Department of Energy

Stakeholders now have through Jan. 9 to weigh in on the proposed new 2.2-million-cubic yard-landfill to eventually replace the existing facility at the Energy Department’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee. An Energy Department spokesman confirmed by email the public comment deadline has been extended from Dec. 10. This marks the second extension — DOE had […]

The Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico expects within days to take a shipment of remote-handled waste from the Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois, which has a higher radiation dose than most shipments over the past nearly two years. The Argonne shipment will be one of the last WIPP takes this […]

A panel of three administrative judges at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Thursday rejected a motion that it be disqualified from adjudicating the license application for a planned spent nuclear reactor fuel site in West Texas. The matter now goes to the full commission for a final ruling, according to the memorandum and order from […]

The sitting leaders of the Senate Appropriations energy and water development subcommittee plan to remain in place when the next Congress convenes in January. Staffers for both subcommittee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) this week confirmed their bosses’ intentions for the 116th Congress. Alexander has held the post since 2015, […]

A California Superior Court judge has rejected arguments by the Los Angeles branch of Physicians for Social Responsibility and other groups that state regulators could prevent Boeing from tearing down several old structures at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory (SSFL) site. The advocacy groups argued in a 2013 lawsuit that the state allowed demolition of […]

The sitting leaders of the Senate Appropriations energy and water development subcommittee plan to remain in place when the next Congress convenes in January. Staffers for both subcommittee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) confirmed their bosses’ intentions this week. Alexander has held the post since 2015, taking over from Feinstein […]

The U.S. Department of Justice on Monday sued the state of Washington over a new law that eases state workers’ compensation requirements for claims from employees of the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for Eastern Washington after a telephone discussion Monday between attorneys with the Justice Department […]

The Savannah River Site expects in 2019 to use a mixture of new and old methods to increase removal of mercury from its liquid waste system. In late 2017, officials at the Department of Energy facility in South Carolina discovered they could raise pH levels in the waste evaporator tank, a part of the site’s […]

The Department of Energy is accepting comments about security at the Hanford Site as it updates the security section of its dangerous waste permit for the Washington state facility. The proposed update in the permit from the Washington state Department of Ecology spells out in detail the security measures in place, including signs, surveillance systems, […]

A hearings officer for the New Mexico Environment Department has recommended the state approve a request by the Department of Energy to change the way underground waste is counted at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). The recommendation, issued this week, must now be considered by NMED Secretary Butch Tongate, DOE Carlsbad Field Office Manager […]

An economic development executive in eastern Idaho said Wednesday that a number of questions remain about the Energy Department’s decision to close the Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project (AMWTP) at the Idaho National Laboratory. Dana Kirkham, CEO of the Regional Economic Development for Eastern Idaho, will attend a meeting with DOE officials in a few […]

While the Savannah River Site’s multibillion-dollar Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF) was at one time projected to be operational this month, the U.S. Department of Energy and contractor Parsons have yet to agree on a new project baseline for the facility. The Energy Department is reviewing the document laying out new cost and schedule milestones […]

The Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) is tweaking its approach to the so-called “end states” road map to environmental remediation for the Central Plateau at the Hanford Site in Washington state. The office on Wednesday published a notice of its modification to the end-state model championed by Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management Anne […]

Risk should be a major factor in setting cleanup priorities at the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state, the DOE Environmental Management Advisory Board agreed Tuesday. The advisory board voted, in a public meeting held by conference call, to endorse a subcommittee’s recommendations to Assistant Energy Secretary for Environmental Management Anne Marie White. The […]

The Department of Energy withheld a quarter of the potential $461,000 fee for contractor CH2M Hill B&W West Valley (CHBWV), limiting the ceiling to $346,000 for its cleanup work in the latest performance period at the West Valley Demonstration Project in New York. The fee was withheld for the contractor’s performance from March 1 through […]

Demolition of the Plutonium Finishing Plant at the Hanford Site in Washington state will not restart this month, as earlier projected. It has been a year since the Department of Energy halted demolition and work to load out unpackaged contaminated debris at the plant, following discovery of a second spread of radioactive particles. At the […]

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Government Accountability Office (GAO) plans to publish three reports during January and February that will detail challenges facing the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management (EM). That was a major takeaway from a Tuesday presentation to a panel of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine by GAO Director of […]

The United States needs an all-new organization separated from the federal government if it hopes to finally end the decades-long impasse in building a permanent resting place for the nation’s nuclear waste, a panel of experts said Monday. That was one of a long series of recommendations listed in the 126-page “Reset of America’s Nuclear […]

The United States needs an all-new organization separated from the federal government if it hopes to finally end the decades-long impasse in building a permanent resting place for the nation’s nuclear waste, a panel of experts said Monday. That was one of a long series of recommendations listed in the 126-page “Reset of America’s Nuclear […]

The Department of Energy withheld a quarter of the potential $461,000 fee for contractor CH2M Hill B&W West Valley (CHBWV), limiting the ceiling to $346,000 for its cleanup work in the latest performance period at the West Valley Demonstration Project in New York. The fee was withheld for the contractor’s performance from March 1 through Aug. 28, according […]

Despite some pushback from members of his own party, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) will become the Democrats’ ranking member on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Manchin, a former West Virginia governor, has been a member of the committee since being elected to the Senate in 2010. He has served as a champion for […]

The Savannah River Site expects in 2019 to use a mixture of new and old methods to increase removal of mercury from its liquid waste system. In late 2017, officials at the Department of Energy facility in South Carolina discovered they could raise pH levels in the waste evaporator tank, a part of the site’s […]

The Sierra Club should be allowed to intervene in part in the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s review of a license application for a planned spent nuclear reactor fuel storage facility in Texas, according to agency staff. However, staff said a coalition of environmental groups led by Don’t Waste Michigan failed to show standing or submit viable […]

Risk should be a major factor in setting cleanup priorities at the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state, the DOE Environmental Management Advisory Board agreed Tuesday. The advisory board voted, in a public meeting held by conference call, to endorse a subcommittee’s recommendations to Assistant Energy Secretary for Environmental Management Anne Marie White. The […]

The U.S. Department of Justice on Monday sued the state of Washington over a new law that eases state workers’ compensation requirements for claims from employees of the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for Eastern Washington after a telephone discussion Monday between attorneys with the Justice Department […]

A California Superior Court judge has rejected arguments by the Los Angeles branch of Physicians for Social Responsibility and other groups that state regulators could prevent Boeing from tearing down several old structures at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory (SSFL) site. The advocacy groups argued in a 2013 lawsuit the state allowed the demolition for at […]

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) hopes to remain chairman of the Senate Appropriations energy and water development subcommittee when the next Congress convenes in January, a staffer confirmed. The longtime lawmaker has held the post since 2015. There was no word Tuesday on whether Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) expects to stay on as her party’s ranking […]

The United States needs an all-new organization separated from the federal government if it hopes to overcome the long delay in disposal of tens of thousands of tons of nuclear waste, a panel of experts said Monday. The steering committee that produced the 126-page “Reset of America’s Nuclear Waste Management” report said it is “unanimous […]

Fluor Idaho has spent roughly $7 million to date on expenses related to the April 11 accident in which four drums of radioactive waste sludge overheated and blew off their lids at the Idaho National Laboratory. Spokesman Erik Simpson provided the figure in an Dec. 7 email responding to questions about Fluor Idaho’s efforts to […]

Nuclear Waste Partnership, the Energy Department contractor responsible for running the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M., has hired Gene Balsmeier as its new chief operating officer and deputy project manager. Balsmeier, who has held management posts at a number of sites in the DOE complex, replaces Tammy Reynolds, NWP President and Project […]