Archive

Cleanup & Remediation

Coverage of DOE-EM’s multi-billion-dollar effort to address Cold War and Manhattan Project nuclear legacy waste, including tank waste treatment, site remediation, and decommissioning at Hanford, Savannah River, Oak Ridge, and other major sites.

  • UCOR Reaps 98% of Potential Fee in 1H 2021

    For the second review period in a row UCOR, the Amentum-Jacobs cleanup team at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee, is pocketing 98% of its potential fee from the Department of Energy. The contractor earned 100% of its almost $7.9 million potential fee for the first half of fiscal 2021, from Oct. 1, 2020 through […]

  • West Valley Contractor Eyes Demo of Main Plant Building Early Next Year

    The Department of Energy’s Jacobs-led contractor for remediation of the West Valley Demonstration Project in western New York could begin taking down the Main Plant Process Building this year, a manager said at a public meeting Wednesday. Deactivation of the contaminated facility should be finished later this fall, although the schedule could always slip due […]

  • Centerra Bid Protest on SRS Security Contract Dismissed for Now

    The Government Accountability Office has formally dismissed a bid protest brought last month by incumbent Centerra over the Department of Energy’s $1-billion security contract award to a rival at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina — but that might not be the end of the dispute. In a notice dated Aug. 9, the Government […]

  • State, DOE to Discuss Plans for New Waste Panels at WIPP

    A public meeting is set for 5 p.m. Mountain Time today as the New Mexico Environment Department reviews plans by the Department of Energy and its prime contractor for two new underground disposal panels at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad. The Amentum-led Nuclear Waste Partnership, which includes BXW Technologies, will present information on […]

  • Take Cover Order Lifted Hours After Hanford Workers Smell Odors

    The Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state lifted a take cover order about four hours after workers detected strange odors Wednesday morning in the 200 West Area of the cleanup complex. Crews investigating reports of odors near the Reduction Oxidation (REDOX) plant found no evidence of radiation or a chemical release near the […]

  • UCOR Reaps 98% of Potential Fee in 1H 2021

    For the second review period in a row UCOR, the Amentum-Jacobs cleanup team at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee, is pocketing 98% of its potential fee from the Department of Energy. The contractor earned 100% of its almost $7.9 million potential fee for the first half of fiscal 2021, from Oct. 1, 2020 through […]

  • Portsmouth Cleanup Contractor Pockets 85% of Potential Fee

    Overall, Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth claimed $30 million, or 85% of a potential $35.3 million in total available fee, for its work at the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site for an 18-month period ending March 31. The Fluor-led contractor earned $7.4 million or 70% out a potential $10.6 million in subjective fee, according to the scorecard from […]

  • Judge Says SBA Miscounted Size of Swift & Staley JV in Ruling Out Company for Small Biz Award

    An appeals panel within the Small Business Administration erred in May when it found Swift & Staley was too big to qualify for a $160-million Department of Energy set-aside contract for services at the Paducah Site in Kentucky, a U.S. Court of Federal Claims Judge ruled. The ruling turned on whether a Swift & Staley […]

  • West Valley Contractor Eyes Demo of Main Plant Building Early Next Year

    The Department of Energy’s Jacobs-led contractor for remediation of the West Valley Demonstration Project in western New York could begin taking down the Main Plant Process Building this year, a manager said at a public meeting Wednesday. Deactivation of the contaminated facility should be finished later this fall, although the schedule could always slip due […]

  • DOE Gears Up Vaccine Vetting, Testing Program at Hanford

    The Department of Energy is implementing an electronic system for employees and contractors to either verify they are vaccinated against COVID-19, or refuse to reveal their status, according to a Monday letter to workers at the Hanford Site in Washington state. “On Friday, DOE launched an electronic vaccination attestation form to obtain information from federal […]

  • Challenge to Carlsbad Tech Contract Dismissed at GAO

    A bid protest filed in July after Navarro Research & Engineering won the $76-million Carlsbad Technical Assistance Contract from the Department of Energy has been dismissed. According to a notice filed Friday on the Government Accountability Office (GAO) website, the challenge lodged July 26 by Pecos Technical Solutions has been dismissed. At DOE’s direction, Oak […]

  • Draft of House Version of 2022 NDAA Authorizes Big Outlay for Defense Cleanup

    The House Armed Services Committee’s version of the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2022 would authorize the full $6.84 billion sought by the Joe Biden administration for Defense Environmental Cleanup at Department of Energy nuclear sites, according to the chairman’s mark. Defense cleanup of 16 Cold War and Manhattan Project sites accounts for most […]

  • Veolia Wins 89% of Fee in Final 7 Months at 222-S Lab

    Veolia earned about 89% of its potential fee from the Department of Energy during its last seven months of analytic work at the Department of Energy’s 222 S Laboratory at the Hanford Site in Washington state. That is according to a fee scorecard published by DOE earlier this month. A Veolia unit took home $148,707 […]

  • N3B Los Alamos Lacks Mandate, But Most Vaccinated

    While the management contractor for the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico has ordered its employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19 by this fall, the legacy nuclear cleanup contractor at the site had not, at deadline. Newport News Nuclear BWXT Los Alamos (N3B) “encourages vaccinations against COVID-19 among its employees and […]

  • Swift & Staley Gets Favorable Ruling in Paducah Small Biz Lawsuit

    Swift and Staley may yet keep a key small business support contract at the Paducah Site in Kentucky after the Court of Federal Claims last week granted motions sought by the contractor in a lawsuit.  A federal judge in Washington, D.C., on Friday issued a written opinion, not yet publicly available, in an appeal Swift […]

  • With No SRS Waste Award Yet, Bid Offers Could Get Stale

    If the Department of Energy does not make an award soon for the Integrated Mission Completion Contract at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, the agency might need to contact bidders to ensure offers on the multibillion-dollar procurement are still good, sources said this week. The DOE issued its request for proposals nearly 11 […]

  • Centerra Bid Protest on SRS Security Contract Dismissed for Now

    The Government Accountability Office has formally dismissed a bid protest brought last month by incumbent Centerra over the Department of Energy’s $1-billion security contract award to a rival at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina — but that might not be the end of the dispute. In a notice dated Aug. 9, the Government […]

  • Comments Sought by DOE on Draft Environmental Review for 2,000-Gallon Test Bed

    The Department of Energy is taking public comment on a draft environmental assessment of its plan to grout up to 2,000 gallons of low-activity tank waste at the Hanford Site in Washington and ship the material out of state.  The 14-day public comment period on the Test Best Initiative, officially started Saturday and runs through […]

  • S.C. Lawmakers to Discuss Division of S.C. Plutonium Settlement Money Next Week

    An ad hoc committee of the South Carolina legislature was scheduled to discuss on Aug. 24 which of the counties surrounding the Savannah River Site in Aiken, S.C., will share in a $600 million federal plutonium settlement. “I want to make sure our friends from Aiken understand that Aiken County is not the only consideration […]

  • WIPP Bounced Back with 41 Shipments in July

    The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant received 41 shipments of defense-related transuranic waste in July, making it one of the busier months since the COVID-19 pandemic started spreading in the United States in early 2020. Last month’s total is up from the 23 shipments in July 2020, during deep pandemic times. It is […]

  • White House Considering EM-1 Nominees, Source Says

    President Joe Biden’s administration is starting to weigh potential nominees for a permanent assistant secretary for environmental management, including one who has held the post before, an industry source said last week. Under consideration for a possible return to the nuclear-weapons cleanup office is Monica Regalbuto, who led the office from 2015 until 2017 and […]

  • Idaho Penalties Against DOE Near $11M; Tab Lowered by Enviro Work, COVID Credit

    As of mid-August, Idaho had assessed almost $11 million in civil penalties against the Department of Energy for the federal government’s failure to begin cleanup of sodium-bearing byproducts of nuclear fuel reprocessing at Idaho National Laboratory. The bill was partially offset by about $1.64 million in penalty reductions to account for 273 days when DOE […]

  • Empty Spent Fuel Canister Arrives at Oak Ridge for Long-Term Storage Testing

    An unused spent fuel storage canister that arrived at Oak Ridge National Laboratory Wednesday will be used to investigate long-term storage solutions for the nation’s nuclear waste, according to a press release. The 22-ton empty canister will boost a research team at the Tennessee-based Oak Ridge (ORNL) that is “​​investigating methods to help the nation […]

  • S.C. Lawmakers to Discuss Division of S.C. Plutonium Settlement Money Next Week

    An ad hoc committee of the South Carolina legislature was scheduled to discuss on Aug. 24 which of the counties surrounding the Savannah River Site in Aiken, S.C., will share in a $600 million federal plutonium settlement. “I want to make sure our friends from Aiken understand that Aiken County is not the only consideration […]

  • Empty Spent Fuel Canister Arrives at Oak Ridge for Long-Term Storage Testing

    An unused spent fuel storage canister once intended for use at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station arrived at Oak Ridge National Laboratory on Wednesday to become part of an investigation into long-term storage solutions for the nation’s nuclear waste, the lab said. An Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) research team in Oak Ridge, Tenn., […]

  • S.C. Lawmakers to Discuss Division of S.C. Plutonium Settlement Money Next Week

    An ad hoc committee of the South Carolina legislature was scheduled to discuss on Aug. 24 which of the counties surrounding the Savannah River Site in Aiken, S.C., will share in a $600 million federal plutonium settlement. “I want to make sure our friends from Aiken understand that Aiken County is not the only consideration […]

  • White House Considering EM-1 Nominees, Source Says

    President Joe Biden’s administration is starting to weigh potential nominees for a permanent assistant secretary for environmental management, including one who has held the post before, an industry source said last week. Under consideration for a possible return to the nuclear-weapons cleanup office is Monica Regalbuto, who led the office from 2015 until 2017 and […]

  • State Still Awaiting DOE 2,000-Gallon Test Bed Filing for Hanford

    The Washington state Department of Ecology has yet to receive a Department of Energy package on federal plans for a 2,000-gallon test of the Test Bed Initiative, where some low-activity tank waste from the Hanford Site would be grouted and shipped out-of-state for final disposal. The DOE Office of Environmental Management informed the state agency […]

  • Carlsbad Tech Services Handover Should be Complete Sept. 1

    Navarro Research & Engineering should take over Sept. 1 as the new Technical Assistance contractor at the Department of Energy’s Carlsbad Field Office in New Mexico, an agency spokesperson confirmed Tuesday. The Oak Ridge, Tenn.,-based company, which beat out five other bidders for the potential five-year, $76-million small business set-aside, received its notice to proceed […]

  • Hanford To Begin New Type of Reactor Cocooning in September

    On Monday, the Central Plateau Cleanup Company awarded a $9.5 million subcontract to DGR Grant Construction Inc. of Richland to build a steel enclosure over the Hanford Site’s K East Reactor.  The work is to be finished by 2023. The Amentum-led Central Plateau Cleanup Company (CPCC) is the prime Department of Energy contractor for solid […]