Department of Energy

New York should in early 2019 issue a draft permit for interim storage of transuranic waste at the Energy Department’s Separations Process Research Unit, a state official said last week. The New York state Department of Environmental Conservation will issue the initial document for a 45-day public comment period, spokesman Rick Georgeson said by email. […]

During its annual conference Thursday in Washington, D.C., the Energy Communities Alliance remembered Yakama Nation elder Russell Jim as a longtime advocate for cleanup of the Hanford Site in Washington state. Jim, 82, died on April 7, according to newspaper reports from Washington state. In his opening remark at ECA, Roane County, Tenn., County Executive […]

The prime cleanup contractor for the Energy Department’s Oak Ridge Reservation in Tennessee said this week it self-reported the unauthorized work done by two employees at a retired experimental reactor in February 2017, which led to a $120,000 penalty. URS-CH2M Oak Ridge (UCOR) is taking corrective actions not just at the Molten Salt Reactor Experiment […]

Outdated equipment appears to be the cause of a potential delay in startup of the $2.3 billion Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF) at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina. While DOE is no longer publicly using the December 2018 date for the facility to begin operations, it is also not officially […]

Procurement officials at the U.S. Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) are seeking to reduce the typical two-year process for awarding major contracts to one year. Tamara Miles, federal procurement director for the DOE Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center, discussed efforts to expedite contract awards during a panel session last month at the Waste […]

The management and operations contractor for the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M., is reviewing three bid proposals from companies hoping to build a new permanent underground ventilation system for the deep-underground disposal site. Bid proposals were received March 21 and are now under review, Nuclear Waste Partnership (NWP) spokesman Donavan […]

With new leadership and more money for U.S. Energy Department environmental cleanup, community leaders and contractors attending an Energy Communities Alliance event Thursday were in an upbeat mood. Anne Marie White, sworn in March 29 as assistant secretary of energy for environmental management, appeared during a welcome luncheon at the organization’s annual conference in Washington, […]

The Department of Energy this week suggested it would not push back the deadline for would-be bidders to submit their proposals to build the Outfall 200 Mercury Treatment Facility in Oak Ridge, Tenn. In the request for proposals issued March 22, DOE allowed 46 days for bids to be submitted. Questions on the RFP were due […]

The Environmental Protection Agency told an official South Carolina nuclear-advisory body there is nothing the federal agency can do, for now, to prevent the Department of Energy from proceeding with its plan to cancel a multibillion-dollar nonproliferation project at the Savannah River Site in the state. That is according to a letter dated April 2 […]

Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) on Wednesday pressed Energy Secretary Rick Perry to ensure that a focus on particular projects at the Hanford Site does not come at the expense of others. Perry and other Energy Department officials appeared before the Senate Appropriations energy and water subcommittee to discuss the agency’s $30.6 billion budget request for […]

Utah-based EnergySolutions and Texas-based Waste Control Specialists (WCS) have been awarded Energy Department contracts to dispose of low-level radioactive waste (LLW) and mixed-low level radioactive waste. The contracts are indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (ID/IQ) agreements, DOE said in a press release. It did not provide dollar values for the contracts. The two vendors will compete for […]

Savannah River Nuclear Solutions will stay on the job for another year as the management and operations contractor of the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, the Department of Energy wrote in a procurement note earlier this month. The agency announced the extension April 4, ahead of the July 31 expiration of the contract held […]

No injuries or environmental contamination apparently resulted after a drum of radioactive waste overheated and breached Wednesday at the Department of Energy’s Idaho Site, cleanup contractor Fluor Idaho said. The accident occurred Wednesday evening at the Radioactive Waste Management Complex (RWMC) Accelerated Retrieval Project (ARP 5) containment structure before 11 p.m. MDT Thursday, Fluor said in […]

The Department of Energy and its regulators at the Hanford Site will hold their annual meeting on budget priorities on April 23. Representatives from both DOE Hanford offices – the Richland Operations Office and the Office of River Protection — will provide an overview of cleanup work completed and work to be done. The meeting […]

The annual Bridging Partnerships Small Business Symposium, offering tips for small businesses interested in work at the Hanford Site, is set for April 18-19 at the Three Rivers Convention Center in Kennewick, Wash. Cost to attend the symposium, presented by the Department of Energy and its Hanford prime contractors, is $100. The first day will […]

The Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) has a busy procurement schedule for bid proposals and contract awards into 2019. The most recent Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center timeline for requests for proposals and contract awards was presented last month at the Waste Management Symposia by Norbert Doyle, EM’s acting deputy assistant secretary for […]

A radioactive mouse was discovered and later killed about seven weeks ago at one of the Savannah River Site radioactive waste storage tank farms, according to an occurrence report submitted to the Department of Energy. The quarterly report was submitted by Savannah River Remediation (SRR), liquid waste contractor for the DOE facility in South Carolina. […]

Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) on Wednesday pressed Energy Secretary Rick Perry to ensure that a focus on particular projects at the Hanford Site does not come at the expense of others. Perry and other Energy Department officials appeared before the Senate Appropriations energy and water subcommittee to discuss the agency’s $30.6 billion budget request for fiscal […]

The Department of Energy has removed the fuel, but not the salt, from the Molten Salt Reactor Experiment (MSRE) at Oak Ridge, Tenn. An article in the April 10 Weapons Complex Morning Briefing misstated the situation. Also, an article in April 9 Morning Briefing should have noted that a current procurement at the Y-12 National Security […]

The prime cleanup contractor for the Energy Department’s Oak Ridge Reservation in Tennessee said Tuesday it self-reported the unauthorized work done by two employees at a retired experimental reactor in February 2017, which led to a $120,000 penalty. URS-CH2M Oak Ridge (UCOR) is also taking corrective actions not just at the Molten Salt Reactor Experiment […]

The parties in the federal trial over vapors at the Hanford Site have requested another extension to the case, after failing to reach a settlement agreement before a deadline Monday for the plaintiffs to identify their expert witnesses. A joint motion requesting that Judge Thomas Rice delay the trial for a 10th time was filed […]

Procurement officials at the U.S. Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management are trying to reduce the typical two-year process for awarding major contracts to one year. Tamara Miles, federal procurement director for the DOE Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center, discussed efforts to expedite contract awards during a panel session last month at the Waste Management […]

The prime contractor for the Energy Department’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM) in Tennessee has been fined $120,000 for not getting proper approval before carrying out certain work at the long-retired molten site reactor experiment (MSRE) during 2017. The Office of Enforcement within DOE’s Office of Enterprise Assessments outlined the penalty in a […]

The Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M., anticipates receiving about 300 shipments during the 12 months from February 2018 and February 2019. That’s according to slides shared by Carlsbad Field Office Manager Todd Shrader at the Waste Management Symposium last month in Phoenix, Ariz. During this period, DOE and WIPP management […]

The parties in the federal trial over Hanford vapors have requested an extension yet again, after failing to reach a settlement agreement before a deadline Monday for the plaintiffs to identify their expert witnesses. A joint motion requesting that Judge Thomas Rice delay the trial for a 10th time was filed Friday in U.S. District […]

With an industry pre-proposal site tour set for Tuesday, the Outfall 200 Mercury Treatment Facility contract solicitation In Oak Ridge, Tenn., is already drawing a lot of questions from prospective bidders. Fourteen questions and answers were posted on the solicitation website April 6. They cover everything from conflict of interest, to weight limits for dump […]

The management and operations contractor for the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant  (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M., is reviewing bid proposals from companies hoping to build a new permanent underground ventilation system for deep-underground disposal site. Bid proposals were received March 21 and are now under review, Nuclear Waste Partnership (NWP) spokesperson Donavan Mager said […]

The House Energy and Commerce energy subcommittee will hold a hearing on the Department of Energy’s fiscal-year 2019 budget request on Thursday. The subcommittee is a Department of Energy (DOE) policy overseer and does not write the agency’s annual budget bills. The hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m. Eastern time and will be webcast from […]

By John Stang President Donald Trump said Thursday his administration will look into a corporate request to keep FirstEnergy Solutions’ four nuclear power reactors afloat — a statement made after having a Wednesday dinner with a lobbyist for the Ohio company’s parent corporation, FirstEnergy Corp. In the wake of filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection […]

The Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., received 64 shipments of transuranic waste from Jan. 1 through March 21, 2018, according to the latest publicly available data. Of the shipments received by March 21, 48 came from the Idaho National Laboratory. The remaining 16 were split evenly between the Oak Ridge National […]