Hanford Site

Radioactive contamination has been found on eight vehicles that were parked at the Hanford Site’s Plutonium Finishing Plant after a spread of contamination in recent days. Four of the vehicles belonged to employees working on plant demolition and two of them might have already been contaminated when workers left Hanford for the weekend on Friday […]

Changes must be made to Hanford Site’s Waste Encapsulation Storage Facility (WESF) to support moving 1,936 capsules of cesium and strontium out of underwater storage at the facility to dry storage nearby. The Department of Energy released more information about the project as it pursues a related modification to the dangerous waste portion of the […]

Having just completed its $3.25 billion buyout of CH2M, Dallas-based Jacobs Engineering released new information Monday about its business going forward as a $15 billion engineering and infrastructure heavyweight. “Today, we are celebrating the creation of a new Jacobs,” Chairman and CEO Steve Demetriou said in a news release. In the release, Jacobs praised CH2M’s […]

A new stop work order was declared at the Hanford Site’s Plutonium Finishing Plant over the weekend after another radioactive contamination spread, likely linked to the final demolition of the plant’s Plutonium Reclamation Facility. Small amounts of contamination were found outside the demolition zone Friday night, after a 13-month project to raze the reclamation facility […]

The lure of a potential 10-year, $4 billion support services contract at the Hanford Site in Washington state prompted some of the biggest names within the Department of Energy weapons cleanup complex to sign up for an information session last week on a draft request for proposals for the work. The incumbent contract is held […]

Workers at the Hanford Site in Washington state on Friday finished demolishing the most highly contaminated section of the Plutonium Finishing Plant, its Plutonium Reclamation Facility. Demolition of the reclamation facility began in November 2016 and was almost complete before contractor CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co. issued a stop work order Wednesday following possible worker […]

A federal judge has agreed to push the trial date in the Hanford Site chemical vapors lawsuit out to Nov. 26, 2018, more than three years after the case was filed. The new trial date comes after the expiration of the current contract period of one of the plaintiffs, Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS), unless […]

Colorado-based CH2M on Friday officially became a wholly owned subsidiary of Dallas-based Jacobs Engineering, CH2M announced in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. More details about the merger will be disclosed Monday, CH2M said at press time. CH2M shareholders voted Wednesday to approve the buyout. The preliminary results of the special meeting […]

With settlement talks continuing, parties in the chemical vapors lawsuit at the Hanford Site in Washington state have asked a federal judge to delay the trial date for another three months. Parties are requesting that the trial date be extended until Nov. 27, 2018. If a trial occurs then, it would be three years after […]

Following an extended back and forth with the Department of Energy, contractor Bechtel has only been required to repay a sliver of the $5.5 million in costs challenged in a federal audit for its work over several years at the Hanford Site in Washington state. A final determination, issued by DOE Contracting Officer Ronald Cone […]

CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co. stopped demolition of the Hanford Site’s Plutonium Finishing Plant for two days this week after laboratory results came back positive for air samples collected in seven monitors. The monitors were worn by workers on their lapels to detect radioactive contaminants near the air they breathe. A positive result could mean […]

Bechtel National is assigning a new project director for the Waste Treatment Plant (WTP) it is building at the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state as it moves toward a new phase of work, the partial startup of waste treatment as soon as 2022. Peggy McCullough, the contractor’s current WTP project director, told plant […]

CH2M shareholders voted Wednesday to approve the deal that will make the Colorado-based company a wholly owned subsidiary of Dallas-based Jacobs Engineering. The preliminary results of the special meeting of CH2M shareholders show more than 95 percent approval for the merger, the two companies said in a joint press release. The vote should clear the […]

The Hanford Atomic Metal Trades Council (HAMTC) has agreed to ease the respiratory protection required for workers in a second waste storage tank farm at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state. Jeff McDaniel, elected president of the umbrella group for 15 Hanford labor unions in March, approved the decision. The move indicates […]

A particulate filter developed to survive the tough conditions and stringent demands at the Hanford Site’s Waste Treatment Plant could have applications across the Department of Energy nuclear complex, according to Hanford officials. The filters were developed after initial testing showed that standard high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters used across the nuclear industry would not […]

Peggy McCullough, who Bechtel announced Friday would be leaving her post as project director at the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant at the Hanford Site in Washington state, will be replacing John Howanitz as head of the company’s Nuclear Security, and Operations business based in Virginia. Bechtel said Friday that Brian Reilly, who like McCullough […]

The Hanford Waste Treatment Plant (WTP) will have a new Bechtel National project director as it moves toward the partial startup of waste treatment as soon as 2022. Peggy McCullough, the current project director for the contractor, told plant staff Friday that she is taking a new assignment to lead Bechtel’s Nuclear Security and Operations […]

With settlement talks continuing, parties in the chemical vapors lawsuit at the Hanford Site in Washington state have asked a federal judge to delay the trial date for another three months. Parties are requesting that the trial date be extended until Nov. 27, 2018. If a trial occurs then, it would be three years after […]

Hanford Site services contractor Mission Support Alliance (MSA) has selected Amy Basche, a longtime worker at the Department of Energy complex in Washington state, as its new chief operations officer. Basche replaces Bob Wilkinson, who was promoted to president in October after prior company President Bill Johnson left for a corporate job with Leidos, one of MSA’s […]

A senior industry source said Tuesday he is hearing an increasing amount of “chatter” that the Trump administration might early next year nominate someone to lead the Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup office. The source said the talk is circulating among a trusted circle of industry representatives who often share such rumors. Assuming approval by […]

Washington Closure Hanford has asked a federal judge for summary judgment in the Department of Justice lawsuit accusing the former Energy Department cleanup contractor of falsely claiming credit for awarding three subcontracts to women-owned small businesses. A hearing on the motion filed in U.S. District Court for Eastern Washington is scheduled for Jan. 12 at […]

A senior industry source said Tuesday he is hearing an increasing amount of “chatter” that the Trump administration might early next year nominate someone to lead the Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup office. The source said the talk is circulating among a trusted circle of industry representatives who often share such rumors. Assuming approval by […]

Hanford Site services contractor Mission Support Alliance (MSA) has selected Amy Basche, a longtime worker at the Department of Energy complex in Washington state, as its new chief operations officer. Basche replaces Bob Wilkinson, who was promoted to president in October after prior company President Bill Johnson left for a corporate job with Leidos, one of MSA’s […]

The Department of Energy plans to grout the second PUREX Plant waste tunnel at the Hanford Site in Washington state, just as it did the first tunnel after it was discovered partially collapsed May 9. The Washington state Department of Ecology had ordered DOE to by Dec. 8 propose a stabilization plan for the second […]

Washington Closure Hanford has asked a federal judge for summary judgment in the Department of Justice case accusing the former Energy Department cleanup contractor of falsely claiming credit for awarding three subcontracts to women-owned small businesses. A hearing on the motion filed in U.S. District Court for Eastern Washington is set for Jan. 12 at […]

The Energy Department last week issued a draft request for proposals for a contract that could be worth up to $4 billion over 10 years to provide various support services to the Hanford nuclear cleanup site in Washington state. The incumbent contractor is Mission Support Alliance, a partnership of Leidos, Jacobs Engineering, and Centerra Group. […]

Assuming CH2M shareholders approve that company’s acquisition by Jacobs Engineering in a few weeks, Jacobs Chairman and CEO Steve Demetriou sees the combined company getting off to “a running start.” During a conference call with Wall Street analysts on Nov. 21 following release of Jacobs’ quarterly earnings, Demetriou said he has already visited many CH2M […]

Controlling the costs of multibillion-dollar Cold War cleanup projects remains a struggle for the Energy Department and its Office of Environmental Management, the DOE Office of inspector General said in a Nov. 27 special report. In the report, the Inspector General’s Office analyzed management challenges facing the department and its semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration […]

The Washington state Department of Ecology has slated a Dec. 7 public meeting on changes to the dangerous waste permit sought by contractor Bechtel National for the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) being built at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site. Bechtel is seeking a Class 2 modification to its existing permit from the […]

Cleanup has been completed on one of the most contaminated spots within the sprawling Hanford Site in southeast Washington state, the Energy Department announced Thursday. Hanford contractor CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation has finished the eight-year remediation project at the 618-10 Burial Ground and two nearby waste sites. In all, work crews extracted more than 512,000 […]