The Department of Energy earlier this month lifted several long-standing restrictions on recycling certain contaminated metals at DOE nuclear sites, including “volumetrically contaminated metals.”
The rescissions were announced in a May 15 Federal Register notice. The changes could have big implications for the Paducah Site in Kentucky, said an industry source. Paducah has more than 9,000 short tons of nickel ingots.
About two years ago, DOE’s Environmental Management office invited expressions of interest from parties interested in recycling surface-contaminated nickel at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio.
The Tri-Cities Herald newspaper in Washington state reported this week that 222-S Laboratory contractor Navarro-ATL has laid off 15 members of its 400-person workforce.
The newspaper reported Thursday that Navarro-ATL said the reduction in force was part of a reorganization that involves non-union workers. Navarro did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday from Exchange Monitor.
Navarro-ATL has a contract, currently valued at $527-million, to operate the 222-S Laboratory at Hanford. The contract, which started in April 2021, has a five year base with DOE holding two one-year options. The laboratory is in charge of analyzing highly-radioactive waste samples at the former plutonium production complex.
Amentum and a joint venture partner have been awarded a contract by Norwegian Nuclear Decommissioning to deliver safety case management for the nation’s nuclear cleanup program.
The contract awarded to Amentum and partner Multiconsult Norge AS is focused on delivering a new approach for safety cases for new design and existing legacy nuclear facilities, according to Amentum’s Tuesday press release.
The contract will cover the work at Norway’s national waste repository and two research sites. The value of the contract was not listed in the press release. The two companies have been working for the Norwegian Nuclear Decommissioning, a government agency, to help develop a decommissioning strategy since 2022, Amentum said.
While the National Nuclear Security Administration expects a final record of decision for pit production analysis should be complete by 2027, some stakeholders said this week they are “deeply concerned” about the “human cost” of plutonium pits.
“This is very dangerous material,” one commenter said Wednesday during an online forum, speaking tearfully of how her daughters contracted cancer and of a neighbor’s daughter who died of cancer near Los Alamos.” I don’t want more plutonium pit production… We do not want to be exposed to cancer.”
Wednesday’s forum was the second of a series of public comment forums to provide interest groups, businesses, Native American tribes and other stakeholders input into the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) draft programmatic environmental impact statement (PEIS) on planned plutonium pit production.
Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), a member of the Armed Services Committee (SASC) elected in 2020, announced plans Tuesday to run for governor of Alabama in 2026.
Tuberville’s confirmation that he would not seek reelection to the Senate followed several months of speculation over his political future, and will likely set up a competitive, open GOP primary for his Alabama seat.
“Today, I will announce that I will be the future governor of the great state of Alabama,” Tuberville, 70, said in a Fox News interview.