Cleanup & Remediation

The Los Alamos National Laboratory has finished technical preparations to vent the headspace of some tritium-bearing waste drums that cannot be disposed of until they’re depressurized, but the operation is on hold until after the winter, pending the approval of the state of New Mexico. The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and lab contractor Triad […]

Mark Fallon took over as chief executive officer of Aptim Corp. during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, about four years after departing CH2M: now a Jacobs subsidiary that still looms large in the nuclear-cleanup market. Boxed in by a year of telework, like many of his peers, Fallon is eager for the energy […]

The Department of Energy and Bechtel announced Wednesday in an online ceremony that construction of facilities needed to start processing low-activity tank waste are complete at the $17-billion vitrification plant at the Hanford Site in Washington state. The direct-feed low-activity waste (DFLAW) facilities at the Waste Treatment Plant include a new Analytical Laboratory, the new […]

The U.S. Civilian Board of Contract Appeals has ruled the Department of Energy was wrong to disallow $16.6 million in costs incurred over several years by parent companies of Mission Support Alliance. In a ruling dated Dec. 17, the appeals board held the agreement between DOE and the Leidos-led infrastructure services contractor team at the […]

The Low Activity Waste Facility at the Hanford Site in Washington State is now scheduled to begin solidifying liquid waste not sooner than 2024, instead of 2023, because of COVID-19, under a recent agreement between the Department of Energy and Washington state. In December, Judge Rosanna Peterson of the Eastern District of Washington approved a […]

On Monday, 14 workers at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state informed management they have tested positive for COVID-19. That is according to a bulletin posted on a DOE Hanford operations website run by the Leidos-led Mission Support Alliance. The latest batch of positive tests brings the total number of COVID-19 cases […]

Amentum-led Savannah River Remediation, the liquid waste contractor at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina, took home almost $64 million or 98% of its total potential fee for work done over an 18-month period ending Sept. 30, 2020. The contractor was rated “very good” on its subjective fee as determined by […]

In the omnibus spending bill signed this week, Congress appropriated $30 million for the National Nuclear Security Administration to continue cleaning up a downtown Seattle building that has been vacant for more than a year after an agency contractor botched the removal of a cesium-137 blood irradiator from the premises and contaminated the facility. Together […]

The Department of Energy liked what it saw in Washington River Protection Solutions’ tank waste management at the Hanford Site in Washington state during fiscal 2020. The DOE awarded the Amentum-Atkins partnership about $42.58 million or 95% out of a potential $45 million in fees for overseeing Hanford’s 56 million gallons of highly radioactive and […]

The nuclear cleanup properties overseen by the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management had 431 active cases of COVID-19 as of the close of business Wednesday. The figure, shared in a Thursday email by an Environmental Management (EM) spokesperson, is a jump from the 366 active cases reported by the office one week before […]

The Los Alamos National Laboratory has finished technical preparations to vent the headspace of some tritium-bearing waste drums that cannot be disposed of until they’re depressurized, but the operation is on hold until after the winter, pending the approval of the state of New Mexico. The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and lab contractor Triad […]

Just before Christmas, and months after two losing teams protested the award, the Department of Energy canned a $13-billion liquid-waste cleanup contract awarded in May to a BWX Technologies-led team. In a Dec. 23 memo to Hanford employees, DOE said it scrapped the Tank Closure Contract because it wants to combine that work — emptying […]

The Government Accountability Office says Hanford Tank Closure Co., made up of Atkins, Amentum and Westinghouse Government Services, is not entitled reimbursement of its legal costs for protesting a $13-billion tank closure contract issued in May by the Department of Energy. In a November decision published this month, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said the […]

Navarro-led Hanford Laboratory Management and Integration on Monday received notice from the Department of Energy to begin taking over the 222-S Laboratory at the Hanford Site in Washington state. Located in the 200-West Area of the former plutonium complex, the primary purpose of the 70,000 square foot lab is to provide analytical support for the […]

The Department of Energy said Monday that Centerra, the paramilitary security contractor at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, is taking home roughly 98% of its potential $6.73 million in fee for the 12 months ended Oct. 7. Centerra-Savannah River Site will pocket $6.58 million for providing an armed and uniformed security force for […]

The Department of Energy reiterated in Dec. 23 online comments that questions on the long-term contract, potentially worth up to $8.3-billion, at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee, are due at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time today, Monday Dec. 28. In answer to a question submitted by a potential bidder, the DOE stressed any questions should […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management said Dec. 21 that it has transferred the Separations Process Research Unit in New York from the nuclear cleanup office to the DOE Office of Naval Reactors as of Dec. 16. The DOE announced the transfer of the Separations Process Research Unit (SPRU) areas from the Office […]

UCOR, the Amentum-Jacobs team in charge of remediation at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee, earned 98% of its potential fee, almost $28 million, for its work for the final six months of fiscal 2020. The joint venture earned 100% of its $20.8 million in objective fee for meeting deadlines and accomplishing […]

The COVID-19 pandemic did not take a holiday during Christmas week, with new infections reported at Department of Energy nuclear cleanup operations such as the Hanford Site in Washington state and the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico. Supervisors at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) were notified of nine positive COVID-19 cases between […]

Cold War and Manhattan Project locations being cleaned up by the Department of Energy could be viable candidates for new nuclear power plants, a federal official said during an online presentation Wednesday. About a dozen of the 16 nuclear cleanup properties run by the DOE Office of Environmental Management (EM) boast “unique characteristics” potentially attractive […]

Cold War and Manhattan Project locations being cleaned up by the Department of Energy could be viable candidates for new nuclear power plants, a federal official said during an online presentation Wednesday. About a dozen of the 16 nuclear cleanup properties run by the DOE Office of Environmental Management (EM) boast “unique characteristics” potentially attractive […]

A group led by Navarro Research and Engineering is expected to start its transition Jan. 4 as the new contractor at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state, a source said this week. Hanford’s DOE site manager, Brian Vance, said last week during an appearance before the Hanford Advisory Board to expect the […]

The Department of Energy’s manager for the Hanford Site in Washington state expects the stabilization of three crumbling underground waste structures near the Plutonium Finishing Plant to be shored up by the end of January. “We expect to complete that project by the end of January,” Hanford’s site manager Brian Vance told a meeting of […]

The New Mexico Environment Department is still waiting on the Department of Energy to provide more details on the planned remediation of contamination discovered earlier this year on a public road outside the Los Alamos National Laboratory. The preliminary screening plan that will determine if the hazardous constituents at the 28-acre DP Road site are […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management on Friday issued its final request for proposals for the Oak Ridge Reservation Cleanup Contract in Tennessee. The potential $8.3 billion indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract has an ordering period of 10 years and the completion of the task orders are expected within 15 year, DOE said in a Friday […]

Weapons Complex Monitor will not publish next week in observance of the Christmas holiday, nor the week after, in observance of New Year’s Day. Look for the next issue in your inbox on Friday, Jan. 8. Happy 2021!

Cold War and Manhattan Project locations being cleaned up by the Department of Energy could be viable candidates for new nuclear power plants, a federal official said during an online presentation Wednesday. About a dozen of the 16 nuclear cleanup properties run by the DOE Office of Environmental Management (EM) boast “unique characteristics” potentially attractive […]

Weapons Complex Morning Briefing will not publish next week in observance of the Christmas holiday. Look for the next issue in your inbox on Monday, Dec. 28.

The Washington state Department of Ecology will hold an online public hearing Jan. 21 on proposed modifications to certain facilities at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site. The DOE and contractor Washington River Protection Solutions seek a class 2 modification to allow expansion of loading areas at the Liquid Effluent Retention Facility and the 200 […]

Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.), whose district includes the Savannah River Site, has tested positive for COVID-19, the congressman’s office said in a statement late Wednesday. “Earlier this evening I learned that I have tested positive for COVID-19,” Wilson said in the written statement posted to his website. “I will be taking all necessary precautions, as […]