Hanford Site

The Department of Energy’s “fast-track, design-build approach” at the multibillion-dollar Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant at the Hanford Site in Washington state resulted in cost increases and schedule delays, according to an Office of Inspector General probe of whistleblower allegations. The report by DOE Inspector General Teri Donaldson was drafted back in August 2020 but […]

It is time for states with Department of Energy nuclear sites and the agency’s cleanup office to consider social media’s role in distributing information, and disinformation, during emergencies, according to a report from the National Governors Association. “With the proliferation of smartphones and social media, it is critical that intergovernmental partners and the public have […]

Feds and Washington state representatives are discussing plans for a research permit for grouting 2,000 gallons of radioactive tank waste from the Department of Energy Hanford’s Site, a state spokesman said Wednesday. The ongoing mediation over Hanford cleanup, dubbed “holistic talks” by the parties, should not delay a draft research, development, and demonstration permit application […]

A team led by BWX Technologies, Lynchburg, Va., won a potentially 10-year, $45-billion liquid-waste cleanup contract at the Hanford Site in Washington state, the Department of Energy said Thursday. The winning team, Hanford Tank Waste Operations & Closure, consists of BWXT, Amentum and Fluor.  The Integrated Tank Disposition Contract awarded by DOE’s Office of Environmental […]

It is time for states with Department of Energy nuclear sites and the agency’s cleanup office to consider social media’s role in distributing information, and disinformation, during emergencies, according to a report from the National Governors Association. “With the proliferation of smartphones and social media, it is critical that intergovernmental partners and the public have […]

The Department of Energy’s “fast-track, design-build approach” at the multibillion-dollar Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant at the Hanford Site in Washington state resulted in cost increases and schedule delays, according to an Office of Inspector General probe of whistleblower allegations. The report by DOE Inspector General Teri Donaldson was drafted back in August 2020 but […]

HPM Corp., the Kennewick, Wash.,-based company with a $152-million Department of Energy contract to provide employee medical services at the Hanford Site in Washington state is being sold to California-based WorkCare, the parties confirmed Wednesday. The Tri-City Herald newspaper reported Tuesday HPM Corp., longtime holder of the Hanford Occupational Medical Contract, is being sold to […]

Bechtel National chose an executive who led construction of two new nuclear power reactors in Georgia to temporarily run the Waste Immobilization and Treatment Plant project at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state, the company said late Thursday. Effective immediately John Atwell is the acting project director for the Waste Immobilization and […]

HPM Corp., the Kennewick, Wash.,-based company with a $152-million Department of Energy contract to provide employee medical services at the Hanford Site in Washington state is being sold to California-based WorkCare, the parties confirmed Wednesday. The Tri-City Herald newspaper reported Tuesday HPM Corp., longtime holder of the Hanford Occupational Medical Contract, is being sold to […]

Valerie McCain, the Bechtel project manager in charge of building the Department of Energy’s multibillion-dollar waste vitrification plant at the Hanford Site in Washington state, died unexpectedly, the company announced this week. “It is with great sadness that we share the news that Valerie McCain, project director of the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant and […]

Perma-Fix, Atlanta, closed out a tough 2022 with bigger losses and less revenue than a year ago, but the ill-effects of COVID-19 on the company’s business tapered off last year, the chief executive officer said last week. “While 2022 was a challenging year due to the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, which delayed projects […]

Valerie McCain, the Bechtel project manager in charge of building the Department of Energy’s multibillion-dollar waste vitrification plant at the Hanford Site in Washington state, died unexpectedly, the company announced. “It is with great sadness that we share the news that Valerie McCain, project director of the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant and a Bechtel […]

The Department of Energy considers 2,000 gallons of tank waste earmarked for the test-bed initiative at the Hanford Site in Washington state to be low-level radioactive waste and not high-level waste, the agency wrote in a Federal Register notice published this week. The notice, officially the final Waste Incidental to Reprocessing Determination, which is now […]

New Mexico’s public misgivings about nuclear waste is worrisome in Washington state where the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site is expected to become a big shipper to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in a few years and finish around 2050, a Hanford community representative said this week. “There is one item that is hitting our […]

WASHINGTON, D.C. — After a congressional hearing Thursday, Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm said the Department of Energy thinks the startup of the waste vitrification plant at the Hanford Site in Washington will not slip too much further into the future. “I think we have a handle on it,” Granholm told the Monitor about big […]

The 1,200 or so employees at the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management will almost-certainly be retired by the time the Hanford Site in Washington state is fully cleaned up, based upon the budget request issued last week by the White House. The acting boss for Environment Management, said last fall the nuclear cleanup […]

The Department of Energy is giving interested bidders two extra weeks to submit proposals for the new Occupational Medical Contract at the Hanford Site in Washington state, according to a procurement notice published Monday. Response to the partial request for proposals that came out last month are now due April 24 rather than the earlier […]

The Department of Energy has a nickname: “the Department of Everything,” the acting DOE nuclear cleanup boss told weapons complex citizen advisory board chairs Tuesday.   The DOE Office of Environmental Management senior adviser William (Ike) White retold the joke during a Washington, D.C., meeting. The description applies to an agency involved in issues ranging from […]

New Mexico’s public misgivings about nuclear waste is worrisome in Washington state where the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site is expected to become a big shipper to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in a few years and finish around 2050, a Hanford community representative said Tuesday. “There is one item that is hitting our screen […]

Bechtel National earned more than $6.5 million, or 83% of its total potential fee, for Department of Energy work in 2022 on the long-anticipated Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant at the Hanford Site in Washington state. Overall, the company earned $6.53 million out of a potential $7.87 million in fee for the calendar year ended […]

The Department of Energy considers 2,000 gallons of tank waste earmarked for the test-bed initiative at the Hanford Site in Washington state to be low-level radioactive waste and not high-level waste, the agency wrote in a Federal Register notice published Monday morning. The notice, officially the final Waste Incidental to Reprocessing Determination, which is now […]

The 1,200 or so employees at the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management will almost-certainly be retired by the time the Hanford Site in Washington state is fully cleaned up, based upon the budget request issued last week by the White House. The acting boss for Environment Management, said last fall the nuclear cleanup […]

A contractor for the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state has, after an extended outage, restarted a cesium pretreatment pilot project critical to waste solidification at the site, the DOE said this week. Tank operations manager Washington River Protection Solutions has resumed operation of the Tank-Side Cesium Removal System (TSCR) at Hanford, DOE […]

The 2024 budget for the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state would grow to an unprecedented $3 billion or so from $2.7 billion this year, if President Joe Biden’s fiscal 2024 budget request became law. Overall, however, the administration’s budget request would keep funding at the DOE Office of Environmental Management about flat […]

The Department of Energy is “on track” to start solidifying liquid radioactive waste at the Hanford Site in Washington state “no later than 2025,” the agency said in its latest budget request this week.  That timeline, less optimistic than the December 2023 goal the DOE’s Office of Environmental Management was targeting until a few months […]

The Department of Energy is “on track” to start solidifying liquid radioactive waste at the Hanford Site in Washington state “no later than 2025,” the agency said in its latest budget request this week.  That timeline, less optimistic than the December 2023 goal the DOE’s Office of Environmental Management was targeting until a few months […]

A contractor for the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state has, after an extended outage, restarted a cesium pretreatment pilot project critical to waste solidification at the site, the DOE said via Twitter Monday. Tank operations manager Washington River Protection Solutions has resumed operation of the Tank-Side Cesium Removal System (TSCR) at Hanford, […]

Details appended to President Joe Biden’s fiscal 2024 budget request show the budget for the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state would grow to about $3 billion, up from $2.7 billion from the current fiscal year. “The fiscal year 2024 record Hanford budget request by President Biden of more than $3 billion is […]

A legal challenge to COVID-19 vaccination policy at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state will be heard in early May by a panel of judges for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, according to a notice posted online last week. Oral arguments in David Donovan versus Brian Vance are […]

President Joe Biden’s (D) administration announced Thursday it wants $8.3 billion for cleanup of Cold War and Manhattan Project nuclear properties for fiscal 2024, which would be flat with the final Congressional appropriation for the current spending year ending Sept. 30. A 182-page overview of the fiscal 2024 budget recommendation was released at mid-day by […]