Department of Energy

By John Stang Perma-Fix Environmental Services said Wednesday its GeoMelt radioactive waste treatment system is scheduled to complete its testing by Dec. 31 and should begin operating in the first quarter of 2019. “We are making progress with the GeoMelt system,” Perma-Fix President and CEO Mark Duff said during the company’s quarterly earnings conference call. […]

By John Stang Paris-based waste and water management multinational Veolia said Thursday net income rose on a boost in revenue for the first nine months of 2018. “Veolia’s nine-month results are very satisfying. Revenue growth is sustained and solid, and provides operating leverage resulting in growth in net current income of 20 percent as to […]

The contractor that manages the U.S. Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site took appropriate actions upon finding that a solution sample taken at a key processing facility contained a higher level of plutonium than it should have. The incident, characterized as an anomaly, resulted in no criticality issues, harm to the environment, or danger to […]

The Department of Energy Office of Enforcement is concerned that agency oversight was needed to identify that Hanford Site contractor Mission Support Alliance (MSA) had not adequately developed and implemented a software quality assurance program that met federal requirements. The office on Nov. 2 sent an enforcement letter to the support services provider for the […]

BWX Technologies has rolled up a trio of big “wins” in the Energy Department’s cleanup complex during the past 12 months and is hoping for more, President and CEO Rex Geveden said Wednesday. “There remain significant pending opportunities including the re-award of the Savannah River [Site] liquid waste contract, Savannah River management and operations,” along […]

The $15 million contract Centrus Energy was awarded last month for decontamination and decommissioning (D&D) at the Energy Department’s Oak Ridge Reservation in Tennessee demonstrates the company is tapping new markets while riding out tough times in the nuclear fuel business, managers said Thursday. The work authorization to prepare the K-1600 facility at the East […]

Fluor Idaho still does not have a date for resuming sludge repackaging inside the building at Energy Department’s Idaho National Laboratory where four drums of the radioactive waste overheated and blew off their lids on April 11. That is a key takeaway from a monthly report the lab’s cleanup contractor filed Oct. 30 with the […]

Jeff Griffin, a longtime manager around the Energy Department complex, is the new head of field operations for the agency’s Office of Environmental Management (EM). Griffin, previously associate director for environmental management at the Savannah River National Laboratory in South Carolina, has been named EM’s new associate principal deputy assistant secretary for field operations. Assistant […]

Jacobs Engineering intends to compete for two major environmental remediation projects at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state, a senior executive said Tuesday. That demonstrates the Dallas-based company’s commitment to working at the massive cleanup program for the long term, according to Terry Hagen, Jacobs’ chief operating officer and president for its […]

Cathy Hickey has departed her post as president of Westinghouse Government Services, 17 months after the company opened a new office just outside of Washington, D.C., to increase its visibility within the Energy Department contracting world. Hickey “chose to leave via a voluntary separation package,” Westinghouse Electric spokeswoman Sarah Cassella said by email Wednesday. Company […]

While Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) easily won re-election Tuesday, his ability to influence the money flow to the Energy Department’s Idaho National Laboratory, and federal nuclear cleanup operations as a whole, appears to be on the decline. Simpson took more than 60 percent of the vote in Idaho’s 2nd Congressional District to decisively defeat Democrat […]

The Department of Energy could be at risk of millions of dollars of additional unnecessary costs at the Hanford Site in Washington state if it does not improve its oversight at the massive nuclear cleanup project, the agency’s inspector general said in a report this week. The Office of Inspector General released a summary of […]

By John Stang Perma-Fix Environmental Services said Wednesday its GeoMelt radioactive waste treatment system is scheduled to complete its testing by Dec. 31 and should begin operating in the first quarter of 2019. “We are making progress with the GeoMelt system,” Perma-Fix President and CEO Mark Duff said during the company’s quarterly earnings conference call. […]

The electoral defeat this week of Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) could remove one major political obstacle to funding and other legislative measures that would advance the long-awaited Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada. Rep. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) took slightly more than 50 percent of the statewide vote to beat Heller and three independent-party candidates […]

Perma-Fix Environmental Services said Wednesday its GeoMelt radioactive waste treatment system is scheduled to complete its testing by Dec. 31 and should begin operating in the first quarter of 2019. “We are making progress with the GeoMelt system,” Perma-Fix President and CEO Mark Duff said during the company’s quarterly earnings conference call. In January, the […]

BWX Technologies has rolled up a trio of big “wins” in the Energy Department’s cleanup complex during the past 12 months and is hoping for more, President and CEO Rex Geveden said Wednesday. “There remain significant pending opportunities including the re-award of the Savannah River [Site] liquid waste contract, Savannah River management and operations,” along […]

While Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) easily won re-election Tuesday, his ability to influence the money flow to the Energy Department’s Idaho National Laboratory, and federal nuclear cleanup operations as a whole, appears to be on the decline. Simpson took more than 60 percent of the vote in Idaho’s 2nd Congressional District to decisively defeat Democrat Aaron […]

The defeat of Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) could remove one major political obstacle to funding and other legislative measures that would advance the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada. Rep. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) took slightly more than 50 percent of the statewide vote to unseat Heller in Tuesday’s midterm elections. The first-term congresswoman, who […]

BWX Technologies on Tuesday reported third-quarter 2018 revenue of $426 million, 1.5 percent more than the $419 million recorded for the same period in 2017. The Lynchburg, Va.-based contractor to the Energy Department and the nuclear industry also said its net income for the quarter ended Sept. 30 was $77.9 million, or $0.78 per diluted […]

Jeff Griffin is the new head of field operations for the agency’s Office of Environmental Management (EM). Griffin, previously associate director for environmental management at the Savannah River National Laboratory in South Carolina, has been named EM’s new associate principal deputy assistant secretary for field operations. Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management Anne Marie White made […]

George Rael, a longtime Energy Department and National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) official, has joined Longenecker & Associates as a project manager at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in New Mexico effective this week. Longenecker is a subcontractor to Triad National Security, which on Nov. 1 took over as the NNSA’s management and operations […]

Fluor Idaho still does not have a date for when sludge repackaging is expected to resume inside the building at Energy Department’s Idaho National Laboratory where four drums of the radioactive waste overheated and blew off their lids on April 11. That is a key takeaway from a monthly report the lab’s cleanup contractor filed […]

Lynchburg, Va.-based BWX Technologies will issue its quarterly earnings report for the three months ended Sept. 30 after market close Tuesday, then will discuss the results in a conference call at 8:30 a.m. EST Wednesday. In August, BWX Technologies reported $439 million in revenue for the second quarter of 2018, a 7.1 percent uptick from […]

A familiar face in Energy Department nuclear cleanup circles, Cathy Hickey, has joined Tennessee-based Navarro Research and Engineering as executive vice president. Hickey joined the company Nov. 1 and will work out of Navarro’s Oak Ridge, Tenn., office, a spokesperson said by email Friday. Hickey succeeds Bob Eby, who will remain with the company on […]

A comparative analysis of different supplemental treatment methods for low-level radioactive waste at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site should be included in the results of an ongoing study, according to the second review report on the study by a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine panel. The panel is independently reviewing a study […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Monday denied two groups’ petitions for dismissal of license applications for interim spent fuel storage facilities in Texas and New Mexico. “The NRC’s regulations allow interested persons to file petitions to intervene and requests for hearing in which they can raise concerns regarding a particular license application. These regulations do […]

The Energy Department contractor at the West Valley Demonstration Project near Buffalo, N.Y., recently finished shipping the last of the site’s legacy low-level radioactive waste for disposal. Contractor CH2M HILL BWXT West Valley (CHBWV) finished the shipments on Sept. 6, seven months ahead of the April 2019 deadline, a spokesman said by email. The waste, […]

The Energy Department must address concerns about potential water contamination before the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) is ready to sign off on a new waste disposal landfill at the Oak Ridge Reservation. “To gain the state’s support, DOE may need to revise the landfill design, because groundwater near the land surface could […]

Extensive mediation has not resolved a dispute over the amount of money former Department of Energy cleanup contractor Washington Closure must pay Savage Logistics in attorney fees and other legal costs as part of a lawsuit settlement, according to federal court documents. In mid-June, Washington Closure Hanford agreed to pay $3.2 million to settle a […]

The state of Idaho has now assessed the Energy Department $4.77 million in penalties for its failure to start treating sodium-bearing waste at the Idaho National Laboratory. Fluor Idaho has estimated it could be well into 2019 before it begins operation of DOE’s Integrated Waste Treatment Unit (IWTU), Natalie Creed, hazardous waste unit manager at […]