Department of Energy

Oklo has completed its Nuclear Regulatory Commission pre-readiness assessment of Phase 1 of the combined license application for its Aurora project at Idaho National Laboratory. The Santa Clara, Calif. based advanced nuclear company, has been working with NRC on the application since 2016. The company intends to submit its full combined license application to the […]

The Department of Energy has announced a new pilot program to strengthen the U.S. supply chains for nuclear fuel and support the expedition of the development of new advanced reactors. The initiative is intended to reduce the country’s reliance on foreign sources of enriched uranium and critical materials, while allowing the private sector to invest […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy miscalculated during the selection process of its High-Assay Low-Enriched Uranium (HALEU) Demonstration Project, the Department’s Office of Inspector General found in an audit. In a July 2 audit report the Office of Inspector General (OIG) found the Office of Nuclear Energy inappropriately limited competition during its pre-award […]

The full House Appropriations Committee passed a spending plan Thursday night that would boost spending at both the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Department of Energy’s nuclear energy office in fiscal 2026.  The measure, which passed late Thursday by a 35 to 27 vote, appears to keep in place the package advanced days before, on […]

Six environmental groups have sued the Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over approval of a new low-level radioactive waste landfill at DOE’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, according to a press release from the groups. The case has […]

Robert (Bob) Alvarez, a former Senate staffer, 1990s Department of Energy official and nuclear watchdog, died July 1 following a years-long battle with Parkinson’s disease at age 78.  The Institute for Policy Studies and the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists published remembrances of Alvarez in recent days.  Among other things, Alvarez worked on the Senate […]

Brian Vance, the Department of Energy’s former manager of nuclear cleanup at the Hanford Site in Washington state is the new site leader at the Framatome nuclear fuel plant in Richland, Wash. The Tri-City Herald reported Monday Vance started working as a manager for the Framatome fuel manufacturing plant July 9. The company subsequently confirmed […]

The Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup office could issue a draft solicitation as early as next month for a contractor to perform landlord services at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio. The draft request for proposals (RFP)  for the Portsmouth Infrastructure Support Services could be issued in August, the DOE Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center in […]

Six environmental groups have sued the Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over approval of a new low-level radioactive waste landfill at DOE’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, according to a press release from the groups. The plaintiffs are […]

The Paris-based Nuclear Energy Agency is monitoring 74 small modular reactors across the globe that are under active development and not merely paper projects, officials said Wednesday. The Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA), a branch of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), used an online webinar and press conference to show off its new […]

The Department of Energy has announced a new pilot program to strengthen the U.S. supply chains for nuclear fuel and support the expedition of the development of new advanced reactors. The initiative is intended to reduce the country’s reliance on foreign sources of enriched uranium and critical materials, while allowing the private sector to invest […]

A Department of Energy contractor at the Hanford Site in Washington state has finished taking down a a 6,000-square-foot water treatment structure near the Columbia River that supported remediation work at the property. Crews from Amentum-led Central Plateau Cleanup carried out the work, DOE said in a Tuesday release. The facility provided water for firefighting […]

The House appropriations subcommittee on energy and water passed a fiscal 2026 appropriations bill 10-5 Monday that would give $25.317 billion to the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). That’s around $1.182 billion above the fiscal 2025 levels, although the funding for the Department of Energy as a whole is $1.396 billion below 2025 levels at […]

The House Appropriations’ Energy & Water subcommittee is proposing a $7.7-billion budget for the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management in fiscal 2026. That is according to the July 13 House Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill. A summary of the legislation is here and the bill text is here. The […]

Nuclear energy spending would receive a boost in fiscal 2026 legislation laid out July 13 by the House Appropriations Committee’s Energy and Water subcommittee. In the proposed House Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations subcommittee bill, the Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy would receive $1.795 billion, which is $110 million more […]

Brian Vance, the Department of Energy’s former manager of nuclear cleanup at the Hanford Site in Washington state has reportedly accepted an executive position with the Framatome nuclear fuel plant in Richland, Wash. The Tri-City Herald reported Monday Vance started working as a manager for the Framatome fuel manufacturing plant July 9. The newspaper said […]

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) voted against David Wright’s re-nomination to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission last week citing concerns that NRC is losing its independence.  Wright’s nomination passed out of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works in a 10 to 9 vote on July 9.  All of the Republicans on the committee voted yes, […]

The Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup office could issue a draft solicitation as early as next month for a contractor to perform landlord services at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio. The draft request for proposals (RFP)  for the Portsmouth Infrastructure Support Services could be issued in August, the DOE Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center in […]

A documentary about the old Rocky Flats Plant, which made plutonium triggers for the Department of Energy, will be screened Saturday July 19 at the Boulder Film Festival in Colorado. “Half-Life of Memory: America’s Forgotten Atomic Bomb Factory,” will be screened at 4:30 p.m. Mountain Time at the Dairy Arts Center in Boulder. Rocky Flats […]

July: 15: Hearing: House Armed Services Committee will mark up H.R. 3838, the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2025 starting at 10 a.m. The markup will be streamed online. 16: Virtual meeting: The Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board for Northern New Mexico meets online starting at 1 p.m. Mountain Time.  22: Meeting: A meeting […]

Several publicly-traded companies doing business within the Department of Energy weapons complex are scheduled to report earnings in the coming weeks. Here is a rundown of currently scheduled earnings releases and conference calls.  Aug. 1 : Fluor, Irving, Texas, is scheduled to report its financial performance for the quarter ending June 30 on Aug. 1. […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) has asked the Department of Energy for a briefing on plans to refurbish an old shaft and hoist relied upon for emergency evacuation of underground workers at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). “Despite long-standing recognition of underlying problems, age-related degradation and technical obsolescence issues with the shafts […]

Several nuclear and energy groups urged Secretary of Energy Chris Wright this week to take action to address the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle in the United States. The Nuclear Energy Institute, Energy Communities Alliance (ECA), Nuclear Industry Council, American Nuclear Society, Decommissioning Plant Coalition, Nuclear Waste Strategy Coalition (NWSC), National Association of […]

The U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday said the White House can go ahead with plans for major layoffs and restructuring of the federal government while legal challenges play out, according to media reports. The Washington Post  and other media outlets reported Tuesday afternoon that the high court elected not to block planning for mass layoffs at […]

The U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday said the White House can go ahead with plans for major layoffs and restructuring of the federal government while legal challenges play out, according to media reports. The Washington Post  and other media outlets reported Tuesday afternoon that the high court elected not to block planning for mass layoffs at […]

Crews at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site (SRS) are expected to double-stack 300 canisters of vitrified high level waste this fiscal year ending Sept. 30.  That figure would continue a decade-long mission that is conserving space at the South Carolina complex, according to the DOE.    To date, liquid waste contractor BWX Technologies-led Savannah […]

The Department of Energy’s underground disposal site for defense-related transuranic waste is still well behind its shipment rate from before a major accident in 2014, but things are gradually rebounding, according to the Government Accountability Office. “According to DOE officials, WIPP [the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M.] had been receiving as many as […]

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Timothy Walsh, President Donald Trump’s nominee to be assistant secretary of energy for environmental management, or EM-1, told the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Wednesday his military and business background has prepared him to lead the world’s largest nuclear cleanup. An Army veteran and company commander in the 82nd Airborne Division […]

The final version of the budget reconciliation package signed into law July 4 by President Donald Trump includes a long-sought bipartisan proposal to extend the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA). “After nearly two years of negotiations—and two separate passages of RECA packages by the Senate in 2023 and 2024,” the RECA expansion was included in […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) has asked the Department of Energy for a briefing on plans to refurbish an old shaft and hoist relied upon for emergency evacuation of underground workers at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). “Despite long-standing recognition of underlying problems, age-related degradation and technical obsolescence issues with the shafts […]