Department of Energy

The U.S. Energy Department is seeking comments on options for disposal of material generated from conversion of depleted uranium hexafluoride (DUF6) at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio and the Paducah Site in Kentucky. The DOE Office of Environmental Management said in a Dec. 28 Federal Register notice it has issued a draft supplemental environmental impact statement on disposal […]

The Department of Energy’s this week inked a new contract with S&K Logistics to continue providing technical support services for the Savannah River Site near Aiken, S.C. The deal is is worth up to $21.7 million, which includes about $9 million for the base year and an additional $12 million if an option is exercised […]

Newport News Nuclear BWXT-Los Alamos (N3B) garnered 83 percent of its potential fee for its first five months on the job as legacy cleanup contractor at the Energy Department’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. After taking over from Los Alamos National Security, N3B earned roughly $2.4 million of a potential $2.9 million from […]

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Wednesday upheld the dismissal of a class action lawsuit against the Department of Energy asking that full pension benefits be reinstated for up to 500 people who worked at the Hanford Site in Washington state. The ruling addressed a case filed in 2016 by plaintiffs […]

The Department of Energy has received approval from the state of Tennessee to proceed with demolition of two Manhattan Project-era buildings at the Biology Complex within the Y-12 National Security Complex at the Oak Ridge Reservation. Representatives from DOE and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) confirmed this week the state has given […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board plans to hold a public hearing by May to discuss an April 2018 accident at the Energy Department’s Idaho National Laboratory in which four drums of radioactive sludge blew off their lids. Three of the four DNFSB members voted on Dec. 12 to hold a hearing in Washington, D.C., […]

The states of Washington and Oregon have declared their formal opposition to a federal proposal for a new interpretation of the definition of high-level radioactive waste. Meanwhile, industry and community stakeholder groups are pressing the Department of Energy to proceed with the revised interpretation. The Energy Department is proposing to reconsider its interpretation of material […]

Congress is back for the 116th time, and the two parties this week officially elected leaders for several committees important to those who watch the Department of Energy’s nuclear portfolio. Republicans still control the Senate, while Democrats have taken over in the House following the November midterm elections. Following is a list of newly selected leaders […]

The Department of Energy said Monday it plans to release a final request for proposals (RFP) for the Tank Closure Contract at the Hanford Site in Washington state within 45 days. The final RFP, for a full and open competition, will be posted at www.fedconnect.net. The closure contract that results from the solicitation will replace […]

New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) said Monday she has selected a former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency official as secretary of the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED). James Kenney until recently was a senior policy adviser for oil and natural gas at EPA headquarters in Washington, D.C. He started work this week as secretary-designate, […]

Westinghouse Electric intends to create a business unit covering services for the full nuclear power life cycle as part of a broader reorganization announced Tuesday. The Plant Solutions business will encompass delivery of new power facilities; government services; and deconstruction, decommissioning, and remediation resources, according to a press release. it will be led by David […]

Congress should fund the Yucca Mountain repository in Nevada this year as part of a broader nuclear waste management approach, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), now officially the Department of Energy’s head Senate appropriator in the 116th Congress, said Wednesday. “This year, we should resolve the more than 30 year stalemate over how to dispose of […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Thursday it had scheduled a meeting on Jan. 24 with representatives from Southern California Edison (SCE) to discuss possible violations of federal regulations connected to a radioactive waste transfer mishap at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS). The agency is considering fines or other forms of “escalated enforcement” […]

The states of Washington and Oregon have declared their formal opposition to a federal proposal for a new interpretation of the definition of high-level radioactive waste. Meanwhile, industry and community stakeholder groups are pressing the Department of Energy to proceed with the revised interpretation. The Energy Department is proposing to reconsider its interpretation of material […]

Both the Energy Communities Alliance and the U.S. Nuclear Industry Council favor changing the Energy Department’s interpretation of high-level radioactive waste to focus less on how it was produced and more on its hazard profile. The comment deadline was set to end Wednesday for DOE’s proposed reinterpretation of what constitutes high-level waste (HLW). “We are […]

The Department of Energy has received approval from the state of Tennessee to proceed with demolition of two Manhattan Project-era buildings at the Biology Complex within the Y-12 National Security Complex at the Oak Ridge Reservation. Representatives from DOE and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) confirmed this week the state has given […]

The Department of Energy said Monday it plans to release a final request for proposals (RFP) for the Tank Closure Contract at the Hanford Site in Washington state within 45 days. The final RFP will be posted at www.fedconnect.net As DOE said last week, the closure contract that results from the solicitation will replace the […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board plans to hold a public hearing by May to discuss an April 2018 accident at the Energy Department’s Idaho National Laboratory in which four drums of radioactive sludge overheated and blew off their lids. Three of the four DNFSB members voted on Dec. 12 to hold a hearing in […]

New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) said Monday she has selected a former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency official as secretary of the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED). James Kenney until recently was a senior policy adviser for oil and natural gas at EPA headquarters in Washington, D.C. He will have an official start date, […]

The states of Washington and Oregon have stated their formal opposition to a federal proposal for a new interpretation of the definition of high-level radioactive waste. The Department of Energy is proposing to reconsider its interpretation of material classified as high-level radioactive waste, which requires disposal in a deep geological repository. The definition now is tied […]

The Department of Energy said Monday it plans to hire a Centrus Energy subsidiary to demonstrate a new nuclear fuel product for use in federal research into advanced reactors. In a notice of intent on the FedBizOpps.gov website, DOE’s Nuclear Energy Oak Ridge, Tenn., Site Office said American Centrifuge Operating would be hired to develop […]

Fluor Idaho continues to prepare a plan for restarting waste operations at a fabric filter building at the Energy Department’s Idaho National Laboratory where four drums of radioactive sludge overheated and ejected their lids in April 2018. The contractor has already received feedback from DOE officials in Idaho regarding its corrective action plan to address […]

There is no indication yet whether the administration of New Mexico’s newly inaugurated Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) might take a fresh look at a state policy, signed days before she took office, on the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad. Before retiring from state service, New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) Secretary […]

The company previously known as Wastren Advantage took home about 98 percent of its potential fee in its latest reporting period for providing analysis and testing services at the 222-S Laboratory at the Hanford Site in Washington state. The contractor earned almost $212,000 of a potential $217,000 from Sept. 21, 2017, to Sept. 20, 2018, […]

Randy Manus POWER Heavy loads must often be moved at power plants of all types. Air bearing-based vehicles can make the process safer, faster, and cheaper. Cask relocation at a nuclear waste facility offers one successful example of the process in action. Load moving in the nuclear industry comes with unique challenges, particularly when the […]

The Energy Department has awarded a potential seven-year, $152 million contract for occupational medical services at the Hanford Site in Washington state to incumbent vendor HPM Corp. of Kennewick, Wash. The contract includes a three-year base, followed by a pair of two-year option periods, DOE said in a Monday press release. The release did not […]

The Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management announced Monday it would split the previously single Tank Waste Cleanup Contract at the Hanford Site in Washington state into two solicitations in the follow-on procurement. Priority will be given to a contract emphasizing closure of radioactive-waste storage tanks and “feed delivery” to the Waste Treatment Plant that […]

Prior to exiting his job, New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) Secretary Butch Tongate authorized the U.S. Energy Department to change the way it counts material volume at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad so vacant spaces between container drums are no longer recorded as waste. The longtime NMED manager was appointed to lead […]

Energy Department Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management Anne Marie White enters her first full year on the job with both her leadership team largely in place and a strategy to reinvigorate the agency’s $7 billion-plus nuclear cleanup program. Including White, sworn into office late last March, four of the five top jobs at Environmental Management […]

Fluor Idaho said Thursday it is offering a “targeted voluntary separation program” for up to 50 employees at the Idaho National Laboratory cleanup project. Workers who exercise this option by Jan. 14 would leave the company on Feb. 18. The Department of Energy contractor said personnel at the Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project (AMWTP) “are […]