Department of Energy

Three Democrats on the Senate Appropriations Committee say the U.S. Energy Department should tap the brakes on issuing a multibillion-dollar contract at the Hanford Site in Washington state, to a vendor being sued by the United States under the False Claims Act. While the lawmakers’ Sept. 27 letter to Energy Secretary Rick Perry is short […]

The deadline came and went Monday for the Department of Energy and other federal agencies to terminate at least one-third of their federal advisory committees, but it was not clear this week whether the agency had complied with the directive. A DOE spokesperson did not reply to multiple requests for a list of committees cut […]

The deadline came and went Monday for the Department of Energy and other federal agencies to terminate at least one-third of their federal advisory committees, but it was not clear this week whether the agency had complied with the directive. A DOE spokesperson did not reply to multiple requests for a list of committees cut […]

U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry plans to resign in a matter of weeks, after nearly three years as the Trump administration’s top manager for a range of civilian nuclear operations, Politico reported Thursday. Three informed sources said Perry would make an announcement before the end of November, according to the report. Deputy Energy Secretary Dan […]

A regional group meant to promote communities around the U.S. Energy Department’s Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in New Mexico could be forced to reimburse the U.S. government for up to $300,000 in federal grant money absent documents showing the funds were not spent on lobbying or other improper expenses. That’s the bottom line of […]

The U.S. Energy Department is giving interested vendors four more days, until Tuesday, Oct. 8, to comment on a draft request for proposals on a nationwide deactivation, decommissioning, and removal services contract that could be worth $3 billion. The agency’s Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center announced the deadline extension Tuesday on the FidBizOpps website. The […]

U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry on Tuesday praised remediation at the Hanford Site in Washington state as he attended a celebration to commemorate the completion of the K-Basin sludge transfer. “Thanks to the expertise and perseverance of our dedicated men and women on the ground … the removal of sludge away from the Columbia River […]

Rep. Chris Collins (R-N.Y.) resigned from the U.S. House of Representatives on Monday and then pleaded guilty Tuesday afternoon to federal insider trader charges, according to various national news outlets. Collins, 69, and his son, Cameron Collins, 26, had pleaded not guilty, but filed paperwork in U.S. District Court in Manhattan on Monday saying they […]

Three Democrats on the Senate Appropriations Committee say the U.S. Energy Department should hold off on issuing a multibillion-dollar contract at the Hanford Site in Washington state, to a vendor being sued by the United States under the False Claims Act. In a Sept. 27 letter to Energy Secretary Rick Perry, Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in August continued to spend little of its remaining balance from the Nuclear Waste Fund – just $863, leaving it with an unobligated tranche of $407,176. The money was used for unspecified program planning and support, according to the agency’s latest spending report to Congress. As of Aug. 31, the […]

A federal jury on Friday ordered a contractor at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site to pay nearly $1.5 million in damages and back pay to a former employee who said she was subjected to wrongful retaliation after she was laid off six years ago. Jurors who heard the case last week agreed race could not be […]

The deadline came and went Monday for the Department of Energy and other federal agencies to terminate at least one-third of their federal advisory committees, but it was not clear Tuesday morning whether the agency had complied with the directive. A DOE spokesperson did not immediately reply to a request for a list of committees […]

Idaho-based North Wind Group is picking up about $30 million worth of additional business in California from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management. Within the past week, the company received word of a $22 million award for services at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, as well as a two-year extension, worth between […]

The U.S. Energy Department is again delaying issuance of a draft record of decision (ROD) for its proposed new 2.2-million-cubic yard landfill for the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee. The document had been due Monday. A DOE spokesman said by email Monday the ROD’s release was pushed back another month, until Oct. 31. It was […]

The U.S. Department of Energy on Friday officially issued up to one-year contract extensions for waste tank and Central Plateau cleanup at the Hanford Site in Washington state. The previously announced extensions will be worth $665 million for AECOM-led Washington River Protection Solutions and $500 million to Jacobs subsidiary CH2M Plateau Remediation, DOE said. The […]

The United States should stop trying to build a centralized disposal facility for its nuclear waste, and instead enact on a “decentralized” regime while pursuing new technologies to deal with the material, according to a new report from an environmental think tank. “The current policy regime for nuclear waste management is broken,” the Oakland, Calif.-based […]

The state of Idaho has assessed the U.S. Energy Department $6.77 million in fines for failure to start operating the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit (IWTU) at the Idaho National Laboratory by the end of 2012. The Energy Department has already paid, or worked off, more than half of the monetary fines, according to data provided […]

A former Tinder executive, the chairman emeritus of a national whiskey distiller, and the president of the California Institute of Technology are among the eight new members of the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board, Secretary of Energy Rick Perry announced Monday. The board is a sort of think-tank and sounding board for the energy secretary. […]

Nearly a month past its own declared schedule, the U.S. Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management still has not issued a draft request for proposals (RFP) for further cleanup of the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee. On July 2, DOE said in a notice on the federal procurement website FedBizOpps that it anticipated issuing the […]

An agreement between the U.S. Department of Energy and Boeing does not require the federal agency to pay for access to property owned by the company at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory in Ventura County, Calif. Instead, the contract extension cited in a Sept. 20 Weapons Complex Monitor article covers Boeing’s potentially reimbursable costs for […]

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is taking public comment on the proposed five-year recertification of the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico. The Energy Department filed the compliance recertification application with the EPA in March. The WIPP Land Withdrawal Act requires EPA recertification every five years to ensure underground disposal of […]

A local community advisory board wants the U.S. Department of Energy to complete a plutonium downblending mission at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina a decade earlier than the current projection for fiscal 2046. In a 19-0-1 vote Tuesday, the SRS Citizens Advisory Board (CAB) agreed to ask the Energy Department to apply more […]

Fluor, the Texas-based engineering and construction giant trying to reverse its worsening financial condition, said Tuesday it will sell off its government contracting business that includes its work for the U.S. Department of Energy. While long a major player in government services, Fluor sees the business as a valuable property that can be moved in […]

The U.S. Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management, and the rest of the federal government, would keep operating beyond the end of fiscal 2019 on Monday under a stopgap spending bill awaiting President Donald Trump’s signature at deadline Friday for Weapons Complex Monitor. The Senate voted 82-15 on Thursday to pass the continuing resolution, with […]

The Senate Appropriations Committee wants additional cost information before Congress provides any more funding for the Department of Energy’s planned new landfill at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee. “The Committee is disappointed in the lack of progress in issuing the Record of Decision for the new landfill and recommends no funding to continue the […]

The U.S. Energy Department on Monday formally announced it would demolish the final 18 structures at the former Energy Technology Engineering Center (ETEC) at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory in California. The plan is laid out in a new record of decision for remediation of the DOE-held Area IV and Northern Buffer Zone at Santa […]

A local community advisory board wants the U.S. Department of Energy to complete a plutonium downblending mission at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina a decade earlier than the current projection for fiscal 2046. In a 19-0-1 vote Tuesday, the SRS Citizens Advisory Board (CAB) agreed to ask the Energy Department to apply more […]

The U.S. government has paid at least $7.4 billion to nuclear power plant owners for failing to meet its Jan. 31, 1998, deadline to begin taking their spent reactor fuel for disposal, according to the Congressional Research Service (CRS). The U.S. Energy Department projects its total liability could be as high as $35.5 billion. The […]

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency required significant revisions to four documents submitted for remediation of the radioactively contaminated portion of the West Lake Landfill Superfund Site in Missouri. Contractor Parsons Corp. in July filed draft versions of the emergency response and site management plans for Operable Unit 1 (OU-1) at West Lake, then in August […]

A House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on Thursday advanced legislation intended to bring the U.S. government closer to finally removing nuclear waste from dozens of sites around the nation and then ultimately burying it in a geologic repository under Yucca Mountain, Nev. In a unanimous voice vote, the environment and climate change subcommittee sent the […]