Department of Energy

A National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine panel will hold a day-long data gathering session Thursday in Richland, Wash., on alternatives to vitrifying all low-activity radioactive waste at the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state. The nearly-complete Waste Treatment Plant (WTP) being built by Bechtel National lacks capacity to convert all 56 million […]

Mechanical and industrial contractor Intermech will build a dry storage area for highly radioactive cesium and strontium now stored underwater at the U.S. Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state. The North Carolina-based company on Oct. 17 received a $5.5 million subcontract from Hanford cleanup contractor CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co. Construction of the dry […]

President Donald Trump said he plans to nominate Deputy Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette to replace Rick Perry as head of the agency responsible for U.S. nuclear weapons and Cold War nuclear-waste cleanup. Brouillette has been Perry's deputy secretary for just over two years. When Trump first nominated him, a source said the longtime insurance […]

An independent opinion that could help determine the outcome of a federal lawsuit claiming a Savannah River Site contractor overcharged the federal government by $5 million is still being decided after nearly three years, according to a status report recently filed in the case. The joint status report was submitted by the U.S. Department of Energy and […]

Atkins Nuclear Secured Holdings has won a 13-month extension to its ongoing research contract for the U.S. Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state. The SNC-Lavalin Group subsidiary said Monday it is providing technology support testing for the Hanford Office of River Protection in preparation for vitrification of low-activity radioactive waste at the Waste Treatment […]

Startup of the Savannah River Site’s $2.3 billion Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF) has been pushed back to the first quarter of next year, following initial efforts to begin operations in December 2018 and a more recent target of December 2019. Meanwhile, Parsons said it has received an undisclosed amount of back pay owed by […]

Both AECOM and the investment group planning to buy its government contracting business could call off the deal if it takes too long to complete, according to a recent financial filing. AECOM plans to sell its Management Services business to Maverick Purchaser Sub LLC, a joint venture formed by investment firms American Securities and Lindsay […]

The leader of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) plans to introduce a stripped-down version of the fiscal 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) next week as a last-ditch effort to push colleagues to reach consensus on a number of partisan issues while the conference bill flounders. “This is sincere, but this is only in […]

The U.S. Department of Energy and the Washington state Department of Ecology on Wednesday kicked off talks they hope will result in a mutually agreeable future plan to address key issues in management of radioactive tank waste at the Hanford Site. An Energy Department spokesperson confirmed the talks were underway. “The Department appreciates the discussions […]

The U.S. Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management should revamp its 2017 nuclear cleanup policy to make its remediation decisions more risk-informed, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO). Reports issued since the 1990s by the GAO and DOE’s Office of Inspector General, among others, urged the nuclear cleanup office, when making decisions about remediation, […]

The new method used by the U.S. Energy Department to calculate waste-disposal volumes at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., is significantly increasing the amount of radioactive material that can be interred, an advocacy group says. Last December, the New Mexico Environment Department approved a modification to DOE’s hazardous waste permit for the […]

Solutient Technologies is near final approval to start taking air and dust samples at Zahn’s Corner Middle School and other properties near the U.S. Energy Department’s Portsmouth Site in Pike County, Ohio, in order to check on potential radiological contamination. In September, the Canton, Ohio-based radiological services and remediation specialist submitted its final scope of […]

Leidos-led Mission Support Alliance (MSA) appears set to remain in place another six months, through May 25, 2020, as the support services contractor at the U.S. Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state. The department’s Office of Environmental Management cited the timeline in an email sent Monday to employees at the Hanford Site. The current […]

President Donald Trump said he plans to nominate Deputy Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette to replace Rick Perry as head of the agency responsible for U.S. nuclear weapons and Cold War nuclear-waste cleanup. Brouillette has been Perry's deputy secretary for just over two years. When Trump first nominated him, a source said the longtime insurance […]

Members of Nevada’s congressional delegation offered a quick message to the Trump administration’s newly selected successor to Secretary of Energy Rick Perry: Stop trying to bring nuclear waste into the state, and quickly remove the plutonium shipped last year. Perry announced on Oct. 17 that he would resign after more than two-and-a-half years as head […]

The House of Representatives’ Science, Space, and Technology Committee last week advanced legislation that would assign the Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) to assist in disposal of radioactive waste. Committee Chair Eddie Bernice Johnson’s (D-Texas) ARPA-E Reauthorization Act of 2019 now awaits action by the full House. There was no word this […]

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has approved a revised emergency response plan for the radiologically contaminated area of the West Lake Landfill in Missouri. The Oct. 15 approval came after the agency in August rejected both the emergency response plan and the site management plan prepared by contractor Parsons on behalf of the “potentially responsible […]

An organization representing 20 Pueblo nations in New Mexico and Texas has formally voiced its opposition to plans for temporary storage of spent nuclear fuel in the states. During a meeting last week, the All Pueblo Council of Governors adopted a resolution against federal licensing for construction and operations of the facilities planned by Holtec […]

A California advocacy group this week petitioned a federal appeals court to require the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to order a halt to decommissioning and spent fuel offload operations at the retired San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS). If approved, the writ of mandamus from the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals would remain in […]

The leader of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) plans to introduce a stripped-down version of the fiscal 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) next week as a last-ditch effort to push colleagues to reach consensus on a number of partisan issues while the conference bill flounders. “This is sincere, but this is only in […]

The leader of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) plans to introduce a stripped-down version of the fiscal 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) next week as a last-ditch effort to push colleagues to reach consensus on a number of partisan issues while the conference bill flounders. “This is sincere, but this is only in […]

The U.S. Department of Energy and the Washington state Department of Ecology on Wednesday kicked off talks they hope will result in a mutually agreeable future plan to address key issues in management of radioactive tank waste at the Hanford Site. While scant details were available at deadline, a DOE spokesperson confirmed the talks were […]

Both AECOM and the investment group planning to buy its government contracting business could call off the deal if it takes too long to complete, according to a recent financial filing. AECOM plans to sell its Management Services business to Maverick Purchaser Sub LLC, a joint venture formed by investment firms American Securities and Lindsay […]

Atkins Nuclear Secured Holdings has won a 13-month extension to its ongoing research contract for the U.S. Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state. The SNC-Lavalin Group subsidiary said Monday it is providing technology support testing for the Hanford Office of River Protection in preparation for vitrification of low-activity radioactive waste at the Waste Treatment […]

One local mayor is throwing his support behind the Department of Energy’s recent move to consolidate operations at the Hanford Site in Washington state under one manager. “It’s the natural evolution of things,” Richland Mayor Bob Thompson said in a telephone interview. He spoke a week after Energy Secretary Rick Perry announced that Brian Vance […]

An organization representing 20 Pueblo nations in New Mexico and Texas has formally voiced its opposition to plans for temporary storage of spent nuclear fuel in the states. During a meeting last week, the All Pueblo Council of Governors adopted a resolution against federal licensing for construction and operations of the facilities planned by Holtec […]

The U.S. Energy Department and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have extended the public comment period from 30 days to 60 days for the next stage of remediation of the 100-BC Area of the Hanford Site in Washington state. The agencies said in a Monday email announcement they are pushing back the comment deadline […]

The House of Representatives’ Science, Space, and Technology Committee last week advanced legislation that would assign the Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) to assist in disposal of radioactive waste. Committee Chair Eddie Bernice Johnson’s (D-Texas) ARPA-E Reauthorization Act of 2019 now awaits action by the full House. The bill would make a […]

Mechanical and industrial contractor Intermech will build a dry storage area for highly radioactive cesium and strontium now stored underwater at the U.S. Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state. The North Carolina-based company on Thursday received a $5.5 million subcontract from Hanford cleanup contractor CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co. Construction of the dry storage […]

In an escalation of an ongoing turf war, the federal Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) said last week it would send personnel to the Department of Energy’s secretive nuclear explosive safety study meetings, despite that agency’s position that it should not. “We have directed our staff to attend all phases of the NES [nuclear […]