Archive

Savannah River Site

A DOE site in South Carolina supporting nuclear materials management, tritium production, high-level waste treatment, and planned plutonium pit production.

  • RFP Updates: Protests ‘a Fact of Life;’ SRS, Hanford Liquid Waste Solicitations Due in Fall

    Bid protests of large federal contracts are a fact of life, a top acquisition manager at the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management said during an online forum Thursday. This is evidenced by the fact that two contract awards have been challenged in a little more than a week with the Government Accountability Office […]

  • Murray Takes Turn Grilling Granholm on Money for Hanford, PILT

    For the second time in two weeks, a senator from Washington state insisted Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm raise the Joe Biden administration’s financial commitment to long-term Hanford Site cleanup and continue payments to localities bordering Department of Energy nuclear facilities. Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) hammered at the topics during Granholm’s Wednesday appearance before the […]

  • EM Targets Fall Release of Final RFPs for 2 Megabuck Contracts

    Final solicitations are coming this autumn for multibillion-dollar contracts at the Hanford Site in Washington and the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, the Department of Energy said Wednesday. The final request for proposals (RFP) for the potential $21.5-billion Savannah River Site Management and Operating Contract should hit the street in September while the potential […]

  • Granholm, Acting NNSA Boss Face Senate Appropriations Panel

    Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm and the acting chief of DOE’s semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration, Charles Verdon, were to face questions from a Senate Appropriations Committee panel at 10 a.m. for the first time since the Joe Biden administration rolled out its Department of Energy budget request for fiscal 2022. The hearing by the […]

  • SRS Upgrade for Disposal of Japanese Reactor Fuel Coming Later This Year

    Later this year and sometime next year, the Savannah River Site will install a crucial pair of upgrades at the H-Canyon chemical separations facility to help site personnel prepare plutonium from a Japanese reactor for on-site solidification and, eventually, deep-geologic disposal elsewhere. H-Canyon will get a new tank later this year and a new electrolytic […]

  • Battelle Team Takes the Reins at Savannah River National Lab

    A group composed of Battelle and a quintet of universities from two states is now operating the Department of Energy’s Savannah River National Laboratory in South Carolina. The Battelle Savannah River Alliance (BSRA) took over management of the lab Monday, officially announcing the news via Twitter: “Proud to be @Battelle’s newest national laboratory! Our team […]

  • Savannah River Lab Handover to Battelle Group Expected Next Week

    The Department of Energy expects to hand over control of the Savannah River National Laboratory in South Carolina early next week to Battelle Savannah River Alliance. The DOE is “working toward” Monday June 21, an agency spokesperson said by email Tuesday. That is when operations of the national laboratory will shift to the Battelle-led group […]

  • Cantwell Pushes Granholm for More Hanford Funding

    Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) used a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing Tuesday to question Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm on why the Joe Biden administration’s $7.6-billion budget request for nuclear cleanup trims funding for the Hanford Site during fiscal 2022. The White House has proposed to split about $2.47 billion between Hanford’s two […]

  • DOE Expects Major Jump in WIPP Shipments During Fiscal 2022

    The Department of Energy expects the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant could receive up to 14 shipments of transuranic material a week in fiscal year 2022, which starts Oct. 1. The DOE Office of Environmental Management rate of shipments to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) should go from 10 per week to 14 per week […]

  • Savannah River Lab Handover to Battelle Group Expected Next Week

    The Department of Energy expects to hand over control of the Savannah River National Laboratory in South Carolina early next week to Battelle Savannah River Alliance. The DOE is “working toward” Monday June 21, an agency spokesperson said by email Tuesday. That is when operations of the national laboratory will shift to the Battelle-led group […]

  • GAO Says EM Liability Now Stands at $406B

    The Department of Energy’s environmental liability, which stands at more than a half-trillion dollars, continues to grow and most of it is concentrated in the agency’s nuclear cleanup office, the Government Accountability Office said Tuesday in an update to Congress. The DOE liability stands at $512 billion as of fiscal 2020, which is the most […]

  • SRNS Reaps Nearly $45M in Fee for 16 Months of Savannah River Ops

    Fluor-led Savannah River Nuclear Solutions took home $44.6 or 96% of nearly $46 million in available fee for its work as operator of the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina for the 16-month period ended Nov. 30. That is according to the latest fee scorecard for the joint venture published Tuesday by […]

  • Wrap Up: Sheppard Now With HII, Group Laments PILT Cuts in DOE Request

    Frank Sheppard, former Parsons senior vice president and project manager of the Salt Waste Processing Facility at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina, is now part of a senior leadership board with Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII), a company spokesperson confirmed Thursday. Parsons joined Huntington Ingalls in January and “is part of […]

  • Federal Court Dismisses Race Discrimination Suit Brought by Ex-SRNS Employee

    A federal judge in South Carolina has dismissed a racial discrimination lawsuit brought by a white former employee of the management contractor for the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site. In a May 27 order, U.S. District Court Judge Joseph Anderson, Jr., dismissed the case brought against Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) by plaintiff Christopher […]

  • Acting Cleanup Boss White Touts $7.6B EM Budget Request to Contractors

    The Joe Biden administration’s $7.6-billion budget request for the Office of Environmental Management was the largest request for nuclear-weapons cleanup since 2015, the office’s acting head told contractors Thursday. Biden’s ask is the “largest administrative request for environmental management that I can recall,” William (Ike) White, acting assistant secretary for environmental management, told the Energy […]

  • Securitas-led Team Retains DOE Paramilitary Contract at SRS

    After a Department of Energy review prompted by a contract challenge, a joint venture led by Securitas CIS is keeping its $1-billion Security Services contract at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. The DOE Office of Environmental Management said in a Thursday press release that SRS Critical Infrastructure Security is retaining the contract awarded […]

  • SRNS Reaps Nearly $45M in Fee for 16 Months of Savannah River Ops

    Fluor-led Savannah River Nuclear Solutions took home $44.6 or 96% of nearly $46 million in available fee for its work as operator of the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina for the 16-month period ended Nov. 30. That is according to the latest fee scorecard for the joint venture published Tuesday by […]

  • Federal Court Dismisses Race Discrimination Suit Brought by Ex-SRNS Employee

    A federal judge in South Carolina has dismissed a racial discrimination lawsuit brought by a white former employee of the management contractor for the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site. In a May 27 order, U.S. District Court Judge Joseph Anderson, Jr., dismissed the case brought against Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) by plaintiff Christopher […]

  • Nearly 4,900 COVID-19 Cases Logged at EM Since Pandemic Began

    There have been 4,867 confirmed cases of COVID-19 among the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management workforce since the pandemic took root in the United States in early 2020, according to figures provided Thursday by the agency’s cleanup branch. This week there are 47 active confirmed cases of COVID-19 within the Environmental Management (EM) […]

  • USAF Gen. Not Worried About W87-1 Delay After Projected Delay for SRS Pit Plant

    The head of Air Force Global Strike Command is not concerned that the next-generation warhead for the next-generation nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missile will be delayed because of a projected delay with one of the two plutonium pit-production plants that will supply the new warhead’s core. In a webcast address to the public and press Thursday […]

  • AF Gen. Not Worried About W87-1 Delay After Projected Delay for SRS Pit Plant

    The head of Air Force Global Strike Command is not concerned that the next-generation warhead for the next-generation nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missile will be delayed because of a projected delay with one of the two plutonium pit-production plants that will supply the new warhead’s core. In a webcast address to the public and press Thursday […]

  • First Biden DOE Budget Request Would Keep Nuclear Cleanup at Flat $7.6B

    The Joe Biden administration Friday afternoon proposed level-funding the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management at about $7.6-billion during fiscal 2022, which begins in a little more than four months. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm told Congress recently that the request for the budget year starting Oct. 1 would “sustain” cleanup of nuclear sites […]

  • SRS Pit Plant Might be Five Years Later Than Hoped, NNSA Administrator-Designate Tells Senators

    A planned pit factory to be built at the Savannah River Site in Aiken, S.C., might take five years longer than the National Nuclear Security Administration wanted to produce its full load of war-ready nuclear weapon cores, the Joe Biden administration’s nominee to lead the agency said Thursday. A slip at Savannah River, one of […]

  • SRS Finished Tritium Upgrades for B61-12 in February

    The Savannah River Site in February completed upgrades to tritium processing facilities at the site’s H-Area that will allow personnel to fill tritium reservoirs for the planned B61-12 nuclear gravity bomb life-extension program, the site said Tuesday. The upgrades doubled the capacity of one of the site’s tritium lines capacity, according to a press release, […]

  • COVID-19 Cases Drop Back to Double-Digits for EM; Hanford Juggles Mask Rules

    For the second time in three weeks, the number of confirmed active cases of COVID-19 at the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management worksites is below triple-digits. There are currently 65 active COVID-19 cases in the Environmental Management (EM) complex, a DOE spokesperson said by email Thursday. It represents a big drop from the […]

  • SRS Finished Tritium Upgrades for B61-12 in February

    The Savannah River Site in February completed upgrades to tritium processing facilities at the site’s H-Area that will allow personnel to fill tritium reservoirs for the planned B61-12 nuclear gravity bomb life-extension program, the site said Tuesday. The upgrades doubled the capacity of one of the site’s tritium lines capacity, according to a press release, […]

  • LANL Criticality Safety Personnel at Critical Mass for Planned Pit Production, Review Says

    Los Alamos National Laboratory has hired enough criticality safety personnel to support planned manufacturing of nuclear-weapon cores at the New Mexico laboratory, but staff churn among these crucial workers is more common than the lab believes, a new DOE review said. Lab management and operations contractor Triad National Security “has adequately managed the training and […]

  • Next EM Procurement Update Should be Out in Summer

    The next big contract procurement update from the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management should be out by Independence Day, according to a Thursday notice. The next quarterly procurement update from the Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center will be posted within about 30 to 45 calendar days, meaning it should be out by July […]

  • Bechtel, Fluor, Leading SRS Bids

    Bechtel, Reston, Va., and Fluor, Irving, Texas, are leading separate bids for the potentially $10-year, $21.5 billion management and operations contract for the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site, people familiar with the competitive landscape said this week. Amentum, Germantown, Md., is also in the mix as a partner, one of these people said. The […]

  • Bechtel, Fluor Teams Pursue Savannah River Ops Contract, Sources Say

    Bechtel, Reston, Va., and Fluor, Irving, Texas, are leading separate bids for the potentially $10-year, $21.5 billion management and operations contract for the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site, people familiar with the competitive landscape said this week. Amentum, Germantown, Md., is also in the mix as a partner, one of these people said. The […]