a government shutdown today while Democrats […]

By now, even nuclear-industry professionals who shun the Washington, D.C., beltway may know the name Sam Brinton.  In January, senior agency leadership selected Brinton — a 2013 MIT graduate whose master’s thesis was dedicated to used nuclear fuel storage — to be the Department of Energy’s next deputy assistant secretary of spent fuel and waste […]

There were “substantial irregularities” in the Department of Energy’s hiring process for a senior nuclear waste management position, an unidentified DOE employee alleged in a recent letter to the inspector general of the federal government’s personnel agency. In a Feb. 2 letter to Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Deputy Inspector General Norbert Vint, the DOE […]

Eighteen more states, some with Department of Energy nuclear cleanup sites, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, filed legal briefs this week supporting a U.S. District Court judge’s ruling that blocked President Joe Biden from requiring most federal contractor employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Amicus curiae or “friend of the court” briefs were filed […]

The Department of Energy’s $7.6-billion cleanup office will soon move to tear down a land-based reactor in Idaho considered integral to development of the United States first nuclear-powered submarine in the 1950s. The DOE Office of Environmental Management said in a release Tuesday it assumed responsibility for deactivation and demolition of the Submarine 1st Generation […]

The interested public has until mid-March to submit comments to the Department of Energy on its multi-billion dollar bailout program for struggling nuclear power plants, the agency said in a notice Tuesday. March 17 is the latest date that stakeholders can register their input on DOE’s civil nuclear credit program — a date made final […]

With increased telecommuting, more feds and contractors are eating their chips and candy at home during the COVID-19 pandemic and this in turn has driven down vending machine proceeds at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina, according to a recent procurement notice. In the notice initially posted Jan. 27 on the […]

Irving, Texas-based Fluor said in a press release last week CEO David Constable will also become chairman of the company’s board of directors, with executive chairman Alan Boeckmann deciding not to seek re-election to the board during the upcoming shareholders meeting May 5. “Alan rejoined Fluor’s board as executive chairman in 2019 and has served […]

Ben Harp, a Department of Energy manager for several years, has been appointed as an acting senior adviser at the $7.6-million Office of Environmental Management. Harp, a former deputy manager at the Office of River Protection at the Hanford Site in Washington state, is listed on the latest DOE Environmental Management (EM) organization chart published […]

A bipartisan bill unveiled last week aims to move a California nuclear power plant’s spent fuel inventory to the top of the Department of Energy’s collection list for when it finally starts accepting nuclear waste for disposal. If the “Spent Fuel Prioritization Act,” reintroduced Wednesday by Reps. Mike Levin (D-Calif.) and Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), became […]

People reportedly appointed to new senior leadership roles in the Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy, including one person who was supposed to lead the office, had yet to officially start their new jobs as of Monday, nearly a month after the personnel announcements hit. In mid-January, the White House announced that President Joe […]

A recent Government Accountability Office report confirms what most observers already assumed — the COVID-19 pandemic prompted much of the federal workforce at the Department of Energy and elsewhere to abandon their cubicles in favor of telecommuting, although the practice has its own hassles. The DOE found there were limits to its work-from-home efforts especially […]

The Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state is done with its remediation of the Plutonium Finishing Plant, according to a recently-posted staff report from the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board.   The DOE Office of Environmental Management has approved Critical Decision 4 for the cleanup of the Plutonium Finishing Plant (PFP), “marking completion of […]

Expanding on its decision last week to deny a protest of the Department of Energy’s most recent cleanup contract at the Oak Ridge Site, the Government Accountability Office said this week that the agency properly vetted a Veolia-led team’s proposal and took into consideration the team’s relevant past experience with cleanup jobs. The agency’s evaluation […]

With oral arguments yesterday, a long-running legal fight over the $160-million Paducah Infrastructure Support Services set-aside contract awarded in December 2020 could be entering the home stretch. A U.S. Court of Federal Claims judge heard oral arguments Thursday  on whether DOE contractor Swift & Staley exceeded size limits for the contract at the former gaseous […]

When it comes to potential host communities for a future federal interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel, the Department of Energy plans to cast a wide net, the agency’s acting nuclear waste chief told members of a California decommissioning advisory board this week. DOE’s November request for information (RFI) on federal interim storage is […]

The Department of Energy and the contractor that built the Salt Waste Processing Facility are preparing to restart the plant deemed central to emptying radioactive waste tanks at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, a spokesperson said Friday. “The efforts to remove the particulates from the process chemicals have been completed and the facility […]

With the promise of a reliable nitrogen supply apparently in hand, the Department of Energy is preparing to resume a final test run to demonstrate operations of a long-awaited plant to treat sodium-bearing radioactive waste at the Idaho National Laboratory, according to a state official. “Warm up” of the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit (IWTU) began […]