Savannah River Site

Las Vegas-based Longenecker & Associates said Tuesday it has hired nuclear industry veteran Mike Briggs to the newly created post of senior program manager for operational support. Briggs, who has worked on major projects within the Energy Department complex, will oversee L&A’s operational support business, which includes training, nuclear safety, and radiation protection. “As L&A […]

The Department of Energy aims later this month to resume liquid waste processing at the Savannah River Site, two months after the initial March projection. Meeting that schedule would cap off a 15- month pause of waste processing at the DOE facility near Aiken, S.C. The two-month delay was caused by a malfunctioning diesel generator […]

A leaked report from a nominally independent office within the National Nuclear Security Administration offers a trove of new details about the cost estimate for a plan the agency must sell to Congress in order to start producing nuclear-warhead cores in South Carolina. On Thursday, Energy Secretary Rick Perry said he would officially cancel the […]

South Carolina may once again sue the Department of Energy, this time for terminating the Savannah River Site’s MOX project, state Attorney General Alan Wilson hinted in a statement on Monday. This would be South Carolina’s fourth lawsuit since 2016 against the federal government over plutonium disposal at the DOE facility near the city of Aiken. “We have […]

It will cost about $20 billion to dispose of 34 metric tons of surplus weapon-grade plutonium by burying it in the New Mexico desert, compared with almost $50 billion to convert the material into commercial reactor fuel using an unfinished facility in South Carolina, Energy Secretary Rick Perry told Congress on Thursday. The preliminary life-cycle […]

Seeking to cut the time it will spend in court, the Department of Energy last week asked a federal judge to consolidate five lawsuits filed against the agency by the prime contractor on a long-delayed plutonium-disposal plant in South Carolina. CB&I AREVA MOX Services first sued the Department of Energy (DOE) in the U.S. Court […]

A new project baseline for the Savannah River Site’s Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF) is expected in the next few months, according to the Department of Energy and contractor Parsons. The new baseline, which DOE requested in a March 7 notice of concern to Parsons SWPF Project Manager Frank Sheppard, should include a new projected date for […]

The New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) plans to rule by June 1 on a proposal from the U.S. Energy Department to modify the method used to calculate the volume of transuranic waste being disposed of at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). The Energy Department and site contractor Nuclear Waste Partnership filed the application Jan. […]

Top executives at AECOM and BWX Technologies this week made clear their companies still aim to come out on top in the extended contest for a multibillion-dollar contract at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina. David Black, senior vice president and chief financial officer at Virginia-based BWXT, addressed the situation in […]

An Energy Department contractor at the Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina is seeking expressions of interest from subcontractors potentially interested in conducting concrete testing at Saltstone Disposal Unit (SDU) 7. Savannah River Remediation said in a May 8 post on a federal contracting website it is seeking responses by June 15. The AECOM-led […]

The U.S. Department of Energy and South Carolina said Tuesday they probably will not settle their differences about whether the agency owes the state hundreds of millions of dollars for its failure to remove plutonium from the state by 2016. That conclusion was all but foregone, as South Carolina has already submitted a motion for […]

AECOM reported Tuesday that its quarterly revenue was up both company-wide and for its business branch that counts the Department of Energy among its government customers. The Los Angeles-based engineering and infrastructure specialist reported $4.8 billion in quarterly revenue, up 8.2 percent from the $4.4 billion recorded during the first three months of 2017. After […]

A team led by BWX Technologies would probably not start transitioning to management of liquid waste operations at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina until the fourth quarter, if it retains a previously awarded Energy Department contract, according to David Black, BWXT’s senior vice president and chief financial officer. An article in the Tuesday […]

An Energy Department contractor at the Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina is seeking expressions of interest from subcontractors potentially interested in conducting concrete testing at Saltstone Disposal Unit (SDU) 7. Savannah River Remediation said in a May 8 post on a federal contracting website it is seeking responses by June 15. The AECOM-led […]

Seeking to cut the time it will spend in court, the Department of Energy last week asked a federal judge to consolidate five lawsuits filed against the agency by the prime contractor on a long-delayed plutonium-disposal plant in South Carolina. CB&I AREVA MOX Services first sued the Department of Energy (DOE) in the U.S. Court […]

It will probably be late September before there is resolution of the dispute over the final liquid-waste management contract for the Energy Department’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina, a BWX Technologies official said Monday. The situation has dragged on longer than expected, David Black, senior vice president and chief financial officer, said during the […]

Two major Energy Department contractors, Dallas-based Jacobs and Los Angeles-based AECOM, will report quarterly earnings and brief financial analysts on Tuesday. Jacobs executives will discuss earnings, for the quarter ended March 31, during a conference call with financial analysts on Tuesday at 10 a.m. Eastern time. AECOM will hold its conference call at 12 noon […]

The governor of South Carolina this week promised a court challenge if the Department of Energy cancels the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) under construction in his state, or turns the planned plutonium-disposal plant into a new weapons facility. The sprawling facility, billions over budget and years behind schedule, is being built to turn […]

Sentencing has been scheduled for the two men who pleaded guilty to stealing $4.4 million from the federal government while conducting work for the MOX project at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina. Aaron Vennefron and Phillip Thompson will both be sentenced on May 24 by Judge J. Michelle Childs, of […]

A federal judge has decided to let the Department of Energy and a contractor argue in court about whether the agency was allowed to claw back some $20 million in fees on a long-overdue, over-budget plutonium disposal plant in South Carolina. That is according to an April 27 order by U.S. Court of Federal Claims Judge […]

The governor of South Carolina this week promised a court challenge if the Department of Energy cancels the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) under construction in his state, or turns the planned plutonium-disposal plant into a new weapons facility. The sprawling facility, billions over budget and years behind schedule, is being built to turn […]

The Energy Department needs to address some shortcomings in fire protection at the Solid Waste Management Facility (SWMF) at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) said recently. There is no comprehensive fire-detection system covering the entirety of the facility, which is staffed only four days per week […]

The government sector was one of the few bright spots early this year in what Fluor Chairman and CEO David Seaton described Thursday as “a disastrous quarter.” “I think we have a good brand in that market and are continuing to bid those projects and being successful,” Seaton said of the company’s business with the […]

The Washington state Department of Ecology has postponed, for now, a second public meeting to seek input on management of waste storage tunnels at the PUREX Plant at the Hanford Site in Washington state, after the older of the two tunnels was found to be partially collapsed last May. Since then work crews had by […]

At least one member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform said last week he supports giving the Hanford Site in Washington state the ability to pursue lower-cost options for disposal of millions of tons of radioactive waste. Rep. Steve Russell (R-Okla.) said he favors giving the Energy Department extra flexibility at Hanford […]

Parsons has asked Energy Department officials to retract a notice of concern that claimed significant mismanagement in the company’s work to start up the multibillion-dollar Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF) at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. In an April 6 letter obtained by Weapons Complex Monitor, Parsons SWPF project manager Frank Sheppard said the March […]

The Energy Department needs to address some shortcomings in fire protection at the Solid Waste Management Facility (SWMF) at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) said recently. There is no comprehensive fire-detection system covering the entirety of the facility, which is staffed only four days per week […]

Sentencing has been scheduled for the two men who pleaded guilty to stealing $4.4 million from the federal government while conducting work for the MOX project at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina. Aaron Vennefron and Phillip Thompson will both be sentenced on May 24 by Judge J. Michelle Childs, of […]

The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) will hold a public meeting today in Washington, D.C., as part of its study of the viability of the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico to dispose of downblended plutonium from the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. The preliminary agenda for the 2:30 p.m. […]

Parsons has asked Energy Department officials to rescind a notice of concern that claimed significant mismanagement in the company’s work to start up the multibillion-dollar Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF) at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. In an April 6 letter obtained by Weapons Complex Morning Briefing, Parsons SWPF project manager Frank Sheppard said […]