BWX Technologies

Developing two new deep-mine panels for disposal of transuranic waste at the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., should not entail new environmental risks, according to a document posted last week on the procurement website for a new prime contract. Excavation and use of two replacement panels, dubbed Panels 11 and […]

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., received 26 shipments of transuranic waste during June, according to its public website. Eight were received from the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee but the rest traveled from the Idaho National Laboratory. During the first half of 2021 the underground disposal site had at […]

The Department of Energy in amendments made this week to its ongoing solicitation for a new multibillion-dollar prime contract at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico is increasing the performance fee cap to 7% from 5%. The amendments came out after some prospective bidders for the potential $3-billion, 10-year prime contract for the […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration planned to host discussions soon with teams that bid on the potentially 10-year, $30 billion combined management and operations contract for the Pantex Plant and the Y-12 National Security Complex, sources said this week. It was unclear at deadline whether the agency planned to invite bidders for traditional oral presentations […]

Nuclear Waste Partnership, the contractor that runs the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, this week asked a federal court in New Mexico to dismiss a $500,000 lawsuit filed by an African American security employee who claims he was bypassed for a promotion due to his race. While the Amentum-BWX Technologies partnership acknowledges plaintiff […]

Nuclear Waste Partnership, the contractor that runs the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, this week asked a federal court in New Mexico to dismiss a $500,000 lawsuit filed by an African American security employee who claims he was bypassed for a promotion due to his race. While the Amentum-BWX Technologies partnership acknowledges plaintiff […]

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico is dealing with a software error that forced some transuranic waste to be sent back to the Idaho National Laboratory in late May because of duplicate shipment data. Generation of duplicate package numbers “was an extremely rare occurrence that will be addressed by an […]

The House Appropriations Committee’s spending bill would provide the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio with more funds than the White House sought for community and regulatory support, including setting up a liaison to localities around the former gaseous diffusion plant, Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) said Monday. The fiscal 2022 appropriations package for Energy […]

Some prospective bidders for the Department of Energy’s potentially $3-billion, 10-year prime contract for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico are worried about the financial penalties the agreement prescribes for failing to finish a new ventilation system and other infrastructure projects, according to questions and answers published last week. The next Waste Isolation […]

The environmental regulator in New Mexico should decide by this fall whether to allow the Department of Energy and its contractor to resume digging a new underground shaft at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant this fall, a state official told the New Mexico Legislature’s Radioactive & Hazardous Materials Committee this week.  The final decision by […]

The Department of Energy now expects to restart an underground fan at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico by early fall as a means to bolster airflow until a new permanent ventilation system is operational in a few years.  Restarting the 700-C underground fan should add about 90,000 cubic feet per minute, bringing […]

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico has received more than 1,000 shipments of defense-related transuranic waste since the deep underground repository reopened in 2017 after the underground radiation leak of February 2014. More than three weeks ago, the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) received its 1,000th shipment since April 2017, […]

A federal magistrate judge set an Aug. 4 discovery hearing in a lawsuit about alleged radioactive contamination by current and former contractors at the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio. The U.S. District Court for Southern Ohio’s Thursday action will help determine what documentation Ursula McGlone and other plaintiffs living within seven miles of […]

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico has received more than 1,000 shipments of defense-related transuranic waste since the deep underground repository reopened in 2017 after the underground radiation leak of February 2014. More than three weeks ago, the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) received its 1,000th shipment since April 2017, […]

In documents released this week, the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management expressed reluctance to resume the pre-pandemic practice of in-person meetings on contract procurements, such as the ongoing prime contract solicitation at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. Ten pages of questions and answers on the potential 10-year, $3-billion contract for management and operation […]

Bidders for the new prime contract at the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., are getting two more weeks, until Aug. 3, to submit their proposals. In a notice published on a procurement website Tuesday the DOE Office of Environmental Management said it plans to extend the submission deadline for the […]

A federal lawsuit brought against current and former Department of Energy contractors at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio is timely because it was filed soon after the public learned of radioactive contamination at a public school outside the fence, plaintiffs said in a filing last week. Ursula McGlone and fellow plaintiffs argue in a June […]

Bid protests of large federal contracts are a fact of life, a top acquisition manager at the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management said during an online forum Thursday. This is evidenced by the fact that two contract awards have been challenged in a little more than a week with the Government Accountability Office […]

Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) held a town hall-style meeting Saturday in Piketon, Ohio, to discuss local concerns over open-air demolition of the X-326 Process Building at the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site and radioactive contamination discovered around a local school. Ryan and Zack Space, former congressman for Ohio’s 18th district, were scheduled to participate in […]

Transuranic waste generators were for years estimating the weight of their payloads instead of weighing them out, so the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico has temporarily stopped taking shipments with dunnage — material used to fill out shipping containers, according to a federal report. The practice is widespread across DOE, according to the […]

A federal lawsuit brought against current and former Department of Energy contractors at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio is timely because it was filed soon after the public learned of radioactive contamination at a public school outside the fence, plaintiffs said in a filing last week. Ursula McGlone and fellow plaintiffs argue in a June […]

A Bechtel-led group, one of four losing bidders for DOE’s Idaho Cleanup Project contract, last week filed a bid protest over the potentially 10-year, $6.4-billion nuclear-weapons cleanup pact. At deadline Monday, the details of Idaho Remediation LLC’s protest with the Government Accountability Office (GAO) over last month’s award to Idaho Environmental Coalition — made up […]

The Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, like much of the Southwest, is suffering through an “exceptional drought,” a program manager for the legacy cleanup contractor said during an online meeting Wednesday. The U.S. Drought Monitor, a service run by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and other federal entities, places 60% […]

The Department of Energy expects the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant could receive up to 14 shipments of transuranic material a week in fiscal year 2022, which starts Oct. 1. The DOE Office of Environmental Management rate of shipments to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) should go from 10 per week to 14 per week […]

The Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, like much of the Southwest, is suffering through an “exceptional drought,” a program manager for the legacy cleanup contractor said during an online meeting Wednesday. The U.S. Drought Monitor, a service run by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and other federal entities, places 60% […]

The Amentum-BWX Technologies joint venture that runs the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico will be kept on at least until early 2022 as the agency moves ahead with its solicitation for a new prime, according to a nugget tucked inside the White House budget justification for the Office of Environmental […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management is planning one of its occasional business opportunities forums via Zoom in a little more than two weeks. The session is set to commence at 3 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on June 24 and should wrap up in less than 90 minutes, according to a notice posted […]

A week after the Department of Energy awarded a Jacobs-led joint venture remediation business potentially worth $6.4-billion over 10 years, no contract challenges had been announced on the Government Accountability Office website. The Tennessee-based winner, the Idaho Environmental Coalition, comprises Jacobs and North Wind Portage along with three teaming subcontractors: Navarro Research and Engineering, Oak […]

A lawsuit by a fired ventilation project subcontractor against the Department of Energy’s prime for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant has been settled, according to papers filed in a federal district court in New Mexico. The litigation brought by Christensen Building Group and its Critical Applications Alliance venture against Nuclear Waste Partnership was dismissed by […]

The Department of Energy this week rolled out the request for proposals for its much-anticipated long-term management and operations contract for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., which between legacy cleanup obligations and national security work figures to be more in demand than ever over the next decade.  The final request for proposals […]