Archive

Office of Environmental Management (EM)

DOE’s Office of Environmental Management runs the cleanup of Cold War nuclear weapons production sites, the largest environmental remediation program in the world. Coverage tracks EM budgets, contract awards, tank waste treatment, and site closure milestones across Hanford, Savannah River, Oak Ridge, Idaho, Portsmouth, and Paducah.

  • Centerra to Receive Four-Month Extension as SRS Security Contractor

    The security provider at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina is expected to receive a four-month contract extension ahead of the end of its current deal on Oct. 7. Florida-based Centerra could also secure another eight months on the job. That would come via two more four-month extensions, keeping the […]

  • Pro2Serve Unit Re-Awarded Portsmouth-Paducah Tech Support Business

    More than a year after winning the contract the first time around, a Professional Project Services (Pro2Serve) affiliate is again being tapped to provide the U.S. Energy Department’s Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office (PPPO) with technical support services. The Energy Department Office of Environmental Management announced Aug. 22 that Oak Ridge, Tenn.-based Enterprise Technical Assistance Services (E-TAS) […]

  • Nevada Environmental RFP Attracts Over 100 Questions

    The U.S. Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management has received 117 questions from prospective bidders on the next remediation contract for the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS). The office posted the latest tranche of questions Monday on the potential 10-year, $350 million successor award to the business held through January 2020 by Navarro Research and […]

  • Energy Department Rolls Out WIPP Strategic Plan Through 2024

    The U.S. Energy Department expects in coming years to speed up the rate of waste emplacement at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico to 14 shipments per week, according to a newly released draft five-year strategic plan for the facility. That would rise from a current rate of less than 10 shipments per […]

  • Jacobs Buying Wood Group Nuclear Business

    Jacobs Engineering announced on Aug. 20 it would pay £250 million ($304.5 million) to acquire the nuclear business of the Scotland-based John Wood Group. The deal is expected to be sealed in the first quarter of 2020, pending regulatory approval in the United Kingdom, according to the companies. The acquisition will bring proprietary technology and […]

  • Subcontractor Hired to Sink New Utility Shaft at WIPP

    The U.S. Energy Department and its prime contractor for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico on Aug. 21 announced a $75 million award for a subcontractor to build a new underground utility shaft. The contract went to Harrison Western-Shaft Sinkers Joint Venture, the DOE Carlsbad Field Office and AECOM-led Nuclear Waste Partnership said […]

  • National Academies Wants More Study on Hanford Low-Activity Waste Treatment Options

    While there are alternatives to vitrifying all low-activity radioactive waste at the Hanford Site in Washington state, the U.S. Energy Department should do more vetting before committing to one or more of those options, according to a new assessment from a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine panel. The fiscal 2017 National Defense Authorization […]

  • Bechtel Settles Retaliation Lawsuit From Ex-Employee

    Bechtel National has settled litigation brought by a former worker at the Waste Treatment Plant the company is building at the U.S. Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state. “The parties have arrived at a mutually satisfactory resolution of the case,” Bechtel spokeswoman Staci West said by email on Aug. 25. She declined to say […]

  • Wrap Up: Boston Government Services Teams With Trinity

    Boston Government Services disclosed Tuesday it is partnering with Cincinnati-based Trinity Engineering Associates in the BTP Services joint venture that on July 31 won a potential $49.5 million technical support services contract from the Energy Department. Oak Ridge-based Boston Government Services previously said it is majority owner of the partnership. Headed by founder and President […]

  • While We Were Out

    Weapons Complex Monitor took a break over the past two weeks for Congress’ annual summer recess. Our affiliate publication, Weapons Complex Morning Briefing, kept up on the latest news around the nuclear security enterprise and its industry partners. Here’s a recap of what happened while we were out. WIPP Contractor Gets New Leadership The contractor […]

  • Incumbents Getting Extensions on Hanford Tank, Central Plateau Work

    The U.S. Energy Department is extending the current contracts for both radioactive-waste tank operations and Central Plateau cleanup at the Hanford Site in Washington state for up to one year while it readies new awards. The AECOM-led incumbent vendor managing underground radioactive waste tanks at the Hanford Site in Washington said in an Aug. 19 […]

  • California Still Expects to Issue Key Santa Susana Document This Year

    Nearly two years after it said the complexity of remediating the Santa Susana Field Laboratory was responsible for missed cleanup deadlines, the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) has still not published two key environmental reports In its summary of June activity at the 2,850-acre chemically and radioactively contaminated site in Ventura County, the […]

  • Nine Los Alamos Containers Did Not Qualify for Shipment to WIPP, DNFSB Notes

    Nine containers of transuranic waste stored at Area G of the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico did not, as of late July, meet the acceptance criteria for disposal further south at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). The situation was cited in a nonconformance report from the U.S. Energy Department’s Carlsbad Field Office, […]

  • WIPP Information Technology Showing its Age, DOE Says

    In an era when many people buy a new smartphone every couple years, the information technology (IT) network at the U.S. Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico is 20 years old and needs to be replaced. “If the site network infrastructure is not updated to newer technology, client disconnects and disruption […]

  • Boston Government Services With Trinity on $49.5M DOE Contract

    Boston Government Services disclosed Tuesday it is partnering with Cincinnati-based Trinity Engineering Associates in the BTP Services joint venture that on July 31 won a potential $49.5 million technical support services contract from the Energy Department. Oak Ridge-based Boston Government Services previously said it is majority owner of the partnership. Headed by founder and President […]

  • Nevada Environmental Contract Draws More Than 100 Questions

    The U.S. Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management has received 117 questions from prospective bidders on the next remediation contract for the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS). The office posted the latest tranche of questions Monday on the potential 10-year, $350 million successor award to the business held through January 2020 by Navarro Research and […]

  • Energy Department Rolls Out WIPP Strategic Plan Through 2024

    The U.S. Energy Department expects in coming years to speed up its waste emplacement rate at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant  in New Mexico to 14 shipments per week, according to the newly released draft five-year strategic plan. That would up from a current rate of less than 10 shipments per week during weeks of […]

  • Bechtel Settles Retaliation Lawsuit From Former Employee

    Bechtel National has settled litigation brought by a former worker at the Waste Treatment Plant the company is building at the U.S. Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state. “The parties have arrived at a mutually satisfactory resolution of the case,” Bechtel spokeswoman Staci West said by email Sunday. She declined to release any further […]

  • Pro2Serve Affiliate Re-Awarded Portsmouth-Paducah Tech Support Business

    More than a year after winning the contract the first time around, a Professional Project Services (Pro2Serve) affiliate is again being tapped to provide the U.S. Energy Department’s Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office (PPPO) with technical support services. The Energy Department Office of Environmental Management announced Aug. 22 that Oak Ridge, Tenn.-based Enterprise Technical Assistance Services (E-TAS) […]

  • Contractor Hired to Sink New Shaft at WIPP

    The U.S. Energy Department and its prime contractor for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico on Wednesday announced a $75 million award for a subcontractor to build a new underground utility shaft. The contract went to Harrison Western-Shaft Sinkers Joint Venture, the DOE Carlsbad Field Office and AECOM-led Nuclear Waste Partnership said in […]

  • Colorado Studies High Plutonium Level in Soil Sample Near Rocky Flats Site

    A soil sample with elevated levels of plutonium discovered in the vicinity of the former Rocky Flats nuclear weapons facility near Denver has drawn attention from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. The Jefferson Parkway Public Highway Authority on Aug. 16 informed the health department of the sample taken on the parkway’s right-of-way […]

  • Fluor Idaho Wraps Up Repackaging at 2018 Drum Breach Site

    U.S. Energy Department contractor Fluor Idaho has finished repackaging radioactive sludge waste that was ejected from four overheated drums in April 2018 at the Idaho National Laboratory. The late-night accident spewed much of the sludge waste from the four 55-gallon drums onto the walls and ceiling of a room within a fabric filter building at […]

  • Savannah River Ends Interim Salt Waste Processing, Prepares for SWPF Startup

    Interim salt waste treatment at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina has been shut down, as the Department of Energy prepares to start up the larger-scale Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF) in December. Since April 2017, workers at the 310-square-mile site have been operating the Actinide Removal Process (ARP) and Modular Caustic Side Solvent Extraction Unit (MCU): two […]

  • Hanford Tank Contractor Extension Could be Worth $725M

    The AECOM-led incumbent vendor that is managing underground radioactive waste tanks at the Hanford Site in Washington state expects its latest contract extension from the U.S. Energy Department could be worth $725 million. The business extension will keep Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) on the job for up to 12 months, from Oct. 1, 2019, […]

  • National Academies Urges More Study on Hanford Low-Activity Waste Treatment Options

    While there could be cheaper alternatives to vitrifying all low-activity radioactive waste at the Hanford Site in Washington state, the Energy Department should do more vetting before committing to one or more of those options, according to a new assessment from a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine panel. The fiscal 2017 National Defense […]

  • Bechtel, DOE Take Another Step Toward Completing Hanford Vit Plant

    The U.S. Energy Department and contractor Bechtel National reached a key milestone this week toward operation of the $17 billion Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant at the Hanford Site in Washington state. The company and DOE’s Office of River Protection held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Monday to mark the start of testing on equipment within an […]

  • Energy Department Starts Market Research on Technical Support for WIPP Office

    The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management is doing early planning for a new technical assistance contract for the office in southeastern New Mexico that oversees the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). On Monday, the federal agency issued a request for information (RFI)/sources sought notice for interested businesses with the necessary expertise to serve […]

  • Contract Appeals Board Again Orders DOE to Pay Idaho Contractor Dispute Fees

    The Civilian Board of Contract Appeals (CBCA) is again telling the U.S. Energy Department to pay a former cleanup contractor at the Idaho National Laboratory more than $33 million in fees. In a ruling issued Aug. 8, a three-judge panel for the CBCA said DOE’s reasoning for failing to pay CH2M-WG Idaho (WGI) the full […]

  • DOE Wants Capability Statements for Nationwide Decommissioning Procurement

    The U.S. Energy Department’s Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center last week issued a sources sought notice/request for information for potential contractors for nationwide deactivation, decommissioning, and removal (DD&R) operations. Information provided by interested companies would support planning for “potential upcoming procurement(s)” for DD&R, waste management, and program support for DOE’s Offices of Environmental Management and […]

  • Hanford Central Plateau, Tank Contractors Expected to Get Stopgap Extensions

    The U.S. Energy Department intends to extend the current contracts for both radioactive-waste tank operations and Central Plateau cleanup at the Hanford Site in Washington state for up to one year while it readies new awards. The current contract extensions for AECOM-led Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) and Jacobs subsidiary CH2M HILL Plateau Remediation are […]