Cleanup & Remediation

The Energy Department’s Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina disclosed late Friday that it now has recorded 183 confirmed cases of COVID-19 among its workforce, up by 52 from July 17. In the first update in a week on novel coronavirus 2019, the SRS website said 102 of the federal and contractor employees have […]

The number of active cases of COVID-19 among Energy Department nuclear cleanup personnel rose substantially this week, and some industry sources suspect this is slowing a return to normal operations at former Cold War and Manhattan Project sites. There were 94 active cases as of Thursday within the DOE Office of Environmental Management (EM) complex, […]

The Energy Department Office of Environmental Management plans to beef up its procurement staff to evaluate contract proposals. The nuclear cleanup office said in a July 16 press release it is launching an “acquisition corps” to increase its talent pool of procurement specialists at field sites and the Cincinnati-based Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center (EMCBC). […]

The Energy Department said this week that demolition of 10 buildings is underway at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory in Ventura County, Calif. Teardown of a guard station marks the start of demolition of 10 deteriorating buildings at the Radioactive Materials Handling Facility (RMHF) complex agreed to in May by DOE and the state of […]

The Energy Department has agreed to a contract extension lasting as long as two years for the incumbent remediation vendor at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee. The DOE Office of Environmental Management announced Monday it will exercise a one-year extension to keep URS/CH2M Oak Ridge (UCOR) on the job thorough July 2021. That would […]

An article in the July 17 Weapons Complex Monitor overstated the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the three counties surrounding the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina. The article mistakenly reported the total possible infections, which includes confirmed and estimated cases, as reported by the South Carolina Department of Health and […]

The Energy Department Office of Environmental Management plans to beef up its procurement staff to evaluate contract proposals. The nuclear cleanup office said in a July 16 press release it is launching an “acquisition corps” to increase its talent pool of procurement specialists at field sites and the Cincinnati-based Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center (EMCBC). […]

The Energy Department said this week that demolition of 10 buildings is underway at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory in Ventura County, Calif. Teardown of a guard station marks the start of demolition of 10 deteriorating buildings at the Radioactive Materials Handling Facility (RMHF) complex agreed to in May by DOE and the state of […]

The Energy Department plans to extend a sole-source contract with Atkins for research on vitrification at the Waste Treatment Plant being built at the Hanford Site in Washington state. The DOE Office of River Protection at Hanford said in July 14 procurement notice it intends to keep using the SNC-Lavalin Group subsidiary for testing of […]

The Energy Department has agreed to a contract extension lasting as long as two years for the incumbent remediation vendor at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee. The DOE Office of Environmental Management announced Monday it will exercise a one-year extension to keep URS/CH2M Hill Oak Ridge (UCOR) on the job thorough July 2021. That […]

The Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state confirmed three additional novel coronavirus 2019 infections over the weekend, with the latest reported Sunday. The new cases were disclosed on DOE’s website for Hanford. They bring the total COVID-19 cases at the former plutonium production complex to 31, based on an informal count. The Hanford Site […]

A small plane crashed Sunday afternoon at the base of Rattlesnake Mountain on property owned by the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state. There were no injuries. The plane’s two occupants said they were flying to view the elk herd in the area, according to a Facebook post from the Benton County Sheriff’s Office. […]

The Energy Department is taking public comment through Aug. 14 on options for management of deteriorating structures at the B Plant complex at the Hanford Site in Washington state. B Plant is located in the 200 East Area of the 580-square-mile Hanford Site. From the 1940s until 1952, the complex was used for the chemical […]

Contractor Fluor-BWXT has promoted J.D. Dowell to become the new project director for remediation operations at the Energy Department’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio. Dowell, who has worked in nuclear management jobs for the military, DOE, and industry, has been at Portsmouth since 2018 as Fluor-BWXT’s deputy site director. In the new role, he will lead […]

There are 66 cases of active coronavirus infection among personnel for nuclear cleanup operations overseen by the Energy Department Office of Environmental Management, an agency representative said Thursday. That is more than double the 31 active cases of COVID-19 disclosed a week ago for the Environmental Management complex. The agency did not offer any theory […]

The Energy Department this week rejected a suggestion by the New Mexico Environment Department that it is being slow to take action on radioactive contamination discovered earlier this year on a public road outside the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Managers of Los Alamos field branches of both the DOE Office of Environmental Management and the […]

The House Appropriations Committee on Monday approved its fiscal 2021 energy and water development bill, clearing the way for a vote by the full House later this month on the spending plan that would provide at least $7.5 billion for Energy Department nuclear cleanup. The Democrat-majority panel approved the spending package in a 31-20 vote […]

A divided Washington state appeals court this week reversed an $8.1 million award issued in the wrongful discharge lawsuit brought by a former employee of a major contractor at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site. “We agree that the trial court committed reversible error, reverse the judgment on the jury’s verdict, and remand for further […]

Bids for the Department of Energy’s Idaho Cleanup Project contract are due July 28. An article in the July 10 Weapons Complex Monitor incorrectly reported the bids were due in June. Questions about the final RFP were due into the Energy Department that month.

The House Appropriations Committee on Monday passed a potentially massive budget plus-up for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP), while again dismissing the White House proposal to transfer it to the Department of Energy. The panel voted 31-20 in favor of its $49.6 billion energy and water appropriations […]

Legislation advanced out of the House Appropriations Committee on Monday sets the stage for the Department of Energy to proceed with its plan for long-term storage of elemental mercury at a privately owned facility in Texas. The 2021 energy and water appropriations bill includes language saying DOE can start accepting fees from businesses, such as […]

Two workers at the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state informed management Tuesday they have tested positive for COVID-19. The latest infections were cited on an Energy Department website for the nuclear cleanup facility. Anecdotal information suggests there have now been 27 cases at Hanford since the pandemic began. Four of those have been […]

The Energy Department is taking public comment through Aug. 14 on options for management of deteriorating structures at the B Plant complex at the Hanford Site in Washington state. B Plant is located in the 200 East Area of the 580-square-mile Hanford Site. From the 1940s until 1952, the complex was used for the chemical […]

Bids for the Department of Energy’s Idaho Cleanup Project contract are due July 28. An article in the July 6 Weapons Monitor Morning Briefing incorrectly reported the bids were due in June. Questions about the final RFP were due into the Energy Department that month.

Two more employees at the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state have tested positive for COVID-19 since Friday. The most recent positive test for the coronavirus was reported Monday on a DOE Hanford website. The notice said the employee was last at their normal Hanford worksite on June 5. The same website posted notice […]

Remediation of the Energy Department’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina would be funded at about $1.5 billion for fiscal 2021 under legislation passed out of the House Appropriations Committee on a 30-21 vote Monday. That amount would be about $83 million more than the $1.46 billion enacted by Congress for fiscal 2020, which ends […]

A small plane crashed Sunday afternoon at the base of Rattlesnake Mountain on property owned by the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state. There were no injuries. The plane’s two occupants said they were flying to view the elk herd in the area, according to a Facebook post from the Benton County Sheriff’s Office. […]

The West Valley Demonstration Project in New York has entered the next phase of the Energy Department’s operational restart program after a period of reduced operations due to COVID-19, an agency spokesperson said by email Monday. Under Phase 2, which the upstate facility reached last Wednesday, on-site staffing levels will be about 60% of the […]

There remains no need to transfer management of the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP) from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to the Department of Energy, the House Appropriations Committee said Sunday. The Trump administration proposed relocating the 46-year-old cleanup program in budget requests both for the current fiscal 2020 and for the […]

A trio of major Energy Department nuclear cleanup sites targeted for fiscal 2021 funding cuts by the White House would be restored at least to current levels in the House of Representatives, according to newly released details of a committee spending package. The House Appropriations Committee on Sunday released the detailed legislative report for its […]