Department of Energy

Friday marked the official start of the 30-day window during which the Department of Energy has said it will release a draft solicitation for the Savannah River Site management and operations contract. The window is open through April 29, a Sunday, according to the presolicitation synopsis the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management posted online […]

The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York has approved the Chapter 11 reorganization plan for Westinghouse Electric, which said the authorization paves the way for its sale to a Canadian asset management company. The reorganization plan was overwhelmingly supported by Westinghouse’s creditors, the company said in a Tuesday news release. Brookfield […]

Rather than reducing schedule delays and expense overruns, the Energy Department’s use of a cost cap at the Separations Process Research Unit (SPRU) cleanup project in upstate New York might have had the opposite effect, DOE’s Office of Inspector General said in an audit released Wednesday. The Energy Department in February 2011 instituted what was […]

The U.S. Energy Department on Tuesday issued the 2018 Project Excellence Award to the team in charge of building Saltstone Disposal Unit (SDU) 6, a 30-million-gallon salt waste disposal concrete unit constructed at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. Liquid waste contractor Savannah River Remediation (SRR) in July completed the disposal unit 18 months early and at a […]

The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York has approved the Chapter 11 reorganization plan for Westinghouse Electric, which said the authorization paves the way for its sale to a Canadian asset management company. The reorganization plan was overwhelmingly supported by Westinghouse’s creditors, the company said in a Tuesday news release. Brookfield […]

The U.S. Energy Department’s internal watchdog has initiated a formal investigation into the spread of radioactive contamination at the Hanford Site’s Plutonium Finishing Plant. The DOE Office of Enterprise Assessments’ (EA) Office of Enforcement notified the contractor demolishing the plant, CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co., of the probe in a letter sent March 21 and […]

Anne Marie White should be sworn in this week as assistant secretary of energy for environmental management, an industry source said Tuesday. The Senate confirmed White’s nomination on Thursday by voice vote, but the Energy Department is apparently waiting for some paperwork to be sent over from the White House, the source said. Energy Department […]

Having already granted one contract extension, the U.S. Energy Department proposes to keep incumbent Savannah River Remediation (SRR) in charge of liquid waste management at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina into 2019. In a March 21 notice on a federal contracts website, DOE announced plans to retain SRR for up to another 10 […]

The final funding level in the Energy Department’s fiscal 2018 omnibus for the Portsmouth Site is roughly $448 million. The overall fiscal 2019 DOE budget request for Portsmouth is about $415 million. Totals cited in a Tuesday Weapons Complex Morning Briefing article omitted certain line items for the site.

The Savannah River Site will receive $637.1 million for liquid waste treatment and cleanup in the current fiscal year – the largest chunk of the $1.31 billion designated for the Department of Energy facility in South Carolina. The amount included in the fiscal 2018 omnibus signed last week is $37 million more than provided in fiscal […]

The U.S. Energy Department is prioritizing installing a new permanent ventilation system and replacing aging infrastructure at the Waste Isolation Pilot Project (WIPP) in New Mexico, according to the newly released fiscal 2019 budget justification document for the Office of Environmental Management. The WIPP budget request for the budget year starting Oct. 1 includes $84 […]

The Energy Department’s fiscal 2019 budget request includes $41 million for the On-Site Waste Disposal Facility at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio. That is up from the $39 million funding included in the final fiscal 2018 budget passed last week, according to the recently released DOE Office of Environmental Management budget justification package and the […]

A federal judge has given former Hanford Site contractor Washington Closure Hanford and the Department of Justice a three-week extension to finalize a settlement agreement in a civil lawsuit over alleged subcontracting fraud. Judge Salvador Mendoza Jr. on Monday set a deadline for April 13. If the deadline is not met, a status conference will […]

A U.S. Energy Department official last week defended plans for an on-site waste disposal cell at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant Site in Ohio The disposal cell, intended to hold 2 million cubic yards of waste resulting from decontamination and decommissioning of buildings at Portsmouth, benefits the environment, reduces the amount of land in need […]

The California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) has scheduled a biannual meeting for April 10 to brief the public on plans for cleanup of the Santa Susana Field Laboratory (SSFL). The state agency said Thursday it plans to update the public on progress made during the past six months toward starting environmental remediation of […]

PHOENIX, Ariz. — In the aftermath of a successful bid protest, the Energy Department expects to “re-award” a 10-year liquid waste contract for the Savannah River Site in South Carolina in late summer or early fall, a DOE procurement official said Wednesday. Norbert Doyle, DOE’s acting deputy assistant secretary for acquisition and project management, offered […]

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said Tuesday he plans to look into the transfer of the Energy Department project manager for the Waste Treatment Plant (WTP), at the Hanford Site in Washington state, shortly after he raised concerns about missing documentation on steel being used at the facility. During a hearing on Capitol Hill, Wyden suggested […]

The fiscal 2018 omnibus budget bill signed by President Donald Trump on Friday would provide $7.1 billion for Department of Energy’s environmental management activities, $706 million above the $6.4 billion fiscal 2017 enacted level. That amounts to roughly an 11-percent increase on a year-over-year basis. Congress by early Friday approved the $1.3 trillion budget that […]

SNC-Lavalin Group subsidiary Atkins has hired longtime Energy Department procurement chief Ralph Holland as vice president for commercial development in Atkins Nuclear Secured Holdings Corp. Holland will support Atkins senior leaders in areas including strategy, contract management, and contract assurance. The announcement did not specify if he is replacing another manager or filling a newly […]

The fiscal 2018 omnibus spending legislation approved by Congress by Friday morning includes $2.42 billion for the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site, not including security spending. The bill provides $203 million more for the Washington state cleanup site than requested by the Donald Trump administration for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1., and would […]

The U.S. Department of Energy partially or fully approved 15 of the 20 recommendations submitted by the Savannah River Site’s Citizens Advisory Board (CAB), from January 2016 through December 2017. Of the five other recommendations, three are still pending and the other two were denied in full. The high approval rating signals to board members […]

The Energy Department Office of Environmental Management on Thursday issued its request for proposals for the Outfall 200 Mercury Treatment Facility at Oak Ridge, Tenn., and scheduled a pre-proposal site tour for April 10. The announcement had been expected after DOE issued the draft RFP in November and said last month it was preparing to […]

PHOENIX, Ariz. — During 2017, its first year of operation following a nearly three-year shutdown, the Energy Department Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico resumed disposing of transuranic waste, tightened its vetting of incoming shipments, and resumed salt mining, officials said this week. The nation’s only underground repository for TRU waste, which is overseen […]

The U.S. Senate on Thursday confirmed Anne Marie White to become assistant secretary of energy for environmental management, after Energy Secretary Rick Perry agreed to suspend the agency’s uranium barter program. The commitment by Perry, offered publicly during a Tuesday hearing of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, evidently helped persuade Sen. John Barrasso […]

SNC-Lavalin subsidiary Atkins has hired longtime Energy Department procurement chief Ralph Holland as vice president for commercial development in Atkins Nuclear Secured Holdings Corp. Holland will support Atkins management in areas including strategy, contract management, and contract assurance, according to a press release. The announcement did not specify if Holland was replacing another manager or […]

With budget caps lifted, all major Department of Energy nuclear programs would see substantial year-over-year funding increases for fiscal 2018, if an omnibus spending package unveiled late last night is signed into law. The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) would take home the biggest increase for the current budget year, which began on Oct. 1. […]

In the aftermath of a successful bid protest, the Energy Department expects to “re-award” a 10-year liquid waste contract for the Savannah River Site in South Carolina in late summer or early fall, a DOE procurement official said Wednesday. Norbert Doyle, DOE’s acting deputy assistant secretary for acquisition and project management, offered the schedule during […]

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said Tuesday he plans to look into the transfer of the Energy Department project manager for the Waste Treatment Plant (WTP), at the Hanford Site in Washington state, shortly after he raised concerns about missing documentation on steel being used at the facility. On March 6, then-WTP Federal Project Director William […]

Another new leader has been named for the Hanford Site’s Plutonium Finishing Plant (PFP) project as recovery continues from a spread of radioactive contamination from demolition in December. John Lehew, president of Hanford cleanup contractor CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co. (CHPRC) from 2008 to 2012, has been named the new demolition manager. Workers at the […]

Energy Secretary Rick Perry told a Senate panel Tuesday he would like to end his agency’s uranium barter program, possibly as soon as fiscal 2019. Testifying before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on DOE’s $30.6 billion budget request for fiscal 2019, Perry said trading excess government uranium is a bad policy and should […]