Department of Energy

WASHINGTON — A former Nuclear Regulatory Commission chairman and other issue experts made the rounds on Capitol Hill this week to argue for a top-to-bottom rethinking of management of the nation’s nuclear waste. “The situation in the U.S. is terribly broken, has been for decades, and without some major change to the program I don’t […]

While the Energy Communities Alliance (ECA) hopes the Department of Energy will readjust its classification of high-level radioactive waste, it has not forgotten the federal agency still owes Congress a report on the issue. The ECA asked the House and Senate Armed Services committees on Tuesday to “attempt to require” compliance with a provision of the […]

The U.S. Department of Energy could do a better job of monitoring how its contractors spend billions of dollars in federal money, the Government Accountability Office said Tuesday. A new GAO report recommends DOE entities, including the Office of Environmental Management and the semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration, put more emphasis on how management and […]

Nevada’s congressional delegation is refreshing its opposition to building a nuclear waste repository in their state ahead of the imminent rollout of the White House’s next budget proposal. The Trump administration is expected to issue its fiscal 2020 spending plan on or around March 12, delayed several weeks by the recent partial shutdown of the […]

The current liquid waste management contractor for the Savannah River Site in South Carolina will be kept on past the expiration of its current contract extension on March 31, the Department of Energy said Wednesday, a day after announcing it had canceled the procurement for a follow-on contract. AECOM-led Savannah River Remediation is working under […]

A planned trip this week by several U.S. senators to the proposed site of a nuclear waste repository in Nevada has been canceled, Sen. Lamar Alexander’s (R-Tenn.) office said Wednesday. “The CODEL is being rescheduled,” a spokesperson for Alexander said by email, referring to the congressional delegation. The problem appeared to be scheduling conflicts with […]

Department of Energy contractor CH2M HILL BWXT West Valley (CHBWV) has removed virtually all the waste generated from demolition of the vitrification plant at the West Valley Demonstration Project in New York state. About 460 containers of debris have been sent from the site at the town of Ashford to off-site facilities, the Energy Department […]

A former Nuclear Regulatory Commission chairman and other issue experts are making the rounds on Capitol Hill this week to argue for a top-to-bottom rethinking of management of the nation’s nuclear waste. “The situation in the U.S. is terribly broken, has been for decades, and without some major change to the program I don’t really […]

The Department of Energy will not reissue a 10-year, multibillion-dollar contract for liquid waste management at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina initially awarded in October 2017. The department said Tuesday afternoon it was canceling the solicitation and that current contractor Savannah River Remediation will remain on the job. The AECOM-team is currently operating […]

The management and operations contractor for the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site could be headed to trial near the end of the year over a federal negligence lawsuit filed in November by a site employee. A scheduling order filed Monday in U.S. District Court for South Carolina outlines tasks that must be completed by […]

The U.S. Department of Energy could do a better job of monitoring how its contractors spend billions of dollars in federal money, the Government Accountability Office said Tuesday. The new GAO report recommends DOE entities, including the Office of Environmental Management and the semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration, put more emphasis on how management and […]

While the Energy Communities Alliance (ECA) hopes the Department of Energy will change what it considers high-level radioactive waste, it has not forgotten the federal agency still owes Congress a report on the issue. The ECA asked the House and Senate Armed Services committees on Tuesday to “attempt to require” compliance with a provision of […]

Retirees of former Hanford Site contractor Lockheed Martin Services Inc. have petitioned the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit to hear their appeal of a U.S. Court of Federal Claims decision in a class action lawsuit against the Department of Energy. In early February, a three-judge panel of the appeals court upheld […]

A federal judge on Thursday ordered the U.S. government to pay more than $103 million to the owners of three retired nuclear power plants for failing to meet its legal mandate to remove spent nuclear fuel from the properties. U.S. Court of Federal Claims Senior Judge Nancy Firestone ruled that the federal government must pay […]

A Department of Energy official acknowledged Thursday the Idaho National Laboratory missed its Dec. 31, 2018, deadline to move defense-related transuranic waste to the federal disposal facility in New Mexico. Under a 1995 settlement between DOE, Idaho, and the U.S. Navy over in-state nuclear waste storage, the Energy Department was supposed to ship 65,000 cubic […]

The U.S. Department of Energy will likely need an updated strategy sooner than anticipated for temporary storage of treated radioactive liquid waste at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, according to the DOE Inspector General’s Office. The department’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) did not properly assess the reliability of its strategy to store […]

Todd Wright, who retired last August as vice president and general manager of AECOM’s Aiken, S.C.-based nuclear and environment business, has received South Carolina’s highest civilian award. South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster (R) formally inducted Wright into the Order of the Palmetto during a ceremony in the governor’s office last week. The award is given […]

Lynchburg, Va.-based BWX Technologies will file its fourth-quarter 2018 earnings report after the market closes today, and will discuss the results with financial analysts in an 8:30 a.m. Tuesday conference call. The earnings call, for the quarter ended Dec. 31, will be webcast. During the third quarter of 2018, BWXT reported revenue of $426 million, […]

The Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management issued its latest procurement schedule on Wednesday, but it lists no timeline for awarding the long-awaited liquid waste management contract for the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. The multibillion-dollar re-award is now listed as “TBD,” or to be determined. When the procurement schedule was updated in November, […]

Three Department of Energy field managers in New Mexico said Thursday that an agency order issued last year will bring little change in a good relationship with an independent federal watchdog, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB). The officials offered the commitment at a DNFSB public hearing in Albuquerque, N.M. The four board members […]

The U.S. Department of Justice and Washington state have agreed that a federal lawsuit over a new state law easing workers’ compensation requirements for ill Hanford Site workers likely can be resolved without a trial. Both have told the court they plan to file motions for summary judgment in the case. Judge Stanley Bastian, of […]

The Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management wants vendor feedback on a potential new contract to provide infrastructure support services at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio and the Paducah Site in Kentucky. The request for information/sources sought notice was issued Tuesday by DOE’s Cincinnati-based Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center. The Energy Department is in the […]

The Energy Department plans to extend a sole-source task order so contractor CDM can generate additional reports on the cleanup of the Energy Technology Engineering Center (ETEC) at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory in California. The agency announced its intention to keep CDM on the job through the end of the year in a Wednesday […]

As part of its efforts to put its house in order, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) intends hire a high-level staff management position, Chairman Bruce Hamilton said Feb. 14 during a meeting in Washington, D.C. “We need to hire this executive secretary, or chief of staff, or whatever you want to call it,” […]

The enforcement arm of the Energy Department’s Office of Enterprise Assessments (EA) has opened an investigation into potential shortcomings in the industrial hygiene program at the agency’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M. The EA Office of Enforcement is studying “potential deficiencies” in implementation of DOE industrial hygiene requirements by WIPP contractor Nuclear Waste […]

U.S. Rep. Tom Reed (R-N.Y.) last week again introduced legislation to reauthorize the Department of Energy’s West Valley Demonstration Project in New York. The measure, co-sponsored by Rep. Brian Higgins (D-N.Y.), was filed Feb. 11 and assigned to the House Energy and Commerce Committee. As of Thursday, the text has not been received for the […]

Fluor, a major Energy Department contractor, on Thursday reported a drop in revenue but higher earnings for 2018. The Dallas-area company took in $225 million in earnings attributable to Fluor, $1.59 per diluted share, for the 12 months ended Dec. 31. That was up from roughly $191 million, or $1.36 per diluted share, for 2017, […]

The New Mexico Senate on Monday unanimously confirmed former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency manager James Kenney as secretary of the state Environment Department. New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) named Kenney as secretary-designate to NMED on Jan. 7. Along with enforcing environmental laws, the department oversees hazardous waste and radioactive sources at U.S. Department […]

By Calvin Biesecker Leidos on Tuesday posted higher sales and earnings due to top-line growth across its business segments and higher operating income in its Health and Civil segments. Net income increased 65 percent to $188 million, $1.25 earnings per share (EPS), from $114 million (74 cents EPS) a year ago. The strong earnings were […]

Current and former executives with connections to the nuclear industry are among the eight members announced Wednesday to the U.S. Secretary of Energy Advisory Board (SEAB). Former EnergySolutions Chairman and CEO David Lockwood and Edison International President and CEO Pedro Pizarro joined leaders from the energy industry, defense establishment, and other sectors on the panel’s […]