Hanford Site

The Department of Energy Tuesday awarded a joint venture led by Oak Ridge, Tenn.-based Navarro Research and Engineering a $389-million contract to run the 222-S Laboratory at the Hanford Site in Washington state. Hanford Laboratory Management and Integration is a team of Navarro and Advanced Technologies and Laboratories International, a wholly owned subsidiary of Planned […]

Federal agencies were still open for business Thursday morning, after President Trump signed a stopgap budget bill that freezes most federal budgets at 2020 levels through Dec. 11. With appropriations set to lapse at midnight, the Senate on Wednesday cast votes to pass the measure with less than a working day left before the literal […]

There are 74 active cases of COVID-19 currently within the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management’s nuclear cleanup sites, an agency spokesperson said late Thursday. That is slightly up from the 70 active cases the prior week across the 16 former Cold War and Manhattan Project sites overseen by the office, but still less […]

With Tuesday’s award from the Department of Energy, four major new contractors have been announced for the Hanford Site in Washington state since last December. Two of the four joint ventures have already received a green light to start transition from DOE’s Office of Environmental Management, one contract award appears in doubt, and the latest […]

The Department of Energy Tuesday awarded a joint venture led by Oak Ridge, Tenn.-based Navarro Research and Engineering a $389-million contract to run the 222-S Laboratory at the Hanford Site in Washington state. Hanford Laboratory Management and Integration is a team of Navarro, and Advanced Technologies and Laboratories International, wholly owned subsidiary of Planned Systems […]

The head of the nuclear waste cleanup program at the Washington state Department of Ecology is leaving the position at the end of October to take another job with the state. Ecology cleanup director Alex Smith is moving to a position with the Washington Department of Natural Resources as the deputy supervisor for aquatics, she […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Inspector General says two major contractors at the Hanford Site in Washington State don’t always maintain respirators in accordance with government requirements. The report said more attention to respiratory equipment is needed by Jacobs subsidiary, CH2M HILL Plateau Remediation Co., and Amentum-led Washington River Protection Solutions. CH2M is responsible […]

More than half of the Department of Energy’s 11,000-member workforce at the Hanford Site are back inside the fence, a Department of Energy official said Wednesday. Hanford is bringing 190 additional workers back onsite this week, DOE’s Erik Olds, told the Hanford Advisory Board during an online meeting. That brings the current number of federal […]

Two Department of Energy contractors, Bechtel and what is now Amentum, will pay $57.75-million to resolve claims that a joint venture overbilled the government for work at the Hanford Site in Washington, the Department of Justice said late Tuesday. Bechtel and Amentum, the former AECOM Energy & Construction, admit no wrongdoing by their subsidiary Waste […]

The Department of Energy is extending its contract with the current tank manager at the Hanford Site in Washington state, Washington River Protection Solutions, through Sept. 30, 2021. The one-year extension was announced in a Thursday press release by the DOE Office of Environmental Management. The Amentum-Atkins partnership’s current $7.8-billion agreement that began in October […]

The Department of Energy wants to delay some tank-related nuclear weapons cleanup work at the Hanford Site because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, attendees said this week during an online meeting of the Hanford Advisory Board. Dealing with the novel coronavirus delayed some projects at the former plutonium production site, the Department of Justice said […]

More than half of the Department of Energy’s 11,000-member workforce at the Hanford Site are back inside the fence, a Department of Energy official said Wednesday. Hanford is bringing 190 additional workers back onsite this week, Erik Olds, DOE’s deputy integration manager for direct-feed low-activity waste, told the Hanford Advisory Board during an online meeting. […]

The Department of Energy wants to delay some tank-related nuclear weapons cleanup work at the Hanford Site because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, attendees said this week during an online meeting of the Hanford Advisory Board. Dealing with the novel coronavirus delayed some projects at the former plutonium production site, the Department of Justice said […]

The head of the nuclear waste cleanup program at the Washington state Department of Ecology is leaving the position at the end of October to take another job with the state. Ecology cleanup director Alex Smith is moving to a position with the Washington Department of Natural Resources as the deputy supervisor for aquatics, she […]

Two Department of Energy contractors, Bechtel and Amentum predecessor AECOM, will pay $57.75-million to resolve claims that a joint venture overbilled the government for work at the Hanford Site in Washington, the Department of Justice said late Tuesday. Bechtel and Amentum, the former AECOM Energy & Construction, admit no wrongdoing by their subsidiary Waste Treatment […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Inspector General says two major contractors at the Hanford Site in Washington State don’t always maintain respirators in accordance with government requirements. The report said more attention to respiratory equipment is needed by Jacobs subsidiary, CH2M HILL Plateau Remediation Co., and Amentum-led Washington River Protection Solutions. CH2M is responsible […]

The Oregon Department of Energy has promoted Maxwell Woods to the post of administrator for nuclear safety and emergency preparedness division, succeeding Ken Niles who recently retired. Woods has been with the Oregon DOE for six years, most recently serving as the senior policy advisor and team leader in the Energy Facility Siting Division. He […]

As if figuring out how to safely resume operations during a pandemic isn’t tough enough, the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state instructed many workers to stay home this week because of smoky air. Smoke from regional fires prompted management at the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state to tell some workers to […]

There are currently 83 active cases of coronavirus infections within the nuclear cleanup complex overseen by the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management, an agency source said Thursday. That is one up from the 82 active cases of COVID-19 the prior week. The DOE nuclear cleanup office does not release the number of total cases […]

Starting Oct. 5, a new Amentum-led team will begin a 60-day transition to take over as prime contractor for the mostly solid-waste cleanup of the Hanford Site’s central plateau, the Department of Energy said Tuesday. Central Plateau Cleanup Co., comprising Amentum, Fluor, and Atkins, won the potentially 10-year, $10 billion contract in December. A competing […]

While the coronavirus has delayed some Energy Department nuclear remediation by a few months, completion of key projects is imminent, agency officials said during an online conference Wednesday. “The last time I saw most of you in person was probably in Phoenix” during March for the Waste Management Symposia, DOE Senior Adviser for Environmental Management […]

Starting Oct. 5, a new Amentum-led team will begin a 60-day transition to take over as prime contractor for the mostly solid-waste cleanup of the Hanford Site’s central plateau, the Department of Energy said Tuesday. Central Plateau Cleanup Co., comprised of Amentum, Fluor, and Atkins, won the potentially 10-year, $10 billion contract in December. A […]

As if figuring out how to safely resume operations during a pandemic isn’t tough enough, the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state continues to tell many workers to stay home because of smoky air. Poor air quality from fires across Oregon and Washington prompted Hanford management to keep many non-essential employees home again today. […]

The Oregon Department of Energy has promoted Maxwell Woods to the post of administrator for nuclear safety and emergency preparedness division, succeeding Ken Niles who recently retired. Woods has been with the Oregon DOE for six years, most recently serving as the senior policy advisor and team leader in the Energy Facility Siting Division. He […]

Smoke from regional fires prompted management at the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state to tell some workers to stay home. In an overnight notice published on the Hanford DOE website, management said swing and graveyard shifts for Sunday, along with the daytime for Monday morning, were cancelled for nonessential workers north and south […]

The COVID-19 pandemic helped sell the top brass at the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management on the value of telecommuting, the No. 2 official there said Wednesday. When the DOE office was forced to roll back on-site work at nuclear remediation operations starting in mid-March, “a lot of people had their doubts” on the […]

There are 88 active cases of novel coronavirus 2019 infection within the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management complex, an agency official said via email Thursday. That is down significantly from the 149 active COVID-19 cases reported one week earlier, although multiple infections were reported this week at facilities in New Mexico, South, Carolina, and […]

The prime contractor for the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico has now confirmed a total of 23 COVID-19 cases among its employees, bringing the site-wide count to 28 to date during the pandemic. In a memo sent to employees Monday, President and Project Manager Sean Dunagan said Nuclear Waste Partnership […]

The Department of Energy is scheduled on Sept. 30 to end an emergency program to reimburse contractors for paid leave provided certain employees who cannot work on-site during the COVID-19 pandemic. A provision included in the $2.2 trillion CARES Act signed into law in March provided for reimbursement to key government contractors, such as those […]

Weapons Complex Monitor took its annual summer recess in mid-August, but we kept track of the nuke news during the publishing holiday and have compiled it here for you. Ninth Court Upholds State Law on Hanford Worker Compensation A Washington state law that makes it easier for workers at the Energy Department’s Hanford Site to […]