Savannah River Site

Public interest groups are ready to sue the Department of Energy and its semi-autonomous National Nuclear Security Administration over what they claim is insufficient review of plans for expanded plutonium pit production in South Carolina and New Mexico. The coalition claims the government failed to adequately review plans to “vastly ramp up production” of nuclear […]

The Department of Energy’s decision to issue a sole-source contract for construction of a nuclear cleanup research center in South Carolina to an affiliate of North Wind Group is justified in part because it helps the agency meet its annual obligation to small businesses, according to a recent procurement notice. The contract for construction of […]

The number of confirmed active cases of COVID-19 among the federal and contractor workforce for the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management is up from last week, according to figures provided Thursday by a spokesperson. There are currently 116 cases across the Environmental Management (EM) complex, which represents an increase from last week’s total […]

Barring extensions, the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management has four contracts set to expire within the next 60 days, according to the contract summary page for the $7-billion-plus nuclear cleanup branch. Portsmouth Mission Alliance, a partnership between North Wind Group and Swift & Staley, has the roughly five-year, $190-million infrastructure service contract at […]

Within 10 years, the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management hopes to have its vitrification plant humming at the Hanford Site in Washington state, with 40% of the tanks closed at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina and also be about done with legacy cleanup at the Moab Site in Utah as well […]

Barring extensions, the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management has four contracts set to expire within the next 60 days, according to the contract summary page for the $7-billion-plus nuclear cleanup branch. Portsmouth Mission Alliance, a partnership between North Wind Group and Swift & Staley, has the roughly five-year, $190-million infrastructure service contract at […]

Within 10 years, the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management hopes to have its vitrification plant humming at the Hanford Site in Washington state, with 40% of the tanks closed at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina and also be about done with legacy cleanup at the Moab Site in Utah as well […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration appointed Jason Armstrong to lead the Savannah River Field Office, the semiautonomous Department of Energy nuclear-weapon steward wrote in a press release on Monday. Armstrong was most recently assistant manager for nuclear safety and engineering at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Production Office in Tennessee, where he had worked […]

More than 10 months ago the Department of Energy published its final solicitation for a new $6.4-billion Idaho Cleanup Project contract with a 10-year ordering period and industry sources are keeping watch. Bid proposals for the environmental work around the Idaho National Laboratory were due last July and the contract has not been awarded as […]

Workers at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site should finish construction there later this year of a new storage facility for drums of down-blended plutonium that will ultimately be certified as transuranic waste and sent to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico. Once the Aiken, S.C. site’s K Area storage facility, with […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management, which as of March 31 has confirmed 4,593 cases of COVID-19 among its federal and contractor workforce since the pandemic began, has no plans to order employees to take the vaccine. An Environmental Management (EM) spokesperson provided the cumulative figure and addressed the office’s approach to vaccinations […]

About 18 months after the Department of Energy put up for sale 52 old railcars used to ship contaminated soil, Salt Lake City-based EnergySolutions bought the equipment for $350,000. The 100-ton railcars, now located at Savannah River Site in South Carolina, were used in cleanup both there and at DOE’s Fernald Closure Project outside Cincinnati, […]

While the weekly infection numbers remain well below winter levels for the Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup branch, agency officials are staying mum on when operations might return to something akin to pre-pandemic levels. “Given the current rates of COVID across the county, we have no timeline or projections on when sites will return to […]

An affiliate of Idaho-based North Wind Group was picked by the Department of Energy from a field of eight firms to build a $50-million research center for nuclear cleanup at the University of South Carolina at Aiken, located about 20 miles from the Savannah River Site. Roughly six months after issuing a sources-sought for contractors, […]

About 18 months after the Department of Energy put up for sale 52 old railcars used to ship contaminated soil, Salt Lake City-based EnergySolutions bought the equipment for $350,000. The 100-ton railcars, now located at Savannah River Site in South Carolina, were used in cleanup both there and at DOE’s Fernald Closure Project outside Cincinnati, […]

The number of confirmed, active COVID-19 cases at Department of Energy nuclear cleanup sites fell again this week to 137 —meanwhile a boss at one of the smaller remediation sites said certain indoor work will not resume there until local coronavirus stats improve.  The 137 cases at the Office of Environmental Management (EM) this week […]

Following a protest by a rival bidder with the Government Accountability Office, the Department of Energy is taking a second look at the $1-billion security contract it awarded last month to a joint venture led by Securitas CIS for the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. A notice posted on the Government Accountability Office (GAO) […]

Design work on a $50-million research center for nuclear cleanup at the University of South Carolina at Aiken should start later this year, the Department of Energy’s Environmental Management Advisory Board heard this week. The Advanced Manufacturing Collaborative, to be built about 20 miles north of the Savannah River Site, “is now fully funded” after […]

Following a protest by a rival bidder with the Government Accountability Office, the Department of Energy is taking a second look at the $1-billion security contract it awarded last month to a joint venture led by Securitas CIS for the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. A notice posted on the Government Accountability Office (GAO) […]

A Pentagon official pulled out of a scheduled public briefing about plutonium pit production at the Savannah River Site this week because of a gag order imposed by a Biden Administration review, a group advising the South Carolina government on nuclear matters said. Drew Walter, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for nuclear matters, was […]

The head of the joint venture that manages the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site expects the rate of employee COVID-19 vaccinations to go from a trickle to a steady stream in the near future. “We have about 1,500 folks that have an appointment ready to go for their vaccinations,” within the next couple of […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management said Friday there were 153 active confirmed cases of COVID-19 at its operations this week — and that the tally it provided last week, 101, was off by more than 50 cases. The actual number from last week, discovered via audit, was 168, an Environmental Management (EM) […]

A Pentagon official pulled out of a scheduled public briefing about plutonium pit production at the Savannah River Site on Monday because of a gag order imposed by a Biden Administration review, a group advising the South Carolina government on nuclear matters said. Drew Walter, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for nuclear matters, was […]

The head of the joint venture that manages the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site expects the rate of employee COVID-19 vaccinations to go from a trickle to a steady stream in the near future. “We have about 1,500 folks that have an appointment ready to go for their vaccinations,” within the next couple of […]

The Department of Energy’s long-awaited Integrated Waste Treatment Unit at the Idaho National Laboratory could start operating in mid-fall, perhaps October, a Fluor Idaho executive told the online Waste Management Symposia this week. The facility is now in the final weeks of an extended maintenance period that will precede a 50-day test run and eventual […]

With top managers stressing the need to remain vigilant, the Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management had 101 confirmed active cases of COVID-19 within the past week, continuing a downward trend that started in late January.  The figure, shared via email Thursday by an Environmental Management (EM) spokesperson, reflects a sizable drop from the […]

Best known as a military shipbuilder, Huntington Ingalls Industries has been part of the Department of Energy’s weapons complex since 2008 and hopes to expand its foothold in the sector, the president of the company’s nuclear and environmental services group said Thursday. The parent of Newport News Nuclear also has an “aspirational” interest in breaking […]

The Waste Management Symposia, a gathering of industry, government and academic nuclear waste specialists that can normally draw about 2,400 participants to Phoenix during March, starts today online with several sessions about the Department of Energy’s cleanup office. This year’s event, exclusive virtual due to COVID-19 precautions, kicks off at about 10 a.m. Eastern Time […]

Rebutting a recent letter from Washington state and the Yakama Tribe, local officials from communities around the Hanford Site this week defended the Department of Energy’s 2019 policy change on high-level waste. In a letter dated Wednesday, mayors and other officials from Benton and Franklin Counties said they are disappointed to see the state, the […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management has now logged two straight weeks with confirmed, active COVID-19 cases below the 200 mark. There are 139 confirmed, active cases of COVID-19 within the nuclear cleanup complex, an Environmental Management (EM) spokesperson said by email Thursday morning. That is down from 180 cases last week and […]