Department of Energy
The U.S. Department of Energy oversees the nation’s nuclear weapons complex, environmental cleanup program, and national laboratory system. Coverage here tracks DOE budget requests, contract awards, policy decisions, regulatory action, and leadership changes across the agency’s defense and civilian nuclear missions.
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Cleanup & Remediation
Hanford guards ask federal court to force arbitration before HMIS labor pact ends
The security guard’s union at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state accuses Leidos-led Hanford Mission Integration Solutions in court papers of trying to run out the clock on the existing labor contract without first resolving an overtime dispute. Hanford Mission Integration Solutions (HMIS), the DOE landlord contractor, has twice canceled arbitration sessions […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
Longtime Amentum exec Covert retires at Hanford
Bruce Covert, a longtime executive with Amentum and its predecessors, who held many senior jobs across the Department of Energy’s weapons complex, retired June 30, the company confirmed Tuesday. Covert in May announced he would retire as deputy general manager at Amentum-led Waste Treatment Completion Co. He will be succeeded by another longtime senior manager […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
Judge appointed to hear discrimination case against SRNS
A relatively new federal district judge in South Carolina will preside over an employment discrimination case against the Department of Energy’s management prime for the Savannah River Site. U.S. District Judge Jacquelyn Austin will hear the job discrimination and retaliation lawsuit against Fluor-led Savannah River Nuclear Solutions filed this spring by a former employee, a […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
Hanford landlord appoints acting COO
Leidos-led Hanford Mission Integration Solutions, the contractor for roads, grounds and essential infrastructure-related chores at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site, appointed Todd Synoground acting chief operations officer. Synoground, listed as senior vice president of infrastructure and site services on the contractor’s website, will step in as acting operations chief with Amy Basche moving up […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
Ecology posts demo permit for 2,000-gallon test bed, challenge possible
The Washington state Department of Ecology in June formally signed off on a Department of Energy plan to solidify into a concrete-like grout up to 2,000 gallons of low-level liquid radioactive waste from the Hanford Site. Filtering of cesium and other radionuclides, what DOE calls pretreatment, will happen onsite at the former plutonium production complex, […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
Hanford landlord appoints acting COO
Leidos-led Hanford Mission Integration Solutions, the contractor for roads, grounds and essential infrastructure-related chores at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site, appointed Todd Synoground acting chief operations officer. Synoground, listed as senior vice president of infrastructure and site services on the contractor’s website, will step in as acting operations chief with Amy Basche moving up […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
Current providers Fluor-BWXT, Mid-America win bulk of DOE fee
The lame duck cleanup contractor at the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio and the provider of depleted uranium hexafluoride services there and at the Paducah Site in Kentucky each collected most of the available fee for the opening four months of fiscal 2024, DOE said Tuesday. In a press release, DOE’s Portsmouth/Paducah Project […]
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Budget & Policy
House Subcommittee backs DOE nuclear cleanup plan worth $8.32 billion
In a Friday voice vote, the House Appropriations Energy & Water Subcommittee advanced to the full committee a Department of Energy budget bill that proposes more than $8.3 billion for the agency’s Office of Environmental Management, down about $160 million from this year. The 2025 spending bill was reported to the full House Appropriations Committee […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
Central Plateau Cleanup president to be succeeded by Hanford landlord boss
The head of an Amentum-led cleanup prime at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site is leaving and will be replaced by the top executive of the Leidos-led landlord contractor at the former plutonium production complex in Washington state. In a Monday press release, Central Plateau Cleanup President John Eschenberg said he was leaving the remediation […]
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Transuranic Waste
Builder could pass keys to new WIPP ventilation project to Salado in August
The construction subcontractor could formally transfer possession of the new underground ventilation system at the Department of Energy’s transuranic waste disposal site in New Mexico to the Bechtel-led prime contractor by the end of August, according to a government safety board. The tentative date for turnover from the construction subcontractor to Waste Isolation Pilot Plant […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
Hanford-area environmental groups not shocked by slip in cold commissioning
Two citizen groups in Washington state that track the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site said Friday they were not surprised to see a delay in cold commissioning of the multibillion-dollar plant to turn liquid radioactive waste into glass. DOE said last week it expects to miss the Aug. 1 target for starting cold commissioning, which […]
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Budget & Policy
House subcommittee’s first draft of DOE budget has extra for Nuclear Energy office
The Department of Energy’s nuclear power and waste portfolio would remain about flat for fiscal year 2025 and again receive unrequested funds to help commercialize advanced nuclear reactors, if a spending bill unveiled this week becomes law. If the bill from the House Appropriations energy and water subcommittee bill is signed, DOE’s Office of Nuclear […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
Honeywell exec elected new EFCOG board chair
The Energy Facility Contractors Group last week elected Honeywell International vice president David (DJ) Johnson chair of the group’s board of directors, according to a press release. Johnson will succeed Michael Lempke of Huntington Ingalls. The Energy Facility Contractors Group (EFCOG) also elected Mark Whitney, the president of Amentum’s national security group, its vice chair […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
DNFSB seeks briefing on Savannah River representative program fixes
At a time of much Department of Energy turnover at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, a government safety watchdog says DOE relies too heavily on staff expertise. As a result, Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) Chair Joyce Connery wants a report and briefing before Christmas on DOE steps to upgrade its facility […]
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Uranium Enrichment & Fuel Cycle
DOE solicits bids for new commercial, domestic low-enriched uranium
The Department of Energy this week solicited bids for what could be a decade-long contract to purchase new low-enriched uranium fuel from U.S. and allied sources. The Low Enriched Uranium (LEU) Enrichment Acquisition will be a 10-year, $3.4 billion, indefinitely-quantity, indefinite-delivery contract with multiple awardees, DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy wrote in the solicitation posted […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
Wrap Up: 6th Circuit foregoes arguments in Oak Ridge vax suit; GAO looks at NNSA diversity; Lab exec takes new post
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has ordered final briefs by July 18 in a COVID-19 vaccination lawsuit brought by a former employee against the Department of Energy’s environmental prime at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee. The Cincinnati-based federal appeals court said May 31 it “has determined that oral argument is […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
BWXT-led winner of Hanford liquid waste contract withdraws appeals court action
A BWX Technologies-led joint venture that twice won a $45-billion liquid waste contract at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site, last week withdrew its 2023 case with a federal appeals court, seemingly clearing the way for a U.S. Federal Claims Court to again rule on a contract challenge by the losing bidder. According to online […]
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Naval Nuclear Propulsion
Aptim lands potential $630M worth of naval reactor cleanup work
Louisiana-based Aptim Federal Services has landed a maximum $630 million worth of naval reactor cleanup work at sites in the Northeast, the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management said Thursday. The new task order contract is being issued via the Nationwide Deactivation, Decommissioning, and Removal program and involves tearing down decaying facilities and related […]
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Budget & Policy
DOE nuclear cleanup would receive $8.32 billion in House subcommittee’s bill
House appropriators on Thursday rolled out a Department of Energy budget bill that proposes $8.32 billion for the agency’s Office of Environmental Management, down about $160 million from this year. Still, the topline figure for DOE’s nuclear cleanup branch is $100 million more than what President Joe Biden’s administration sought. The act, announced via press […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
DNFSB seeks briefing on Savannah River representative program fixes
At a time of much Department of Energy turnover at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, a government safety watchdog says DOE relies too heavily on staff expertise. As a result, Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) Chair Joyce Connery wants a report and briefing before Christmas on DOE steps to upgrade its facility […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
Current providers Fluor-BWXT, Mid-America win bulk of DOE fee
The lame duck cleanup contractor at the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio and the provider of depleted uranium hexafluoride services there and at the Paducah Site in Kentucky each collected most of the available fee for the opening four months of fiscal 2024, DOE said Tuesday. In a press release, DOE’s Portsmouth/Paducah Project […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
Honeywell exec elected new EFCOG board chair
The Energy Facility Contractors Group last week elected Honeywell International vice president David (DJ) Johnson chair of the group’s board of directors, according to a press release. Johnson will succeed Michael Lempke of Huntington Ingalls. The Energy Facility Contractors Group (EFCOG) also elected Mark Whitney, the president of Amentum’s national security group, its vice chair […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
BWXT-led winner of Hanford liquid waste contract withdraws appeals court action
A BWX Technologies-led joint venture that twice won a $45-billion liquid waste contract at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site, Friday withdrew its 2023 case with a federal appeals court, seemingly clearing the way for a U.S. Federal Claims Court to again rule on a contract challenge by the losing bidder. According to online court […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
Hanford-area environmental groups not shocked by slip in cold commissioning
Two citizen groups in Washington state that track the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site said Friday they were not surprised to see a delay in cold commissioning of the multibillion-dollar plant to turn liquid radioactive waste into glass. DOE said last Thursday it expects to miss the Aug. 1 target for starting cold commissioning, which […]
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Naval Nuclear Propulsion
Knolls Laboratory will replace areas for Naval Reactors Laboratory Field Office
The Department of Energy Knolls Laboratory Site will take part in a project to remove and replace several underground utility sections, some of which are over 70 years old, to include construction of a monument to the Navy and the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program, according to a summary from the Office of NEPA Policy and […]
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Budget & Policy
House subcommittee to move bill with 2025 DOE budget
A House panel on Friday announced that it plans next week to vote on a bill to fund Department of Energy civilian nuclear programs for fiscal year 2025. The House Appropriations energy and water development subcommittee planned to stream the markup live on its YouTube channel. The bill under consideration would fund the Department of […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
DOE signals four-month delay in cold commissioning for Hanford waste treatment plant
The Department of Energy expects to miss a legally binding Aug. 1 milestone for starting cold commissioning, making glass from non-radioactive liquid, at the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant at the Hanford Site in Washington state. DOE’s site manager for the former plutonium production complex, Brian Vance, told the Washington Department of Ecology of the […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
Wrap Up: Oak Ridge, Paducah RFPs could be out over summer; EM revs up EVs; Kunkle starts at LANL
Two final Department of Energy small business solicitations, one for technical support at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee and another for a landlord contract at the Paducah Site in Kentucky, could be released as early as July, the agency said Thursday. In a June 20 online notice, DOE’s Office of Environmental Management said final […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
After 5 years, Ike White era ends, Robertson takes charge at DOE cleanup office
After spending five years as acting boss of the Department of Energy’s $8-billion Office of Environmental Management, William (Ike) White has passed the keys to another longtime fed, Candice Robertson. The previously-announced transition is officially reflected in a new organizational chart posted Friday by DOE’s nuclear cleanup office. The chart shows Robertson as senior adviser […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
Parties in $45B contract battle make arguments in closed-door hearing with claims judge
A U.S. Court of Federal Claims judge held a closed-door hearing June 14 but had yet to issue a decision in a legal fight over a potential $45-billion Department of Energy contract for emptying liquid waste tanks at the Hanford Site in Washington state. In a Washington, D.C. courtroom, U.S. Court of Federal Claims Judge […]






