Hanford Site

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, […]

PHOENIX — By the end of 2020, the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management expects to start operation of facilities in Idaho and South Carolina that will convert radioactive tank waste into stable forms for eventual disposal, agency officials said here Monday. The Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF) at the Savannah River Site in South […]

An Energy Department working group is still grappling with recommended changes on management of the payments in lieu of taxes (PILT) program for communities around nuclear facilities, Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette said Feb. 27. During a hearing of the House Appropriations energy and water subcommittee, the secretary promised to personally brief Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) […]

Nuclear cleanup contractors, including those planning to participate in a major waste conference next week, are trying to conduct business as usual while simultaneously grappling with the risk posed by the global coronavirus outbreak. On Thursday afternoon, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced it would cancel its annual Regulatory Information Conference, scheduled for March 10-12 just […]

WASHINGTON — Sen. Patty Murray (D) on Wednesday became the latest lawmaker from Washington state to chastise Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette for the deep budget cuts proposed for the Hanford Site in fiscal 2021. Funding for the two Energy Department offices at Hanford, considered the nation’s most complex and expensive nuclear cleanup, would be slashed […]

Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) on Thursday chastised Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette for the deep budget cuts in fiscal 2021 proposed by the White House for the Hanford Site in Washington state. The former plutonium-producing site, considered the nation’s most complex nuclear cleanup, would see its total spending slashed from $2.6 billion enacted by Congress in […]

An Energy Department working group is still grappling with recommended changes on management of the payments in lieu of taxes (PILT) program for communities around nuclear facilities, Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette said Thursday. During a hearing of the House Appropriations energy and water subcommittee, the secretary promised to personally brief Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) on […]

Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.) on Thursday expressed dismay at the dramatically reduced level of money the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state would receive under the White House latest budget request. The agency has a moral and legal obligation to clean up 56 million gallons of liquid waste, generated by decades of plutonium production […]

While remediation is nearly complete at a couple of the 16 sites overseen by the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management, other cleanup efforts could last late into this century, according a roundup included in the Donald Trump administration’s budget request for fiscal 2021. The Energy Department announced in June 2019 that demolition of facilities […]

Amentum, the Maryland-based successor to AECOM’s Management Services branch, announced a pair of executive promotions this week. Tom Foster, president and project manager at the Savannah River Remediation joint venture in South Carolina, on Wednesday was named chief operating officer for Amentum’s Nuclear & Environment business unit. On Thursday, the company said it is promoting […]

The Energy Department Office of Environmental Management is taking resumes for the permanent job of managing the Hanford Site in Washington state, a post currently held by Brian Vance. In addition, Environmental Management soon seek applicants to replace Jeff Griffin, the associate principal deputy assistant secretary for field operations, who is leaving DOE to join […]

Nuclear remediation sites overseen by the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management would receive another small bump in funding for safeguards and security in fiscal 2021, according to budget tables released by the Donald Trump administration early Monday. The proposal for $321 million in the budget year beginning Oct. 1 is a step up from […]

While BWX Technologies lost out on a multibillion-dollar remediation contract at the Hanford Site in Washington state, President and CEO Rex Geveden said Tuesday he is optimistic about a “robust” pipeline of potential Energy Department projects. “Unfortunately, we were not awarded the Hanford Central Plateau Cleanup contract,” Geveden said during the Lynchburg, Va.-based company’s quarterly […]

The Department of Energy is seeking comments on plans to use grout to shore up a trio of underground waste structures in danger of collapse at the Hanford Site in Washington state. In a notice Tuesday, DOE said the comment period is between March 23 and April 24 on its plans for the facilities located […]

While BWX Technologies lost out on a multibillion-dollar remediation contract at the Hanford Site in Washington state, President and CEO Rex Geveden said Tuesday he is optimistic about a “robust” pipeline of potential Energy Department projects. “Unfortunately, we were not awarded the Hanford Central Plateau Cleanup contract,” Geveden said during the Lynchburg, Va.-based company’s quarterly […]

The Department of Energy is seeking comments on plans to use grout to shore up a trio of underground waste structures in danger of collapse at the Hanford Site in Washington state. In a notice Tuesday, DOE said the comment period is between March 23 and April 24 on its plans for the facilities located […]

The Energy Department is accepting resumes for the job of managing the Hanford Site in Washington state, a post currently held by Brian Vance. The agency on Tuesday formally invited expressions of interest for the job of overseeing both the Richland Operations Office and Office of River Protection (ORP) at Hanford, the sprawling complex that […]

Nuclear remediation sites overseen by the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management would receive another small bump in funding for safeguards and security in fiscal 2021, according to budget tables released by the Donald Trump administration early Monday. The proposal for $321 million in the budget year beginning Oct. 1 is a step up from […]

The Department of Energy on Monday said it would “leverage past experience” and apply best practices to make remediation of 16 nuclear sites more cost-effective in upcoming fiscal year. The language is found in the introduction to the detailed 415-page report for the $6.1 billion budget proposed for the Office of Environmental Management in fiscal […]

The Department of Energy said last week it wants to promptly shore up some aging facilities at risk of failure at the Hanford Site in Washington state, which could endanger human health and the environment. The agency conducted structural analyzes at several old structures following the May 2017 partial collapse of Tunnel 1 at the […]

Utah-based Petersen Inc. has scored two subcontracts worth $37.8 million to provide stainless-steel containers and an extra melter for the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) being built at the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state. Plant construction and operations prime Bechtel National announced the award Tuesday. The vitrification plant will convert much of […]

At the urging of the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the Department of Energy will conduct a root cause analysis of the May 2017 partial collapse of Tunnel 1 of the Plutonium Uranium Extraction (PUREX) Plant at the Hanford Site in Washington. The evaluation should be completed by the end of the year. The GAO called […]

Higher taxes led Leidos to report a slight dip in its fourth quarter earnings, but sales were strong and adjusted earnings easily topped analysts’ estimates. Net income in the quarter fell nearly 4% to $181 million, $1.26 earnings per share (EPS), from $188 million ($1.25 EPS) a year ago. Per-share results rose a penny due to […]

An independent team of experts on Friday said more homework is needed before the Department of Energy can pick a reliable and cost-effective means to treat low-activity tank waste at the Hanford Site in Washington state that cannot be accommodated through vitrification. A National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine panel issued its fourth and […]

Fluor’s stock lost nearly a quarter of its value in trading Tuesday after the company released partial earnings numbers because it is under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for 2019 accounting practices. The stock closed the day at $14.79 per share, roughly 24% lower than its Friday closing price of $19.54 per […]

Utah-based Petersen Inc. has scored a $37.8 million subcontract to provide stainless-steel containers and an extra melter for the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) being built at the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state. Plant construction and operations prime Bechtel National announced the award Tuesday. The vitrification plant will convert much of Hanford’s […]

Engineering and procurement giant Fluor said Tuesday morning it would not sell its government contracting business, which serves clients such as the Department of Energy and the Defense Department. The Irving, Texas-based company announced the planned sale in September. However, belt-tightening over the past year, along with the anticipated sale later in 2020 of the […]

A transportation provider for the cleanup contractor at the Energy Department’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee was involved a January fender-bender while moving low-level radioactive waste along a highway in Arkansas. No injuries resulted and no radioactive soil spilled in the accident, according to a Feb.7 DOE accident report. The subcontractor, Metler Hauling & Rigging, […]

The Donald Trump administration on Monday requested $6.1 billion for the Energy Department Office of Environmental Management during fiscal 2021, which would be an 18% reduction from the $7.5 billion enacted by Congress in the current budget year. It also represents a $400 million slice from the $6.5 billion the White House sought last March […]

Key Pacific Northwest lawmakers in the House and Senate pledged this week to ensure the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state gets more than the nearly $2 billion proposed in President Donald Trump’s fiscal 2021 budget. The two DOE offices that oversee cleanup and radioactive waste management at the former plutonium manufacturing complex would […]