Hanford Site

There are now three confirmed cases of COVID-19 at the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state, the latest involving an employee of cleanup contractor CH2M HILL Plateau Remediation, according to an online bulletin. The individual, whose last day at work was April 14, recently received a positive diagnosis for novel coronavirus 2019, CH2M HILL […]

The Government Accountability Office has recently rejected protests against two multibillion-dollar contracts at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state – and that’s not unusual. During fiscal 2019, the government watchdog sustained only 13% of the 2,071 bid protests resolved during the 12-month period, according to a November GAO report to Congress. In […]

The COVID-19 health crisis is so far having only marginal impact on BWX Technologies, President and CEO Rex Geveden said Tuesday. That is largely thanks to the Lynchburg, Va.-based nuclear company’s “essential” role in energy, military, and medical sectors, Geveden said during the quarterly earnings call with Wall Street analysts. As an example, Geveden noted […]

While a team led by Huntington Ingalls Industries offered a slightly lower price to provide support services at the Hanford Site in Washington state, the Energy Department awarded the contract to a Leidos-led venture because it submitted a better overall package, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO). Congress’ auditing agency on Tuesday posted a […]

A partial stop work order from the Energy Department at the Waste Treatment Plant being built at the Hanford Site in Washington state is scheduled to stay in effect through May 23, a manager for construction contractor Bechtel said last week. The order for the plant that will convert Hanford tank waste into a stable […]

Two major engineering and infrastructure companies, one a central player in the Energy Department nuclear cleanup business and another having just exited it, report earnings this week for the first three months of 2020. AECOM, the former parent company of Energy Department contractor Amentum, has scheduled its earnings conference for noon Eastern time Tuesday. Jacobs […]

Mission Support Alliance is shopping around for a subcontractor to build a new water treatment facility at the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state. The Hanford support services contractor said in an April 25 procurement notice it is accepting expressions of interest from vendors to build a new 10,000-square-foot microfiltration membrane water treatment plant. […]

While it has made progress, the Department of Energy still needs to more fully address priority recommendations to improve performance in its nuclear security and cleanup missions, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said Wednesday. In an annual update, the congressional auditor said it has 20 priority recommendations across the Energy Department, including eight recommendations new […]

Vice presidents at Department of Energy contractor Bechtel are taking pay cuts of up to 25% over 90 days during the COVID-19 crisis The one-quarter reduction applies to senior vice presidents, while principal vice presidents at the Reston, Va.-based company are receiving a 10% reduction, management told employees on April 6. The measure is a […]

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) on Thursday denied a protest of the Energy Department’s award of a multibillion-dollar contract for remediation of the Central Plateau at the Hanford Site in Washington state to a group led by Amentum. The Project W Restoration partnership, comprised of Bechtel National, Tetra Tech, and EnergySolutions, filed a protest Jan. […]

The Energy Department’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina on Thursday confirmed two more cases of COVID-19, bringing its total to 13 of the 20 known instances of infection among personnel working at sites overseen by the agency’s Office of Environmental Management. A spokesperson for the DOE office at Savannah River declined to provide any […]

The COVID-19 pandemic has temporarily halted most physical work on major waste projects scheduled to come online this year at the Energy Department’s Idaho National Laboratory and Savannah River Savannah River Site in South Carolina. Reductions in on-site staffing triggered by DOE efforts to slow the spread of the coronavirus have suspended virtually all physical […]

Vice presidents at Department of Energy contractor Bechtel are taking pay cuts of up to 25% over 90 days during the COVID-19 crisis The one-quarter reduction applies to senior vice presidents, while principal vice presidents at the Reston, Va.-based company are receiving a 10% reduction, management told employees on April 6. The measure is a […]

The Energy Department Office of Environmental Management intends to issue a sole-source business deal to a firm to provide employee training on end-state contracting. In a Monday procurement notice, the agency announced plans to hire Management Concepts Inc. (MCI) to provide the training as the nuclear cleanup office continues to overhaul its management of environmental […]

Mission Support Alliance is shopping around for a subcontractor to build a new water treatment facility at the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state. The Hanford support services contractor said in an April 25 procurement notice it is accepting expressions of interest from vendors to build a new 10,000-square-foot microfiltration membrane water treatment plant. […]

The Government Accountability Office this week rejected a protest against the new long-term Energy Department contract for support services at the Hanford Site in Washington state. The potential 10-year, $4 billion contract was awarded in December to Hanford Mission Integration Solutions, comprised of Leidos, Centerra, and Parsons. A Huntington Ingalls Industries-led team that also bid […]

Limited operations will remain in place for at least another week at the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Manager Brian Vance announced Wednesday. The announcement came four days after the second confirmed case of viral infection at the nuclear cleanup site, an employee of support services provider […]

An employee of the Energy Department’s support services contractor at the Hanford Site in Washington has the second confirmed case of COVID-19 at the former plutonium production complex. In a weekend memo to employees of Mission Support Alliance, President Bob Wilkinson and Chief Operating Officer Amy Basche said they recently learned “a member of the […]

The Government Accountability Office on Thursday rejected a protest against the new long-term Energy Department contract for support services at the Hanford Site in Washington state. The potential 10-year, $4 billion contract was awarded in December to Hanford Mission Integration Solutions, comprised of Leidos, Centerra, and Parsons. A Huntington Ingalls Industries-led team that also bid […]

The Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management confirmed Tuesday that contracts for nuclear cleanup sites are being modified to include paid leave for certain workers who cannot telecommute during the COVID-19 pandemic. Environmental Management “is in the process of modifying applicable prime contracts to incorporate a contract clause to implement Section 3610 of the CARES […]

The primary cleanup vendor for the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state has lined up a subcontractor to stabilize three underground structures with grout, according to a Tuesday press release. Jacobs subsidiary CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation is issuing a $3.9 million subcontract to engineering firm White Shield, of Pasco, Wash., to design and apply […]

The Department of Energy has begun market research for a contractor to convert low-activity radioactive waste into glass at the Waste Treatment Plant being built at the Hanford Site in Washington state, The DOE Office of Environmental Management on Thursday published a request for Information (RFI)/sources sought notice for a vendor to run Direct-Feed Low-Activity […]

The Energy Department’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina might have to revisit the schedule for operation of the Salt Waste Processing Facility due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a spokesperson said Thursday. Eight cases of infection by the novel coronavirus 2019 have been confirmed at Savannah River. That is more than half of the 14 […]

Companies in the radioactive waste processing and disposal industry acknowledged this week they are feeling the pinch from the COVID-19 pandemic, but emphasized that they remain fully open for business. At least one industry mainstay confirmed that it has sought federal assistance via the $2.2 trillion CARES Act signed into law on March 27 to […]

With the Energy Department temporarily doing only minimal physical work at the Hanford Site in Washington state due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it is apt to further delay award of a potential 10-year, $15 billion contract for tank waste management at the facility, a source said Wednesday. Many in industry expected the contract for managing […]

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 Government Accountability Office (GAO) is expected by May 1 to rule on formal protests of two multibillion-dollar Energy Department contracts for the Hanford Site in Washington state, a source said Tuesday. To date, the COVID-19 pandemic has not forced schedule slippage in adjudication of protests to federal contract awards, and the GAO anticipates deciding […]

The primary cleanup vendor for the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state has lined up a subcontractor to stabilize three underground structures with grout, according to a Tuesday press release. Jacobs subsidiary CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation is issuing a $3.9 million subcontract to engineering firm White Shield, of Pasco, Wash., to design and apply […]

Long-anticipated talks between the Energy Department and Washington state on remediation milestones at the Hanford Site could go forward remotely. “We are moving forward on holistic negotiations, but when they might start depends on the availability of the [federal] mediator, and how successful we are at kicking off the negotiations through remote communications,” Randy Bradbury, […]

Federal and industry sources said this week they don’t foresee major environmental or public safety concerns emerging if the current level of reduced staffing at Energy Department nuclear cleanup sites due to COVID-19 lingers for months. Nearly all of the 16 remediation sites overseen by DOE’s Office of Environmental Management have temporarily reduced their workforce […]