Hanford Site

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. In January, 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 […]

While Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) easily won re-election Tuesday, his ability to influence the money flow to the Energy Department’s Idaho National Laboratory, and federal nuclear cleanup operations as a whole, appears to be on the decline. Simpson took more than 60 percent of the vote in Idaho’s 2nd Congressional District to decisively defeat Democrat Aaron […]

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 […]

The congressional district that covers the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) will have new representation in January after incumbent Rep. Steve Pearce stepped aside to run for New Mexico governor. Pearce is facing off against a colleague in Congress, Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-N.M.), to succeed term-limited governor Susana Martinez, a Republican. Pearce, […]

Workers at the Hanford Site on Wednesday resumed stabilizing the second PUREX Plant radioactive waste storage tunnel with concrete-like grout to prevent its possible collapse. The project was suspended for several days after an Oct. 26 incident in which steam was spotted coming from a small building attached to the tunnel, leading to a precautionary […]

Computer Sciences Corp. (CSC) has agreed to pay $389,355 to settle a civil lawsuit related to its former work as the prime medical services provider for the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for Eastern Washington and joined this week by the Department of Justice, claimed […]

The Energy Department on Thursday posted 13 pages of additional questions and answers from prospective bidders on the potential $6 billion, decade-long Hanford Site Mission Essential Services Contract. For the most part, the agency declined to elaborate on the final request for proposals, issued Sept. 20, for the “landlord” contract at the former plutonium production […]

No airborne radioactive particles were detected after steam was spotted Friday morning coming from a small building linked to the second PUREX Plant waste storage tunnel at the Hanford Site in Washington state. The steam was not expected in that location, and more than 500 workers in the 200 East Area at the center of […]

Six workers reported smelling a suspicious odor Wednesday outside the U waste storage tank farm at the Hanford Site in Washington state, bringing the number of workers reporting possible chemical vapors so far this year to 20. However, just five have requested medical evaluations. That number is down significantly from the more than 50 workers […]

Bechtel National expects in the next few months to fill up to 300 jobs at the Waste Treatment Plant it is building at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state. The hiring comes as the contractor continues to shift from primarily construction to preparations for waste processing by a federal court-enforced deadline of […]

The Department of Energy and its regulators for the Hanford Site in Washington state have scheduled what amounts to the first in-person State of the Site meeting since 2014 after being prodded by a local advisory group. The meeting, called the Hanford Regional Dialogue, is scheduled for 6 p.m. Nov. 1 at the Best Western […]

The largest corporate names in Energy Department environmental remediation were among more than 40 companies registered to attend briefings last week on the Central Plateau Cleanup Contract for the Hanford Site in Washington state. AECOM, Bechtel, BWX Technologies, Fluor, Holtec, Jacobs, Navarro, North Wind, Orano, Perma-Fix, SNC-Lavalin, and Veolia were all registered with multiple representatives […]

A “take cover” alert was issued at the 200 East Area of the Hanford Site in Washington state at about 6 a.m. local time Friday after a worker saw steam rising from an unexpected area above PUREX Plant waste storage Tunnel 2, the Department of Energy confirmed. The agency and contractor CH2M Plateau Remediation were […]

The largest corporate names in Energy Department environmental remediation were among more than 40 companies registered to attend briefings last week on the Central Plateau Cleanup Contract for the Hanford Site in Washington state. AECOM, Bechtel, BWX Technologies, Fluor, Holtec, Jacobs, Navarro, North Wind, Orano, Perma-Fix, SNC-Lavalin, and Veolia were all registered with multiple representatives […]

Bechtel National expects in the next few months to fill up to 300 jobs at the Waste Treatment Plant it is building at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state. The hiring comes as the contractor continues to shift from primarily construction to preparations for waste processing by a federal court-enforced deadline of […]

An article in the Oct. 12 issue of Weapons Complex Monitor (“Life With Single Contractor at Hanford 222-S Lab, Could be Simpler, DOE Says”) should have said the former Wastren Advantage had its corporate name retired after it was folded into Veolia Nuclear Solutions – Federal Services.

Two contractors in the Department of Energy nuclear complex have both named chief financial officers in recent days. In a Monday news release, Bechtel said it has promoted Catherine Hunt Ryan to the position. Hunt Ryan previously served as CFO at Bechtel’s Oil, Gas & Chemicals business for more than two years and has been […]

The Department of Energy is offering prospective bidders for the upcoming $6.5 billion Hanford Central Plateau Cleanup Contract the opportunity to discuss remediation goals with state and federal regulators for the Washington state facility. Following the Sept. 27 draft request for proposals, DOE’s Office of Environmental Management is asking potential Central Plateau bidders about their […]

The Energy Department has clarified what it means by the “Notice to Proceed” in its Hanford Site Mission Essential Services Contract, and answered other questions posed by bidders for the business, which could be worth $6 billion over 10 years. After releasing the final request for proposals on Sept. 20 on the contract, DOE posted […]

A federal judge has approved a request to push back the deadlines for extraction of radioactive tank waste set in the court-enforced consent decree governing cleanup of the Hanford Site. Extending the two milestones was a condition of a settlement agreement reached in September in a separate lawsuit in U.S. District Court for Eastern Washington […]

Two assistant managers at one of the Department of Energy offices at the Hanford Site in Washington state have switched positions as part of a plan to build up its capabilities by providing opportunities for professional development. Glyn Trenchard, previously Office of River Protection (ORP) assistant manager for tank farms, has been named assistant manager […]

CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation will have plenty of work to do over the next year after the Energy Department last month granted it a 12-month extension of its Central Plateau Cleanup contract at the Hanford Site in Washington state. When it issued the draft request for proposals for the upcoming $6.5 billion Central Plateau contract […]

The Energy Department has clarified what it means by the “Notice to Proceed” in its Hanford Site Mission Essential Services Contract, and answered other questions posed by bidders for the business, which could be worth $6 billion over 10 years. After releasing the final request for proposals on Sept. 20 on the contract at the […]

The state of Washington has issued the permits needed for Bechtel National to complete construction of the final support facility at the Hanford Site’s Waste Treatment Plant to allow treatment of low-activity radioactive waste by a federal court deadline of 2023. Construction of the plant has advanced significantly, with the concrete walls of the 18,400-square-foot […]

The federal government has lifted spending restrictions placed on Bechtel National purchasing after it addressed issues raised in a routine audit by the Pentagon’s Defense Contract Management Agency. In an Oct. 5 announcement, Bechtel said it received notification on Oct. 1 that its purchasing system had been reapproved for subcontracting activities, including at the Waste […]

A new legally binding deadline requires cesium and strontium capsules at the Hanford Site in Washington state to be moved to dry storage by August 2025, though some key stakeholders argued the work should done sooner. The Department of Energy and its regulators, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Washington state Department of Ecology, […]

The Energy Department has apparently decided having two contractors running the 222-S Laboratory at the Hanford Site in Washington state is like having too many cooks in the kitchen. The department hopes to improve productivity by not having two contractors “competing for priorities because they are working on the same equipment,” Dawn MacDonald, DOE Office […]

The public has 60 days to weigh in on a proposal to modify the fashion in which the Department of Energy classifies “high-level radioactive waste” (HLW), following publication Wednesday of a formal notice in the Federal Register. The Energy Department announced Oct. 4 it would seek to classify HLW more on its radioactive traits and […]

The state of Washington has issued the permits needed for Bechtel National to complete construction of the final support facility at the Hanford Site’s Waste Treatment Plant to allow treatment of low-activity radioactive waste by a federal court deadline of 2023. Construction of the plant has advanced significantly, with the concrete walls of the 18,400-square-foot […]