Department of Energy

The Department of Energy should increase use of solar power at the Savannah River Site as it addresses aging infrastructure issues, the SRS Citizens Advisory Board (CAB) said Tuesday. The recommendation was forwarded to DOE headquarters on a 17-0 board vote. It emphasizes the 310-square-mile South Carolina facility’s suitability for solar power: plenty of cleared land on which solar panels could […]

U.S. Energy Department veteran Mark Gilbertson has officially been named principal deputy assistant secretary (PDAS) for the agency’s Office of Environmental Management (EM). The move was announced in a Nov. 20 email to Energy Department officials from Assistant Secretary of Energy for Environmental Management Anne Marie White. “Mark has excellent skills, temperament, and knowledge that […]

WASHINGTON, D.C. – While the Energy Department’s top nuclear cleanup manager said Wednesday her office will not use a new agency order to thwart oversight by the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB), members of the panel remained apprehensive. Order 140.1, issued in May, will not change the relationship between DOE’s Office of Environmental Management […]

The Energy Department expects to soon issue a request for proposals for paramilitary security services at the Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina. The notice of the upcoming solicitation was posted Tuesday on the Federal Business Opportunities website. The RFP is due to go out within 15 to 60 days, which translates to the […]

The Energy Department could reissue the liquid waste management contract for the Savannah River Site in South Carolina within hours, according to the most recent schedule for major procurements at its Office of Environmental Management. The DOE nuclear cleanup office posted the latest timeline on Nov. 19, and said the waste contract could be awarded […]

Critical Applications Alliance (CAA), a venture comprised of two Houston companies, has won a $135 million contract to build a new permanent ventilation system at the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M. The award to the team of Christensen Building Group and Kilgore Industries was announced Nov. 19 by the Energy […]

While the Department of Energy has spent $164 billion since 1989 to remediate Cold War-related nuclear and hazardous waste, its environmental liability has grown, according to the agency’s Office of Inspector General. The department’s environmental liability has more than doubled from a low of $176 billion in fiscal 1997 to $384 billion in fiscal 2017, […]

Weapons Complex Monitor took a break last week for the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, but out affiliate publication, Weapons Complex Morning Briefing did not. Here’s a recap of some of the nuclear security enterprise news covered last week. Work Resumes at WIPP After Rock Fall Work resumed underground before Thanksgiving at the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation […]

Bechtel has hired a veteran Energy Department and nuclear energy industry manager as chief for nuclear safety and operations within its Engineering division. Chip Lagdon will oversee nuclear safety analyses for Bechtel’s DOE cleanup and nuclear security missions, the company said in a press release last week. Lagdon will also work on safety and licensing […]

A new law easing Washington state workers’ compensation program requirements for claims from employees of the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site violates the U.S. Constitution, according to the Department of Justice. The agency plans to file a civil lawsuit against the state near the end of this week to block the law, if a resolution […]

Oak Ridge, Tenn.-based Atkins Nuclear Secured Holdings Corp. on Nov. 8 named William Madia to its Board of Directors. In addition to heading his own energy consulting firm, Madia is chairman of the board and vice president for the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory at Stanford University in California. Originally called the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, […]

The federal government has paid $7.4 billion to resolve dozens of lawsuits from nuclear utilities over the Department of Energy’s failure to meet its legal obligation to dispose of spent nuclear fuel from commercial power reactors, the DOE Inspector General’s Office said in a new report. The Energy Department estimates its ultimate liability could exceed […]

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Tuesday signed off on the Trump administration’s nominee to lead the U.S. Energy Department’s Office of Nuclear Energy. Rita Baranwal, currently director of DOE’s Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear (GAIN) program, now waits for a vote by the full Senate in the waning days of the […]

Rep. Dina Titus (D-Nev.) this week called on the top leaders and appropriators in the House of Representatives to prevent any funding for the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in her state in the next federal budget bill. “We are about a week out from the deadline to fund the government and there are efforts […]

WASHINGTON, D.C. – While the Energy Department’s top nuclear cleanup manager said Wednesday her office will not use a new agency order to thwart oversight by the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB), members of the panel remained apprehensive. Order 140.1, issued in May, will not change the relationship between DOE’s Office of Environmental Management […]

The Department of Energy should increase use of solar power at the Savannah River Site as it addresses aging infrastructure issues, the SRS Citizens Advisory Board (CAB) said Tuesday. The recommendation was forwarded to DOE headquarters on a 17-0 board vote. It emphasizes the 310-square-mile South Carolina facility’s suitability for solar power: plenty of cleared land on which solar panels could […]

The Energy Department expects to soon issue a request for proposals for paramilitary security services at the Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina. The notice of the upcoming solicitation was posted Tuesday on the Federal Business Opportunities website. The Energy Department expects to issue the actual RFP within 15 to 60 days. The new […]

Nearly lost amid higher-profile nomination hearings in high-octane committees this week is a nuts-and-bolts piece of legislation that could open the door for more whistleblower disclosures in the nuclear weapons, waste, and power industries. The bill, slated for a hearing Thursday in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee along with several other pieces of legislation, […]

Mark Gilbertson’s official promotion to the No. 2 spot at the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management means added responsibility for his acting replacement as the cleanup office’s head of regulatory and policy issues. Assistant Secretary of Energy for Environmental Management Anne Marie White on Nov. 20 named Gilbertson her permanent principal deputy assistant secretary, […]

The federal government and South Carolina expressed optimism Monday that they can settle a $100 million claim over plutonium that remains stranded in the state. “Pursuant to the Court’s Order filed October 24, 2018 … the parties report that at this time they continue to believe that it is possible to resolve the pending disputes […]

Oak Ridge, Tenn.-based Atkins Nuclear Secured Holdings Corp. on Nov. 8 named William Madia to its Board of Directors. In addition to heading his own energy consulting firm, Madia is chairman of the board and vice president for the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory at Stanford University in California. Originally called the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, […]

The Department of Energy has awarded four indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contracts for technical support services at the Hanford Site in Washington state. The agency’s Office of River Protection at Hanford issued the awards on Nov. 20 to Independent Strategic Management Solutions, Inc., of Richland, Wash.; Street Legal of Oak Ridge, Tenn.; JFA-RC Technical […]

The Energy Department now anticipates reissuing the liquid waste management contract for the Savannah River Site in South Carolina by the end of this month, according to the latest schedule for major procurements at its Office of Environmental Management. The DOE nuclear cleanup office posted the latest timeline on Nov. 19. It supersedes an Oct. […]

Longenecker & Associates, the Las Vegas-based Energy Department subcontractor, has added a former Honeywell executive and a retired Air Force officer to its advisory board. The new members are retired U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Sandra Finan, now a consultant based in Spokane, Wash.; and ex-Honeywell Federal Manufacturing and Technologies (FM&T) President Chris Gentile, Longenecker […]

Bechtel has hired a veteran Energy Department and nuclear energy industry manager as chief for nuclear safety and operations within its Engineering division. Chip Lagdon will oversee nuclear safety analyses for Bechtel’s DOE cleanup and nuclear security missions, the company said in a press release last week. Lagdon will also work on safety and licensing […]

Work resumed underground last week at the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M., following a recent rock fall, a New Mexico newspaper reported Nov. 20. The Carlsbad Current-Argus reported work resumed Nov. 16 after a rock fall in Room 6 of Panel 7 on Nov. 14. The newspaper also cited Donavan Mager, […]

The Department of Energy’s (DOE) fiscal 2018 budget increase handily outpaced the rise in dollars under contract, according to a report from the agency’s Office of the Inspector General late last week. The DOE budget rose about 10 percent to some $34.5 billion between fiscal 2017 and fiscal 2018, while the amount of money under […]

Energy Department veteran Mark Gilbertson has officially been named principal deputy assistant secretary (PDAS) for the agency’s Office of Environmental Management. The move was announced in a Tuesday email to Energy Department representatives from Assistant Secretary of Energy for Environmental Management Anne Marie White. “Mark has excellent skills, temperament, and knowledge that compliment mine and […]

U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) has added his support to a call by 76 nongovernmental groups across the nation to allow more time to comment on a Department of Energy proposal to change its interpretation of the definition of high-level radioactive waste. The current 60-day comment period ends Dec. 10. Wyden and the stakeholder groups […]

Two former workers at the Hanford Site Waste Treatment Plant are accusing contractor Bechtel National in separate lawsuits of laying them off after they raised safety concerns. A jury trial has been set for July 2, 2019, for the lawsuit from Curtis W. Hall II, followed by a jury trial scheduled for Sept. 9, 2019, […]