Department of Energy

CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co. lost fee money for fiscal 2017 over a spread of radioactive contamination at the Hanford Site, but still brought in $9.9 million from the Department of Energy. That is 89 percent of the nearly $11.1 million available for the budget year ended Sept. 30, 2017, according to a fee summary […]

The Senate’s version of the fiscal 2019 Energy Department spending bill would set the budget for cleanup at the Hanford Site at $2.4 billion, rejecting proposed cuts from the Trump administration. The Senate budget proposal, which does not include the safety and security money Hanford will receive, is $315 million above the administration’s request for […]

Written testimony from a New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) official last week, before the House Energy and Commerce environment subcommittee, adds more details to the state’s argument for classifying much of the West Valley Demonstration Project’s remaining waste as defense-related transuranic waste and shipping it to the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation […]

The full Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday approved a $43.8 billion energy and water development bill for fiscal 2019, which includes almost $7.2 billion for the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management. The panel’s provision for the Cold War cleanup program exceeds the $6.9 billion passed last week by the House Appropriations Committee. The bill […]

BWX Technologies-led Savannah River EcoManagement answered additional Energy Department questions this week about its revised proposal to become the next liquid waste manager at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, an industry source said. Personnel from the partnership, which also includes Bechtel National and Honeywell International, were scheduled to make a brief presentation and […]

The Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico briefly activated its emergency operations center Thursday evening, and had workers leave the underground disposal area, after discovery of a “misaligned” drum within a waste container, WIPP’s prime contractor said in a release posted on its Facebook page. Workers noticed the awkward alignment of the […]

The U.S. Energy Department this week has proposed doing additional supplemental environmental projects (SEPs) in Idaho to offset state fines for the agency’s failure to successfully start the long-delayed Integrated Waste Treatment Unit (IWTU) at the Idaho National Laboratory. The Idaho Department of Environmental Quality on Tuesday received DOE’s written proposal for three more environmental […]

Energy Secretary Rick Perry should not assume New Mexico will automatically accept a dramatic expansion in the mission of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) told fellow members the Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday. While transuranic waste from DOE sites is shipped to the underground repository for permanent disposal, Udall cautioned […]

Chris Roscetti will become technical director for the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) on June 23, the independent federal health-and-safety watchdog for Department of Energy nuclear programs announced May 18. Roscetti, a naval submarine veteran, previously served as the board’s associate technical director for nuclear programs and analysis, and has also served as DNFSB […]

By John Stang Several New Mexico state legislators wondered last week if a proposed temporary used nuclear fuel storage site east of Carlsbad could become permanent by default. Opponents of Holtec International’s planned consolidated interim spent fuel facility also asked, during a May 18 hearing of the New Mexico Legislature’s Interim Radioactive and Hazardous Materials Committee, […]

The Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday approved a fiscal 2019 funding bill that provides nothing for development of the Yucca Mountain radioactive waste repository, instead again backing consolidated interim storage of spent fuel from U.S. nuclear reactors. The $43.8 billion energy spending measure, covering the Department of Energy, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and other agencies, could […]

The U.S. Energy Department this week has proposed doing additional supplemental environmental projects (SEPs) in Idaho to offset state fines for the agency’s failure to successfully start the long-delayed Integrated Waste Treatment Unit (IWTU) at the Idaho National Laboratory. The Idaho Department of Environmental Quality on Tuesday received DOE’s written proposal for three more environmental […]

BWX Technologies-led Savannah River EcoManagement answered additional Energy Department questions this week about its revised proposal to become the next liquid waste manager at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, an industry source said. Personnel from the partnership, which also includes Bechtel National and Honeywell International, were scheduled to make a brief presentation and […]

The Senate Appropriations energy and water development subcommittee on Tuesday passed to the full committee a fiscal 2019 spending plan that would significantly boost funding for nuclear cleanup overseen by the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management. Subcommittee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) indicated the proposal includes $7.2 billion for environmental remediation of Manhattan Project and […]

South Carolina intends to sue the Department of Energy by Friday over plans to terminate the Savannah River Site’s MOX project, state Attorney General Alan Wilson said in a letter Tuesday to DOE Secretary Rick Perry. The Energy Department earlier this month formalized plans to convert the unfinished Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) for production of plutonium […]

The Senate Appropriations energy and water development subcommittee is again trying to jump-start a pilot program for consolidated, temporary storage of spent fuel stranded at U.S. nuclear reactors. The panel spent less than an hour Tuesday on the markup and approval of its $43.8 billion funding measure for fiscal 2019, covering the Department of Energy, […]

Washington, D.C.-based BluePath Labs has won a five-year contract to provide administrative and business support services for the Energy Department Office of Environmental Management. In a Monday press release, DOE’s Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center said the BluePath agreement is an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract covering firm-fixed-price and time-and-materials task orders. The deal has a maximum value […]

While it has been looking since the fourth quarter of 2017, the prime contractor for the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) has not yet hired a director of mining. Nuclear Waste Partnership still hopes to find the right candidate in the near future, spokesman Donavan Mager said by telephone last week. Making the […]

CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co. lost fee money for fiscal 2017 over a spread of radioactive contamination at the Hanford Site, but still brought in $9.9 million from the Department of Energy. That is 89 percent of the nearly $11.1 million available for the budget year ended Sept. 30, 2017, according to a fee summary […]

A record of decision was amended Friday as one of the regulatory steps needed for the Department of Energy to proceed with moving cesium and strontium capsules from underwater storage to dry storage at the Hanford Site in Washington state. The amended ROD specifies that interim storage of the capsules will continue, but in dry […]

Written testimony from a New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) official Friday, before the House Energy and Commerce environment subcommittee, adds more details to the state’s argument for classifying much of the West Valley Demonstration Project’s remaining waste as defense-related transuranic waste and shipping it to the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot […]

The Department of Energy aims later this month to resume liquid waste processing at the Savannah River Site, two months after the initial March projection. Meeting that schedule would cap off a 15- month pause of waste processing at the DOE facility near Aiken, S.C. The two-month delay was caused by a malfunctioning diesel generator […]

The Energy Department as of Thursday had yet to finalize an agreement to keep incumbent Savannah River Remediation (SRR) overseeing liquid waste management at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina beyond May 31. A DOE proposal published March 21 would keep SRR on the job for up to another 10 months, to the end […]

A new $288 million ventilation system, intended to allow the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico to conduct simultaneous underground salt mining and disposal of transuranic waste, has been approved by Assistant Energy Secretary for Environmental Management Anne Marie White. “This will be a significant improvement for WIPP in support of […]

The Department of Energy would receive about $53 million less than requested for liquid waste management at the Savannah River Site in fiscal 2019 under legislation advanced Wednesday by the House Appropriations Committee. All told, the DOE facility in South Carolina would receive $1.38 billion under the energy and water funding bill for the budget […]

Researchers have vitrified 2 gallons of radioactive waste removed from a Hanford Site storage tank in a first-of-a-kind demonstration of the processes that will be used at the Waste Treatment Plant being built at the Energy Department facility in Washington state. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory researchers said it was the first time Hanford tank waste […]

By John Stang Nine states and the District of Columbia have formally called on Energy Secretary Rick Perry not to use the Federal Power Act to bail out FirstEnergy Solutions’ ailing nuclear and coal power plants. A few days later, Sen. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) joined their opposition. Just before declaring bankruptcy in late March, Akron, […]

A project to advance testing on whether some radioactive waste at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site could be grouted rather than converted to glass would proceed under direction from legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives. On Wednesday, the House Appropriations Committee advanced its marked -up fiscal 2019 energy appropriations bill for a vote […]

The Energy Department Office of Environmental Management plans to try a newly minted alternate method to analyze contractor costs when it issues the final request for proposals (RFP) for the potential $4 billion Hanford Mission Essential Services Contract later this spring. Without going into detail, Contracting Officer Lori Sehlhorst announced the alternate method in a […]

Las Vegas-based Longenecker & Associates said Tuesday it has hired nuclear industry veteran Mike Briggs to the newly created post of senior program manager for operational support. Briggs, who has worked on major projects within the Energy Department complex, will oversee L&A’s operational support business, which includes training, nuclear safety, and radiation protection. “As L&A […]