Department of Energy

Former Idaho Gov. Philip Batt opposes potential Energy Department shipment of transuranic waste from the Hanford Site in Washington state to the Idaho National Laboratory. Batt, a Republican, was governor from 1995 to 1999, and championed a landmark settlement between the state, DOE, and the U.S. Navy that limited nuclear waste storage in Idaho. He […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission affirmed to two U.S. senators recently that is only authorized to license the Department of Energy for permanent disposal of spent nuclear reactor fuel and high-level radioactive waste. Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), top members of the Senate Environment and Public Works clean air and nuclear safety, […]

The Board of Directors for the Regional Coalition of LANL Communities (RCLC) could hire a new executive director for the organization by the end of the month. The deadline for the RCLC’s request for proposals was June 6, and the board’s executive committee could make a recommendation at a board meeting tentatively set for June […]

The Senate was set to resume consideration of its 2019 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) today, then begin consideration of a three-bill appropriations package that includes the Department of Energy’s 2019 budget. The Senate could vote on the NDAA as soon as 5:30 p.m. today. The bill sets policy and spending limits for defense programs […]

The Department of Energy has yet to determine whether certain members of the Portsmouth Site Specific Advisory Board (SSAB) had conflicts of interest that should have kept them from voting on an issue last month, sources said this week. Dennis Foreman, a Pike County, Ohio, teacher who serves on the advisory panel, made a formal […]

A June 8 article in Weapons Complex Monitor cited the Idaho Site and the Southwest Experimental Fast Oxide Reactor (SEFOR) as “small cites” in Energy Department cleanup operations, and failed to include the Separations Process Research Unit, the West Valley Demonstration Project, and the Nevada National Security Site. While the Energy Department’s fiscal 2019 budget […]

Liquid waste operations at the Savannah River Site restarted this week following a 15-month layup that included multiple delays to resumption due to maintenance issues at the Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF). The DWPF is responsible for converting millions of gallons of radioactive liquid waste at the Energy Department facility in South Carolina into a […]

Watchdog group Hanford Challenge is objecting to a Department of Energy plan to classify the waste remaining in the Hanford Site’s C Tank Farm as residual waste, or waste incidental to reprocessing (WIR). The new classification would allow the remaining waste in the C Farm’s 16 tanks to be considered low-level radioactive waste and the […]

Three technologies are sufficiently developed for consideration to treat some of the low-activity radioactive waste stored at the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state, according to a new report from a National Academies panel. The panel plans to issue four reports on supplemental treatment of Hanford low-activity waste. Congress ordered the study, which is […]

Washington Closure Hanford agreed to pay $3.2 million to settle a civil lawsuit alleging subcontracting fraud at the Hanford Site cleanup in Washington state, the Department of Justice announced on June 8. The parties told U.S. District Judge Sal Mendoza Jr. the day before they had reached an agreement but did not release the amount […]

While actual construction is not scheduled to begin until later this summer, the Energy Department held a ceremonial groundbreaking Thursday for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant’s $288 million Safety Significant Confinement Ventilation System (SSCVS). Site clearing and power line relocation is already underway for the project, which is considered essential to the future of underground […]

The Energy Facility Contractors Group (EFCOG) last week elected a new member to its Board of Directors and re-elected another six members. First-time board member Bob Miklos is director of Production Facilities and Infrastructure at Idaho National Laboratory’s Materials and Fuels Complex. He has 30 years of experience with nuclear facilities and also chairs EFCOG’s project […]

Louisiana-based PacTec Inc., a maker of industrial containment bags used at both Energy Department and commercial nuclear cleanup sites, claims in a new federal lawsuit that another company is violating its patents. PacTec claims Pennsylvania-based ICE Service Group and two Tennessee-based affiliates, ICE Packaging and Strategic Packaging, are “making, using, offering for sale, selling, or […]

A final hearing to help determine if the Savannah River Site’s management and operations contractor overcharged the federal government by $5 million will likely be held in October, according to a status report filed Monday in the lawsuit. The joint report was submitted by legal teams for Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) and the U.S. […]

An Idaho environmental group said this week it has significant concerns about the potential for the Energy Department to move 7,000 cubic meters of transuranic waste from the Hanford Site in Washington state to the Idaho National Laboratory for repackaging. While no written application has been filed, the idea has been kicking around DOE for […]

Bechtel, a major contractor for the Energy Department’s nuclear complex, announced June 7 it will move its corporate headquarters to one of Washington, D.C.’s Northern Virginia suburbs. The international engineering, procurement, and construction company said it will move corporate operations from Houston and San Francisco to Reston, Va., by the end of 2018. Bechtel already […]

Vendors have until July 20 to bid on a new consolidated technical support services contract for the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., and other EM sites. The DOE Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center (EMCBC) issued the final request for proposals (RFP) for technical support on June 7. The RFP is […]

Workers at the Hanford Site in Washington state successfully transferred the first batch of highly radioactive sludge out of underwater storage in the K West Reactor Basin late Tuesday afternoon. The Department of Energy had a Tri-Party Agreement deadline, reset most recently in 2015, to start removing sludge from the basin by the end of […]

The Department of Energy on Thursday released its request for proposals for an occupational medical services provider for the Hanford Site in Washington state. The new contract is expected to feature three types of scope: firm-fixed price, cost reimbursement, and indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity. The estimated value of the contract was increased from $120 million when […]

Louisiana-based PacTec Inc., a maker of industrial containment bags used at both Energy Department and commercial nuclear cleanup sites, said in a new federal lawsuit that another company is violating its patents. PacTec claims Pennsylvania-based ICE Service Group and two Tennessee-based affiliates, ICE Packaging and Strategic Packaging, are “making, using, offering for sale, selling, or […]

The U.S. Senate on Thursday voted to close debate on its version of the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2019, setting up a floor vote Monday on the measure that sets spending caps on defense environmental cleanup at the Department of Energy. Senators voted 81-15 in favor of cloture. The defense policy bill, passed […]

The Trump administration has officially nominated former corporate environmental lawyer Teri Donaldson to be the Department of Energy’s inspector general, but a logjam in the Senate means it could be a while before she gets a nomination hearing. Donaldson, currently the general counsel for Sen. John Barraso (R-Wyo.), was officially nominated Monday evening, when the […]

Workers at the Hanford Site in Washington state successfully transferred the first batch of highly radioactive sludge out of underwater storage in the K West Reactor Basin late Tuesday afternoon. The Department of Energy had a Tri-Party Agreement deadline, reset most recently in 2015, to start removing sludge from the basin by the end of […]

Allison Scott Majure has left her position as communications director for the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) to accept a similar post with Newport News Nuclear BWXT-Los Alamos (N3B), the new legacy cleanup contractor for the Energy Department’s Los Alamos Nuclear Laboratory in the state. Majure became a marketing and communications leader at N3B last […]

An Idaho environmental group said Wednesday it has significant concerns about an Energy Department plan to move 7,000 cubic meters of transuranic waste from the Hanford Site Washington state to the Idaho National Laboratory for repackaging. The idea has been kicking around DOE for a couple years but seems to be “ripening” in recent months […]

Liquid waste operations at the Savannah River Site restarted this week following a 15-month layup that included multiple delays to resumption due to maintenance issues at the Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF). The DWPF is responsible for converting millions of gallons of radioactive liquid waste at the Energy Department facility in South Carolina into a […]

The Department of Energy has yet to determine whether certain members of the Portsmouth Site Specific Advisory Board (SSAB) had conflicts of interest that should have kept them from voting on an issue last month, sources said Tuesday. Dennis Foreman, a Pike County, Ohio, teacher who serves on the advisory panel, made a formal challenge […]

The federal fund intended pay for the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada was valued at $44.5 billion at the end of fiscal 2017, down by $1.5 billion from the prior year, according to a newly released report from the Department of Energy Inspector General’s Office. The Nuclear Waste Fund as of Sept. 30, […]

A final hearing to help determine if the Savannah River Site’s management and operations contractor overcharged the federal government by $5 million will likely be held in October, according to a status report filed Monday in the lawsuit. The joint report was submitted by legal teams for Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) and the U.S. […]

Louisiana-based PacTec Inc., a maker of industrial containment bags used at both Energy Department and commercial nuclear cleanup sites, claims in a new federal lawsuit that another company is violating its patents. PacTec claims Pennsylvania-based ICE Service Group and two Tennessee-based affiliates, ICE Packaging, and Strategic Packaging, are “making, using, offering for sale, selling, or […]