Cleanup & Remediation

Rep. Rick Allen (R-Ga.), whose district includes Augusta, a major bedroom community for the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in neighboring South Carolina, has tested positive for the coronavirus. “I have been undergoing regular COVID-19 testing and learned today that I have tested positive for COVID-19,” Allen said in a press release posted on […]

In a recent Federal Register notice, the Department of Energy announced its decision to start groundwater remediation in Area IV of the Santa Susana Field Laboratory in Ventura County, Calif. The DOE said its preferred alternative for most of the area combines treatment and monitored natural attenuation.  The DOE said in its Nov. 10 record […]

The Department of Energy’s enforcement branch has proposed a $580,700 civil penalty against the cleanup contractor at the Idaho National Laboratory in connection with an April 2018 episode where four drums of radioactive sludge overheated and blew off their lids. In a letter dated Nov. 20, Kevin Dressman who directs the enforcement office for DOE’s […]

With more than 337,000 votes in and “only a few remaining ballots to be counted” in California’s 25th congressional district, incumbent Rep. Mike Garcia (R-Calif.) claimed late Friday he has won by a few hundred votes over challenger Christy Smith (D), who called the declaration premature. “After a long tough fight, I am proud to […]

Even with the Department of Energy missing its groundwater sampling targets for 2020, officials with both the Washington state Department of Ecology and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency are satisfied with catchup efforts, officials said Friday. “Under the circumstances, we think what USDOE doing is OK,” Washington Ecology spokesman Randy Bradbury said in an email, […]

The Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state saw four more employees test positive for the coronavirus Saturday. That is according to an employee advisory posted on the emergency operations website, for Hanford, currently managed by site services contractor Mission Support Alliance. The unofficial total of cases is now 228 based largely upon bulletins […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is seeking comment on a draft environmental impact statement concerning the proposed transfer of waste from the site of the largest nuclear waste spill in U.S. history to a nearby mine. United Nuclear Corporation (UNC), now owned by General Electric, proposed to amend its license to excavate some 1 million cubic […]

Weapons Complex Monitor will not be published on Nov. 27 in observance of the Thanksgiving Day holiday. Look for the next issue in your inbox on Friday, Dec. 4.

Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.), whose district includes the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site, announced Wednesday he has tested positive for the coronavirus and is experiencing mild symptoms.  Newhouse, who represents Washington’s 4th congressional district, tweeted that he “began to feel a little run down yesterday, so I took a COVID-19 test” and the results came […]

With more than 335,000 ballots cast in California’s 25th congressional district, incumbent Mike Garcia (R) has widened his lead to 466 votes over Christy Smith (D) as of Thursday evening, according to the Santa Clara Signal and other outlets. Garcia’s lead had dipped to slightly over 100 votes at one point, according to news reports. […]

Cleaning up the former plutonium production complex at the Hanford Site in Washington state could be even more costly and take longer than expected, a Department of Energy official said Wednesday during a virtual meeting. The forecast is from DOE’s ninth and latest revision of the River Protection Project System Plan. Brian Harkins, the agency’s […]

The Department of Energy’s 2020 groundwater sampling goals for the Hanford Site in Washington state are going to miss their target largely because of the COVID-19 pandemic, an agency official said this week. . Out of the 2,500 or so groundwater samples normally taken at the former plutonium production complex in the course of a […]

A federal magistrate judge has set a status conference Dec. 8 to discuss discovery issues in a lawsuit brought by Southern Ohio residents against current and former contractors at the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio. U.S. Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Preston Deavers set the conference to discuss issues in the lawsuit brought in May […]

As is the case nationally, the COVID-19 pandemic continues to take a heavy toll on the 16 nuclear cleanup properties overseen by the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management, including a death at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant that, a state regulator said, showed the site cannot protect people from the disease. The prime […]

Cleaning up the former plutonium production complex at the Hanford Site in Washington state could be even more costly and take longer than expected, a Department of Energy official said Wednesday during a virtual meeting. The forecast is from DOE’s ninth and latest revision of the River Protection Project System Plan. Brian Harkins, the agency’s […]

The congressman representing the Hanford Site has tested positive for COVID-19, the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant uncovered 20 more cases among its workforce, and someone at the Los Alamos National Laboratory has died from the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.), whose district includes the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site, announced […]

A federal magistrate judge has set a status conference Dec. 8 to discuss discovery issues in a lawsuit brought by Southern Ohio residents against current and former contractors at the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio. U.S. Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Preston Deavers set the conference to discuss issues in the lawsuit brought in May […]

The Department of Energy’s 2020 groundwater sampling goals for the Hanford Site in Washington state are going to miss their target largely because of the COVID-19 pandemic, an agency official said Tuesday. Out of the 2,500 or so groundwater samples normally taken at the former plutonium production complex in the course of a year, DOE […]

With more than 333,000 ballots cast in California’s 25th congressional district, incumbent Mike Garcia (R) is clinging to a lead of 104 votes over Christy Smith (D) as of Monday, according to reports from CNN and other news outlets. About 99% of the ballots have been counted, according to the CNN website. Garcia, a former […]

Seven more workers informed management at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state on Saturday they have tested positive for COVID-19. The latest confirmed coronavirus infections were reported in a Saturday afternoon post on Hanford’s emergency operations website, which is run by site services contractor Mission Support Alliance. That brings the confirmed total […]

With the Department of Energy and other federal agencies now working under a continuing budget resolution keeping spending at 2020 levels, the Senate Appropriations Committee finally released its fiscal 2021 budget proposal Tuesday that would keep nuclear cleanup at the 2020 level of nearly $7.5 billion. The Senate Appropriations’ Energy and Water Development bill would […]

Mark Gilbertson, a longtime Department of Energy manager, is the new associate principal deputy assistant secretary for regulatory and policy affairs for nuclear cleanup. Gilbertson takes over the post vacated through the Oct. 30 retirement of Elizabeth “Betsy” Connell at the Office of Environmental Management (EM). His appointment was reflected in both an updated organization […]

More than a week after the Nov. 3 elections, a California Congressional race with implications for the Department of Energy’s nuclear weapons complex remains undecided.  With 86% of the votes counted and more than 330,000 votes cast, incumbent Mike Garcia (R-Calif.), who won a special election in May to claim the open seat, leads Christy […]

There are 194 active cases of COVID-19 across the Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup complex as of Thursday. The number represents an increase of 53 over the 141 active cases a week ago, a DOE Office of Environmental Management (EM) spokesperson said by email. It also means that the number of active cases has increased […]

The Washington Department of Ecology, the state regulator for the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site, has selected David Bowen as its new nuclear waste Program manager. Bowen, currently a water quality supervisor with the Ecology Department’s central region, replaces Alex Smith. Smith, who has held the nuclear post for more than five years, recently left […]

Leidos-led Mission Support Alliance, the landlord services provider at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state, awarded a $13-million subcontract for local firm Fowler General Construction to build a new water treatment plant. The new facility would replace the current 1940s vintage plant and automate water services and support treatment of tank waste […]

About 30 people participated in a virtual pre-proposal conference Oct. 28 on the Department of Energy’s planned new infrastructure services contract at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio. That is according to a registration list published recently by the DOE’s Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center for the event. The business center also posted slides and a […]

With the Department of Energy and other federal agencies now working under a continuing budget resolution keeping spending at 2020 levels, the Senate Appropriations Committee finally released its fiscal 2021 budget proposal Tuesday that would keep nuclear cleanup at the 2020 level of nearly $7.5 billion. The Senate Appropriations’ Energy and Water Development bill would […]

Leidos-led Mission Support Alliance, the landlord services provider at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state, awarded a $13-million subcontract for local firm Fowler General Construction to build a new water treatment plant. The new facility would replace the current 1940s vintage plant and automate water services and support treatment of tank waste […]

Mark Gilbertson, a longtime Department of Energy manager, is the new principal deputy assistant secretary for regulatory and policy affairs for nuclear cleanup. Gilbertson takes over the post vacated through the Oct. 30 retirement of Elizabeth “Betsy” Connell at the Office of Environmental Management (EM). His appointment was reflected in both an updated organization chart […]