Department of Energy

Another member of the brain trust for former assistant energy secretary for environmental management Anne Marie White is rumored to be on the move. The head of corporate services at the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management (EM), Paul Bosco, is apparently leaving his current post to take another position at the agency, two industry […]

Rita Baranwal is scheduled to be sworn in Thursday as assistant secretary for nuclear energy at the Department of Energy. Energy Secretary Rick Perry will handle the swearing-in ceremony, a DOE official said. An industry source said Baranwal has already started work, including receiving internal briefings. The Senate confirmed Baranwal on June 20, just over […]

A bill to reauthorize the Energy Department’s continued nuclear cleanup at the West Valley Demonstration Project in New York state drew scant attention Tuesday during a hearing of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources energy subcommittee. The measure was one of 11 bills for consideration and testimony at the one-hour morning legislative hearing. Subcommittee Chairman […]

Participation in the 2018 public survey on issues at the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state was less than half the count from the prior year. Only 55 people took part in the latest online survey, with 51 completing all the questions, far below the 119 responses a year earlier. Of those responding to […]

The Department of Energy is taking public comment through Aug. 2 on a $218 million proposal, along with less-costly options, for minimizing health and environmental risks at the Plutonium Uranium Extraction (PUREX) Plant at the Hanford Site in Washington state. The preferred option focuses on a key building and annexes at the plant – not two […]

The Department of Energy inspector general has “potential concerns” about agency oversight of $500,000 in grant money awarded to a regional group that promotes economic development around the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. That is the assessment offered in a July 2 memorandum from Deputy Inspector General Michelle Anderson to DOE Undersecretary for […]

The Pike County, Ohio, General Health District wants the U.S. Department of Energy to provide it with corrected air sampling reports from 2001 through 2017 after a federal official acknowledged last month a contractor under-reported potential contamination around the Portsmouth Site. Energy Undersecretary for Science Paul Dabbar said in a June 6 letter to Pike […]

A regional group that promotes communities around the Energy Department’s Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in New Mexico says it has fixed weaknesses in its travel reimbursement policy and other financial procedures. In a June 24 public meeting, Regional Coalition of LANL Communities (RCLC) Executive Director Eric Vasquez outlined steps taken over the past year to […]

The U.S. Department of Energy expects within 15 to 60 days to issue a draft request for proposals for remediation at the 33,000-acre Oak Ridge Reservation in Tennessee. The agency posted its plans for the solicitation July 2 on a federal procurement website. Vendors should expect a 100% full and open competition with a pre-solicitation […]

The Washington state Department of Ecology is trying to force the U.S. Department of Energy to put a plan in place by fall 2023 for tranfserring radioactive and chemical waste from 149 single-shell tanks to double-shell tanks at the Hanford Site. In a document dated June 27, the state agency indicated it will not extend […]

Two class-action lawsuits have now been filed against companies doing work at the Energy Department’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio since a nearby middle school was closed due to the potential spread of radioactive contamination. On June 28, two individuals who have long lived within 2 miles of the former gaseous diffusion plant filed suit against […]

Repackaging of radioactive sludge waste at the site of an April 2018 drum breach at the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory is nearly complete, according to a monthly report filed with the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality. Site cleanup contractor Fluor Idaho said in its June 27 update it has completed processing all material […]

Bechtel and the Energy Department are accepting public comment through Aug. 30 on a proposed modification to the Washington state Department of Ecology hazardous waste permit for the Low-Activity Waste and Effluent Management facilities being built at the Hanford Site in Washington state. The permit revision will provide operational details for the two facilities in […]

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee’s energy subcommittee is scheduled next Tuesday to consider legislation to reauthorize Energy Department cleanup at the West Valley Demonstration Project in New York. The West Valley Reauthorization Act, H.R. 1138, passed the full House of Representatives by voice vote on March 5. The legislation from Rep. Tom Reed […]

The AECOM-led contractor in charge of environmental remediation at the Energy Department’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee is in the early stages of dealing with soil near the old K-25 building with a higher-than-expected contamination level. On June 13, URS-CH2M Oak Ridge (UCOR) determined soil samples from a legacy soil contamination area near the old […]

The New Mexico Court of Appeals expects a status report by July 31 on mediation between the parties in litigation over changes to the way the Department of Energy calculates the underground volume of transuranic material at its Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad. The mediation began last month between representatives of DOE, the […]

The New Mexico Environment Department will kick off the first in a series of public outreach meetings a week from today with a discussion of its oversight of the Energy Department’s Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). The July 9 meeting will focus on the mission of the state agency’s Energy Department Oversight Bureau, and possible […]

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee’s energy subcommittee is scheduled next Tuesday to consider legislation to reauthorize Energy Department cleanup at the West Valley Demonstration Project in New York. The West Valley Reauthorization Act, H.R. 1138, passed the full House of Representatives by voice vote on March 5. The legislation from Rep. Tom Reed […]

Bechtel and the Energy Department are accepting public comment through Aug. 30 on a proposed modification to the Washington state Department of Ecology hazardous waste permit for the Low-Activity Waste and Effluent Management facilities being built at the Hanford Site in Washington state. The permit revision will provide operational details for the two facilities in […]

The Pike County, Ohio, General Health District recommends using Solutient Technologies for an independent third-party assessment of contamination levels around the Energy Department’s Portsmouth Site. The program is an effort to allay public concerns that in may led to temporary closure of a middle school near the nuclear remediation operation. The Canton, Ohio-based firm is […]

Two class-action lawsuits have now been filed against companies doing work at the Energy Department’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio since a nearby middle school was closed due to the potential spread of radioactive contamination. On Friday, two individuals who have long lived within 2 miles of the former gaseous diffusion plant filed suit against Centrus […]

The New Mexico Court of Appeals expects a status report by July 31 on mediation between the parties in litigation over changes to the way the Department of Energy calculates the underground volume of transuranic material at its Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad. The mediation began last month between representatives of DOE, the […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in May spent just $639 of its remaining balance from the federal fund for development, construction, and operation of a repository for the nation’s nuclear waste. “While there are no significant actions to report for the month, the NRC provided limited program planning and support activities that resulted in nominal […]

Repackaging of radioactive sludge waste at the site of an April 2018 drum breach at the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory is nearly complete, according to a monthly report filed with the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality. Site cleanup contractor Fluor Idaho has completed processing all material except three waste trays inside the Accelerated […]

The New Mexico Environment Department will kick off the first in a series of public outreach meetings a week from today with a discussion of its oversight of the Energy Department’s Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). The July 9 meeting will focus on the mission of the state agency’s Energy Department Oversight Bureau, and possible […]

The Department of Energy’s Paducah Site in Kentucky temporarily lost all power Sunday following a storm in the region. In an occurrence report published Wednesday, DOE said “the Paducah Site experienced a total loss of site power as a result of the severe weather affecting the Shawnee-Marshall 161kV Line that feeds power to the Paducah […]

Leaders of two southeastern New Mexico communities this week reaffirmed regional support for plans for an interim storage site for spent nuclear fuel that could be built in their area in a matter of years. Eddy County and the city of Carlsbad are two of the four members of the Eddy-Lea Energy Alliance (ELEA), which is partnering […]

Parsons has provided quality management at the Savannah River Site’s Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF), with little need for improvement, according to a recent assessment from the U.S. Department of Energy. Agency officials further concluded the contractor has successfully implemented processes and procedures that fall in line with DOE’s Conduct of Operations for facilities in […]

The U.S. Department of Justice said this week a federal court in Washington state should reject a motion to dismiss a fraud lawsuit brought filed against a contractor and subcontractor at the Energy Department’s Hanford Site. In an 86-page document filed Monday in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington, the Justice Department […]

Contractors at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state have won praise, for the third year in a row, for their efforts to limit the environmental impact of their computers and other electronic equipment. In 2018, over 95% of the electronics bought by all DOE contractors at Hanford were environmentally friendly, according to […]