Hanford Site

Two workers at Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state were checked for radioactive contamination after they were sprayed with water when a hose connection failed in the Effluent Treatment Facility Wednesday evening. No radioactive contamination was found on the workers, but they were in a posted radioactive contamination area of the facility. Low […]

The Energy Department is giving interested parties additional time to weigh in on the proposed new interpretation of high-level radioactive waste (HLW). The public comment deadline has been pushed back from Dec. 10 to Jan. 9, according to a DOE notice Tuesday in the Federal Register. Comments can be emailed to HLWnotice@em.doe.gov. After the department […]

A Hanford Advisory Board meeting scheduled in Richland, Wash., for Dec. 5-6 has been canceled after President Donald Trump declared Wednesday a national day of mourning for former President George H.W. Bush. Federal offices will be closed and federal employees have the day off. Bush died Friday at age 94. The Hanford Advisory Board meeting […]

The Department of Energy has awarded four indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contracts for technical support services at the Hanford Site in Washington state. The agency’s Office of River Protection at Hanford issued the awards on Nov. 20 to Independent Strategic Management Solutions Inc., of Richland, Wash.; Street Legal, of Oak Ridge, Tenn.; JFA-RC Technical […]

WASHINGTON, D.C. – While the Energy Department’s top nuclear cleanup manager said Wednesday her office will not use a new agency order to thwart oversight by the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB), members of the panel remained apprehensive. Order 140.1, issued in May, will not change the relationship between DOE’s Office of Environmental Management […]

While the Department of Energy has spent $164 billion since 1989 to remediate Cold War-related nuclear and hazardous waste, its environmental liability has grown, according to the agency’s Office of Inspector General. The department’s environmental liability has more than doubled from a low of $176 billion in fiscal 1997 to $384 billion in fiscal 2017, […]

Weapons Complex Monitor took a break last week for the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, but out affiliate publication, Weapons Complex Morning Briefing did not. Here’s a recap of some of the nuclear security enterprise news covered last week. Work Resumes at WIPP After Rock Fall Work resumed underground before Thanksgiving at the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation […]

Bechtel has hired a veteran Energy Department and nuclear energy industry manager as chief for nuclear safety and operations within its Engineering division. Chip Lagdon will oversee nuclear safety analyses for Bechtel’s DOE cleanup and nuclear security missions, the company said in a press release last week. Lagdon will also work on safety and licensing […]

A new law easing Washington state workers’ compensation program requirements for claims from employees of the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site violates the U.S. Constitution, according to the Department of Justice. The agency plans to file a civil lawsuit against the state near the end of this week to block the law, if a resolution […]

Oak Ridge, Tenn.-based Atkins Nuclear Secured Holdings Corp. on Nov. 8 named William Madia to its Board of Directors. In addition to heading his own energy consulting firm, Madia is chairman of the board and vice president for the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory at Stanford University in California. Originally called the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, […]

The Department of Energy has awarded four indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contracts for technical support services at the Hanford Site in Washington state. The agency’s Office of River Protection at Hanford issued the awards on Nov. 20 to Independent Strategic Management Solutions, Inc., of Richland, Wash.; Street Legal of Oak Ridge, Tenn.; JFA-RC Technical […]

Bechtel has hired a veteran Energy Department and nuclear energy industry manager as chief for nuclear safety and operations within its Engineering division. Chip Lagdon will oversee nuclear safety analyses for Bechtel’s DOE cleanup and nuclear security missions, the company said in a press release last week. Lagdon will also work on safety and licensing […]

The Department of Energy’s (DOE) fiscal 2018 budget increase handily outpaced the rise in dollars under contract, according to a report from the agency’s Office of the Inspector General late last week. The DOE budget rose about 10 percent to some $34.5 billion between fiscal 2017 and fiscal 2018, while the amount of money under […]

Two former workers at the Hanford Site Waste Treatment Plant are accusing contractor Bechtel National in separate lawsuits of laying them off after they raised safety concerns. A jury trial has been set for July 2, 2019, for the lawsuit from Curtis W. Hall II, followed by a jury trial scheduled for Sept. 9, 2019, […]

Jacobs Engineering Group on Tuesday reported rrevenue of $4.1 billion for the quarter ended Sept. 30, up significantly from the $2.7 billion reported a year earlier. Net earnings, however, showed a $23 million loss (-$0.16 per share) in the latest quarter compared to a $94 million or $0.78 per share, in net earnings for quarter […]

Dallas-based Jacobs Engineering Group will hold its quarterly earnings call with Wall Street analysts today at 10 a.m. ET. The financial performance figures for the quarter ended Sept. 30, which marks the end of the company’s 2018 fiscal year, will be released prior to the market opening. Access to the conference call webcast is available […]

Dade Moeller, a subcontractor at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state, has formed a joint venture with RC Engineering and Construction Management (RCECM), a small woman-owned business. The joint venture between the two Richland, Wash., companies is called ARC Professional Services. It will operate under an All Small Mentor-Protege Program agreement approved […]

The Department of Energy’s waste tank management contractor at the Hanford Site in Washington state has issued a request for proposals (RFP) for a construction services subcontractor to support its work. AECOM-led Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS), which manages about 56 million gallons of radioactive waste in 177 underground tanks, issued the small business set-aside […]

More than 2,000 people submitted comments and signed petitions urging the Department of Energy to withdraw a proposal to reclassify the remaining radioactive waste in the Hanford Site’s C Tank Farm as low-level waste. The reclassification would be a step toward allowing DOE to fill the 16 tanks in the tank farm with concrete-like grout […]

More than 2,000 people submitted comments and signed petitions urging the Department of Energy to withdraw a proposal to reclassify the remaining radioactive waste in the Hanford Site’s C Tank Farm as low-level waste. The reclassification would be a step toward allowing DOE to fill the 16 tanks in the tank farm with concrete-like grout […]

The Department of Energy’s waste tank management contractor at the Hanford Site in Washington state has issued a request for proposals (RFP) for a construction services subcontractor to support its work. AECOM-led Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS), which manages about 56 million gallons of radioactive waste in 177 underground tanks, issued the small business set-aside […]

A comparative analysis of different supplemental treatment methods for low-level radioactive waste at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site should be included in the results of an ongoing study, according to the second review report on the study by a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine panel. The panel is independently reviewing a study […]

By John Stang Perma-Fix Environmental Services said Wednesday its GeoMelt radioactive waste treatment system is scheduled to complete its testing by Dec. 31 and should begin operating in the first quarter of 2019. “We are making progress with the GeoMelt system,” Perma-Fix President and CEO Mark Duff said during the company’s quarterly earnings conference call. […]

By John Stang Paris-based waste and water management multinational Veolia said Thursday net income rose on a boost in revenue for the first nine months of 2018. “Veolia’s nine-month results are very satisfying. Revenue growth is sustained and solid, and provides operating leverage resulting in growth in net current income of 20 percent as to […]

The Department of Energy Office of Enforcement is concerned that agency oversight was needed to identify that Hanford Site contractor Mission Support Alliance (MSA) had not adequately developed and implemented a software quality assurance program that met federal requirements. The office on Nov. 2 sent an enforcement letter to the support services provider for the […]

BWX Technologies has rolled up a trio of big “wins” in the Energy Department’s cleanup complex during the past 12 months and is hoping for more, President and CEO Rex Geveden said Wednesday. “There remain significant pending opportunities including the re-award of the Savannah River [Site] liquid waste contract, Savannah River management and operations,” along […]

Jacobs Engineering intends to compete for two major environmental remediation projects at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state, a senior executive said Tuesday. That demonstrates the Dallas-based company’s commitment to working at the massive cleanup program for the long term, according to Terry Hagen, Jacobs’ chief operating officer and president for its […]

Cathy Hickey has departed her post as president of Westinghouse Government Services, 17 months after the company opened a new office just outside of Washington, D.C., to increase its visibility within the Energy Department contracting world. Hickey “chose to leave via a voluntary separation package,” Westinghouse Electric spokeswoman Sarah Cassella said by email Wednesday. Company […]

The Department of Energy could be at risk of millions of dollars of additional unnecessary costs at the Hanford Site in Washington state if it does not improve its oversight at the massive nuclear cleanup project, the agency’s inspector general said in a report this week. The Office of Inspector General released a summary of […]

By John Stang Perma-Fix Environmental Services said Wednesday its GeoMelt radioactive waste treatment system is scheduled to complete its testing by Dec. 31 and should begin operating in the first quarter of 2019. “We are making progress with the GeoMelt system,” Perma-Fix President and CEO Mark Duff said during the company’s quarterly earnings conference call. […]