Bechtel

Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) is the latest official from her state to urge Secretary of Energy Chris Wright to stick with an Oct. 15 target for starting to convert radioactive sludge at the Hanford Site in a stable glass form. In a Senate floor statement on Friday Sept. 12 should not be “walking back” the […]

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico received 55 waste shipments in August.  That’s slightly more than the 50 shipments sent to the facility in August 2024, and the 48 WIPP received in July. The figures are according to DOE’s public website for the underground salt mine disposal site.  Of […]

Secretary of Energy Chris Wright issued a statement Tuesday seeking to knock down speculation DOE might cancel the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) weeks before it is scheduled to start converting some radioactive waste into glass at the Hanford Site. “Contrary to news reports, the Department of Energy has made no changes to its […]

Bechtel chief operating officer and president Craig Albert recently wrote an opinion piece in The Hill outlining the importance of executing on the current nuclear push in the United States. In light of President Donald Trump’s administration issuing four nuclear-related executive orders, a real push for nuclear energy is on the horizon due to growing […]

Although the Department of Energy missed an August target to start making glass from low-level radioactive waste, the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant is on the brink of operation, an advisory panel for the Hanford Site heard Wednesday. “We are so close, so close to starting that thing up,” DOE’s acting manager for the Hanford […]

New Mexico is citing the Department of Energy and its prime contractor at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) with violations and giving them until Sept. 24 to deliver a plan for fixing aging assets at the disposal site for transuranic waste. An order by a branch of the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) gives […]

The Department of Energy and Washington state have agreed to grant federal and contract managers a 75-day extension until Oct. 15 to start making glass from some of the less-radioactive tank waste at the Hanford Site at Richland, Wash. The prior deadline was Aug. 1 and DOE officials announced this latest extension in a Monday […]

Nobody was hurt last month when a four-foot broken slab of concrete fell 1,400-feet down a utility shaft at the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M., according to a safety board report. Likewise, no equipment was damaged in the May 27 incident that happened while a subcontractor crew from Harrison […]

The Department of Energy said Tuesday workers at its sprawling nuclear cleanup site in Washington state have installed one last piece of piping needed for the plant that will vitrify liquid radioactive waste into a solid glass form. Crews have finished the final connection between underground tanks storing radioactive waste and the multi-billion-dollar Waste Treatment […]

The Department of Energy said Tuesday workers at its sprawling nuclear cleanup site in Washington state have installed one last piece of piping needed for the plant that will vitrify liquid radioactive waste into a solid glass form. Crews have finished the final connection between underground tanks storing radioactive waste and the multi-billion-dollar Waste Treatment […]

The Department of Energy and Bechtel National said Tuesday they have taken another incremental step in cold commissioning of a multi-billion-dollar plant to convert liquid radioactive tank waste into a solid glass form at the Hanford Site in Washington state. Ammonia and nitrous oxide-producing chemicals are being introduced into the melters for the Waste Treatment […]

The Department of Energy and Bechtel National said Tuesday they have taken another incremental step in cold commissioning of a multi-billion-dollar plant to convert liquid radioactive tank waste into a solid glass form at the Hanford Site in Washington state. Ammonia and nitrous oxide-producing chemicals are being introduced into the melters for the Waste Treatment […]

The Department of Energy is in no rush to transfer operation of the new Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant to the new liquid waste contractor from the builder of the multi-billion facility, the Hanford Site Advisory Board heard Wednesday. Bechtel National, which in December 2000 acquired the contract to build the plant to convert  liquid […]

The Department of Energy has awarded a contract up to $74.8 million to a women-owned small business in Richland, Wash. to provide professional support services at the DOE’s Oak Ridge, Tenn. nuclear environmental cleanup site. The DOE’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) announced the contract with the company, Independent Strategic Management Solutions, Inc. (ISMSolutions), in […]

The Department of Energy said Thursday it has completed its 2,000-gallon demonstration of the so-called Test Bed Initiative at the Hanford Site in Washington state. In a press release, DOE’s Office of Environmental Management said it has sent two shipments of treated, low-level radioactive tank waste to commercial disposal sites in Texas and Utah. The […]

The Department of Energy has targeted disposal 425 shipments of transuranic waste at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico during fiscal 2025, and so far, there have been 151, a DOE official said Wednesday night. Mindy Toothman, the site operations and infrastructure division director for DOE’s Carlsbad Field Office, cited the numbers during […]

The Department of Energy and its prime contractor for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant will brief the public Wednesday April 30 in Carlsbad, N.M., on issues affecting the nation’s only underground disposal site for defense-related transuranic waste. DOE and Bechtel National’s Salado Isolation Mining Contractors will hold a hybrid community forum  on Waste Isolation Pilot […]

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., is winding down its maintenance outage to the point it has resumed disposal of defense-related transuranic waste. DOE and Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) prime, Bechtel’s Salado Isolation Mining Contractors, began the outage for refurbishment in January. The weeks-long outage, conducted for repair and replacement projects […]

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., is winding down its maintenance outage to the point it has resumed disposal of defense-related transuranic waste. DOE and Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) prime, Bechtel’s Salado Isolation Mining Contractors, began the outage for refurbishment in January. The weeks-long outage, conducted for repair and […]

The manager of the Department of Energy’s largest and most expensive nuclear cleanup property announced Wednesday he is leaving the department. “After much consideration, I have made the very difficult decision to resign as Hanford Field Office manager, effective on April 24, 2025,” said Brian Vance, Hanford Site manager in a Wednesday memo to site […]

The Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state is accepting public comments between now and April 23 on plans to grout some of the less-radioactive waste from the 200 West Area. The draft analysis under the National Environmental Policy Act looks at DOE’s plans to pretreat tank waste from the 200 West Area and […]

Work crews at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California will soon start removing the concrete slab from the site of Building 251, DOE’s Office of Environmental Management said Tuesday. Once the slab is gone, Building 251 or the Heavy Elements Facility will become available for future work by DOE and its […]

Work crews at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California will soon start removing the concrete slab from the site of Building 251, DOE’s Office of Environmental Management said Tuesday. Once the slab is gone, Building 251 or the Heavy Elements Facility will become available for future work by DOE and its […]

Work crews at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California will soon start removing the concrete slab from the site of Building 251, DOE’s Office of Environmental Management said Tuesday. Once the slab is gone, Building 251 or the Heavy Elements Facility will become available for future work by DOE and its […]

Contractor Bechtel announced Monday it appointed Dena Volovar as the new president of its Nuclear, Security & Energy business.  Volovar succeeds John Howanitz, who will retire in April after 42 years at Bechtel, according to the company press release.  Volovar’s tenure at Bechtel extends 26 years, most recently as executive vice president and manager of […]

Contractor Bechtel announced Monday it appointed Dena Volovar as the new president of its Nuclear, Security & Energy business.  Volovar succeeds John Howanitz, who will retire in April after 42 years at Bechtel, according to the company press release.  Volovar’s tenure at Bechtel extends 26 years, most recently as executive vice president and manager of […]

Contractor Bechtel announced Monday it appointed Dena Volovar as the new president of its Nuclear, Security & Energy business.  Volovar succeeds John Howanitz, who will retire in April after 42 years at Bechtel, according to the company press release.  Volovar’s tenure at Bechtel extends 26 years, most recently as executive vice president and manager of […]

The Department of Energy has awarded Bechtel National almost 95% of a potential $15 million in fee for the company’s work on the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant during 2024 at the Hanford Site in Washington state. Bechtel is taking home $14.2 million or 94.7% of a potential $15 million in total fee available for […]

The Government Accountability Office this week dismissed a bid protest by a Bechtel-led group over a potential $2.3-billion Department of Energy contract awarded to an Atkins Nuclear Secured-led team, —but that won’t be the final word, as DOE will re-evaluate the original award. A Government Accountability Office (GAO) document viewed by Exchange Monitor said GAO’s […]

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) this week dismissed a bid protest by a Bechtel-led group over a potential $2.3-billion Department of Energy contract awarded to an Atkins Nuclear Secured-led team, — but that might not be the final word, sources said. Sources told Exchange Monitor GAO’s dismissal of the protest by Bechtel-led Mission Operations Alliance […]