Orano

A recently unsealed lawsuit accuses a former U.S. Department of Energy contractor at the Savannah River Site’s now-canceled plutonium recycling plant of filings thousands of dollars’ worth of false claims by paying out relocation packages to an employee who never actually moved. Then, when employee Peter Michael Wanco Jr. resigned from MOX Services after allegedly […]

Radioactive waste transport and management provider Orano TN has a new president, its parent company announced this week. Longtime General Electric executive Amir Vexler started at Orano TN this month, according to his LinkedIn profile. “Amir’s energy and expertise are the right mix for our TN business,” Orano USA CEO Sam Shakir said in a […]

The U.S. Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico received 275 shipments of defense-related transuranic waste during the first 10 months of this year, compared to 272 during the same period in 2018. October is the last full month for which shipment information is available through WIPP’s public database. It shows that the […]

Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) on Monday said he would not reverse his decision to retire, even with the opportunity to take the top Republican spot on the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Shimkus said last week he would reconsider his Aug. 30 announcement that he would not seek re-election in 2020 after Energy and Water […]

Fluor, the Texas-based engineering and construction giant trying to reverse its worsening financial condition, said Tuesday it will sell off its government contracting business that includes its work for the U.S. Department of Energy. While long a major player in government services, Fluor sees the business as a valuable property that can be moved in […]

By John Stang The U.S. Regulatory Commission this week pushed back its schedule for completing reviews of license applications for two planned used nuclear fuel storage facilities in Texas and New Mexico. The agency by letter notified the corporate teams behind the projects: Holtec International, which wants to build a site with maximum capacity exceeding […]

Six corporate teams have been approved to compete for £400 million ($517 million) worth of decommissioning projects at the former Dounreay fast-reactor site in Scotland. Opportunities under a broad decommissioning services framework include building a size reduction facility, shaft and silo decommissioning, and teardown of historic active laboratories, according to a Tuesday announcement from decommissioning […]

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers expects in mid-June to issue the request for proposals for decommissioning of the long-retired SM-1 nuclear reactor at Fort Belvoir, Va., a senior official said Monday. This will be the final version of the solicitation, as the procurement schedule did not allow time for a draft document that could […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has scheduled a meeting for April 25 in Florida to take public comment on Duke Energy’s request for the release of much of the property for its retired Crystal River nuclear power plant. In January, Duke filed the request for release of 3,854 acres of the 4,738-acre property from the […]

Nuclear company Orano USA said this week that a recent approval from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission will allow four of its NUHOMS storage systems to be loaded with spent fuel from nuclear power reactors after just two years of cooling. Previously, used fuel assemblies had to remain in power plant cooling pools for up […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Monday urged a federal appeals court to dismiss an anti-nuclear advocacy group’s motion demanding the agency rule on the legality of two license applications for interim storage of spent nuclear power reactor fuel. Beyond Nuclear filed its petition for review in December with the U.S. Court of Appeals for […]

Operations at a key Savannah River Site waste facility are expected to increase later this year, in unison with the startup of the Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF) at the Department of Energy facility in South Carolina. Staffing increases are also expected at the SRS Saltstone Production Facility, which mixes treated salt waste with a cement […]

With the partial shutdown of the federal government resolved, at least until mid-February, a lawsuit between the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and the prime contractor for the canceled Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) has resumed, according to a Monday court filing. The $200-million lawsuit ground to a halt during the 35-day shutdown, during […]

A federal appeals court on Tuesday permanently lifted a legal ban against closing the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) in South Carolina, cutting down the state’s argument that such a move amounted to creating an illegal, permanent plutonium repository. The decision was a legal formality, as the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) […]

A trio of contractors enjoyed significant fees in their latest performance scorecards from the Department of Energy. The AECOM-led URS-CH2M Oak Ridge (UCOR) earned 96 percent of its potential fee from April 1 through Sept. 30 of this year for its remediation at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee. AECOM-led Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) […]

Nuclear Waste Partnership, the Energy Department contractor responsible for running the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M., has hired Gene Balsmeier as its new chief operating officer and deputy project manager. Balsmeier, who has held management posts at a number of sites in the DOE complex, replaces Tammy Reynolds, NWP President and Project […]

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 […]

The Energy Department’s prime contractor for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M., should improve certain practices to ensure safe operation of its underground ventilation, according to a recent DOE report. Nuclear Waste Partnership (NWP) should also communicate more with union labor at the waste disposal facility, particularly regarding to expectations for work […]

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 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 […]

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 Hanford Site in Washington state. There were more 90 registered participants representing companies including AECOM, Atkins, AVANTech, Bechtel, BWX Technologies, Fluor, Honeywell, Jacobs, Navarro Research, North Wind, […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission last week officially resumed its technical review of a license application for a facility in West Texas that would store up to 40,000 metric tons of used nuclear reactor fuel. A partnership of Waste Control Specialists and Orano in June filed an updated license application for the planned consolidated interim […]

French nuclear company Orano’s revenue dipped by nearly $100 million over the first half of 2018, while operating income posted a large gain even as net income fell even further into the red. The Paris-based nuclear fuel cycle specialist, part of what remains of the former AREVA, reported 1.71 billion euros ($1.99 billion) in revenue […]

By John Stang Holtec International announced this week it would buy three nuclear power plants set to close in coming months and years, then turn them over for decommissioning by a joint venture recently formed with a Canadian engineering corporation. On Tuesday, Chicago-based power company Exelon said it would sell its Oyster Creek Generating Station […]

A federal judge on Monday stood by his earlier ruling that the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) must return more than $20 million in fees it clawed back in 2016 from the prime contractor building the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. Judge Thomas Wheeler of the U.S. […]

French nuclear company Orano’s revenue dipped by nearly $100 million over the first half of 2018, while operating income posted a large gain even as net income fell even further into the red. The Paris-based nuclear fuel cycle specialist, part of what remains of the former AREVA, reported 1.71 billion euros ($1.99 billion) in revenue […]

Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS), the Energy Department’s waste tank farm contractor at the Hanford Site in Washington state, has awarded a subcontract to AVANTech to design and build a pretreatment facility for tank wastes at the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP). The tank-side cesium removal demonstration project is meant to remove both cesium […]

The Department of Energy’s Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) will enjoy judicial protection from the federal ax for essentially the rest of the government’s 2018 fiscal year after an appeals court last week decided not to immediately lift a lower court’s ban on closing the plant. South Carolina sued in May to prevent DOE […]

Orano TN on Wednesday sealed a contract worth millions of dollars to refurbish and maintain three radioactive waste containers, and provide other services, to the United Kingdom’s LLW Repository Ltd. The specific value of the contract is not being released for commercial reasons, an Orano spokesperson said by email Thursday. LLW Repository Ltd. is charged […]

Orano TN on Wednesday sealed a contract worth millions of dollars to refurbish and maintain three radioactive waste containers, and provide other services, to the United Kingdom’s LLW Repository Ltd. The total value of the contract was not released in announcements from Orano and the U.K. government. Along with the container upgrades, the contract covers […]