Archive

Department of Energy

The U.S. Department of Energy oversees the nation’s nuclear weapons complex, environmental cleanup program, and national laboratory system. Coverage here tracks DOE budget requests, contract awards, policy decisions, regulatory action, and leadership changes across the agency’s defense and civilian nuclear missions.

  • NRC Spent $238 From Nuclear Waste Fund in November

    The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in November continued to spend just a few hundred dollars per month of its remaining balance from the federal Nuclear Waste Fund. Spending of $238 for unspecified program planning and support left the agency with an unspent, unobligated balance of $405,977, according to the latest update to Congress regarding the […]

  • New Support Services Contractor for Portsmouth/Paducah Gets Green Light

    The new technical support services contractor for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office (PPPO) has received its formal notice to proceed with the transition from its predecessors. The formal notice to proceed was issued to Pro2Serve subsidiary Enterprise Technical Assistance Services (E-TAS) on Jan. 6, a DOE spokesperson said in a Friday email. […]

  • RFP for Paducah Infrastructure Services Could be Issued Soon

    The U.S. Energy Depart expects within 15 to 60 days to issue a solicitation for a new Paducah Infrastructure Support Services contract to replace the deal now held by Swift & Staley. The timeline set in the Friday notice would mean the request for proposals should be out by early March. The procurement will be […]

  • Wrap Up: New Chief of Staff Listed in New DOE Cleanup Org Chart

    The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management posted an updated organization chart last month that lists Thomas Mooney as the new chief of staff. Sources said in December that Mooney, a former U.S. Department of Defense senior manager, was becoming the new chief of staff at the environmental cleanup office although the Energy […]

  • Nuclear Group Taps Albright as Interim CEO After Blee’s Death

    Bud Albright, who chairs the U.S. Nuclear Industry Council, will step in as interim president and CEO of the organization following the Dec. 29 death of David Blee. The Nuclear Industry Council said Monday that the board of directors selected Albright, an undersecretary of energy for former President George W. Bush, as interim leader pending […]

  • Hanford DOE Officials Contest Washington State Fine Over Data Access

    The Washington state Department of Ecology is making good on last month’s threat to fine the U.S. Department of Energy $1 million for denial of access to certain records for the Hanford Site. The state announced the fine Monday after DOE appealed Ecology’s Dec. 5 ruling finding Hanford officials are wrongly withholding information. The appeal […]

  • One Portsmouth Lawsuit Advances, Another Put on Hold

    Due to the similarity between two lawsuits filed by local residents near the Energy Department’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio, only one will go forward, a federal court ruled last week. U.S. Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Preston Deavers in the Southern District of Ohio ruled Jan. 3 that a case filed by plaintiffs led by Ray Pritchard […]

  • UCOR Wins 97% Fee Scorecard for Work at Oak Ridge

    The AECOM-Jacobs joint venture in charge of decontamination and decommissioning at the Energy Department’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee earned about 97% of its potential fee for its cleanup work in the last half of fiscal 2019. URS/CH2M Hill Oak Ridge (UCOR) won almost $20.4 million out of a potential $21 million for the period […]

  • Centerra Secures 97% Fee for SRS Security Performance

    Paramilitary security contractor Centerra won 97% or about $3.17 million out of a potential $3.26 million fee for protecting the Energy Department’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina during the second half of fiscal 2019, which ended Sept. 30. That’s according to a scorecard released by DOE over the winter holidays for Centerra-Savannah River Site. […]

  • GAO Ruling Finds No Basis to Overturn Tech Services Contract to Pro2Serve Unit

    The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) says New Mexico-based Strategic Management Solutions Inc. (SMSI) failed to provide hard evidence Enterprise Technical Assistance Services (E-TAS) should not have won a $137 million technical services contract for Energy Department’s Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office due to a conflict of interest. It is not enough to infer that Oak Ridge, […]

  • Low-Activity Waste “Hiccups” Can Be Overcome at Hanford, DOE Says

    The Energy Department expects to start vitrifying low-activity radioactive waste at the Hanford Site’s Waste Treatment Plant (WTP) as early as fiscal 2022 or as late as fiscal 2024. “We are going to have hiccups. … We are going to have failures along the way,” but they can be overcome, Tom Fletcher, DOE’s assistant manager […]

  • West Valley Vendor Wins 69% of Potential Fee

    The Jacobs-led joint venture in charge of remediating the West Valley Demonstration Project Site in New York won $322,000 or 69% of a potential fee of $467,000 during a six-month period in 2019. The U.S. Department of Energy recently issued the scorecard for CH2M Hill BWXT West Valley LLC (CHBWV) for the period from March […]

  • Santa Susana Vendor CDM Receives 6-Month Extension

    The Energy Department has extended the current task order for contractor CDM to continue work on environmental reports at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory in Ventura County, California through June 30. The CDM agreement with the DOE Office of Environmental Management would have expired Dec. 31 without the extension, which raises the current $33 million […]

  • Pit-Related TRU Could Take Up Half of Remaining WIPP Space

    The National Nuclear Security Administration’s plan to produce 80 pits a year would generate more than 1,110 cubic meters of transuranic waste a year, according to an environmental review the semiautonomous Department of Energy weapon steward released this week. Over 50 years — enough time at an 80-a-year throughput to produce two new pits, and […]

  • Debriefings Start on Hanford Contracts

    Debriefings got underway this week on major Energy Department contracts issued in December for the Hanford Site in Washington state, a source said Thursday. Debriefs were held in Richland, Wash., on the potential 10-year, $4 billion support services contract announced Dec. 5 for Hanford Mission Integration Solutions (HMIS), a joint venture comprised of Leidos, Centerra, […]

  • DOE Aims for Atlas Railcar Certification by June 2022

    The U.S. Department of Energy expects in June 2022 to complete its program for designing and certifying railcars intended to be used to transport spent fuel from nuclear power plants, but has not determined what it will do with the designs at that point. The agency does not anticipate transport of the radioactive material in […]

  • One Portsmouth Lawsuit Goes Forward, Another Stayed

    Due to the similarity between two lawsuits filed by local residents near the Energy Department’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio, only one will go forward, a federal court ruled last week. U.S. Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Preston Deavers in the Southern District of Ohio ruled Jan. 3 that a case filed by plaintiffs led by Ray Pritchard […]

  • Former AECOM Top Lawyer Lands New Job

    AECOM’s former executive vice president and chief legal officer, Carla Christofferson, has been named chief risk officer for DXC Technology, a global information systems and cybersecurity company. The Northern Virginia-based DXC Technology announced Christofferson’s hiring in a Tuesday press release. Christofferson will advise DXC President and CEO Mike Salvino on emerging risks. “The management of […]

  • DOE Thinks Any Low-Activity Waste “Hiccups” Can Be Overcome at Hanford

    The Energy Department expects to start vitrifying low-activity radioactive waste at the Hanford Site’s Waste Treatment Plant (WTP) as early as fiscal 2022 or as late as fiscal 2024. “We are going to have hiccups. … We are going to have failures along the way,” but they can be overcome, Tom Fletcher, DOE’s assistant manager […]

  • Centerra Picks Up 97% Fee for SRS Security in Latter Half of Fiscal 2019

    Paramilitary security contractor Centerra won 97% or about $3.17 million out of a potential $3.26 million fee for protecting the Energy Department’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina during the second half of fiscal 2019, which ended Sept. 30. That’s according to a scorecard released by DOE over the winter holidays for Centerra-Savannah River Site. […]

  • Albright Named Interim CEO of Nuclear Council After Blee’s Death

    Bud Albright, who chairs the U.S. Nuclear Industry Council, will step in as interim president and CEO of the organization following the Dec. 29 death of David Blee. The Nuclear Industry Council said Monday that the board of directors selected Albright, an undersecretary of energy for former President George W. Bush, as interim leader pending […]

  • West Valley Contractor Wins 69% of Potential Fee

    The Jacobs-led joint venture in charge of remediating the West Valley Demonstration Project Site in New York won $322,000 or 69% of a potential fee of $467,000 during a six-month period in 2019. The U.S. Department of Energy recently issued the scorecard for CH2M Hill BWXT West Valley LLC (CHBWV) for the period from March […]

  • Energy Department, Washington State to Litigate Data Access, Fine

    The Washington state Department of Ecology is making good on last month’s threat to fine the U.S. Department of Energy $1 million for denial of access to certain records for the Hanford Site. The state announced the fine Monday after DOE appealed Ecology’s Dec. 5 ruling finding Hanford officials are wrongly withholding information. The appeal […]

  • Energy Department Extends CDM’s Santa Susana Business Through June

    The Energy Department has extended the current task order for contractor CDM to continue work on environmental reports at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory in Ventura County, California through June 30. The CDM agreement with the DOE Office of Environmental Management would have expired Dec. 31 without the extension, which raises the current $33 million […]

  • UCOR Lands 97% of Potential Fee for Last 6 Months of Fiscal 2019 at Oak Ridge

    The AECOM-Jacobs joint venture in charge of decontamination and decommissioning at the Energy Department’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee earned about 97% of its potential fee for its cleanup work in the last half of fiscal 2019. URS/CH2M Hill Oak Ridge (UCOR) won almost $20.4 million out of a potential $21 million for the period […]

  • Latest DOE Cleanup Org Chart Confirms New Chief of Staff

    The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management posted an updated its  organization chart last month that lists Thomas Mooney as the new chief of staff. Sources said in December that Mooney, a former U.S. Department of Defense senior manager, was becoming the new chief of staff at the environmental cleanup office although the […]

  • GAO Order Finds No Basis to Overturn Tech Services Contract to Pro2Serve Unit

    The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) says New Mexico-based Strategic Management Solutions Inc. (SMSI) failed to provide “hard evidence” that Enterprise Technical Assistance Services (E-TAS) should not have won a $137 million technical services services contract for Energy Department’s Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office because of a conflict of interest. It is not enough to infer that […]

  • Wrap Up: Deadline Set for Savannah River Lab Contract Briefings

    Potential bidders on the management and operations contract for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Savannah River National Laboratory in South Carolina have until noon ET on Jan. 9 to sign up for briefings. The Energy Department is providing new details on its Jan. 16 industry day for the stand-alone lab contract. The DOE Office of Environmental […]

  • Carlsbad DOE Office Gets New Acting Manager

    A veteran of 28 years in the commercial nuclear power industry is the new acting manager for the U.S. Department of Energy office that oversees the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico. Greg Sosson was apparently appointed to the temporary detail in December, according to the Carlsbad Field Office website. Sosson joined the […]

  • Perma-Fix Joint Venture Wins $15M Cleanup Contract at DOE Lab

    A joint venture of Perma-Fix Environmental Services and ERRG in December sealed a contract worth at least $15 million for cleanup services at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California. The 18-month contract covers remediation, construction, and waste management at the Alameda County complex, according to a Dec. 23 press release […]