Cleanup & Remediation

Vice presidents at Department of Energy contractor Bechtel are taking pay cuts of up to 25% over 90 days during the COVID-19 crisis The one-quarter reduction applies to senior vice presidents, while principal vice presidents at the Reston, Va.-based company are receiving a 10% reduction, management told employees on April 6. The measure is a […]

The Energy Department’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina on Tuesday confirmed its 11th cases of COVID-19. A spokesperson for the DOE office at Savannah River declined to provide any additional details on the individual. To date, nine of the 11 people who have tested positive at the DOE complex near the South Carolina-Georgia border […]

While it has made progress, the Department of Energy still needs to more fully address priority recommendations to improve performance in its nuclear security and cleanup missions, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said Wednesday. In an annual update, the congressional auditor said it has 20 priority recommendations across the Energy Department, including eight recommendations new […]

The Energy Department Office of Environmental Management intends to issue a sole-source business deal to a firm to provide employee training on end-state contracting. In a Monday procurement notice, the agency announced plans to hire Management Concepts Inc. (MCI) to provide the training as the nuclear cleanup office continues to overhaul its management of environmental […]

Mission Support Alliance is shopping around for a subcontractor to build a new water treatment facility at the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state. The Hanford support services contractor said in an April 25 procurement notice it is accepting expressions of interest from vendors to build a new 10,000-square-foot microfiltration membrane water treatment plant. […]

Reductions in on-site staffing at the Energy Department’s Idaho National Laboratory prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic have temporarily halted virtually all physical work on the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit, a state official said Monday. Progress on the IWTU is on hold “as much of the work requires materials/contractors from outside Idaho and some confined space […]

The former Los Alamos National Laboratory physicist who pleaded guilty to lying about connections to a paid Chinese talent-recruiting program wants his sentencing date postponed because of COVID-19-related health concerns, court papers show. Turab Lookman, who pleaded guilty in January to one count of lying to federal authorities, is now nearly “70 years old and […]

Two Fluor vice presidents are leaving the company, and all executives are temporarily taking a 20% cut in their base pay, according to a new filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In the April 10 notice, Fluor announced the separation from employment of Executive Vice President for Systems and Supply Chain Ray Barnard and […]

The Energy Department assured the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) on April 16 it would oversee remediation of recently discovered radioactive waste on former federal land near the site of a planned housing complex in Los Alamos County. Top brass for the Office of Environmental Management and the semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration at the […]

Federal agencies will gradually return to normal operations in parallel with the White House’s three-phase plan to reactivate the national economy as the COVID-19 pandemic recedes, the Trump administration said Monday. The new guidance does not provide any set schedule for the process, but rather says managers must make decisions on reducing telework and staffing […]

The Government Accountability Office this week rejected a protest against the new long-term Energy Department contract for support services at the Hanford Site in Washington state. The potential 10-year, $4 billion contract was awarded in December to Hanford Mission Integration Solutions, comprised of Leidos, Centerra, and Parsons. A Huntington Ingalls Industries-led team that also bid […]

Limited operations will remain in place for at least another week at the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Manager Brian Vance announced Wednesday. The announcement came four days after the second confirmed case of viral infection at the nuclear cleanup site, an employee of support services provider […]

Two Fluor vice presidents are leaving the company, and all executives are temporarily taking a 20% cut in their base pay, according to a new filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In the April 10 notice, Fluor announced the separation from employment of Executive Vice President for Systems and Supply Chain Ray Barnard and […]

An employee of the Energy Department’s support services contractor at the Hanford Site in Washington has the second confirmed case of COVID-19 at the former plutonium production complex. In a weekend memo to employees of Mission Support Alliance, President Bob Wilkinson and Chief Operating Officer Amy Basche said they recently learned “a member of the […]

The Government Accountability Office on Thursday rejected a protest against the new long-term Energy Department contract for support services at the Hanford Site in Washington state. The potential 10-year, $4 billion contract was awarded in December to Hanford Mission Integration Solutions, comprised of Leidos, Centerra, and Parsons. A Huntington Ingalls Industries-led team that also bid […]

The Ohio Department of Health said in federal court documents it cannot provide the cancer records sought by local residents suing current and former contractors at the Energy Department’s Portsmouth Site in Pike County. U.S. Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Preston Deavers, in the Southern District of Ohio, gave the plaintiffs until Friday to file a motion […]

The Anderson County Department of Health is scheduled Sunday to offer free COVID-19 tests in Oak Ridge, Tenn. The department, part of the government for the host county of the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Site and Y-12 National Security Complex, will offer tests from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. local time at Roane State […]

The former Los Alamos National Laboratory physicist who pleaded guilty to lying about connections to a paid Chinese talent-recruiting program wants his sentencing date postponed because of COVID-19-related health concerns, court papers show. Turab Lookman, who pleaded guilty in January to one count of lying to federal authorities, is now nearly “70 years old and […]

The Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management confirmed Tuesday that contracts for nuclear cleanup sites are being modified to include paid leave for certain workers who cannot telecommute during the COVID-19 pandemic. Environmental Management “is in the process of modifying applicable prime contracts to incorporate a contract clause to implement Section 3610 of the CARES […]

Federal agencies will gradually return to normal operations in parallel with the White House’s three-phase plan to reactivate the national economy as the COVID-19 pandemic recedes, the Trump administration said Monday. The guidance does not provide any set schedule for the process, but rather says agency heads must make decisions on reducing telework and fully […]

The Energy Department has yet to execute an extension of up to two years for the Amentum-led joint venture responsible for remediation at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee. The agency in February announced its intention to award a sole-source deal to URS/CH2M Oak Ridge (UCOR) in the form of a one-year extension, plus options […]

The Energy Department Office of Environmental Management has scheduled an online pre-solicitation conference and one-on-one meetings on the Savannah River National Laboratory contract for next week. The virtual conference, conducted via WebEx, is scheduled for 11 a.m. April 28. The online meetings with potential bidders are planned for April 29 and, if necessary, April 30, […]

The Energy Department assured the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) on Thursday it would oversee remediation of recently discovered radioactive waste on former federal land near the site of a planned housing complex in Los Alamos County. Top brass for the Office of Environmental Management and the semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration at the Los […]

The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency said on April 10 it has no plans for a public hearing on the Department of Energy’s waste acceptance criteria for the On-Site Disposal Facility being built at the Portsmouth Site. The document is available online, aency spokeswoman Heidi Griesmer noted by email: “There is no requirement for a public […]

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has received two protests to a potential $1 billion support services contract announced earlier this month by the Energy Department’s Office of Legacy Management to environmental services firm RSI EnTech. The Oak Ridge, Tenn.-based company’s five-year indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract was announced April 1, following its award in […]

With the Energy Department temporarily doing only minimal physical work at the Hanford Site in Washington state due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it is apt to further delay award of a potential 10-year, $15 billion contract for tank waste management at the facility, a source said Wednesday. Many in industry expected the contract for managing […]

The Department of Energy published guidance Wednesday for contractors that need to bill the government for paid time off given to employees unable to report for work due to COVID-19. The new guidance attempts to steer contracting officers through the process of modifying existing deals so that vendors can claim reimbursement under the $2.2 trillion CARES […]

Both chambers of Congress will remain on recess later than scheduled, returning no earlier than May 4, lawmakers said this week. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced the upper chamber would add two weeks to its current recess in a Tuesday note to fellow senators, then in a press release. His announcement followed a […]

The Energy Department’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina might have to revisit the schedule for operation of the Salt Waste Processing Facility due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a spokesperson said Thursday. Eight cases of infection by the novel coronavirus 2019 have been confirmed at Savannah River. That is more than half of the 14 […]

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has received two protests to a potential $1 billion support services contract announced earlier this month by the Energy Department’s Office of Legacy Management to environmental services firm RSI EnTech. The Oak Ridge, Tenn.-based company’s five-year indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract was announced April 1, following its award in […]