Department of Energy

Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm this week praised the Senate’s Tuesday confirmation of Ali Nouri by voice vote to serve as DOE’s assistant secretary for congressional and Intergovernmental affairs. “As both a scientist and a proven consensus-builder, Ali will bring unparalleled perspective and expertise to his work with Congress and our federal, state, and local […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission officially ended work on a proposed rulemaking for reprocessing spent nuclear fuel this week after staff recommended discontinuing the process, according to an agency memo. According to the memo dated Thursday, NRC voted to approve the staff recommendation to discontinue the rulemaking, which was proposed in 2013. In the March 5 […]

Nearly a hundred advanced nuclear energy projects are getting cash from the federal government, with the bulk going toward nuclear waste research, the Department of Energy announced this week in the midst of budget season. Most of the $61 million DOE is awarding to advanced nuclear research programs, $58 million, will go to universities, the […]

WASHINGTON — As federal budget season wears on, details are still scarce on the Joe Biden administration’s plans for a federal interim storage site for the nation’s spent nuclear fuel, and one key appropriator isn’t happy with the lack of specifics. Asked after a Department of Energy budget hearing Wednesday in the Senate Appropriations energy […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management currently has 48 active confirmed cases of COVID-19, which is five less than a week ago, a spokesperson for the cleanup office said in a Thursday email. The number of weekly confirmed cases in the cleanup complex stayed within a tight range of 47 to 53 for […]

A group composed of Battelle and a quintet of universities from two states is now operating the Department of Energy’s Savannah River National Laboratory in South Carolina. The Battelle Savannah River Alliance (BSRA) took over management of the lab Monday, officially announcing the news via Twitter: “Proud to be @Battelle’s newest national laboratory! Our team […]

Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm told the Senate Armed Services Committee Thursday morning her agency’s Office of Environmental Management remains on track to commence treatment of low-activity tank waste by the end of 2023 at the Hanford Site in Washington state. The startup of direct feed low activity waste (DFLAW) operations would mark the beginning […]

The Central Plateau Cleanup Co. will begin cocooning the K East Reactor later this year, Brian Stickney, the Department of Energy’s deputy Hanford manager for the agency’s Richland office, said last week.  Stickney spoke June 16 at a public briefing on Hanford in general for the public. The briefing was conducted via Internet with about […]

A federal lawsuit brought against current and former Department of Energy contractors at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio is timely because it was filed soon after the public learned of radioactive contamination at a public school outside the fence, plaintiffs said in a filing last week. Ursula McGlone and fellow plaintiffs argue in a June […]

A month-long moratorium on transuranic waste shipments using filler material commonly known as dunnage ended in early June, a spokesperson for DOE’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant said this week. The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico notified DOE that transuranic waste generators were estimating the weight of their payloads, including the dunnage, instead of […]

Bid protests of large federal contracts are a fact of life, a top acquisition manager at the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management said during an online forum Thursday. This is evidenced by the fact that two contract awards have been challenged in a little more than a week with the Government Accountability Office […]

The Department of Energy expects to use one of five firms selected in December for a task order to move transuranic waste currently stored at the Separations Process Research Unit facility in Schenectady County. N.Y., an agency spokesperson said via email this week. EnergySolutions, Perma-Fix Environmental Services, Unitech Services Group, Waste Control Specialists and Veolia […]

A Bechtel-led group, one of four losing bidders for DOE’s Idaho Cleanup Project contract, last week filed a bid protest over the potential 10-year, $6.4-billion nuclear-weapons cleanup pact. Idaho Remediation LLC filed a protest dated June 15 with the Government Accountability Office (GAO) over last month’s award to Idaho Environmental Coalition — made up of […]

WASHINGTON — As federal budget season wears on, details are still scarce on the Joe Biden administration’s plans for a federal interim storage site for the nation’s spent nuclear fuel, and one key appropriator isn’t happy with the lack of specifics. Asked after a Department of Energy budget hearing Wednesday in the Senate Appropriations energy […]

Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) held a town hall-style meeting Saturday in Piketon, Ohio, to discuss local concerns over open-air demolition of the X-326 Process Building at the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site and radioactive contamination discovered around a local school. Ryan and Zack Space, former congressman for Ohio’s 18th district, were scheduled to participate in […]

For the second time in two weeks, a senator from Washington state insisted Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm raise the Joe Biden administration’s financial commitment to long-term Hanford Site cleanup and continue payments to localities bordering Department of Energy nuclear facilities. Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) hammered at the topics during Granholm’s Wednesday appearance before the […]

WASHINGTON — As federal budget season wears on, details are still scarce on the Joe Biden administration’s plans for a federal interim storage site for the nation’s spent nuclear fuel, and one key appropriator isn’t happy with the lack of information. When asked after a Department of Energy budget hearing Wednesday in the Senate Appropriations […]

Final solicitations are coming this autumn for multibillion-dollar contracts at the Hanford Site in Washington and the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, the Department of Energy said Wednesday. The final request for proposals (RFP) for the potential $21.5-billion Savannah River Site Management and Operating Contract should hit the street in September while the potential […]

The Department of Energy expects to use one of five firms selected in December for a task order to move transuranic waste currently stored at the Separations Process Research Unit facility in Schenectady County. N.Y., an agency spokesperson said via email Monday. EnergySolutions, Perma-Fix Environmental Services, Unitech Services Group, Waste Control Specialists and Veolia Nuclear […]

Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm and the acting chief of DOE’s semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration, Charles Verdon, were to face questions from a Senate Appropriations Committee panel at 10 a.m. for the first time since the Joe Biden administration rolled out its Department of Energy budget request for fiscal 2022. The hearing by the […]

Nearly a hundred advanced nuclear energy projects are getting cash from the federal government, with the bulk going toward nuclear waste research, the Department of Energy announced Tuesday in the midst of budget season. Most of the $61 million DOE is awarding to advanced nuclear research programs, $58 million, will go to universities, the agency […]

Transuranic waste generators were for years estimating the weight of their payloads instead of weighing them out, so the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico has temporarily stopped taking shipments with dunnage — material used to fill out shipping containers, according to a federal report. The practice is widespread across DOE, according to the […]

A federal lawsuit brought against current and former Department of Energy contractors at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio is timely because it was filed soon after the public learned of radioactive contamination at a public school outside the fence, plaintiffs said in a filing last week. Ursula McGlone and fellow plaintiffs argue in a June […]

A group composed of Battelle and a quintet of universities from two states is now operating the Department of Energy’s Savannah River National Laboratory in South Carolina. The Battelle Savannah River Alliance (BSRA) took over management of the lab Monday, officially announcing the news via Twitter: “Proud to be @Battelle’s newest national laboratory! Our team […]

Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) held a town hall-style meeting Saturday in Piketon, Ohio, to discuss local concerns over open-air demolition of the X-326 Process Building at the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site and radioactive contamination discovered around a local school. Ryan and Zack Space, former congressman for Ohio’s 18th district, were scheduled to participate in […]

The Central Plateau Cleanup Co. will begin cocooning the K East Reactor later this year, Brian Stickney, the Department of Energy’s deputy Hanford manager for the agency’s Richland office, said last week.  Stickney spoke Wednesday at a public briefing on Hanford in general for the public. The briefing was conducted via Internet with about 150 […]

A Bechtel-led group, one of four losing bidders for DOE’s Idaho Cleanup Project contract, last week filed a bid protest over the potentially 10-year, $6.4-billion nuclear-weapons cleanup pact. At deadline Monday, the details of Idaho Remediation LLC’s protest with the Government Accountability Office (GAO) over last month’s award to Idaho Environmental Coalition — made up […]

The Department of Energy is looking for a cash boost to keep researching whether recycling highly-enriched uranium from test reactors is a possible route to producing advanced nuclear fuel, the agency said in budget justification documents published last week. In its fiscal year 2022 budget request, the agency seeks $35 million this fiscal year to […]

Nevada’s Congressional delegation got a chance to celebrate this week the Joe Biden administration’s decision not to fund the country’s only spent fuel repository project. During the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee’s budget hearing for fiscal year 2022, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) told energy secretary Jennifer Granholm that she was “pleased to hear” […]

The transuranic waste sitting at the Separations Process Research Unit in Schenectady County. N.Y. could head to the Idaho National Laboratory starting in fiscal 2024 to be prepped for final shipment to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico, according to the Department of Energy’s fiscal year 2022 budget request. Processing of the Separations […]