Hanford Site

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 is reviewing bid proposals for the potential $150 million contract for occupational medical services at the Hanford Site in Washington state, an agency official told an industry gathering Thursday in Knoxville, Tenn. The bid deadline closed in August for the successor contract to contract now held by HPM Corp. of Kennewick, Wash. […]

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 […]

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 Energy Department’s nuclear cleanup officials are optimistic an overhaul of the contracting process will enable some sites undergoing environmental remediation to “leapfrog the current life-cycle baseline, and get us to done-done quicker,” a senior official said Wednesday. The Office of Environmental Management (EM), with a current-year budget exceeding $7 billion, is responsible for remediation […]

The U.S. Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management will within a few days formally propose to change the way it interprets the term “high-level radioactive waste” (HLW). A Federal Register notice, expected to be posted next week, will outline DOE’s plan to classify high-level waste more on its radioactive characteristics and less on its source […]

The state of Washington and the Department of Energy have jointly asked a federal judge for an extension of two milestones for retrieval of radioactive tank waste set in the court-enforced consent decree governing cleanup of the Hanford Site. Washington state sued the federal agency in 2008, asking a federal judge to set new deadlines […]

Workers at the Hanford Site are preparing to start filling the PUREX Plant’s second waste storage tunnel with concrete-like grout as soon as this week, after the Washington state Department of Ecology on Sept. 28 approved the interim stabilization work to prevent collapse. In May 2017, there was a partial collapse of the older and […]

Washington River Protection Solutions has been awarded a contract extension of up to a year for management of the radioactive waste storage tanks at the Hanford Site in Washington state. The Department of Energy announced the extension Sept. 28, two days before the expiration of WRPS’ 10-year contract. The contract extension, which will expire Sept. […]

Another Department of Energy facility is preparing to resume shipping its transuranic waste to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico. Shipments of contact-handled waste from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California should begin in 2019, lab spokesman Nolan O’Brien said Tuesday by email. The resumption is based on availability of funding […]

The Energy Department’s nuclear cleanup officials are optimistic an overhaul of the contracting process will enable some sites undergoing environmental remediation to “leapfrog the current life-cycle baseline, and get us to done-done quicker,” a senior official said Wednesday. The Office of Environmental Management (EM), with a current-year budget exceeding $7 billion, is responsible for remediation […]

Washington River Protection Solutions has been awarded a contract extension of up to a year for management of the radioactive waste storage tanks at the Hanford Site in Washington state. The Department of Energy announced the extension Friday, two days before the expiration of WRPS’ 10-year contract. The contract extension, which will expire Sept. 30, […]

Two Richland, Wash.-based contractors serving the Energy Department and other federal clients have formed a joint venture to promote a material sorting technology that will be shown off this week. The two small businesses, Federal Engineers & Constructors (FE&C) and ISO-Pacific Remediation Technologies, said Sept. 19 the venture, Innovative Remediation & Integrated Systems LLC (IRIS), […]

Workers at the Hanford Site are preparing to start filling the PUREX Plant’s second waste storage tunnel with concrete-like grout as soon as this week, after the Washington state Department of Ecology on Friday approved the interim stabilization work to prevent collapse. In May 2017, there was a partial collapse of the older and shorter […]

Bechtel National is bringing on a new project director for the Waste Treatment Plant at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state, employees were told on Sept. 21. Brian Reilly, who joined the project last December, will be replaced by Valerie McCain. Reilly has been reassigned to the position of project director for […]

When President Donald Trump signed a multiagency appropriations package Sept. 21, it assured the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management about $7.2 billion in funding for the 2019 fiscal year starting Oct. 1. The DOE-funding “minibus,” approved by Congress earlier this month, provides the largest budget for the department’s nuclear cleanup office since it received […]

The Department of Energy on Thursday released a draft request for proposals for the Hanford Site Central Plateau Cleanup Contract that takes a new approach to the scope of work at the cleanup job in Washington state. The agency is asking bidders to indicate what environmental cleanup activities they could complete given 10 years, including […]

Bechtel National is bringing on a new project director for the Waste Treatment Plant at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state, employees were told Friday. Brian Reilly, who joined the project last December, will be replaced by Valerie McCain. Reilly has been reassigned to the position of project director for the Vogtle […]

When President Trump signed a multiagency appropriations package Friday afternoon, it assured the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management about $7.2 billion in funding for the 2019 fiscal year starting Oct. 1. The DOE-funding “minibus,” approved by Congress earlier this month, provides the largest budget for the department’s nuclear cleanup office since it received almost […]

The Department of Energy and several other parties on Wednesday signed a settlement agree to a 3-year-old federal lawsuit seeking better protection from chemical vapors for workers at the Hanford Site in Washington state. The agreement, if approved by the court, would freeze the case as Hanford tank farm contractor Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) […]

The Department of Energy on Thursday released the request for proposals for the Hanford Mission Essentials Services Contract. The award has a projected value of $4 billion to $6 billion over 10 years, including option periods. The work is now performed at the Hanford Site in Washington state by Mission Support Alliance, owned by Leidos […]

The Department of Energy Office of Enforcement has issued a final notice of violation to Bechtel National for a Nov. 4, 2016, industrial accident at the Hanford Site in Washington state. A worker sustained broken vertebrae and cuts to the head when a 12-inch pipe unexpectedly separated at a joint and sprayed a pressurized stream […]

The Department of Energy and several other parties on Wednesday signed a settlement agree to a 3-year-old federal lawsuit seeking better protection from chemical vapors for workers at the Hanford Site in Washington state. The agreement, if approved by the court, would freeze the case as Hanford tank farm contractor Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) […]

The Energy Department apparently still hasn’t submitted a report to Congress due on Feb. 1 on classifying certain defense nuclear waste. The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal 2018, signed last December, said the “Secretary of Energy shall conduct an evaluation of the feasibility, costs, and cost savings of classifying covered defense nuclear waste […]

The Department of Energy Office of Enforcement has issued a final notice of violation to Bechtel National for a Nov. 4, 2016, industrial accident at the Hanford Site in Washington state. A worker sustained broken vertebrae and cuts to the head when a 12-inch pipe unexpectedly separated at a joint and sprayed a pressurized stream […]

More than 40 companies signed up to attend an industry session last month to learn more about a contract for further cleanup of the Central Plateau at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state. There were more 90 registered participants representing companies including AECOM, Atkins, AVANTech, Bechtel, BWX Technologies, Fluor, Honeywell, Navarro Research […]

Demolition-related work could restart next week at the Hanford Site’s Plutonium Finishing Plant, but contractor CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co. has been cleared only to resume lower-hazard operations. Most work has been stopped at the highly radioactively contaminated facility since December, when a spread of radioactive material was discovered for the second time in 2017. […]

Scott Anderson has been promoted to president and general manager of the cleanup contractor for the Department of Energy’s West Valley Demonstration Project in New York state, CH2M Hill BWXT West Valley. Anderson has been the No. 2 executive at the West Valley contractor for three years, serving as senior vice president and general manager. […]

President Donald Trump’s signature is the only thing standing between the Energy Department’s nuclear cleanup office and nearly $7.2 billion in funding for fiscal 2019. That would be the highest spending level for DOE’s Office of Environmental Management since fiscal 2005, when it received nearly $7.3 billion. The House of Representatives on Thursday voted 377-20 […]

Contractor Mission Support Alliance has begun a $7.8 million improvement to the water-system infrastructure in the center of the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state. Workers are installing about 4 miles of 30-inch pipe to connect the separate water grids of the east and west areas of the nuclear cleanup site. Work is […]