Department of Energy

The first of up to two dozen containers of highly radioactive sludge was trucked Monday morning to storage in the center of the Hanford Site in Washington state. Workers have for nine years been preparing for the sludge transfer from underwater containers in the K West Reactor Basin, which is just 400 yards from the […]

The full Senate is scheduled to vote at 5:30 p.m. today on an appropriations package including the Department of Energy’s proposed fiscal 2019 budget. The so-called minibus spending legislation is a combination of three appropriations bills, one of which is an Energy and Water Development act with some $35 billion in proposed funding for the […]

The Energy Department is advertising for a deputy manager at the Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM) in Tennessee. The position has not been filled permanently since Jay Mullis became OREM manager last fall. Mullis had been OREM’s acting manager since October 2016, and was also the deputy manager since February 2015. The Energy […]

A newly updated organizational chart suggests the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management has made further changes to its leadership hierarchy. Angela Watmore as of June 1 is listed as an acting chief of staff and senior adviser within DOE’s nuclear cleanup branch. The slot was described as “vacant” in an April 19 version of […]

Los Alamos National Security (LANS) no longer has the Energy Department’s legacy cleanup contract at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, but it posted a strong performance during the most recent fee review period. LANS took home 94 percent of the total fee available for its last review period as lab cleanup contractor, […]

The Department of Energy said Thursday it plans to extend the Hanford Site Plateau Remediation Contract held by CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co.  The proposed contract extension is for up to an additional year through Sept. 30, 2019. CH2M’s current 10-year contract is set to expire in just over three months at the end of […]

Four workers at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state received medical evaluations for potential exposure to chemical vapors over the last week, according to waste tank farm contractor Washington River Protection Solutions. In the most recent incident, three workers reported suspicious odors Thursday morning outside the AW Tank Farm, where supplied-air respirators […]

In an introductory letter to new Assistant Energy Secretary for Environmental Management Anne Marie White, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) highlighted a number of safety concerns across the Energy Department’s nuclear cleanup complex. The independent safety watchdog is tracking several issues at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina and the Hanford Site […]

The Energy Department found no evidence its conflicts of interest rules were violated when the Portsmouth Site Specific Advisory Board (SSAB) voted May 10 whether to request the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, and DOE, reopen the 2015 record of decision for an on-site waste disposal cell at the cleanup site. Advisory panel member Dennis Foreman, […]

Streamlining top-level management of the Energy Department’s nuclear cleanup operation is one part of a sweeping blueprint for restructuring the federal government, which the White House Housed unveiled on Thursday. The report, “Delivering Government Solutions in the 21st Century: Reform Plan and Reorganization Recommendations,” proposes to increase efficiency in agency operations across the federal government. That […]

After searching since late 2017, Nuclear Waste Partnership (NWP), the Energy Department’s prime contractor for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico, has hired a director of underground mining. The contractor and DOE said Tuesday Pete Graham, who previously worked as a plant manager for US Silica in Berkeley Springs, W.Va., started at WIPP […]

Fluor Idaho said this week it has not yet lifted a stop work order in effect for certain operations at the Energy Department’s Idaho National Laboratory. The order was issued after a June 5 accident in which an employee suffered a puncture wound while doing cleanup work in a glove box at the Advanced Mixed […]

Respiratory protection requirements have again been eased at a Hanford Site double-shell tank farm, with directives in some additional radioactive waste storage tank farms expected to be reduced later this summer, according to contractor Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS). Workers now are allowed to use full-face air-purifying respirators equipped with filter cartridges as protection from […]

Invoking the threat of countermeasures he did not specifically explain, the head of security at the Los Alamos National Laboratory has warned drone pilots they might lose their aircraft if they fly too close to the storied New Mexico nuclear weapons lab. “The laboratory is authorized by federal law to track, intercept, disrupt, control, and […]

An amendment to a federal spending package, to reverse existing Energy Department policy and treat waste at the West Valley Demonstration Project in western New York state as defense-related, evidently won’t be coming up for a vote. The Senate adjourned without considering the amendment by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.). Lawmakers would have only two hours to […]

The Energy Department said recently it had nearly $38 billion in the Nuclear Waste Fund, in the first of what it pledged will be annual summaries of the finances for the federal account intended to pay for the radioactive waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nev. In a letter attached to the summary, DOE Deputy General […]

The federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) on Monday reported that exposure to radioactive materials near St. Louis, Mo., could be linked to a heightened danger of various types of cancer. Coldwater Creek in north St. Louis County was contaminated by upstream storage facilities for radiological waste from uranium extraction operations in […]

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) proposed an amendment to a federal spending package this week to reverse existing Energy Department policy and treat waste at the West Valley Demonstration Project in western New York state as defense-related. The Gillibrand amendment, proposed Tuesday and yet to be voted upon, would treat radioactive waste at the site, as […]

Fluor Idaho said this week it has not yet lifted a stop work order in effect for certain operations at the Energy Department’s Idaho National Laboratory. The order was issued after a June 5 accident in which an employee suffered a puncture wound while doing cleanup work in a glove box at the Advanced Mixed […]

In an introductory letter to new Assistant Energy Secretary for Environmental Management Anne Marie White, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) highlighted a number of safety concerns across the Energy Department’s nuclear cleanup complex. The independent safety watchdog is tracking several issues at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina and the Hanford Site […]

Two workers at the Hanford Site in Washington state on Friday received medical evaluations after one smelled a suspicious odor and developed symptoms consistent with possible exposure to chemical vapors from radioactive tank waste, according to tank farm contractor Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS). The second worker had no symptoms but requested a medical check […]

After searching since late 2017, Nuclear Waste Partnership (NWP), the Energy Department’s prime contractor for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico, has hired a director of underground mining. The contractor and DOE said Tuesday Pete Graham, who previously worked as a plant manager for US Silica in Berkeley Springs, W.Va., started at WIPP […]

The Energy Department found no evidence its conflicts of interest rules were violated when the Portsmouth Site Specific Advisory Board (SSAB) voted May 10 whether to request the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, and DOE, reopen the 2015 record of decision for an on-site waste disposal cell at the cleanup site. Advisory panel member Dennis Foreman, […]

The Energy Department last week issued the first of what it said will be annual summaries of the finances for the federal fund intended to pay for the radioactive waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nev. In a letter attached to the summary, DOE Deputy General Counsel Eric Fygi said the department was acceding to the […]

The Senate on Tuesday began debate on the Department of Energy’s fiscal 2019 budget bill, but adjourned after voting only on a few amendments unrelated to the agency’s nuclear weapons and waste programs. Senators were set to resume debate Wednesday and could vote on the measure this week. Like the House, the Senate is considering […]

Los Alamos National Security (LANS) no longer has the Energy Department’s legacy cleanup contract at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, but it posted a strong performance during the most recent fee review period, which ended March 31. LANS took home 94 percent of the total fee available for its last review period as […]

The Department of Energy said Monday it would issue over $3 million in grants to U.S. universities for research on management of spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste. The funding is a slice of a $64 million tranche of awards for various advanced nuclear energy technology research programs at DOE national laboratories and 39 universities. […]

A local branch of the United Steelworkers and contractor Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth remain at odds about the company’s plans to basically stop work during the week of July 4 at the Energy Department’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio. USW Local 1-689 President John Knauff said by telephone Monday he has filed grievances, through the normal dispute procedures […]

A newly updated organizational chart suggests the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management has made further changes to its management hierarchy. Angela Watmore as of June 1 is listed as an acting chief of staff and senior adviser within DOE’s nuclear cleanup branch. The slot was described as “vacant” in an April 19 version of […]

Respiratory protection requirements have again been eased at a Hanford Site double-shell tank farm, with directives in some additional radioactive waste storage tank farms expected to be reduced later this summer, according to contractor Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS). Workers now are allowed to use full-face air-purifying respirators equipped with filter cartridges as protection from […]