Department of Energy

The Department of Energy formally published its reinterpretation of the definition of high-level radioactive waste (HLW) in Monday’s Federal Register. As telegraphed for months, and officially announced on June 5, DOE now interprets that the existing HLW definition in the Atomic Energy Act and the Nuclear Waste Policy Act means not all wastes from spent […]

A federal court on Thursday upheld a Washington state law making it easier for employees of contractors at the Energy Department’s Hanford Site to qualify for workers’ compensation benefits. State Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced the ruling by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington. The U.S. Justice Department challenged the law […]

The House Armed Services Committee on Thursday proposed a nearly $5.6 billion cap on defense environmental remediation spending at the Department of Energy for fiscal 2020, about $400 less than recommended by the lower chamber’s Appropriations Committee. The National Defense Authorization Act sets policy and annual spending limits for the largest funding tranche of legacy […]

William “Ike” White will begin managing the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) effective Monday. White for now is taking the title of senior adviser at EM, following the resignation of Anne Marie White about 15 months into her tenure as assistant energy secretary for environmental management. Ike White could eventually be named […]

The Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) still hopes in coming months to award several major contracts, an agency procurement official said Wednesday. The potential $6 billion Hanford Mission Essential Services contract for the Hanford Site in Washington state could be announced within the next couple months, according to Norbert Doyle, EM deputy assistant […]

The House Armed Services Committee this morning approved its version of the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) after about 20 hours of debate. The annual defense policy bill, now headed to the House floor, authorizes about 4% less funding than sought for active nuclear weapons programs managed by the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission says it will provide Texas with multiple opportunities for input in potential development of a federal rule that could enable disposal of Greater-Than-Class C (GTCC) low-level radioactive waste in the state. That would encompass the public comment period for an upcoming NRC draft regulatory basis for GTCC waste disposition and […]

The Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) still hopes in coming months to award several major contracts, an agency procurement official said Wednesday. The potential $6 billion Hanford Mission Essential Services contract for the Hanford Site in Washington state could be announced within the next couple months, according to Norbert Doyle, EM deputy assistant […]

The legacy cleanup vendor at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico is seeking a subcontractor to excavate several old concrete slabs and provide related deactivation and decommissioning work at Technical Area 21. Newport News Nuclear BWXT-Los Alamos (N3B) expects to sign a firm-fixed-price contract with the subcontractor that will be chosen based on […]

The Energy Facility Contractors Group (EFCOG), which represents companies that do business within the Energy Department nuclear cleanup and weapons complex, picked new officers during its annual meeting last week in Washington, D.C. Michael Lempke, president of the Nuclear and Environmental Group at Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Technical Solutions division, was selected as EFCOG’s new chairman, […]

The draft version of the House of Representatives’ National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2020 would allow none of the $26 million the Department of Energy requested for defense nuclear waste disposal. The measure is in keeping with the lower chamber’s opposition, under the Democratic Party majority installed following the November 2018 midterm elections, to […]

The Department of Energy on Friday issued a request for quote for a small business to administer the workers’ compensation program for contractor employees at the Hanford Site in Washington state. The agency plans to award a firm-fixed-price contract for up to five years for workers’ compensation support. Washington-based Penser North America holds the current […]

The Department of Energy acknowledged last week that a “minor miscalculation” by contractor Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth resulted in the under-reporting of doses of some radioactive contaminants for many years around the agency’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio. That said, the radioactive dose rates “remain far below” the point of being a health and safety concern, Undersecretary of […]

After a former Los Alamos National Laboratory scientist was indicted for allegedly lying about contacts with the Chinese government, the Energy Department prohibited its employees and contractors from participating in certain foreign “talent recruitment programs.” Deputy Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette approved that prohibition Friday by signing DOE Order 486.1. The order bars agency employees and […]

The House Rules Committee on Tuesday turned back the latest legislative attempt to appropriate funds for licensing the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada. A bipartisan group of five lawmakers proposed to provide $15 million via an amendment to H.R. 2740, a “minibus” funding bill for fiscal 2020 encompassing several smaller measures already approved […]

For the second time in a year, an advisory board to the Department of Energy has rejected a member’s request to urge the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency to reopen its decision on the On-Site Waste Disposal Cell being built at the the Portsmouth Site in Ohio During a meeting Thursday, the Portsmouth Site Specific Advisory Board voted against […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) has set the new date for a public hearing on two radioactive waste drum accidents in the Energy Department weapons complex. The hearing, originally set for last month, is now scheduled for noon to 4 p.m. Thursday, June 20, at DNFSB headquarters in Washington D.C.. The hearing was delayed due […]

The Energy Department withdrew its state permit application for the Hanford Site Test Bed Initiative last week after the Washington state Department of Ecology sought federal-state negotiations over tank waste remediation. In a May 29 letter, Ecology Director Maia Bellon told Anne Marie White, the departing DOE assistant secretary for environmental management, that it was […]

A House of Representatives subcommittee has scheduled a hearing Thursday to discuss three bills intended to promote consolidated interim storage and eventual disposal of spent reactor fuel from U.S. nuclear power plants. The latest of these measures is the Storage and Transportation of Residual and Excess (STORE) Nuclear Fuel Act, filed last week by Rep […]

New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) has formally objected to commercial plans for an interim storage facility in the state for spent fuel from U.S. nuclear power reactors. Holtec International, of Camden, N.J., has applied for a 40-year license from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a facility that ultimately could hold up to […]

The Energy Department in today’s Federal Register formally published its reinterpretation of high-level radioactive waste. As announced last week and months ago, DOE interprets that the existing HLW definition means that not all wastes from spent fuel reprocessing are highly-radioactive. Some material on the less radioactive end of the traditional high-level spectrum could conceivably be […]

The Energy Department’s proposal to reinterpret the definition of high-level radioactive waste and go with a policy that stresses radiological risk over its source, has the support of the directors of a half-dozen DOE national laboratories. “The proposal would shift the definition from a source-based definition to a risk-based interpretation consistent with the radiological characteristics […]

The Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico now expects to hold its next WIPP Town Hall briefing sometime in July, rather than June 20 as previously announced. Due to personnel changes within DOE, the meeting is being rescheduled, a city of Carlsbad representative said by email Thursday. Todd Shrader, manager of […]

A legal fight is considered likely over the Energy Department’s new interpretation of what material should be treated high-level radioactive waste, sources suggested this week. Not all waste resulting from reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel should be considered high-level, the DOE reaffirmed Wednesday. Going forward, the key question will be “how radioactive it is,” Undersecretary […]

The Energy Department published its justification May 31 for contracting a Centrus Energy subsidiary to demonstrate high-assay low enriched uranium (HALEU) production without competitive bidding. The federal government wants to deploy a 16-machine cascade at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio to demonstrate production of 19.75% enriched uranium fuel by June 2022 using domestic technology. Centrus’ […]

Language in a fiscal 2020 spending package passed by the full House Appropriations Committee May 21 says the Energy Department should comply with prior consent decrees when it comes to remediation its portion of the Santa Susana Field Laboratory (SSFL) in California. A provision of the report accompanying the Energy and Water Development appropriations bill […]

Washington state wants a “frank discussion” with the Energy Department about tank waste cleanup at the Hanford Site, and could seek relief in court if a mutually acceptable plan can’t be agreed upon. Washington Department of Ecology is frustrated by DOE Office of River Protection’s frequent failure to meet timelines in both a 2010 federal […]

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee along with state Attorney General Bob Ferguson voiced their opposition Thursday to the Energy Department’s decision to reinterpret the definition of high-level radioactive waste at the Hanford Site and elsewhere in the weapons complex. Washington currently holds 60% of the nation’s high-level waste with 56 million gallons stored in 177 underground […]

The House Armed Services Committee will vote on the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) even as the full House considers a multi-bill appropriations package, or minibus, that contains the Department of Energy’s spending bill for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1. The minibus provides almost $7.2 billion to the DOE Office of Environmental […]

The Savannah River Site’s liquid waste contractor was under no obligation to rehire a former employee, the company wrote in a recent letter objecting to a magistrate judge’s opinion in a 2016 lawsuit. Savannah River Remediation (SRR) added that it did not discriminate against former employee Adrienne Saulsberry, who is black, when it opted not […]