Department of Energy

The Energy Department has given its blessing for operations to start at the long-awaited Salt Waste Processing Facility (SPFF) at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. In a press release Tuesday, the DOE Office of Environmental Management announced issuance of critical decision 4 (CD-4) and authorization to operate. The CD-4 basically means a project […]

Assistant Energy Secretary for Nuclear Energy Rita Baranwal on Tuesday warned of the potential risks of closing the sole remaining operational nuclear power plant in California, in light of the state’s blackouts during a current heat wave. “Keeping SONGS on line could have prevented some of California’s current blackouts,” Baranwal tweeted, referring to the retired […]

The Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico received 23 shipments of transuranic waste in July, bringing the total to 109 for the first seven months of 2020. That is down significantly from 194 recorded during the first seven months of 2019. Nuclear Waste Partnership, the Amentum-led prime contractor for the underground […]

A Washington state law that makes it easier for workers at the Energy Department’s Hanford Site to qualify for certain compensation benefits has been upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced in a press release Wednesday that a three-judge panel for the Ninth Circuit unanimously […]

Comments are due Sept. 17 on the draft request for proposals (RFP) for a new remediation contract potentially worth $8.3 billion for the Energy Department’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee. The DOE Office of Environmental Management on Tuesday issued the draft RFP for an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract with a 10-year ordering period. The Energy Department […]

The Washington state Department of Ecology and the Energy Department have agreed to mediate their dispute over access to certain records from the Hanford Site. “The data access case is still pending, but the parties have agreed to try to mediate the dispute,” Ecology spokesman Randy Bradbury said in an Aug. 11 email. The mediation […]

The Energy Department’s Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina has confirmed a total of 368 cases of COVID-19 infections among its workforce, though about two-thirds of those personnel have recovered and been authorized to return to the job. The total, posted Friday on the website for the DOE operations office at Savannah River, represents […]

David Wilson, a former official with the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC), joined Energy Department contractor Longenecker & Associates on Aug. 10 as a senior associate. Wilson, who spent 37 years with the state agency before retiring as its acting director in 2019, will take over a newly created post and […]

Robert Wilkinson and Amy Basche, the two top executives for the current support services contractor at the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state, will remain in charge of its successor. A DOE hosting page for the Hanford Mission Integration Solutions (HMIS) website cites Wilkinson as president and general manager and Basche as chief operating […]

Thomas Summers, a former Air Force officer confirmed last month by the U.S. Senate for a post at the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB), will be sworn in on Monday. Summers will be vice chairman of the federal health-and-safety watchdog for defense-nuclear sites, DNFSB Manager of Board Operations Tara Tadlock said in a Wednesday […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board asked Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette for an in-person meeting by “early fall” to discuss a possible memorandum of understanding about a  now two year-old DOE order that limits the agency’s contact with the board. This summer, DOE finalized changes to Order 140.1, adding congressionally mandated language requiring that […]

Four people employed by Nuclear Waste Partnership, the prime contractor for the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico, tested positive for the coronavirus over the weekend. The Amentum-BWX Technologies venture said in a Tuesday press release that three of the people showed no symptoms when tested and were already in quarantine due […]

The Energy Department Office of Environmental Management announced this week that Nicole Nelson-Jean, a familiar face in the weapons complex, will become head of field operations at the end of the month. A 28-year Energy Department employee and member of the senior executive service, Nelson-Jean now manages the Savannah River Site field office in South […]

An Energy Department effort to disallow $15.4 million in fees to Leidos-led Mission Support Alliance can go forward, the Civilian Board of Contract Appeals ruled recently. The services vendor at the Hanford Site in Washington state asked Civilian Board of Contract Appeals (CBCA) for summary judgement against the agency’s attempt to disallow $15.4 million in […]

Four more workers at the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state have tested positive for novel coronavirus 2019, the agency said Monday. An additional 12 workers have undergone testing for COVID-19 and are awaiting results, according to an announcement on the Hanford website. The announcement did not state whether the individuals work directly for […]

The Energy Department is extending the public comment deadline from Sept. 26 until Nov. 27 on a plan for on-site disposal of vitrified low-activity waste at the Hanford Site in Washington state. The Aug. 6 notice from DOE did not cite a reason for the 60-day extension. The agency on May 26 started taking comments […]

The Energy Department Office of Environmental Management expects to stay busy with procurements during the remainder of 2020. The nuclear cleanup office intends to roll out up to six final requests for proposals (RFP) between now and December, according to a quarterly update posted Monday by the Cincinnati-based Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center. The Energy Department […]

The Senate overwhelmingly approved Mark Menezes as deputy secretary of energy on Tuesday, despite opposition from some nuke-wary Democrats. The 79-16 vote elevates the current undersecretary of energy to the No. 2 position at the nuclear weapons, waste, and energy agency. Menezes was sworn in to his new job Thursday, after nearly three years as undersecretary […]

The Department of Energy on Wednesday kicked off a long-awaited procurement of the next Savannah River Site management and operations contract with a request for information from industry about the award that will fund the Aiken, S.C., facility’s biggest nuclear-weapons programs. The agency will sort out the value, duration, and exact form of the contract […]

Insulated from the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic by its large government contracts and a bread-and-butter nuclear Navy business that didn’t shut down in the spring, BWX Technologies posted a modest uptick in both profit and revenue for the second quarter of 2020. Quarterly net income rose $5 million to about $64 million, or $0.67 […]

The Department of Energy on Wednesday kicked off a long-awaited procurement of the next Savannah River Site management and operations contract with a request for information from industry about the award that will fund the Aiken, S.C., facility’s biggest nuclear-weapons programs. The agency will sort out the value, duration, and exact form of the contract […]

The Department of Energy this week formalized its plan to eventually ship up to 10,000 gallons of wastewater from the Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina to a commercial facility in Texas for disposal, under the classification of low-level radioactive waste. The department said it will begin within 12 months by shipping no more […]

The Department of Energy this week formalized its plan to eventually ship up to 10,000 gallons of wastewater from the Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina to a commercial facility in Texas for disposal, under the classification of low-level radioactive waste. The department said it will begin within 12 months by shipping no more […]

Jacobs Engineering on Monday reported a slight bump in revenue for its fiscal third quarter, from $3.2 billion in 2019 to $3.3 billion this year. Net revenue took a similarly modest step up for the three-month period ending June 26, from $2.6 billion to $2.7. billion on a year-over-year basis. The Department of Energy contractor […]

The Department of Energy on Thursday set the date for the new support services contractor at the Hanford Site in Washington state to begin the transition to operations. In a notice to proceed, the agency told Hanford Mission Integration Solutions (HMIS) it can start the 120-day turnover on Aug. 17. Hanford Mission Integration Solutions is […]

By Cal Biesecker Defense Daily Leidos on Tuesday posted higher sales and earnings in its second quarter, driven by two acquisitions earlier this year and a payment related to patent infringement, more than offsetting higher than expected negative impacts from the ongoing pandemic. Net income increased 13% to $153 million, $1.06 earnings per share (EPS), from […]

The Oregon Department of Energy’s top specialist on environmental remediation at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in neighboring Washington state is preparing to retire. Oregon DOE Nuclear Safety Division Administrator Ken Niles is calling it a career effective Aug. 31, after 19 years in the post and 31 years with the state agency. […]

The state of Idaho has now levied $8.6 million in penalties against the Energy Department for failure to treat 900,000 gallons of sodium-bearing liquid radioactive waste at the Idaho National Laboratory. That is the accrued amount as of July 31, Natalie Creed, hazardous waste bureau chief with the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, said by […]

Potential radiation dose in 2018 to individuals from the Portsmouth Site in Ohio was well under limits set by the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Agency, according to new figures. The Energy Department last week issued the latest version of its annual site environmental report for the former uranium enrichment complex in Pike County. […]

Pending legislation from Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) would require the Department of Energy to each year account for continuing and anticipated costs for management of the nation’s growing inventory of radioactive waste. The American Nuclear Infrastructure Act of 2020 contains a series of measures intended to sustain the United States’ existing nuclear power fleet and […]