Archive

Bechtel

A major engineering and construction contractor with long-standing roles across the weapons complex, including waste treatment plant construction and national laboratory management.

  • Oak Ridge Contract Briefing Sparks Huge Virtual Turnout

    Lured by the prize of a megabuck contract, more than 150 individuals and 60 organizations registered to take part in online briefings last week on the planned remediation deal at the Energy Department’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee. The list of firms that turned out to kick the tires and learn more about the potentially […]

  • Lawsuit Claims Contractors at Portsmouth Sickened Workers, Polluted Ohio Environment

    Another federal lawsuit has been filed against current and former contractors that have performed either uranium enrichment or environmental operations at the Energy Department’s Portsmouth Site in Pike County, Ohio. The class action complaint filed Sept. 3 in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio seeks almost $10 million in damages for an […]

  • Lawsuit Alleges Contractors at Portsmouth Sickened Workers, Polluted Ohio Environment

    Another federal lawsuit has been filed against current and former contractors that have performed either uranium enrichment or environmental operations at the Energy Department’s Portsmouth Site in Pike County Ohio. The class action complaint filed Thursday in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio seeks almost $10 million in damages for an alleged […]

  • Energy Department Formally Extends CH2M Contract at Hanford

    The Energy Department said Thursday it is extending the CH2M HILL Plateau Remediation Co. contract at the Hanford Site in Washington state for up to six months through March 2021. The $7.16-billion contract held by the Jacobs subsidiary would otherwise expire on Sept. 30, and the DOE Office of Environmental Management is not ready to […]

  • State-Federal Talks on Hanford Cleanup Quietly Continue During Pandemic

    The COVID-19 pandemic has not stopped state-federal “holistic” negotiations over major environmental remediation issues at the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state. The talks between DOE, the state, and the Environmental Protection Agency are occurring remotely, Washington state Department of Ecology spokesman Randy Bradbury said in an Aug. 11 email. The talks began in […]

  • Energy Dept. Issues Draft RFP for Next Oak Ridge Cleanup Contract

    Comments are due Sept. 17 on the draft request for proposals (RFP) for a new remediation contract potentially worth $8.3 billion for the Energy Department’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee. The DOE Office of Environmental Management on Tuesday issued the draft RFP for an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract with a 10-year ordering period. The Energy Department […]

  • Comment Period for On-Site Disposal of Certain Hanford Waste Extended 60 Days

    The Energy Department is extending the public comment deadline from Sept. 26 until Nov. 27 on a plan for on-site disposal of vitrified low-activity waste at the Hanford Site in Washington state. The Aug. 6 notice from DOE did not cite a reason for the 60-day extension. The agency on May 26 started taking comments […]

  • Draft Solicitation for New Pantex-Y-12 Contract Coming This Month, NNSA Says

    The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) will continue to bundle management of the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee and the Pantex Plant in Texas in the post Consolidated Nuclear Security era, according to a pre-procurement note posted on July 31. The single contract would be worth up to $28 billion over 10 years, including […]

  • Feds Begin Procurement Process for Next Savannah River Site Management Contract

    The Department of Energy on Wednesday kicked off a long-awaited procurement of the next Savannah River Site management and operations contract with a request for information from industry about the award that will fund the Aiken, S.C., facility’s biggest nuclear-weapons programs. The agency will sort out the value, duration, and exact form of the contract […]

  • US Ecology Revenue Rises, but Pandemic Dents Income

    US Ecology grew its second-quarter revenue by 37% this year, to $213.9 million, but nonetheless reported a $5.2 million net loss in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. That represented a loss of $0.17 per diluted share, or $0.08 on an adjusted basis, the Boise, Idaho-based waste management company said Thursday in its latest earnings […]

  • Draft Solicitation for New Pantex-Y-12 Contract Coming This Month, NNSA Says

    The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) will continue to bundle management of the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee and the Pantex Plant in Texas in the post Consolidated Nuclear Security era, according to a pre-procurement note posted online Friday. The single contract would be worth up to $28 billion over 10 years, including a […]

  • Energy Dept. to Extend Relationship With Atkins, Catholic University for Hanford Vitrification Research

    The Energy Department plans to extend a sole-source contract with Atkins for research on vitrification at the Waste Treatment Plant being built at the Hanford Site in Washington state. The DOE Office of River Protection at Hanford said in July 14 procurement notice it intends to keep using the SNC-Lavalin Group subsidiary for testing of […]

  • Y-12 Finishes Overhaul of Fire Protection System

    Consolidated Nuclear Security (CNS) has replaced nearly 10,000 sprinkler heads at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee, completing a $46 million retrofit of safety hardware last touched in the 1960s, according to a press release this week. The new sprinkler heads, installed in six different facilities, replace some that were at or near the […]

  • Y-12 Finishes Overhaul of Fire Protection System

    Consolidated Nuclear Security (CNS) has replaced nearly 10,000 sprinkler heads at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee, completing a $46 million retrofit of safety hardware last touched in the 1960s, according to a press release this week.  The new sprinkler heads, installed in six different facilities, replace some that were at or near the […]

  • Goldstein to Retire After Six Years as Livermore Director, 36 Years at Lab

    William Goldstein confirmed Tuesday he will retire as director of the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, as soon as the nation’s second nuclear-design facility finishes the potentially lengthy search for a replacement. Goldstein became the Livermore, Calif., lab’s 12th director on March 31, 2014. He joined the lab’s Physics Directorate in 1984 and […]

  • New Hanford Contractors Still Waiting for DOE Green Light

    Although they withstood bid protests in April, winners of two multibillion-dollar contracts at the Hanford Site in Washington state still have not received Department of Energy notices to proceed to the jobs. Neither Hanford/s new support services contractor, nor the new contractor for cleanup of the Central Plateau, have gotten the go-ahead yet, an agency […]

  • Hanford Remobilization to Remain in Phase 1 for Coming Week

    The Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state will continue in Phase 1 of restart operations next week, Manager Brian Vance announced Thursday as the facility moves toward more normal work levels while simultaneously trying to avoid the spread of COVID-19. However, there will be a “marginal increase” in on-site staffing at the Waste Treatment […]

  • All DOE Nuclear Cleanup Sites Now in Phase 1 or Phase 2 of Restart

    All 16 nuclear cleanup sites overseen by the Energy Department Office of Environmental Management have at least initiated Phase 1 remobilization operations, after on-site work was drastically scaled back this spring in an effort to reduce the potential spread of COVID-19 among the workforce. In addition, Phase 2 is now underway at the Idaho National […]

  • NNSA Pushing Consolidated Nuclear Security Out at Pantex, Y-12

    The Department of Energy will not pick up the remaining options on Bechtel National-led Consolidated Nuclear Security’s contract to manage the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee and Pantex Plant in Texas, which now will expire after Sept. 30, 2021. Consolidated Nuclear Security (CNS) will leave three years’ worth of options on the table, under […]

  • Wrap Up: NRC Issues Plan for Review of Hanford Waste Disposal

    The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has formally accepted for review an Energy Department proposal to dispose of vitrified low-activity waste inside the fence at the Hanford Site in Washington state. The Energy Department on April 23 filed its draft Waste Incidental to Reprocessing (WIR) evaluation with the NRC, which in this case is serving as […]

  • Senate NDAA Would Authorize More Defense Nuclear Cleanup Funds for Los Alamos

    The Senate Armed Services Committee’s version of the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act would allow $100 million more in the primary funding tranche for the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management than requested by the Donald Trump administration. The legislation would authorize $5.1 billion for defense environmental cleanup for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1 […]

  • NNSA Pushing Consolidated Nuclear Security Out at Pantex, Y-12

    The Department of Energy will not pick up the remaining options on Bechtel National-led Consolidated Nuclear Security’s contract to manage the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee and Pantex Plant in Texas, which now will expire after Sept. 30, 2021. Consolidated Nuclear Security (CNS) will leave three years’ worth of options on the table. The […]

  • NRC Provides Schedule for Review of DOE Vitrified Waste Plan

    The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has formally accepted for review an Energy Department proposal to dispose of vitrified low-activity waste inside the fence at the Hanford Site in Washington state. The Energy Department on April 23 filed its draft Waste Incidental to Reprocessing (WIR) evaluation with the NRC, which in this case is serving as […]

  • Y-12 Employees’ Lawsuit Allege Contractor Shorted Pay for Some Salaried Workers in 2017

    Consolidated Nuclear Security in 2017 took a paycheck’s worth of pay from certain employees at Department of Enegy’s Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee, three employees alleged in a federal lawsuit. The short happened after the Bechtel National-led site management contractor shifted to a biweekly pay schedule in 2015 from a monthly pay schedule, according […]

  • Strategic Management Solutions Hires Executive VP

    Department of Energy contractor Strategic Management Solutions Inc. (SMSI) has hired industry veteran Matthew Nuckols for the newly created position of executive vice president. A civil engineer, Nuckols has 25 years of project and program management experience at sites within the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management and semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) complexes, […]

  • Bechtel Exec Shifting to CNS as Finance Chief

    Nikki Grover was on June 12 to become chief financial officer for the Bechtel-led team managing the Department of Energy’s Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas, and the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn. The chief financial officer for Consolidated Nuclear Security “oversees the financial activities at both sites,” according to the contractor’s website. Grover […]

  • ‘Usual Suspects’ Among Likely Bidders for Idaho Cleanup Business

    The two incumbents at the Idaho Cleanup Project, Fluor and Spectra Tech, are virtually certain to be among the contenders for a follow-up environmental award that could be worth $6.4 billion, sources say. Fluor Idaho now holds the five-year environmental remediation contract for the Idaho National Laboratory, valued at nearly $2 billion through May 2021. […]

  • Huntington Ingalls Exec to Lead EFCOG Board Another Year

    The Energy Facility Contractors Group (EFCOG) has re-elected Huntington Ingalls Industries nuclear and environmental group President Michael Lempke as chairman of its Board of Directors for another year, according to a Friday statement. Sandra Fairchild, project services and support director of Energy Department Savannah River Site cleanup contractor Savannah River Remediation, was elected vice chair […]

  • NRC Outlines Role in Evaluating On-Site Disposal of Certain Hanford Waste

    The Nuclear Regulatory Commissioning said Wednesday it will conduct a technical review of an Energy Department proposal to dispose of certain vitrified low-activity radioactive waste at the Hanford Site in Washington state. Speaking at an online public meeting, NRC Senior Risk Analyst David Esh said the agency is acting in a consulting role as the […]

  • Bechtel Exec Shifting to CNS as Finance Chief

    Nikki Grover will on Friday become chief financial officer for the Bechtel-led team managing the Department of Energy’s Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas, and the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn. The chief financial officer for Consolidated Nuclear Security “oversees the financial activities at both sites,” according to the contractor’s website. Grover was […]