BWX Technologies

The Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M., emplaced 40 shipments of transuranic waste during the first three months of 2020, according to data from its public website. That is down significantly from 59 shipments in the first three months of 2019. The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant completed a three-week maintenance outage […]

Not much sooner than Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette provided the guidance for doing so, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) added language to its prime contracts for major nuclear-weapon sites for billing the government for paid time off given to workers who couldn’t do their job because of COVID-19. The agency had not posted […]

BWX Technologies said Monday it has appointed Robb LeMasters as senior vice president and chief strategy officer. He is scheduled to start work on July 13. LeMasters, well under 50, was the managing director at hedge fund Blue Harbour Group, whose owner announced its closure in February. LeMasters since 2015 has served on BWXT’s Board of […]

BWX Technologies subsidiary Nuclear Fuel Services this week reported multiple cases of COVID-19 among its workforce. The Erwin, Tenn., defense-uranium contractor did not say how many employees were infected, or how many potentially exposed employees were in quarantine following contact with the sick workers. “Our coronavirus response protocols call for enhanced cleaning across the site, […]

The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency said on April 10 it has no plans for a public hearing on the Department of Energy’s waste acceptance criteria for the On-Site Disposal Facility being built at the Portsmouth Site. The document is available online, aency spokeswoman Heidi Griesmer noted by email: “There is no requirement for a public […]

The Energy Department has applied for renewal of the state permit to operate the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico. The New Mexico Environment Department issued the current Hazardous Waste Facility Permit to DOE and WIPP contractor Nuclear Waste Partnership in late November 2010. The state agency has said it has no timetable for […]

An employee at the Hanford Site in Washington state is being tested for COVID-19, the Department of Energy said in an overnight post. Cleaning procedures at the facility where the individual works, Building 6269, have been completed in keeping with standards from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Hanford management said in the notice. […]

The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency said Friday it has no plans for a public hearing on the Department of Energy’s waste acceptance criteria for the On-Site Disposal Facility being built at the Portsmouth Site. The document is available online, an agency spokeswoman noted by email. “There is no requirement for a public hearing,” Heidi Griesmer […]

The Energy Department plans to retain the Jacobs-led incumbent cleanup contractor at the West Valley Demonstration Project in New York state through June 2023. The DOE Office of Environmental Management announced the 39-month extension for CH2M Hill BWXT West Valley (CHBWV) in a Thursday press release. The vendor is working under a $571 million contractor […]

The current COVID-19 public health emergency, which has laid waste to scheduled events great and small, is delaying plans to sample for potential radiological contamination around a Pike County, Ohio, middle school near the Energy Department’s Portsmouth Site. Officials from the DOE Office of Environmental Management said during a March industry conference in Phoenix they […]

The Pike County, Ohio, Board of Commissioners says local residents should have a chance to review waste acceptance criteria for the On-Site Waste Disposal Facility being built at the Energy Department’s Portsmouth Site. The Energy Department and cleanup contractor Fluor-BWXT recently sent a draft of the Waste Acceptance Criteria Implementation Plan, which specifies the types […]

The Energy Department is temporarily ramping down operations at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M., because of the COVID-19 crisis, a spokesperson said by email Monday. The Energy Department told its Carlsbad Field Office and WIPP contractor Nuclear Waste Partnership (NWP) to start scaling back operations March 27. The disposal site is […]

A subcontractor for the legacy environmental remediation vendor at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico has tested positive for COVID-19. The subcontractor for Newport News Nuclear BWXT Los Alamos (N3B) is self-isolating at home and will not return to work until cleared by a medical provider, laboratory Director Thom Mason said in a […]

The Energy Department is temporarily ramping down operations at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M., because of the COVID-19 crisis, a spokesperson said by email Monday. By Wednesday, the transuranic disposal facility will be down to essential mission critical operations. This could include roof bolting and other work necessary “to ensure the […]

The Energy Department’s Portsmouth Site in Pike County, Ohio, has a confirmed case of COVID-19, contractor Fluor-BWXT said on its website Friday afternoon. The environmental remediation vendor said it is following guidelines on controlling spread of the virus from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Ohio Department of Health. It is […]

CH2M HILL BWXT West Valley in New York state is, like other nuclear remediation vendors for the Energy Department, decreasing its work to “mission-essential” tasks for the near future due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Daily on-site staffing at the West Valley Demonstration Project was decreased effective Monday, and many employees will “telework to the extent […]

Having already taken its financial lumps during the past year, Energy Department contractor Fluor announced a measure Wednesday meant to ensure its shareholders get a fair shake “in the event of any proposed takeover.” The limited-duration stockholder rights agreement will also shield against “abusive tactics to gain control of the Company without paying all Fluor […]

The Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., is taking a reduced number of waste shipments following a recently concluded maintenance outage that coincided with a national public health emergency. The underground disposal facility for defense-related transuranic waste is accepting “limited shipping to support critical operations within the DOE complex while observing COVID-19 […]

CH2M HILL BWXT West Valley in New York state is, like other nuclear remediation vendors for the Energy Department, decreasing its work to “mission-essential” tasks for the near future due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Daily on-site staffing at the West Valley Demonstration Project was decreased effective Monday, and many employees will “telework to the extent […]

The ongoing stock market dive triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic marks the latest bad news for Fluor, which still has not filed its annual report for 2019. Fluor shares were worth $5.93 at market close Monday, down from $13.78 one month earlier on Feb. 24 – prior to the New York Stock Exchange decline caused […]

On top of the $6.5 billion required to build the Uranium Processing Facility by 2026, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) will have to spend nearly $1 billion to modernize other facilities needed to support the next-generation weapon-uranium hub, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO). The spending figure comes from an integrated master schedule […]

PHOENIX — Demolition of the X-326 Process Building at the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio should begin this fall, managers said here Wednesday. Cleanup contractor Fluor-BWXT finished deactivating the facility, disconnecting the utilities and making the structure “cold and dark,” in 2019, DOE Portsmouth Site Lead Jeff Bettinger said at the Waste Management […]

PHOENIX – The Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) is no longer producing a public roundup of solicitation timelines for cleanup jobs within the nuclear weapons complex, a procurement official said here Tuesday. “We no longer have a procurement schedule on the website,” Norbert Doyle, EM deputy assistant secretary for acquisition and program management, […]

A heavy equipment accident last summer indicates the prime contractor for the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M., needs to strengthen its safety oversight of subcontractors, according to a March 4 enforcement letter from DOE’s Office of Enterprise Assessments (EA). In July 2019, a backhoe operated by an employee for subcontractor […]

PHOENIX — Demolition of the X-326 Process Building at the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio should begin this fall, managers said here Wednesday. Cleanup contractor Fluor-BWXT finished deactivating the facility, disconnecting the utilities and making the structure “cold and dark,” in 2019, DOE Portsmouth Site Lead Jeff Bettinger said at the Waste Management […]

Nuclear cleanup contractors, including those planning to participate in a major waste conference next week, are trying to conduct business as usual while simultaneously grappling with the risk posed by the global coronavirus outbreak. On Thursday afternoon, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced it would cancel its annual Regulatory Information Conference, scheduled for March 10-12 just […]

Roughly 90 representatives from some of the Energy Department’s major contractors registered for an industry day last week on the potential 15-year, $6.4 billion cleanup contract for the Idaho National Laboratory. The Energy Department issued the draft request for proposals for the award last month. It followed that up with a tour, informational program, and […]

Two key projects at the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico are nearing completion. Construction of the North Access Road should be finished by the end of the month, according to Donavan Mager, spokesman for WIPP management and operations contractor Nuclear Waste Partnership. The purpose of the $10 million, 3-mile bypass […]

Roughly 90 representatives from some of the Energy Department’s major contractors registered for an industry day last week on the potential 15-year, $6.4 billion cleanup contract for the Idaho National Laboratory. The Energy Department issued the draft request for proposals for the award last month. It followed that up with a tour, informational program, and […]

Two key projects at the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico are nearing completion. Construction of the North Access Road should be finished by the end of the month, according to Donavan Mager, spokesman for WIPP management and operations contractor Nuclear Waste Partnership. The purpose of the $10 million, 3-mile bypass […]