Hanford Site

The Environmental Protection Agency has until Oct. 15 to take action on a Richland, Wash., man’s petition requesting it object to the Clean Air Act operating permit issued in June 2016 by the Washington state Department of Ecology for the Hanford Site. Judge Salvador Mendoza Jr., of U.S. District Court for Eastern Washington, set the […]

The Department of Energy is extending the public comment period for an evaluation that would allow remaining radioactive waste in the Hanford Site’s 16 C Farm single-shell tanks to be grouted in place after waste retrieval last fall was completed to regulatory standards. The grouting could allow the underground waste tanks in Eastern Washington state […]

One or more workers called a halt to work at the Hanford Site’s SX Tank Farm on Friday out of concern that an unexplained hole could indicate a problem with the integrity of an underground radioactive waste storage tank about 6 feet away. Personnel at the Department of Energy cleanup site in Washington state can […]

Workers at the Hanford Site in Washington state met the Department of Energy’s fiscal 2018 goal of treating 2.2 billion gallons of contaminated groundwater early, despite some downtime or limited operations at treatment plants to make improvements. Contractor CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co. hit the goal nearly two months before the Sept. 30 end of […]

The Department of Energy will not be allowed to start filling the second Hanford Site PUREX Plant tunnel storing radioactive waste until after the end of a public comment period mandated by Washington state. In the wake of the partial collapse of the first PUREX storage tunnel in May 2017, DOE wants to use a […]

The 222-S Laboratory at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state was evacuated and two workers taken to a hospital on Thursday after a small fire. A piece of analytical equipment caught fire shortly before noon, according to Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS), which operates the lab where Wastren Advantage analyzes samples of […]

President Donald Trump on Monday signed the $717 billion National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal 2019, officially setting budget limits for the Energy Department’s nuclear weapons and cleanup operations. Trump did not mention either program during a signing ceremony before several hundred people at the U.S. Army’s Fort Drum in New York state. Congress […]

A truck carrying equipment contaminated at the Hanford Site’s Plutonium Finishing Plant traveled to two other sites on the Energy Department property and then off-site before the problem was discovered. Employees at the cleanup site in eastern Washington state received a DOE message about the incident last week. The incident occurred amid preparations to resume […]

Perma-Fix Environmental Services’ net income for the second quarter of 2018 outstripped the number for both the preceding earnings period and the same quarter of last year. The Atlanta-based waste management company on Wednesday reported $610,000 ($0.05 per share) in net income attributable to common stockholders for the period ended June 30. It was the […]

A vice president for Hanford support services contractor Mission Support Alliance has reached an agreement with the Department of Justice to pay $124,440 to settle allegations of illegal kickbacks. Richard A. Olsen, the vice president of finance, was accused of taking at least $41,480 from Lockheed Martin between March 1, 2010, and Feb. 21, 2012. […]

Jacobs Engineering subsidiary CH2M boosted the parent company’s bottom line in its latest quarter thanks to enhancements in ongoing nuclear cleanup projects for the Department of Energy, Jacobs Chairman and CEO Steve Demetriou said Monday. Jacobs reported net earnings of $150 million ($1.05 per share) for the quarter ended June 30, the third quarter of […]

The Energy Department has issued a draft request for proposals (RFP) for a contract potentially worth up to $904 million over seven years for analysis services at the 222-S Laboratory at the Hanford Site in Washington state. The current contract, held by Veolia subsidiary Wastren Advantage, ends on Sept. 20, 2020, DOE said in a […]

Hiring has begun for the workers at the Hanford Site Waste Treatment Plant’s Analytical Laboratory who will support the plant’s commissioning prior to the start of operations by a 2023 federal court deadline. A 3,300-square-foot laboratory has been established at Columbia Basin College (CBC) near Hanford in Pasco, Wash., to help prepare for work at […]

AVANTech Inc. of Columbia, S.C., has acquired Mid Columbia Engineering Inc. (MCE), a Richland, Wash., firm that has done work at the nearby Hanford Site. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed. AVANTech plans to continue to expand the Richland manufacturing and service facility and use it to help deliver products and services to […]

The Senate on Wednesday overwhelmingly passed the final version of the fiscal 2019 National Defense Authorization Act, clearing the way for President Donald Trump to sign a bill that would tighten congressional oversight of the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state. The $717 billion bill sailed through on an 87-10 vote, less than […]

Fluor Chairman and CEO David Seaton said Thursday the company remains in pursuit of a multibillion-dollar liquid waste management contract at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina that the Department of Energy is due to award again in a few weeks. Seaton offered his take, without elaboration, during Fluor’s quarterly earnings call with Wall Street […]

Andrew Wheeler, acting head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, on Monday signed a record of decision laying out the final cleanup plan for the 100 D and H Areas along the horn of the Columbia River at the Hanford Site in Washington state. Cleanup began under interim decisions in the mid-1990s on 7.8 square […]

Waste treatment provider AVANTech, of Columbia, S.C., has acquired Mid Columbia Engineering (MCE), a Richland, Wash., firm that has done work at the nearby Hanford Site.  The companies did not release the sale price for the buyout. AVANTech plans to continue to expand its newly acquired Richland manufacturing and service facility, which will help deliver […]

Hiring has begun for the workers at the Hanford Site Waste Treatment Plant’s Analytical Laboratory who will support the facility’s commissioning prior to the start of operations by a 2023 federal court deadline. A 3,300-square-foot laboratory has been established at Columbia Basin College (CBC) near Hanford in Pasco, Wash., to help prepare for work at […]

The Senate plans to approve the fiscal 2019 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which contains major policy provisions for active nuclear weapons programs and Cold-War waste cleanup at the Department of Energy, before it leaves Washington for a brief summer recess next week, according to a spokesperson for Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). At deadline […]

One day after the Energy Department issued a draft request for proposals for lab services at the Hanford Site in Washington state, an agency official said a final RFP could soon hit the street for another contract. The final RFP for the potential 10-year, $4 billion Hanford Mission Essential Services contract could be out by […]

Andrew Wheeler, acting head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, on Monday signed a record of decision laying out the final cleanup plan for the 100 D and H Areas along the horn of the Columbia River at the Hanford Site in Washington state. Cleanup began under interim decisions in the mid-1990s on 7.8 square […]

The Energy Department has issued a draft request for proposals (RFP) for a contract potentially worth up to $904 million over seven years, including options, for analysis services at the 222-S Laboratory at the Hanford Site in Washington state. The current contract, held by Veolia subsidiary Wastren Advantage, ends on Sept. 20, 2020, DOE said […]

Bechtel National (BNI) has been placed under new federal restrictions on issuing subcontracts and making large purchases following a routine audit of its purchasing systems by the Pentagon’s Defense Contract Management Agency. The business is the U.S. government-focused branch of global engineering and project management provider Bechtel. Among its current work is construction of the […]

The Department of Energy is making plans for the next phase of a demonstration project for commercial grouting and disposal of some of the low-activity radioactive waste held in underground storage tanks at the Hanford Site in Washington state. Phase 2 of the test bed initiative, grouting 2,000 gallons of waste, could be completed by […]

The Department of Energy is preparing to restart demolition of the Plutonium Finishing Plant at the Hanford Site in Washington state, after most work was halted after a spread of radioactive contamination in December. A contractor-led, DOE-overseen management assessment evaluating preparations to resume work is expected to start Aug. 13. It could clear the way […]

Bechtel National (BNI) is under new federal restrictions on issuing subcontracts and making large purchases in the wake of a routine audit of its purchasing systems by the Pentagon’s Defense Contract Management Agency. On July 20, Bechtel issued an internal “Procurement & Subcontracts Compliance Bulletin” with the subject head “Disapproval of BNI Purchasing System” for […]

The congressional conference version of the fiscal 2019 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) includes the Senate spending allowance for defense environmental cleanup: the single-largest bloc of annual funding at the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management. The Senate version of the NDAA met the Energy Department’s request for $5.63 billion in defense environmental cleanup funding […]

The Department of Energy is making plans for the next phase of a demonstration project for commercial grouting and disposal of some of the low-activity radioactive waste held in underground storage tanks at the Hanford Site in Washington state. Planning is underway for Phase 2 of the test bed initiative, grouting 2,000 gallons of waste, […]

A panel of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine will make a second visit to the Hanford Site area this week for a public meeting on supplemental treatment of low-activity radioactive waste. It will meet from 1:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Monday and 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday at the Red Lion […]