Hanford Site

Federal and contractor employees for the Hanford Site in Washington state should be particularly vigilant about cyber threats while they work from home during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Energy Department said this week. An Energy Department spokesperson said last week that 60% of Hanford’s 11,000-person workforce was telecommuting following the March 31 transition to essential […]

A viable program for treating supplemental low-activity waste at the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state can be developed for any one of three major technologies – vitrification, grouting, and steam reforming, according to an April 1 report from a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine panel. But grouting and steam reforming would […]

Federal and contractor employees for the Hanford Site in Washington state should be particularly vigilant about cyber threats while they work from home during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Energy Department said this week. An Energy Department spokesperson said last week that 60% of Hanford’s 11,000-person workforce was telecommuting following the March 31 transition to essential […]

The Waste Treatment Plant at the Hanford Site in Washington state is under court order to demonstrate it can convert low-activity tank waste into glass by the end of 2023, and effectively do the same thing for high-level waste by the end of 2033. An article in the Wednesday Weapons Complex Morning Briefing misstated the […]

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, […]

A viable program for treating supplemental low-activity waste at the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state can be developed for any one of three major technologies – vitrification, grouting, and steam reforming, according to an April 1 report from a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine panel. But grouting and steam reforming would […]

Constellis, owner of Energy Department contractor Centerra Group, said Monday its lenders have approved an overhaul of the company’s debt package that should strengthen its balance sheet. The debt for equity exchanges received consent from 100% of term loan and revolving lenders, according to a Constellis press release. As a result, Constellis is cutting its […]

The Energy Department has said it is not currently looking into the findings of a recent report in the Seattle Times that leaky respirators used by cleanup workers at the Hanford Site in Washington state might have contributed to serious health problems. A DOE spokesperson said by email last week that the alleged respirator problems […]

CH2M Plateau Remediation, the outgoing cleanup contractor for the Central Plateau of the Hanford Site in Washington state, earned $7.8 million of a potential $9.9 million in fees for fiscal 2019, according to a recently released scorecard from the Department of Energy. The fee award of almost 79% for the 12-month period ending Sept. 30, […]

Constellis, owner of Energy Department contractor Centerra Group, said Monday its lenders have approved an overhaul of the company’s debt package that should strengthen its balance sheet. The deal received consent from 100% of term loan and revolving lenders, according to a Constellis press release. As a result, Constellis is cutting its debt by about […]

President Donald Trump on Friday signed into law the $2 trillion relief bill to support national recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to nearly $100 million for the Energy Department’s Office of Science and semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) to support research and development to help contain the fallout of COVID-19, at national […]

The Department of Energy plans to issue a potential four-year, $1 million contract for consultant Jeffrey Trent to assist in “hot commissioning” of the Waste Treatment Plant at the Hanford Site in Washington state. The notice for the planned no-bid contract was posted earlier this month by the Hanford Office of River Protection on a […]

The Energy Department said Thursday it plans to extend through Nov. 25 its landlord services contract at the Hanford Site in Washington state with Leidos-led Mission Support Alliance. The current contract would otherwise expire on May 25. The agency will also retain the right to extend the site support services contract for a second six-month […]

While only a handful of COVID-19 cases have been confirmed to date across the Energy Department nuclear complex, most nuclear remediation sites are dramatically scaling back operations as the pandemic expands. That finding is based on conversations with sources who work with DOE’s Office of Environmental Management, public websites and social media posts, and stay-at-home […]

The Department of Energy plans to issue a potential four-year, $1 million contract for consultant Jeffrey Trent to assist in “hot commissioning” of the Waste Treatment Plant at the Hanford Site in Washington state. The notice for the planned no-bid contract was posted earlier this month by the Hanford Office of River Protection on a […]

The Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state has instructed only “essential personnel” to report to work effective immediately under a “temporary planning operations status” due to COVID-19. “Unless contacted by your supervisor, all federal, contractor, subcontractor, and craft employees should not report to work,” according to a notice Sunday on a website for the […]

The Department of Energy hopes in April to start construction of the Tank-Side Cesium Removal (TSCR) system at the Hanford Site in Washington state, a vendor said Wednesday. Tank waste management contractor Washington River Protection Solutions and DOE’s Office of River Protection are requesting temporary authorizations from the Washington state Department of Ecology to start […]

As its impact spreads across the United States, the COVID-19 outbreak could further delay procurements at the Energy Department nuclear cleanup office, industry sources said this week. The DOE Office of Environmental Management has a difficult time issuing new contracts on time even “when there is not a pandemic,” a manager with one federal contractor […]

There were no confirmed cases Friday of COVID-19 infections within the Department of Energy’s nuclear complex, covering both federal employees and contractors, based on public information as well as inquiries with industry sources. The Energy Department confirmed this week a staffer at its Forrestal Building headquarters in Washington, D.C., tested positive for the novel coronavirus […]

By John Stang Coming off a strong 2019, Perma-Fix Environmental Services anticipates taking a significant revenue hit in the second quarter of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Atlanta-based radioactive waste management specialist expects the novel coronavirus 2019 to affect its customers, slowing their on-site work and shipments to Perma-Fix’s waste processing plants In […]

The Department of Energy hopes in April to start construction of the Tank-Side Cesium Removal (TSCR) system at the Hanford Site in Washington state, a vendor said Wednesday. Tank waste management contractor Washington River Protection Solutions and DOE’s Office of River Protection are requesting temporary authorizations from the Washington state Department of Ecology to start […]

The Energy Department’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina said Wednesday it is activating its Infectious Disease Response Team to help navigate the COVID-19 crisis. The team will operate around the clock and will hold “daily leadership calls” in an effort to limit potential impact of the novel coronavirus on the 310-square-mile, 11,000-employee federal installation. […]

Three employees at the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state are undergoing testing for novel coronavirus 2019 disease (COVID-19), according to updates posted Tuesday on an employee advisory website. It was not clear from the post if the three included the employee of Hanford services contractor Mission Support Alliance who last Thursday was scheduled […]

An office building used by one of the main contractors for the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state has been disinfected after an employee was tested for the 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), according to a weekend posting on a Hanford website. The office building at 3170 George Washington Way “has been disinfected […]

There were no documented cases of COVID-19 among Department of Energy federal or contractor personnel at deadline Friday for Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor, although one contractor was being tested for the disease. This person works for Mission Support Alliance, of Richland, Wash., the site-wide support services contractor for the sprawling, remote Hanford Site in […]

A worker a the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state is being tested for 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), according to a statement distributed Thursday evening to staff at the former plutonium complex. The office building on George Washington Way in the city of Richland, where the employee of support services contractor Mission Support […]

House appropriators told the head of the Energy Department’s nuclear cleanup office on Wednesday that the budget cut proposed for fiscal 2021 will not stand, especially not at the Hanford Site in Washington state. The script is familiar by now, written at the beginning of the Donald Trump administration’s first term and played out already […]

PHOENIX — As time goes by, the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico could increasingly dispose of transuranic material from the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), a top nuclear cleanup official said here Monday. The Idaho National Laboratory is far and away the No. 1 shipper of defense-related transuranic waste to the […]

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, […]

House appropriators got their first crack at acting Environmental Management head Ike White on Wednesday, when they promised the interim cleanup manager that proposed cuts to legacy nuclear waste cleanup will not stand — especially not at the Hanford Site. The script is familiar by now, written at the beginning of the Donald Trump administration’s […]