Bechtel

While the Department of Energy is increasingly interested in using grout to solidify some low-level radioactive waste left from decades of plutonium production at its Hanford Site in Washington, operation of such a facility would not begin before the 2030s, according to a recent report. Various scenarios from DOE and its state regulator, the Washington […]

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., remains on pace to have its best calendar year performance since it returned to service in 2017 following an underground accident three years earlier. The nation’s only deep geologic disposal site for defense-related transuranic waste has received 441 shipments between Jan. 1 and Nov. […]

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., remains on pace to have its best calendar year performance since it returned to service in 2017 following an underground accident three years earlier. The nation’s only deep geologic disposal site for defense-related transuranic waste has received 434 shipments between Jan. 1 and Nov. […]

HANFORD SITE, WASH. — Workers at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site filled its first canister with melted non-radioactive glass last week, the site’s leaders announced Monday. “It was not obvious to everyone except this team that we’d be here today,” said the Department of Energy’s Hanford Manager Brian Vance at a Monday ceremony at […]

Should the proposed merger announced last week between Amentum and Jacobs Solutions’s government contracting business become reality, most Department of Energy nuclear cleanup contracts will be held by teams where the lead partner has a publicly-traded corporate parent. That is based on a cursory review of contracts, valued at nearly $1 billion or more, which […]

The Department of Energy said this week early commissioning is underway for the much-anticipated Safety Significant Confinement Ventilation System, designed to triple underground airflow at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico. Testing commenced last month for some of the electrical cables that will supply power to the motors, fans and other equipment for […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration started its oral interviews with four joint ventures vying for a contract to operate the Pantex plant in Texas, a source said Monday. A second source familiar with the ongoing search for a Pantex maintenance and operations contractor for the U.S. nuclear weapons clearing house confirmed to Exchange Monitor that […]

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., received 36 shipments of defense-related transuranic waste during October, according to the agency’s public website for the facility. The figure is current as of Wednesday Nov. 15. There is typically about a two-week lag time between a shipment arriving at the Waste Isolation Pilot […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration started its oral interviews with four joint ventures vying for a contract to operate the Pantex plant in Texas, a source said Monday. A second source familiar with the ongoing search for a Pantex maintenance and operations contractor for the U.S. nuclear weapons clearing house confirmed to Exchange Monitor that […]

Bechtel National this week pushed back against a Department of Energy Office of Inspector General audit report that questioned the reliability of the contractor’s cost estimates for the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant at the Hanford Site in Washington state. “We believe that the report overlooks relevant factual data that is essential for consideration prior […]

Bechtel National Wednesday pushed back against a Department of Energy Office of Inspector General audit report that questioned the reliability of the contractor’s cost estimates for the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant at the Hanford Site in Washington state. “We believe that the report overlooks relevant factual data that is essential for consideration prior to […]

Three years after Bechtel and a fellow contractor at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state paid about $58 million to settle fraud claims, DOE’s Office of Inspector General still lacks confidence in Bechtel’s cost estimates, according to a new report. In an audit report out last week, DOE’s  Office of Inspector General […]

The long-planned new air-intake shaft at the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico has been excavated to its final depth of 2,275 feet, the agency said Tuesday. Completion of the 26-feet-wide shaft is a 2023 priority for DOE’s Office of Environmental Management at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) 26 miles […]

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., had another busy month by post-2014 standards, receiving 48 shipments, with the vast majority coming from Idaho National Laboratory. According to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP)’s public website, the underground salt mine received 43 shipments of defense-related transuranic waste from the Idaho lab, […]

A storage tank spoiled a batch of liquid radioactive waste at the Hanford Site that was thought to be clean enough for disposal, according to a contractor memo seen by the Exchange Monitor. The waste from Hanford’s tank farm, part of a less-radioactive tranche that is supposed to be solidified starting in 2025 by the […]

The New Mexico Environment Department this week approved 10 more years of operation for the nation’s only deep underground disposal site for defense-related transuranic waste. The order was issued Wednesday authorizing renewal of the state’s hazardous waste facility permit for the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). The document was signed by Michelle […]

In a follow-up to prior reports, the Government Accountability Office said again Friday that using concrete-like grout would be a cheaper way to solidify the less-radioactive tank waste at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state. The Savannah River Site in South Carolina has treated 4 million gallons of its radioactive salt waste […]

New Mexicans who took part in a hybrid public meeting Friday, largely expressed support for a new state permit for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant while urging the New Mexico Environment Department to be vigilant in monitoring Department of Energy compliance. Too often from 2011 through 2018, the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) managers under […]

The Department of Energy and Bechtel National should make several upgrades to the chemical safety program for the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant at the Hanford Site in Washington state, according to DOE’s enforcement wing. While Bechtel and subcontractor Waste Treatment Completion Co. have a “generally adequate” chemical safety program, until key improvements are made, […]

The Department of Energy and Bechtel National should make several upgrades to the chemical safety program for the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant at the Hanford Site in Washington state, according to DOE’s enforcement wing. While Bechtel and subcontractor Waste Treatment Completion Co. have a “generally adequate” chemical safety program, until key improvements are made, […]

Department of Energy contractor Bechtel National plans to open a new office in Knoxville, Tenn., next week for engineers and other staff, the company announced this month. The new Engineering Executive Center was set to open Oct. 2 in the Cedar Bluff neighborhood in Knoxville, Bechtel said in a press release. The company said it […]

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico has told transuranic waste generators that it won’t take shipments during February 2024, the head of DOE’s prime contractor said here Wednesday. The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) has traditionally held a multi-week maintenance outage during the winter and February tends to be hardest […]

A small fire ignited but did not last long last month at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state, according to a report from the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. The small blaze occurred at an area associated with heating up melter No. 1 at the Waste Treatment Immobilization Plant built by Bechtel, […]

Workers at the Hanford Site in Washington state last week practiced three early steps of solidifying liquid radioactive waste inside glass, a site contractor said Tuesday in a press release. Personnel poured glass beads called frit into a heated melter at the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant, liquifying the glass in a first-ever trial run […]

Workers at the Hanford Site in Washington state last week practiced thee early steps of solidifying liquid radioactive waste inside glass, a site contractor said Tuesday in a press release. Personnel poured glass beads called frit into a heated melter at the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant, liquifying the glass in a first-ever trial run […]

Bechtel National’s $14.9-billion contract to build the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state was updated last month to keep the company on the job into September 2024, which is still before before the plant is expected to start solidifying low-level radioactive waste. An Aug. 31 contract […]

Bechtel National’s $14.9-billion contract to build the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state was updated last month to keep the company on the job into September 2024, which is still before before the plant is expected to start solidifying low-level radioactive waste.  An Aug. 31 contract […]

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., received 56 shipments of transuranic waste in June, according to the federal agency’s public website for the site. There were 45 during June from the Idaho National Laboratory; four from the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, three from the Oak Ridge Site in […]

Whoever next manages the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas, could hold the job for 20 years under a contract worth up to $30 billion now that a final pair of five-year options periods have been approved by senior officials.  A final request for proposals (RFP) for a new management contract at […]

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., received 56 shipments of transuranic waste in June, according to the federal agency’s public website for the site. There were 45 during June from the Idaho National Laboratory; four from the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, three from the Oak Ridge Site in […]