Savannah River Site

Savannah River Nuclear Solutions said Tuesday it has commissioned a second furnace to prepare for four planned tritium extractions next year at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in Aiken, S.C. The Fluor-led site management and operations contractor said in a press release it had fired up a “previously unused” second furnace some time […]

BWX Technologies President and CEO Rex Geveden said Tuesday the U.S. Energy Department should soon issue one multibillion-dollar contract at the Hanford Site in Washington state, while another probably won’t land until mid-2020. “In the coming weeks we expect to hear about the Hanford Plateau Central Cleanup contract for which we are competing,” Geveden said […]

The liquid waste contractor for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site double-stacked 191 canisters of treated liquid radioactive waste in fiscal 2019, and plans to stack another 300 containers in the current 2020 federal budget year. Savannah River Remediation (SRR) says the project costs about $3 million annually and is freeing up space […]

Less than a month after being awarded $1.5 million from a federal jury for discrimination during a rehiring process, a former employee of the Savannah River Site’s liquid waste contractor is seeking an additional $1 million in compensation. That amount represents the pay she would have received from the time she was terminated in 2013 […]

Prospects for timely passage of a full 2020 budget for the Department of Energy and other agencies dimmed a little this week, when most Senate Democrats refused to curtail debate on spending legislation that includes funding for President Donald Trump’s proposed southern border wall. The Senate failed Thursday to invoke cloture on a basket of […]

Bruce Stanski, the Fluor finance chief who stepped down in June as the company prepared to shed its government services business, is still consulting with the foundering construction giant as it seeks to right the ship, according to a regulatory filing. Stanski left the company in June but late last week signed an agreement to […]

The U.S. Government Accountability Office said Tuesday the Department of Energy should provide better documentation of how it manages the payments in lieu of taxes (PILT) program for communities around nuclear facilities. The Energy Department handed out $23 million in PILT revenue to communities near a dozen nuclear laboratory and cleanup sites in fiscal 2017. […]

Engineering, construction, and procurement giant Fluor continues to experience rough waters a month after announcing plans to sell its government services branch, which includes its U.S. Department of Energy contracts. For its third quarter ended Sept. 30, Fluor reported a net loss from continuing operations of $782 million, or $5.57 per diluted share, compared to […]

A federal judge did not recognize the Department of Energy’s legal obligation to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in plutonium-related fines to South Carolina, or properly vet the state’s claim that the agency has the money to pay up, according to court papers filed this week. In appealing the ruling in the 2016 lawsuit […]

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Energy might still be pursuing a potentially illegal policy of curtailing Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) oversight of certain nuclear-weapon sites, a board member said this week. The DNFSB held the meeting to quiz DOE and National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) officials about their reasoning for rejecting a […]

Engineering, construction, and procurement giant Fluor continues to experience rough waters a month after announcing plans to sell its government services branch, which includes its U.S. Department of Energy contracts. For its third quarter ended Sept. 30, Fluor reported a net loss from continuing operations of $782 million, or $5.57 per diluted share, compared to […]

The U.S. Government Accountability Office said Tuesday the Department of Energy should provide better documentation of how it manages the payments in lieu of taxes (PILT) program for communities around nuclear facilities. The Energy Department handed out $23 million in PILT revenue to communities near a dozen nuclear laboratory and cleanup sites in fiscal 2017. […]

A federal judge did not recognize the Department of Energy’s legal obligation to pay millions of dollars in plutonium-related fines to South Carolina, or properly vet the state’s claim that the agency has the money to pay up, according to newly filed court papers. In appealing the ruling of the 2016 lawsuit in the Court […]

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Energy is still pursuing a potentially illegal policy of curtailing Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) oversight of certain nuclear-weapon sites, a board member said during a meeting Monday. The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board held the meeting to quiz DOE and National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) officials about […]

Less than a month after being awarded $1.5 million from a federal jury for discrimination during a rehiring process, a former employee of the Savannah River Site’s liquid waste contractor is seeking an additional $1 million in compensation. That amount represents the pay she would have received from the time she was terminated in 2013 […]

Texas-based Fluor will discuss its quarterly financial performance Thursday for the first time since announcing its plans last month to divest its government contracting business. It’s also the engineering and construction company’s first quarterly review since another Energy Department contractor, AECOM, said earlier this month it has agreed to sell its government contracting branch to […]

The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) plans to produce intercontinental ballistic missile warhead cores starting in the next decade could delay plans to dilute and dispose of 34 metric tons of surplus weapon-usable plutonium, the Government Accountability Office reported Wednesday. There are two reasons why, according to the 39-page report, “Surplus Plutonium Disposition: NNSA’s Long-Term […]

Navy Vice Adm. Charles Richard, the Donald Trump administration’s nominee to lead U.S. Strategic Command, on Thursday told the Senate Armed Services Committee that there are “issues” with the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) plan to produce 80 new nuclear weapon cores a year by 2030. “That requirement is sound,” Richard said, but “there are […]

An independent opinion that could help determine the outcome of a federal lawsuit claiming a Savannah River Site contractor overcharged the federal government by $5 million is still being decided after nearly three years, according to a status report recently filed in the case. The joint status report was submitted by the U.S. Department of Energy and […]

Startup of the Savannah River Site’s $2.3 billion Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF) has been pushed back to the first quarter of next year, following initial efforts to begin operations in December 2018 and a more recent target of December 2019. Meanwhile, Parsons said it has received an undisclosed amount of back pay owed by […]

Both AECOM and the investment group planning to buy its government contracting business could call off the deal if it takes too long to complete, according to a recent financial filing. AECOM plans to sell its Management Services business to Maverick Purchaser Sub LLC, a joint venture formed by investment firms American Securities and Lindsay […]

The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) plans to produce intercontinental ballistic missile warhead cores starting in the next decade could delay plans to dilute and dispose of 34 metric tons of surplus weapon-usable plutonium, the Government Accountability Office reported Wednesday. There are two reasons why, according to the 39-page report, “Surplus Plutonium Disposition: NNSA’s […]

Both AECOM and the investment group planning to buy its government contracting business could call off the deal if it takes too long to complete, according to a recent financial filing. AECOM plans to sell its Management Services business to Maverick Purchaser Sub LLC, a joint venture formed by investment firms American Securities and Lindsay […]

An independent opinion that could help determine the outcome of a federal lawsuit claiming a Savannah River Site contractor overcharged the federal government by $5 million is still being decided after nearly three years, according to a status report recently filed in the case. The joint status report was submitted by the U.S. Department of Energy and […]

The schedule for startup of the Savannah River Site’s $2.3 billion Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF) has been pushed back to early next year, following initial efforts to begin operations in December 2018 and a more recent target of December 2019. The SWPF Operational Readiness Review should be completed by January, according to Bryce McDevitt, […]

The Jacobs-led company in charge of cleanup of the former gaseous diffusion plant at the U.S. Energy Department’s Paducah Site in Kentucky has selected a new top executive. Myrna Redfield, who has about 30 years experience in environmental management, was named president and CEO/project manager at Four Rivers Nuclear Partnership on Aug. 29, the joint […]

AECOM announced Monday it plans to sell its government contracting business for $2.4 billion to two investment firms rather than advancing a previous plan to spin the branch off into a stand-alone public company. Affiliates of New York City-based American Securities and Lindsay Goldberg are joining to buy AECOM’s Management Services business. In its press […]

Rick Perry on Thursday announced his resignation as the Donald Trump administration’s first secretary of energy after more than two-and-a-half years on the job. In a published letter to President Donald Trump, Perry said he would resign “later this year” from the Cabinet. Dan Brouillette, the deputy secretary of energy, will then take over as […]

Parsons carried out four proficiency drills between July and September at the Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF), which is expected to open in December at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina The contractor in charge of building and starting up the plant plans five more drills through November,  according to a […]

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday declined without comment to hear South Carolina’s argument that an appeals court illegally denied the state its right to contest the Department of Energy’s decision to close an over-budget, behind-schedule plutonium-disposal plant last year. The decision from the high court, for which there is no appeal, spells the end […]