Department of Energy

An independent team of experts on Friday said more homework is needed before the Department of Energy can pick a reliable and cost-effective means to treat low-activity tank waste at the Hanford Site in Washington state that cannot be accommodated through vitrification. A National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine panel issued its fourth and […]

Federal law may allow a $3.5 million discrimination lawsuit against the security contractor for the Savannah River Site in South Carolina to continue even after a federal judge found the statute of limitations had passed for the case, according to newly hired legal counsel for the plaintiff. Marcialena Brown, an African-American woman, did not realize […]

The Department of Energy on Feb. 14 issued a potential contract extension of up to two years, through July 2022, to the incumbent vendor for cleanup of the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee. The Energy Department posted a notice of intent to award a sole-source deal to URS/CH2M Oak Ridge (UCOR) in the form of […]

The federal Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board (NWTRB) is requesting a $2 million increase to its annual budget as it eyes added authority. The small agency’s spending cap has held steady at $3.6 million since fiscal 2016. But in the congressional budget justification for the upcoming 2021 funding year, it asked for $5.6 million. Much […]

The Trump administration this week publicly played down any appearance that recent comments from a senior Department of Energy official indicate continuing commitment to building a nuclear waste repository under Yucca Mountain, Nev. Undersecretary of Energy Mark Menezes “and The Department of Energy fully support finding an alternative to Yucca Mountain for the storage of […]

A former Huntington Ingalls Industries executive and a retired U.S. Army brigadier general have been elected to the Board of Directors to Oak Ridge, Tenn.-based Professional Project Services (Pro2Serve). In a Tuesday press release, the Energy Department contractor announced the shareholder selection of Gerald Boyd, who retired from Huntington Ingalls last year, and former Brig. […]

The Energy Department declined several requests from prospective vendors to extend the Feb. 3 deadline for bidding on a potential 10-year, $3 billion Nationwide Deactivation, Decommissioning, and Removal Contract for excess facilities. The Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center last month published 152 questions and answers from potential bidders on the final request for proposals (RFP) […]

A senior Department of Energy official on Wednesday walked back week-old comments suggesting the Trump administration still supports advancing development of a nuclear waste repository under Yucca Mountain in Nevada. “I have spoken to the White House and the Administration will not be pursuing Yucca Mountain as a solution for nuclear waste, and there are […]

Fluor’s stock lost nearly a quarter of its value in trading Tuesday after the company released partial earnings numbers because it is under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for 2019 accounting practices. The stock closed the day at $14.79 per share, roughly 24% lower than its Friday closing price of $19.54 per […]

Twenty firms attended the Feb. 11 industry day for a potential five-year contract to provide support services at the Department of Energy’s Paducah Site in Kentucky. In addition to incumbent Swift & Staley, participants included Spectra Tech, Atkins Nuclear, GEM Technologies, Navarra Research and Engineering, ARS Aleut Remediation, Banda Group International, Boston Government Services, and […]

Utah-based Petersen Inc. has scored a $37.8 million subcontract to provide stainless-steel containers and an extra melter for the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) being built at the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state. Plant construction and operations prime Bechtel National announced the award Tuesday. The vitrification plant will convert much of Hanford’s […]

The Department of Energy on Friday issued a contract extension of up to two years, through July 2022, for the incumbent vendor for cleanup of the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee. The Energy Department issued a notice of intent to award a sole source deal to URS/CH2M Oak Ridge (UCOR) in the form of a […]

Engineering and procurement giant Fluor said Tuesday morning it would not sell its government contracting business, which serves clients such as the Department of Energy and the Defense Department. The Irving, Texas-based company announced the planned sale in September. However, belt-tightening over the past year, along with the anticipated sale later in 2020 of the […]

The Department of Energy on Friday confirmed the potential $21-billion integrated mission contract for the Savannah River Site in South Carolina will last up to 15 years. “Task orders may be placed any time during the 10 year ordering period and the execution of the actual work may extend up to 5 years” afterward, a […]

After winning $1.475 million in an initial jury decision and another $295,000 in front pay in a post-trial ruling, a former employee for the Savannah River Site’s liquid waste contractor is seeking nearly $270,000 more in a discrimination suit to cover attorney fees and litigation costs. In a Feb. 6 request in U.S. District Court […]

President Donald Trump on Thursday said he plans to nominate Undersecretary of Energy Mark Menezes to take over as deputy secretary for the Department of Energy. Menezes would succeed Dan Brouillette, who in December was confirmed and sworn in as secretary of energy. The nomination for the No. 2 spot at DOE had not been […]

The remaining stockpile of uranium-233 at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Tennessee could be processed for disposal as low-level waste by 2025, according to an executive with the company managing the operation. Cleaning out the uranium from Building 3019 is the top cleanup priority at ORNL because, among other things, storing the fissile […]

Huntington Ingalls Industries on Thursday posted lower fourth-quarter earnings despite a strong increase in sales due in part to an impairment charge stemming from the company’s decision to put its oil and gas business up for sale. Net income sank 30% to $149 million, $3.61 earnings per share (EPS), from $212 million ($4.94 ESP) a […]

President Donald Trump on Thursday said he plans to nominate Undersecretary of Energy Mark Menezes to take over as deputy secretary for the Department of Energy. Menezes would succeed Dan Brouillette, who in December was confirmed and sworn in as secretary of energy. The nomination for the No. 2 spot at DOE had not been […]

A transportation provider for the cleanup contractor at the Energy Department’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee was involved a January fender-bender while moving low-level radioactive waste along a highway in Arkansas. No injuries resulted and no radioactive soil spilled in the accident, according to a Feb.7 DOE accident report. The subcontractor, Metler Hauling & Rigging, […]

A nuclear watchdog and the Washington, D.C.-based Energy Communities Alliance (ECA) differ on a Department of Energy proposal to ship up to 10,000 gallons of recycled wastewater from the Savannah River Site to a commercial low-level radioactive waste facility somewhere outside South Carolina. In December, DOE published an environmental assessment, and invited public comments, on […]

The Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Manage on Thursday issued procurement-related documents for the planned “integrated mission” contract at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. To speed the award, the nuclear cleanup office said it will not issue the standard draft version of the request for proposals for the potential 10-to-15-year, $21 billion award […]

Liquid waste management and the first year of operations of the Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF) would consume a large chunk of the $1.7 billion proposed for Environmental Management (EM) operations in fiscal 2021 at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina. At deadline Friday, DOE had not released a budget justification […]

The Donald Trump administration on Monday requested $6.1 billion for the Energy Department Office of Environmental Management during fiscal 2021, which would be an 18% reduction from the $7.5 billion enacted by Congress in the current budget year. It also represents a $400 million slice from the $6.5 billion the White House sought last March […]

Key Pacific Northwest lawmakers in the House and Senate pledged this week to ensure the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state gets more than the nearly $2 billion proposed in President Donald Trump’s fiscal 2021 budget. The two DOE offices that oversee cleanup and radioactive waste management at the former plutonium manufacturing complex would […]

The Energy Department on Tuesday issued a draft request for proposals for the potential 10-to-15-year, $6.4 billion contract for the Idaho Cleanup Project. The work at the Idaho National Laboratory includes operation of the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit, management and disposal of both low-level radioactive and transuranic waste, decommissioning old facilities, and spent fuel management […]

The Department of Energy last week appealed a $1 million fine filed by the Washington state Department of Ecology for allegedly withholding safety information regarding the Hanford Site. The notice of appeal was filed Feb. 6 with the state’s Pollution Control Hearings Board. The federal agency on Jan. 3 appealed the underlying violation. The first […]

The Trump administration this week again proposed transferring management of the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP) from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) to the Department of Energy. The plan is laid out in fiscal 2021 budget documents for both entities, employing similar language to that used last year in the White […]

Nevada’s political leaders voiced skepticism and cautious praise over the White House announcement that it would forgo requesting congressional appropriations to resume licensing of the Yucca Mountain radioactive waste repository in their state. But lawmakers representing states with stranded waste urged the Trump administration to rethink its decision even before it was official. This is […]

Even as it abandoned efforts to revive the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada, the Trump administration on Monday signaled plans for the federal government to resume collecting fees for the fund intended to pay for the facility. The White House budget for fiscal 2021 provides nothing to resume the long-moribund licensing for radioactive […]