Department of Energy

Hiring has begun for the workers at the Hanford Site Waste Treatment Plant’s Analytical Laboratory who will support the facility’s commissioning prior to the start of operations by a 2023 federal court deadline. A 3,300-square-foot laboratory has been established at Columbia Basin College (CBC) near Hanford in Pasco, Wash., to help prepare for work at […]

The Department of Energy expects in September to again issue a new contract for liquid waste management at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, a senior procurement official said Tuesday. This will be the department’s second attempt to seal the deal, after the first contract was successfully protested to the Government Accountability Office. “I […]

One day after the Energy Department issued a draft request for proposals for lab services at the Hanford Site in Washington state, an agency official said a final RFP could soon hit the street for another contract. The final RFP for the potential 10-year, $4 billion Hanford Mission Essential Services contract could be out by […]

Andrew Wheeler, acting head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, on Monday signed a record of decision laying out the final cleanup plan for the 100 D and H Areas along the horn of the Columbia River at the Hanford Site in Washington state. Cleanup began under interim decisions in the mid-1990s on 7.8 square […]

The Energy Department has issued a draft request for proposals (RFP) for a contract potentially worth up to $904 million over seven years, including options, for analysis services at the 222-S Laboratory at the Hanford Site in Washington state. The current contract, held by Veolia subsidiary Wastren Advantage, ends on Sept. 20, 2020, DOE said […]

Transuranic waste shipments from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee early this month were still arriving at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant with elevated radiological readings that exceed the New Mexico disposal site’s waste acceptance criteria (WAC), the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board said in a July 6 report. “Although there is no evidence […]

Tennessee-based RSI EnTech said Monday it would not follow a competitor’s lead in protesting the Energy Department’s recent $137 million consolidated contract award for technical support services for the Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office complex. “Yes, we received a debrief [on the contract award]; no, we did not/are not filing a protest,” RSI EnTech President Paul Clay […]

The White House on Friday announced plans to nominate a former Capitol Hill staffer as general counsel for the Department of Energy. William Cooper is currently senior counsel and director in the Washington, D.C. branch of McConnell Valdés, a corporate law firm based in Puerto Rico. His prior positions as a congressional staffer include staff director […]

A contractor at the Energy Department’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina has finished moving 219,000 gallons of high-level waste from a leaking tank at the H Tank Farm, according to an update filed by the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB). Savannah River Remediation transferred the waste from Tank 15 to Tank 13, according […]

Department of Energy contractor Fluor will discuss its quarterly performance during a conference call with financial analysts at 5:30 p.m. Eastern time Thursday. Financial results for the second quarter, which ended June 30, will be reported at market close before the call. The Irving, Texas-based construction and engineering company is coming off a rough first […]

By John Stang About three dozen environmental and antinuclear organizations have requested that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission extend the end of its current comment period on a proposed temporary used nuclear reactor fuel storage site in New Mexico from July 30 to Oct. 30. The nuclear industry regulator through Monday is taking comments on […]

A New Mexico company on July 20 filed a formal protest against the Department of Energy’s recent award of a contract worth up to $137 million over five years for technical support services at the office that oversees cleanup of the Paducah Site in Kentucky and Portsmouth Site in Ohio. In its docket notice for […]

Total penalties assessed by Idaho against the Energy Department for failing to start treating sodium-bearing waste at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) hit $4.16 million earlier this month, according to the state’s Department of Environmental Quality. The Idaho DEQ on June 20 approved DOE’s latest round of proposed supplemental environmental projects, which will allow DOE […]

The Energy Department wants a proposed change for counting the volume of transuranic waste disposed of in the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico to be retroactive to 1999. That is among the primary points included in a July 12 letter from Todd Shrader, manager of DOE’s Carlsbad Field Office, and Bruce Covert, president […]

Bechtel National (BNI) has been placed under new federal restrictions on issuing subcontracts and making large purchases following a routine audit of its purchasing systems by the Pentagon’s Defense Contract Management Agency. The business is the U.S. government-focused branch of global engineering and project management provider Bechtel. Among its current work is construction of the […]

The congressional conference version of the fiscal 2019 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) includes the Senate spending allowance for defense environmental cleanup: the single-largest bloc of annual funding at the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management. The House of Representatives voted 359-54 Thursday in favor of the compromise bill report released earlier in the week, […]

The Department of Energy is making plans for the next phase of a demonstration project for commercial grouting and disposal of some of the low-activity radioactive waste held in underground storage tanks at the Hanford Site in Washington state. Phase 2 of the test bed initiative, grouting 2,000 gallons of waste, could be completed by […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) is scheduled to meet Aug. 28 to discuss a Department of Energy order that could limit the independent nuclear health-and-safety watchdog’s ability to police the U.S. nuclear-weapons complex. The board has suggested that senior DOE officials, including Energy Secretary Rick Perry, National Nuclear Security Administration Administrator Lisa Gordon-Hagerty, […]

The Department of Energy is preparing to restart demolition of the Plutonium Finishing Plant at the Hanford Site in Washington state, after most work was halted after a spread of radioactive contamination in December. A contractor-led, DOE-overseen management assessment evaluating preparations to resume work is expected to start Aug. 13. It could clear the way […]

The Department of Energy should reclassify treated liquid waste stored in glass logs at the Savannah River Site near Aiken, S.C., so the material will be eligible for disposal at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in Carlsbad, N.M., the SRS Citizens Advisory Board (CAB) recommended Tuesday. The recommendation, approved in a 19-2 vote, asks the […]

The Department of Energy is just days from sealing a one-year extension for the management and operations contract at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, a senior official said Monday. “As you know the M&O contract expires on 31 July and any day now we’ll have an extension signed,” Michael Budney, manager of DOE’s […]

Workers for Idaho National Laboratory cleanup contractor Fluor Idaho have full access to glove boxes following an extended suspension of operations after an employee suffered a puncture wound on June 5. The incident occurred while the employee was conducing cleanup activities in a glove box at the lab’s Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project (AMWTP). By […]

The Department of Energy should reclassify treated liquid waste stored in glass logs at the Savannah River Site near Aiken, S.C. so the material will be eligible for disposal at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in Carlsbad, N.M., the SRS Citizens Advisory Board (CAB) recommended Tuesday. The recommendation, approved in a 19-2 vote, asks the […]

Workers for Idaho National Laboratory cleanup contractor Fluor Idaho have full access to glove boxes following an extended suspension of operations after an employee on June 5 suffered a puncture wound while using one of the devices. The incident occurred while the employee was conducing cleanup activities in a glove box at the lab’s Advanced […]

Bechtel National (BNI) is under new federal restrictions on issuing subcontracts and making large purchases in the wake of a routine audit of its purchasing systems by the Pentagon’s Defense Contract Management Agency. On July 20, Bechtel issued an internal “Procurement & Subcontracts Compliance Bulletin” with the subject head “Disapproval of BNI Purchasing System” for […]

The congressional conference version of the fiscal 2019 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) includes the Senate spending allowance for defense environmental cleanup: the single-largest bloc of annual funding at the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management. The Senate version of the NDAA met the Energy Department’s request for $5.63 billion in defense environmental cleanup funding […]

A New Mexico company on Friday filed a formal protest against the Department of Energy’s recent award of a contract worth up to $137 million over five years for technical support services at the office that oversees cleanup of the Paducah Site in Kentucky and Portsmouth Site in Ohio. In its docket notice for the […]

The Department of Energy is just days from sealing a one-year extension for the management and operations contract at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, a senior official said Monday. “As you know the M&O contract expires on 31 July and any day now we’ll have an extension signed,” Michael Budney, manager of DOE’s […]

The Department of Energy on Monday took an early step toward issuing a contract for storage of thousands of tons of elemental mercury in coming years. The department’s Office of Environmental Management is seeking expressions of interest for contractors that could be willing to provide facilities, gear, workers, and other resources needed for receiving and […]

The Energy Department wants a proposed change for counting the volume of transuranic waste disposed of in the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico to be retroactive to 1999. That is among the primary points included in a July 12 letter from Todd Shrader, manager of DOE’s Carlsbad Field Office, and Bruce Covert, president […]