Hanford Site

The Energy Facility Contractors Group (EFCOG) has thrown its weight behind the Department of Energy’s case for reinterpreting the definition of high-level radioactive waste based primarily on its risk characteristics and not its source of origin. The organization, representing about 100 DOE contractors, filed its formal comments endorsing the reinterpretation shortly after the department proposed […]

Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS), the tank management contractor at the Hanford Site in Washington state, is seeking expressions of interest from potential subcontractors willing to manage secondary process waste from the Effluent Treatment Facility. The facility, located in the 200 Area at Hanford, currently treats 28,000 gallons of wastewater each year from processing activities […]

The Energy Facility Contractors Group (EFCOG) has thrown its weight behind the Department of Energy’s case for reinterpreting the definition of high-level radioactive waste based primarily on its risk characteristics and not its source of origin. The organization, representing about 100 DOE contractors, filed its formal comments endorsing the reinterpretation shortly after the department proposed […]

The U.S. Justice Department has asked for a stay in its lawsuit against the state of Washington over a new law that eases state workers’ compensation requirements for claims from employees of the Energy Department’s Hanford Site. The partial shutdown of the U.S. government has prohibited federal attorneys from working, even on a voluntary basis, […]

In strongly worded comments, the Natural Resources Defense Council and other advocacy groups said the Department of Energy’s proposed plan to reinterpret the definition of high-level radioactive waste would violate the law and should be withdrawn. The Energy Department “has issued this HLW Reinterpretation Proposal in hopes of providing for itself the authority to define […]

Newport News Nuclear BWXT-Los Alamos (N3B) garnered 83 percent of its potential fee for its first five months on the job as legacy cleanup contractor at the Energy Department’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. After taking over from Los Alamos National Security, N3B earned roughly $2.4 million of a potential $2.9 million from […]

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Wednesday upheld the dismissal of a class action lawsuit against the Department of Energy asking that full pension benefits be reinstated for up to 500 people who worked at the Hanford Site in Washington state. The ruling addressed a case filed in 2016 by plaintiffs […]

The states of Washington and Oregon have declared their formal opposition to a federal proposal for a new interpretation of the definition of high-level radioactive waste. Meanwhile, industry and community stakeholder groups are pressing the Department of Energy to proceed with the revised interpretation. The Energy Department is proposing to reconsider its interpretation of material […]

The Department of Energy said Monday it plans to release a final request for proposals (RFP) for the Tank Closure Contract at the Hanford Site in Washington state within 45 days. The final RFP, for a full and open competition, will be posted at www.fedconnect.net. The closure contract that results from the solicitation will replace […]

Both the Energy Communities Alliance and the U.S. Nuclear Industry Council favor changing the Energy Department’s interpretation of high-level radioactive waste to focus less on how it was produced and more on its hazard profile. The comment deadline was set to end Wednesday for DOE’s proposed reinterpretation of what constitutes high-level waste (HLW). “We are […]

The Department of Energy said Monday it plans to release a final request for proposals (RFP) for the Tank Closure Contract at the Hanford Site in Washington state within 45 days. The final RFP will be posted at www.fedconnect.net As DOE said last week, the closure contract that results from the solicitation will replace the […]

The states of Washington and Oregon have stated their formal opposition to a federal proposal for a new interpretation of the definition of high-level radioactive waste. The Department of Energy is proposing to reconsider its interpretation of material classified as high-level radioactive waste, which requires disposal in a deep geological repository. The definition now is tied […]

The company previously known as Wastren Advantage took home about 98 percent of its potential fee in its latest reporting period for providing analysis and testing services at the 222-S Laboratory at the Hanford Site in Washington state. The contractor earned almost $212,000 of a potential $217,000 from Sept. 21, 2017, to Sept. 20, 2018, […]

The Energy Department has awarded a potential seven-year, $152 million contract for occupational medical services at the Hanford Site in Washington state to incumbent vendor HPM Corp. of Kennewick, Wash. The contract includes a three-year base, followed by a pair of two-year option periods, DOE said in a Monday press release. The release did not […]

The Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management announced Monday it would split the previously single Tank Waste Cleanup Contract at the Hanford Site in Washington state into two solicitations in the follow-on procurement. Priority will be given to a contract emphasizing closure of radioactive-waste storage tanks and “feed delivery” to the Waste Treatment Plant that […]

Energy Department Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management Anne Marie White enters her first full year on the job with both her leadership team largely in place and a strategy to reinvigorate the agency’s $7 billion-plus nuclear cleanup program. Including White, sworn into office late last March, four of the five top jobs at Environmental Management […]

The Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management announced Monday it would split the previously single Tank Waste Cleanup Contract at the Hanford Site in Washington state into two solicitations. Priority will be given to a contract emphasizing closure of radioactive-waste storage tanks and “feed delivery” to the Waste Treatment Plant that Bechtel is building at […]

The Energy Department has awarded a potential seven-year, $152 million contract for occupational medical services at the Hanford Site in Washington state to incumbent vendor HPM Corp. of Kennewick, Wash. The contract includes a three-year base, followed by a pair of two-year option periods, DOE said in a Monday press release. The release did not […]

A trio of contractors enjoyed significant fees in their latest performance scorecards from the Department of Energy. The AECOM-led URS-CH2M Oak Ridge (UCOR) earned 96 percent of its potential fee from April 1 through Sept. 30 of this year for its remediation at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee. AECOM-led Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) […]

Barring a last-minute announcement from the Department of Energy, 2018 will end much like it started: With many major contractors waiting to see who will win a multibillion-dollar, 10-year contract for liquid waste management at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. The most recent procurement schedule for DOE’s Office of Environmental Management, from Nov. […]

The U.S. Department of Justice on Monday sued the state of Washington over a new law that eases state workers’ compensation requirements for claims from employees of the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for Eastern Washington after a telephone discussion Monday between attorneys with the Justice Department […]

The Department of Energy is accepting comments about security at the Hanford Site as it updates the security section of its dangerous waste permit for the Washington state facility. The proposed update in the permit from the Washington state Department of Ecology spells out in detail the security measures in place, including signs, surveillance systems, […]

The Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) is tweaking its approach to the so-called “end states” road map to environmental remediation for the Central Plateau at the Hanford Site in Washington state. The office on Wednesday published a notice of its modification to the end-state model championed by Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management Anne […]

Risk should be a major factor in setting cleanup priorities at the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state, the DOE Environmental Management Advisory Board agreed Tuesday. The advisory board voted, in a public meeting held by conference call, to endorse a subcommittee’s recommendations to Assistant Energy Secretary for Environmental Management Anne Marie White. The […]

Demolition of the Plutonium Finishing Plant at the Hanford Site in Washington state will not restart this month, as earlier projected. It has been a year since the Department of Energy halted demolition and work to load out unpackaged contaminated debris at the plant, following discovery of a second spread of radioactive particles. At the […]

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Government Accountability Office (GAO) plans to publish three reports during January and February that will detail challenges facing the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management (EM). That was a major takeaway from a Tuesday presentation to a panel of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine by GAO Director of […]

Risk should be a major factor in setting cleanup priorities at the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state, the DOE Environmental Management Advisory Board agreed Tuesday. The advisory board voted, in a public meeting held by conference call, to endorse a subcommittee’s recommendations to Assistant Energy Secretary for Environmental Management Anne Marie White. The […]

The U.S. Department of Justice on Monday sued the state of Washington over a new law that eases state workers’ compensation requirements for claims from employees of the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for Eastern Washington after a telephone discussion Monday between attorneys with the Justice Department […]

The Idaho Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is taking comments this month on the Energy Department’s annual update to its cleanup plans for the Idaho National Laboratory complex. The comment deadline on DOE’s draft 2019 version of its Site Treatment Plan for the 890-square-mile national laboratory expires at 5 p.m. local time on Dec. 28, […]

Kentucky-based Swift & Staley has won an $88 million, 22-month contract extension to continue providing infrastructure support services at the Energy Department’s Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Kentucky. The Energy Department announced the contract extension Nov. 29, one day before the initial three-year agreement was scheduled to expire. The new deal keeps the contractor on […]