Hanford Site

The Department of Energy, the Washington state Department of Ecology and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency are expected to resume later this month what have been dubbed the “holistic” talks about future cleanup deadlines at the Hanford Site. “Vacation schedules have complicated meeting during July, but mediation sessions may potentially resume in August,” according to […]

Earnings rose at Leidos, Reston, Va., in the second quarter, which the government services contractor attributed to a healthy business portfolio. Operating income for the second quarter ended July 2 was $269 million with earnings per share of $1.18, up from $249 million or $1.06 per share in the year-ago quarter, according to the Tuesday […]

Earnings fell at Parsons, Centreville, Va., in the 2nd quarter, which the defense and infrastructure company attributed in part to its acquisition announced in June of BlackHorse Solutions, a company involved in cyber and artificial intelligence, for $203 million. Net income for the second quarter ended June 30 was $6.7 million or $0.7 per share […]

The Senate Appropriations Committee approved 25-to-five on Wednesday a fiscal year 2022 spending bill for the Department of Energy and other agencies with roughly $7.7-billion for Department of Energy nuclear weapons cleanup. The committee’s plan for DOE’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) office, which oversees cleanup of 16 Cold War and Manhattan Project nuclear sites, […]

During an unusually hot summer, some crews at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state are sweating through their protective clothing, according to federal safety reports. Hanford workers at the Liquid Effluent Retention Facility experienced some incidents of contamination during June and July after management modified requirements for personal protective equipment (PPE) as […]

If the recent past is a guide, CEOs at some of the nation’s largest publicly-traded Department of Energy contractors could use their upcoming public earnings calls with Wall Street analysts to discuss President Joe Biden’s toughened stance on vaccinations for federal employees and on-site contractors. Weapons complex contractors BWXT, Fluor, Huntington Ingalls, Jacobs, Leidos and […]

Testing done in recent weeks by the Department of Energy at the Hanford Site in Washington state has turned up no signs the foul odor encountered by workers around a tank farm was ammonia from tank vapors, an agency spokesperson said this week. Following last month’s incident three employees were checked out at a Richland, […]

Huntington Ingalls Industries this week officially made Kimberly Lebak the full-time president and general manager of the joint venture in charge of legacy cleanup at the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. Lebak has run the Huntington Ingalls-led Newport News Nuclear BWXT-Los Alamos (N3B) since May when she stepped in for […]

A roughly $1-trillion infrastructure bill negotiated by a bipartisan group of senators could provide Superfund sites with more than $3 billion for cleanup over the next five years. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act would increase federal investment in projects including roads, bridges and broadband —and quicken cleanup of environmental contamination through $3.5 billion […]

A roughly $1-trillion infrastructure bill negotiated by a bipartisan group of senators could provide Superfund sites with more than $3 billion for cleanup over the next five years. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act would increase federal investment in projects including roads, bridges and broadband —and quicken cleanup of environmental contamination through $3.5 billion […]

Testing done in recent weeks by the Department of Energy at the Hanford Site in Washington state has turned up no signs the foul odor encountered by workers around a tank farm was ammonia from tank vapors, an agency spokesperson said Tuesday. Following last month’s incident three employees were checked out at a Richland, Wash., […]

Like a spending bill passed earlier this month by the House Appropriation Committee, the National Defense Authorization Act that cleared Senate Armed Services last week,restores $5.7 million in community funds the Joe Biden White House left out of its fiscal 2022 budget request for the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina. That […]

The Department of Energy expects to continue modified schedules at the Hanford Site in Washington state throughout the summer as the area continues to struggle with oppressive heat, according to a recent Defense Facilities Safety Board report. The staff report dated July 2 and recently posted online on the safety board’s website details some of […]

John Howanitz will be promoted to president of Bechtel National’s nuclear, security and environmental global business effective Sept. 1, replacing the retiring Barbara Rusinko as the head of the Reston, Va.-based company’s nuclear business with the Department of Energy and other agencies worldwide.  The company announced the impending change Wednesday in a press release. Howanitz […]

The Senate Armed Services Committee has voted 23-3 to approve the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2022, the panel said in a Thursday press release about the legislation that authorizes more than $20 billion in spending for the National Nuclear Security Administration. The committee’s National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the policy bill that sets […]

Wednesday’s deadline for members of the House of Representatives to submit amendments to a six-bill spending package that includes the House Appropriations Committee’s 2022 spending proposal for the Department of Energy, appears to have passed without effortrs to dramatically alter the chamber’s nearly $7.8-billion budget for the Office of Environmental Management. A deadline scan of […]

The House Appropriations Committee proposed a marginal increase for the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management, to $7.8 billion from the $7.6 in 2021, as part of a 2022 spending bill sent to the House floor Friday. The full committee advanced the energy and water spending package on a 33-to-24 vote party line vote, […]

Senior officials from the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management, and the states of Oregon and Washington, were scheduled to discuss radioactive tank waste at the Hanford Site in Washington today during a virtual meeting of a National Academies panel. The Nuclear and Radiation Studies Board of the National Academies was slated to hear […]

It is set to be another sizzling hot week at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state with daytime high temperatures hitting the triple digits today through Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service forecast for the area. “Hot and dry conditions will continue into the midweek with breezy conditions elevating fire weather […]

An internal Department of Energy watchdog recently gave a generally positive appraisal of evolving plans to protect workers and the public from potential hazards at the main treatment plant for the Hanford Site’s most radioactive liquid waste. It was part of the Office of Enterprise Assessments’ recent review of the Preliminary Documented Safety Analysis for […]

Amentum-led Washington River Protection Solutions, the Department of Energy contractor in charge of the 177 underground tanks of radioactive waste at the Hanford Site in Washington state, is looking for firms to do corrosion testing on double-shell tanks. Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) published a notice Wednesday on a federal procurement website seeking “expressions of […]

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 […]

Fowler General Construction Inc. of Richland, Washington, received three Hanford contracts totaling almost $19 million from tank farms prime Washington River Protection Solutions. One $5.3 million contract is to construct a 17,600-square-foot office building at Hanford’s 222-S laboratory. The laboratory provides analytical support for the tank farms.  The other two contracts cover $13.5 million are […]

Fowler General Construction Inc. of Richland, Washington, received three Hanford contracts totaling almost $19 million from tank farms prime Washington River Protection Solutions. One $5.3 million contract is to construct a 17,600-square-foot office building at Hanford’s 222-S laboratory. The laboratory provides analytical support for the tank farms.  The other two contracts cover $13.5 million are […]

Amentum-led Washington River Protection Solutions, the Department of Energy contractor in charge of the 177 underground tanks of radioactive waste at the Hanford Site in Washington state, is looking for firms to do corrosion testing on double-shell tanks. Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) published a notice Wednesday on a federal procurement website seeking “expressions of […]

Daytime high temperatures around the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state should exceed 100 degrees only a couple of days this week, although a fire watch is in effect, according to a National Weather Service forecast. The forecast around Richland, Wash., no longer includes the excessive heat advisory, as daytime highs will not […]

After holding up the project two years, the Department of Energy will start developing an environmental assessment in July for a 2,000-gallon test of the Test Bed Initiative that involves grouting and out-of-state disposal of low-activity tank waste from the Hanford Site in Washington state. DOE’s site manager for Hanford, Brian Vance, told the Washington […]

Fire danger at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state continued to be “extreme” Friday morning as the region suffered through a heatwave, according to an advisory from the landlord contractor at the cleanup property. With daytime highs in triple digits into next week, Hanford is utilizing maximum telework of about 40%, according […]

Fire danger at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state has escalated from “very high” earlier this week to “extreme” on Wednesday as the region continues to suffer through a heatwave and the threat of power disruptions, according to an advisory from the landlord contractor at the cleanup property. With daytime highs in […]

After holding up the project two years, the Department of Energy will start developing an environmental assessment in July for a 2,000-gallon test of the Test Bed Initiative that involves grouting and out-of-state disposal of low-activity tank waste from the Hanford Site in Washington state. DOE’s site manager for Hanford, Brian Vance, told the Washington […]