Savannah River Site

A major coal ash cleanup project at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina was completed this month, more than a year ahead of schedule and for about $9 million less than the original $74 million estimate. The agency said in a press release Friday that site management contractor Savannah River Nuclear […]

Longtime Department of Energy nuclear cleanup manager Ken Picha will join Strata-G, a Knoxville, Tenn.-based subcontractor, on Dec. 1. Picha, who has most recently been the DOE Office of Environmental Management’s acting associate principal deputy assistant secretary for field operations, is retiring from federal service at the end of this week, an industry source said […]

An employee at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina has sued its management and operations contractor for more than $75,000, alleging he was severely injured while working on a trailer that had not been safely maintained. The lawsuit, filed Nov. 7 in U.S. District Court for South Carolina, says Henry Bradley […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) was wrong to withhold about $1 million in wage-related payments under a now-canceled contract to build a plutonium disposal plant in South Carolina, a federal judge ruled Friday. The agency must now return the money withheld from MOX Services, prime contractor on the unfinished Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility […]

WASHINGTON — The aspiring chair of the House Armed Services Committee wants to scrap the Trump administration’s Nuclear Posture Review, whip up a multilateral Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces-style treaty, and take a run at making no-first-use the nuclear law of the land. Speaking here Wednesday at the Ploughshares Fund’s “Future of U.S. Nuclear Policy” conference, Rep. […]

Longtime Department of Energy nuclear cleanup manager Ken Picha will join Strata-G, a Knoxville, Tenn.-based subcontractor, on Dec. 1. Picha, who has most recently been the DOE Office of Environmental Management’s acting associate principal deputy assistant secretary for field operations, is retiring from federal service at the end of this week, an industry source said […]

An employee at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina has sued its management and operations contractor for more than $75,000, alleging he was severely injured while working on a trailer that had not been safely maintained. The lawsuit, filed Nov. 7 in U.S. District Court for South Carolina, says Henry Bradley […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) was wrong to withhold about $1 million in wage-related payments under a now-canceled contract to build a plutonium disposal plant in South Carolina, a federal judge ruled Friday. The agency must now return the money withheld from MOX Services, prime contractor on the unfinished Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility […]

International infrastructure company AECOM expects to be in the running for perhaps a half-dozen contracts from the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management in the next couple years. AECOM Chief Financial Officer Troy Rudd made the observation Monday during the company’s quarterly earnings call. The company expects to bid on five DOE cleanup contracts in […]

The prime contractor for the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility will lay off roughly a third of its workforce in early January, according to federally required layoff notices filed Nov. 8, two days after the U.S. midterm elections.  CB&I Project Services, now part of McDermott and a subcontractor-owner of Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) prime […]

The contractor that manages the U.S. Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site took appropriate actions upon finding that a solution sample taken at a key processing facility contained a higher level of plutonium than it should have. The incident, characterized as an anomaly, resulted in no criticality issues, harm to the environment, or danger to […]

Jeff Griffin, a longtime manager around the Energy Department complex, is the new head of field operations for the agency’s Office of Environmental Management (EM). Griffin, previously associate director for environmental management at the Savannah River National Laboratory in South Carolina, has been named EM’s new associate principal deputy assistant secretary for field operations. Assistant […]

Cathy Hickey has departed her post as president of Westinghouse Government Services, 17 months after the company opened a new office just outside of Washington, D.C., to increase its visibility within the Energy Department contracting world. Hickey “chose to leave via a voluntary separation package,” Westinghouse Electric spokeswoman Sarah Cassella said by email Wednesday. Company […]

While Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) easily won re-election Tuesday, his ability to influence the money flow to the Energy Department’s Idaho National Laboratory, and federal nuclear cleanup operations as a whole, appears to be on the decline. Simpson took more than 60 percent of the vote in Idaho’s 2nd Congressional District to decisively defeat Democrat […]

The lead attorney at the Savannah River Site was honored by the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) for helping the agency pivot away from processing surplus weapon-usable plutonium at the South Carolina facility’s now-canceled Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF). Mary-Ellen Noone, counsel for the NNSA Savannah River Field Office, won the NNSA General Counsel […]

BWX Technologies has rolled up a trio of big “wins” in the Energy Department’s cleanup complex during the past 12 months and is hoping for more, President and CEO Rex Geveden said Wednesday. “There remain significant pending opportunities including the re-award of the Savannah River [Site] liquid waste contract, Savannah River management and operations,” along […]

While Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) easily won re-election Tuesday, his ability to influence the money flow to the Energy Department’s Idaho National Laboratory, and federal nuclear cleanup operations as a whole, appears to be on the decline. Simpson took more than 60 percent of the vote in Idaho’s 2nd Congressional District to decisively defeat Democrat Aaron […]

BWX Technologies on Tuesday reported third-quarter 2018 revenue of $426 million, 1.5 percent more than the $419 million recorded for the same period in 2017. The Lynchburg, Va.-based contractor to the Energy Department and the nuclear industry also said its net income for the quarter ended Sept. 30 was $77.9 million, or $0.78 per diluted […]

Jeff Griffin is the new head of field operations for the agency’s Office of Environmental Management (EM). Griffin, previously associate director for environmental management at the Savannah River National Laboratory in South Carolina, has been named EM’s new associate principal deputy assistant secretary for field operations. Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management Anne Marie White made […]

Nuclear industry veteran Bob Cochran has been named president of Westinghouse Government Services, effective Nov. 1. He succeeds Cathy Hickey, who on Nov. 1 became executive vice president at Department of Energy contractor Navarro Research and Engineering in Oak Ridge, Tenn. Cochran has been a director for Virginia-based Westinghouse Government Services for about 18 months, […]

The lead attorney at the Savannah River Site was honored by the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) for helping the agency pivot away from processing surplus weapon-usable plutonium at the South Carolina facility’s now-canceled Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF). Mary-Ellen Noone, counsel for the NNSA Savannah River Field Office, won the NNSA General Counsel […]

Lynchburg, Va.-based BWX Technologies will issue its quarterly earnings report for the three months ended Sept. 30 after market close Tuesday, then will discuss the results in a conference call at 8:30 a.m. EST Wednesday. In August, BWX Technologies reported $439 million in revenue for the second quarter of 2018, a 7.1 percent uptick from […]

The Department of Energy said this week it has started work to move a metric ton of plutonium out of South Carolina, after three federal appeals judges affirmed a lower court’s order to remove the material from the state by Jan. 1, 2020. Barring an escalation to the U.S. Supreme Court, or a rehearing in the U.S. […]

Fluor Chairman and CEO David Seaton on Thursday lauded two Department of Energy contract extensions for programs led by the company and expressed optimism about winning more business during the fourth quarter. The Fluor-led Savannah River Nuclear Solutions team, which manages the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, received a 12-month contract extension from in […]

The congressional district that covers the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) will have new representation in January after incumbent Rep. Steve Pearce stepped aside to run for New Mexico governor. Pearce is facing off against a colleague in Congress, Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-N.M.), to succeed term-limited governor Susana Martinez, a Republican. Pearce, […]

The Energy Department said this week it is reviewing a new baseline laying out an updated cost and schedule for completion of the Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF) at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. The agency has not released details of the baseline submitted in June by SWPF contractor Parsons or said when […]

After about a month of negotiations, the Department of Energy and the prime contractor for the canceled Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility could not agree to settle their differences over some $1 million in disputed payments related to raises the company gave 55 employees a few years ago. “Unfortunately, the parties’ efforts have not resulted […]

Lynchburg, Va.-based BWX Technologies has selected executive David Brown to head a joint venture, BWSR LLC, focused on decommissioning and tearing down facilities at Naval Nuclear Laboratory sites. As president of BWSR, Brown will lead the 250-person BWXT Technical Services Group-APTIM Federal Services team that provides cleanup at sites under contract to Fluor Marine Propulsion […]

Contractors and other observers are still waiting to see who will be selected as permanent second in command for the U.S. Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management (EM). “We are all waiting on an EM-2” to be named, one industry source said Monday, using the common term for the principal deputy assistant secretary to the […]

Fluor, the Dallas-based engineering, procurement, and construction company, has scheduled its next quarterly earnings conference call for 5:30 p.m. Thursday. The company’s third-quarter earnings report will be released shortly after the stock market closes at 4 p.m. The Department of Energy contractor held a preliminary earnings call Oct. 10 in which it discussed its ongoing woes […]