The Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory is preparing to start shipping remote-handled transuranic waste, which is more radioactive than the contact-handled variety, to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico.
DOE’s Office of Environmental Management said in a Feb. 25 news release that Amentum-led cleanup contractor Idaho Environmental Coalition is using a mock-up to prepare to start shipping remote-handled waste to WIPP this spring. It would mark Idaho’s first remote-handled transuranic (TRU) waste shipments in a decade. Idaho’s last remote-handled TRU shipment was 2014.
While contact-handled waste, which accounts for the vast majority of TRU sent to WIPP, can be safely handled by direct contact, remote-handled Tru requires heavy container shielding or other safeguards to protect workers, according to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.
A Chicago-based solar power developer announced recently it has sold its rights to develop a major solar installation at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state.
In a Feb. 18 press release, Hecate Energy said it has sold its rights for developing up to 2,000 megawatts at Cereza solar and storage project at the DOE’s Hanford Site to Savion. No sales price was given.
Hecate secured rights in 2024 to develop the Cereza project, a utility-scale solar and storage facility of up to 2,000 megawatts at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site. Under the terms of the sale, Savion will lead development with Hecate’s support. Hecate acquired the solar development rights at Hanford during President Joe Biden’s Cleanup to Clean Energy effort.
The Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board has posted a job opening for its executive director role this week.
According to the USAJOBS.gov, the application opened on March 4 and will close on March 18. The opening comes after then executive Daniel Ogg retired in late December 2025. Ogg headed the board for over three years and was a member of its professional staff since 2014.
Nicole Nelson-Jean, formerly the associate administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Office of Infrastructure, is now the principal associate administrator of NNSA’s Office of Environment, Safety and Health, according to her LinkedIn profile.
A source told the Exchange Monitor Nelson-Jean will be deputy to Ahmad Al-Daouk, the associate administrator for the office. Nelson-Jean’s LinkedIn update said as of March 2026, she is the “executive leader” in charge of NNSA”s nuclear packaging and transportation, environmental operations, sustainability and climate resiliency.
Prior to her role at the Office of Infrastructure, Nelson-Jean was associate principal deputy assistant secretary for field operations at the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management, an adjacent DOE agency in charge of cleanup of nuclear waste at the nation’s Manhattan Project-era sites.
Florida International University (FIU) will receive $20 million in financial assistance from the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management to support advanced nuclear cleanup technology, DOE said Friday Feb. 27.
DOE’s Office of Environmental Management announced the five-year grant benefitting FIU’s Applied Research Center in the press release.
The five-year deal that starts Sunday March 1.The funding will help the Miami-based FIU research center work on ways to improve cleanup of Cold War and Manhattan Project nuclear sites, DOE said. Specifically, it will include research to improve radioactive waste processing, remediation of contaminated soil and groundwater, facility decontamination and decommissioning along with “tailored information” and artificial intelligence technologies, according to the release.
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee voted 15 – 4 Wednesday morning in favor of the renomination of Nuclear Regulatory Commission member Doug Weaver.
Weaver, who was confirmed by the Senate in December, was renominated by President Donald Trump on Jan. 29 to serve a new term that will expire on June 30, 2031. Weaver took over for former commissioner Annie Caputo, whose term was set to expire on June 30.
After initially being nominated to succeed Caputo, Weaver advanced out of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee in December, also in a 15 – 4 vote.