Bechtel

  Washington state officials were cool this week to a new government report that could point toward an alternative method for treating radioactive waste stored at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site. Grouting holds promise to effectively treat a portion of the millions of gallons of low-activity radioactive waste stored in tanks at Hanford, the […]

The Department of Energy has not used leading practices to manage the risk of fraud and other improper payments to its contractors and subcontractors, according to a Government Accountability Office report released Monday. The report found inconsistent review of invoices, too little data for oversight, and a lack of centralized and detailed policies. “Improper payments, […]

In a paperwork milestone that speeds but does not clear the way to start treating a potentially explosive stream of transuranic waste at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico will allow the Energy Department to use a forklift as part of the agency’s planned treatment regimen. The state approved forklift use and other elements of […]

Liquid waste workers are filling another of the Savannah River Site’s disposal units with decontaminated salt solution. Savannah River Remediation (SRR), the liquid waste contractor at the Department of Energy site in South Carolina, is filling Saltstone Disposal Unit (SDU) 3A, according to a Facebook post Tuesday. Work began in February. SDUs are cylindrical concrete […]

Savannah River Remediation will remain the prime liquid waste managment contractor at the Savannah River Site through Dec. 31 under a six-month contract extension the Energy Department announced Thursday. DOE did not disclose the value of the modification in Thursday’s press release. The agency is in the middle of a competition for the next big liquid […]

The Energy Department and its contractor at the Los Alamos National Laboratory might not clean up the stream of waste that leaked radiation into the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant three years ago until May due to lingering concerns about the facility in which the waste will be treated. The local Santa Fe New Mexican, citing a […]

The book would close on a whistleblower lawsuit that Bechtel National and AECOM settled last year for $125 million, under a final stipulation for dismissal the three plaintiffs filed Tuesday. The filing is mostly a formality, as the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington state had already dismissed much of the case […]

The book would close on a whistleblower lawsuit that Bechtel National and AECOM settled last year for $125 million, under a final stipulation for dismissal the three plaintiffs filed Tuesday. The filing is mostly a formality, as the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington state had already dismissed much of the case in […]

The Energy Department’s Office of Enterprise Assessments (EA) is investigating Bechtel National, prime contractor for the Waste Treatment Plant at the Hanford Site in Washington state, over a worker injury in November. The office did not describe the details or circumstances of the injury, except to say it occurred “during preparation of a plant cooling […]

The Energy Department on Wednesday had planned to start treating the troublesome stream of transuranic waste at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) that leaked radiation into the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant three years ago, but the day came and went without any confirmation that DOE and its contractor had begun the work. An agency spokesperson […]

The Energy Department’s Office of Enterprise Assessments (EA) is investigating Bechtel National, prime contractor for the Waste Treatment Plant at the Hanford Site in Washington state, over a worker injury in November. The office did not describe the details or circumstances of the injury, except to say it occurred “during preparation of a plant cooling […]

The contractor for the Uranium Processing Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee should in a matter of months deliver a new cost estimate and other information needed for the Department of Energy to sign off on construction of the complex. The Department of Energy expects by the end of fiscal 2017, Sept. 30, […]

A 60-day public comment period opened Monday on Bechtel National’s plan to start installing pipes needed to clean up the Hanford Site’s low-activity liquid radioactive waste, according to regulatory filings made public this week. If granted, the modification to the company’s permit with Washington state would allow Bechtel to install underground plumbing to transfer low-activity […]

For the first time in more than three years, the Energy Department sent a shipment of transuranic waste to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico for permanent disposal, the agency announced Monday. The shipment, from the Idaho National Laboratory, arrived in either the darkness of night or early morning, according to a […]

A 60-day public comment period opened Monday on Bechtel National’s plan to start installing pipes needed to clean up the Hanford Site’s low-activity liquid radioactive waste, according to regulatory filings made public yesterday. If granted, the modification to the company’s permit with Washington state would allow Bechtel to install underground plumbing to transfer low-activity waste between […]

  Repairs of a key waste processing facility at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site remain on schedule for completion in 2017, but the work is taking a toll on short-term efforts to rid the facility of radioactive waste, officials reaffirmed Monday. In the interim, there is no liquid waste processing going on at […]

The United Kingdom on Monday announced the early termination of the 2014 contract for management and decommissioning of its 12 Magnox nuclear sites, and an over $120 million settlement with two companies that partnered on an unsuccessful bid for the work. The planned £6.1 billion ($7.7 billion) contract to the Cavendish Fluor Partnership will expire […]

Months before a state regulatory deadline, the Energy Department and its prime contractor at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant have stopped using emergency above-ground waste storage space at the mine, according to a Monday regulatory filing. “On February 9, 2017, [DOE and Nuclear Waste Partnership] reconfigured the TRU [transuranic] mixed waste in storage in the […]

The prime contractor at the Energy Department’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina illegally fired an employee in 2014 for cooperating with a congressionally led investigation into whistleblower retaliation at the site, according to DOE’s Office of Hearings and Appeals. The quasi-judicial Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) subsequently ordered Fluor-led Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) […]

Bechtel and GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy on Wednesday announced a partnership to provide decommissioning services for nuclear power plants in Germany and Sweden. In a joint press release, the two companies’ highlighted their decades of experience in decommissioning operations, covering advance planning, licensing, project development and management, dismantlement, demolition, waste management, and site closeout. “Our […]

PHOENIX — A facility needed to treat low-activity liquid waste at the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state will not be built until 2021 — the year before contractor Bechtel National must either prove its Waste Treatment Plant (WTP) is ready to treat low-activity waste, or forfeit more than $150 million in fees, according to […]

The second round of bidding for the Nevada National Security Site management and operations contract appears to be in its final stages, executives with one of the competing companies said Tuesday. Leidos resubmitted a proposal after the previous contract award to a newly acquired business segment was rescinded last year, according to Elizabeth Porter, senior vice president […]

Demolition of the Hanford Site’s Plutonium Finishing Plant might stretch beyond a Sept. 30 regulatory deadline, the manager of the Energy Department’s Richland Operations Office told a citizens group Wednesday. While there is a “high probability we can get it done by the end of this year,” the project might only be “near-done by the […]

The Savannah River Site is on pace to meet its fiscal 2017 goal to double-stack and safely store 200 canisters of treated radioactive waste, according to a site official. In October, liquid waste contractor Savannah River Remediation (SRR) began stacking canisters of vitrified waste on top of each other in Glass Waste Storage Building 1 […]

Bechtel National and the Energy Department could have saved about $2 million if they had reached an agreement to cancel orders for equipment the Hanford Site’s Waste Treatment Plant (WTP) did not urgently need, the agency’s inspector general wrote in a new report. Bechtel is building the plant at the site near Richland, Wash., to treat 56 million […]

Bechtel National and the Energy Department could have saved about $2 million if they had reached an agreement to cancel orders for equipment the Hanford Site’s Waste Treatment Plant (WTP) did not urgently need, the agency’s inspector general wrote in a new report. Bechtel is building the plant at the site near Richland, Wash., to treat 56 million […]

Sandia National Laboratories Director Jill Hruby nearly topped Business Insider’s list this week of the 43 most powerful female engineers of 2017 in the U.S. technology sector. Hruby came in at No. 2, behind only Peggy Johnson, executive vice president for business development at Microsoft. Barbara Rusinko, a president at major Department of Energy contractor […]

  Sandia National Laboratories Director Jill Hruby nearly topped Business Insider’s list this week of the 43 most powerful female engineers of 2017 in the U.S. technology sector. Hruby came in at No. 2, behind only Peggy Johnson, executive vice president for business development at Microsoft. Barbara Rusinko, a president at major Department of Energy […]

The Energy Department and some of its leading contractors are keeping quiet as the agency reviews bids for the new liquid waste contract at the Savannah River Site. The current contract with Savannah River Remediation (SRR) is set to expire in four months, and DOE has previously said it would award the follow-on deal in the first quarter […]

The Richland Operations Office will review how its prime contractors at the Hanford Site in Washington state are passing down nuclear quality assurance requirements to subcontractors and qualifying them after questions were raised about the recently completed River Corridor Closure Contract. A Department of Energy Inspector General’s Office audit report released Friday found quality-assurance weaknesses in […]