Department of Energy

After being out of service about two months to fix problems with underground hoists, the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) resumed taking shipments of defense-related transuranic waste in July, according to publicly-available data. According to DOE’s public shipment website for WIPP, a couple of waste shipments from the Los Alamos National Laboratory […]

The federal government has concluded certain tank farm waste in the 200 West Area of the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Richland, Wash., can be treated as low-level radioactive waste. DOE’s Office of Environmental Management said in a Friday press release that a Waste Incidental to Reprocessing (WIR) determination has been made for treated waste […]

Fusion technology developer Fuse signed a five-year Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with prime contractor Mission Support and Test Services at the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS), expanding its collaboration across the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) enterprise. A CRADA deal establishes a framework for research on next-generation fusion technologies, tritium capabilities, higher neutron […]

The 2026 United States Strategic Command (STRATCOM) Deterrence Symposium will take place Aug. 5-6 in Omaha, Neb. at the CHI Health Center. The theme this year is “Peace through strength: turning defense strategy into decisive deterrence action,” according to the website. Brandon Williams, administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), will speak on Thursday. […]

The Donald Trump White House has drafted a memo to Congress, pushing for legislation to remove Yucca Mountain in Nevada as the sole site for the disposal of high-level radioactive waste. The 1987 amendments of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act established Yucca Mountain as the sole repository for high-level waste. However, plans for Yucca were […]

With nuclear cleanup in the United States expected to take decades and cost over $640 billion, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) says the Department of Energy should study international friends more to see how things might be done better. That is the gist of a GAO report made public this week. “We looked at how […]

The Department of Energy formally selected Idaho, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Utah as potential host states for its Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campus initiative. Last week, Exchange Monitor reported that Utah, Oklahoma and Tennessee were among the top of the list of potential states to be selected for the program. According to DOE’s Tuesday press release, […]

For the second time in two weeks, the Department of Energy unveiled plans for a new data center at one of its nuclear installations, this one at the Paducah Site in Western Kentucky. In a Wednesday morning news release, Secretary of Energy Chris Wright said DOE is teaming up with several energy organizations to help […]

South Carolinians are split on the federal government’s desire to build a data center at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site, with supporters focusing on jobs and technological advances, and detractors expressing concerns about potential environmental impacts.  On July 20, DOE’s semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) announced that it tasked Amentum with securing […]

Targets in the End State Contract Model the Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup office started using in fiscal 2020 are often ill-defined and the program needs better record-keeping and oversight, a congressional watchdog said this week. Those are among the takeaways from a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report publicly released Wednesday on the DOE Office […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Isotope Research and Development and Production (IRP) needs to implement better practices for managing critical isotopes in the U.S. market, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said last week. In a July 23 report, GAO said IRP, a subagency in DOE’s Office of Science, which is the sole domestic supplier […]

Despite the Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campuses role in waste disposal, the Department of Energy will still likely need one to two deep geological repositories for spent nuclear fuel, the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board (NWTRB) said recently.  The NWTRB, in a July 24 letter to Assistant Secretary of Nuclear Energy Ted Garrish, discussed the nation’s […]

Rian Bahran, the Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy deputy assistant secretary for nuclear reactors, left DOE last week and joined microreactor developer Antares Nuclear. Bahran, with DOE since January 2025, is starting a new job as the chief nuclear officer at Antares. In his new role, he will lead the company’s “nuclear operations, […]

The Donald Trump White House has drafted a memo to Congress, pushing for legislation to remove Yucca Mountain in Nevada as the sole site for the disposal of high-level radioactive waste. The 1987 amendments of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act established Yucca Mountain as the sole repository for high-level waste. However, plans for Yucca were […]

ARC Clean Technology and Battelle Energy Alliance have entered into a partnership that is aimed to deploy ARC’s ARC-100 small modular reactor at the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory. Battelle Energy Alliance is DOE’s management contractor for INL. According to ARC’s Tuesday press release, the agreement will create a multi-year framework to support the […]

South Carolina would consider deep borehole disposal of radioactive spent nuclear fuel as part of a federal nuclear lifecycle hub program, the state Department of Commerce told the Department of Energy earlier this year. That is according to a news release last week from the Savannah River Site Watch nuclear watchdog group, following a response […]

South Carolina would consider deep borehole disposal of radioactive spent nuclear fuel as part of a federal nuclear lifecycle hub program, the state Department of Commerce told the Department of Energy earlier this year. That is according to a news release last week from the Savannah River Site Watch nuclear watchdog group, following a response […]

A group that is a vocal critic of the Department of Energy and the nuclear industry in South Carolina said last week it has many questions about federal plans to develop a data center at the Savannah River Site (SRS) near Aiken, S.C. DOE’s semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) said last week it plans […]

Washington state’s open primary Aug.4 will decide what two candidates will be on the November ballot to succeed Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.) to represent the 4th congressional district, which includes the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site. There are 11 candidates running for the office that Newhouse is vacating in January, according to the Spokesman-Review newspaper. […]

The White House on July 22 announced plans to invest $5 billion into its new Genesis Mission initiative to leverage artificial intelligence (AI) for science-related efforts.  “America has no shortage of bold ideas or talented scientists, and the response to the Genesis Mission proves that,” Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in the White House release, […]

A joint venture between Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) and BWX Technologies said Tuesday it is meeting its goals for moving legacy transuranic waste from the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M. “This fiscal year has been N3B’s most productive year in reducing legacy transuranic […]

The Department of Energy’s Hanford Field Office in Richland, Wash., plans to award a no-bid contract to the American Institute of Chemical Engineers Academy to hold a four-day process safety “boot camp,” according to a recent online procurement notice. In the notice, the Academy is called “the only responsible source that can provide the management […]

Targets in the End State Contract Model the Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup office started using in fiscal 2020 are often ill-defined and the program needs better record-keeping and oversight, a congressional watchdog said this week. Those are among the takeaways from a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report publicly released Wednesday on the DOE Office […]

The Department of Energy’s Hanford Field Office in Richland, Wash., plans to award a no-bid contract to the American Institute of Chemical Engineers Academy to hold a four-day process safety “boot camp,” according to a recent online procurement notice. In the notice, the Academy is called “the only responsible source that can provide the management […]

For the second time in two weeks, the Department of Energy unveiled plans for a new data center at one of its nuclear installations, this one at the Paducah Site in Western Kentucky. In a Wednesday morning news release, Secretary of Energy Chris Wright said DOE is teaming up with several energy organizations to help […]

A joint venture between Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) and BWX Technologies said Tuesday it is meeting its goals for moving legacy transuranic waste from the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M. “This fiscal year has been N3B’s most productive year in reducing legacy transuranic […]

The White House on July 22 announced plans to invest $5 billion into its new Genesis Mission initiative to leverage artificial intelligence (AI) for science-related efforts.  “America has no shortage of bold ideas or talented scientists, and the response to the Genesis Mission proves that,” Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in the White House statement, […]

With a flammable gas analysis complete, the Department of Energy said Tuesday the Savannah River Site (SRS) near Aiken, S.C., could soon be ready to resume shipments of the more radioactive type of transuranic waste to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico. SRS can soon resume shipping drums of remote-handled transuranic waste […]

Washington state’s open primary Aug.4 will decide what two candidates will be on the November ballot to succeed Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.) to represent the 4th congressional district, which includes the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site. There are 11 candidates running for the office that Newhouse is vacating in January, according to the Spokesman-Review newspaper. […]

The Department of Energy formally selected Idaho, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Utah as potential host states for its Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campus initiative. Last week, Exchange Monitor reported that Utah, Oklahoma and Tennessee were among the top of the list of potential states to be selected for the program. According to DOE’s Tuesday press release, […]