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.

  • Longenecker Hires Ex-Fluor Staffer for New Mexico Post

    Las Vegas-based Longenecker & Associates said in Tuesday it has hired a former Fluor supervisor as its manager for New Mexico projects. Lindsay Wallace started Monday and her role will include serving as Longenecker’s program manager for legacy cleanup at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Longenecker has a subcontract with Newport News Nuclear BWXT Los […]

  • Nuclear Waste Board Seeks Closer Tie with DOE Cleanup Office

    The Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board wants to forge a closer working relationship with the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management. In a Jan. 10 letter to DOE Senior Adviser for Environmental Management William (Ike) White, Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board Chairwoman Jean Bahr urged “a framework for more regular interaction” between the two […]

  • Appeals Court Hears Arguments on $8.1M Award to Former Hanford Contractor Employee

    The Washington state Court of Appeals heard arguments Tuesday on a lower court’s $8.1 million award in 2017 to a former employee of Energy Department contractor Mission Support Alliance (MSA) at the Hanford Site. The support services vendor is asking Division III of the appeals court to reverse the award against it and former vice […]

  • Four Rivers Garners 67% of Potential Fee for Paducah Remediation

    Four Rivers Nuclear Partnership, the Jacobs-led deactivation and cleanup contractor at the Energy Department’s Paducah Site in Kentucky, earned 67% of its potential fee for work during fiscal 2019, or $6.97 million of a potential $10.38 million, according to a recent performance scorecard. The vendor pocketed just over $1 million of a possible $2.33 million […]

  • AECOM to Close Sale of Government-Contracting Biz Within Days

    International engineering and construction provider AECOM could complete the $2.4 billion sale of its government contracting division to a joint venture of two New York investment firms within days, a company official said Tuesday in Alexandria, Va. Eric Knox, an AECOM vice president for strategic development for nuclear and environment, cited the impending change during […]

  • Los Alamos County Fights EPA Regional Office on Stormwater Issue

    Los Alamos County, N.M., wants a federal review board to reverse a December decision by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency saying the county’s stormwater discharges contribute to pollution of the Rio Grande River. In a petition filed Jan. 17 with the EPA’s Environmental Appeals Board, Los Alamos County seeks to overturn the Dec. 16 decision […]

  • Portsmouth Cleanup Contractor Wins 86% of Fee for Fiscal 2019

    Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth, the Energy Department cleanup contractor at the former gaseous diffusion plant site in Pike County, Ohio, pocketed 86% of its potential fee for fiscal 2019, or $19.20 million of a potential $22.78 million. The vendor claimed about $3.61 million of a potential $6.68 million in subjective fee. It also took home $15.59 million […]

  • Hanford Contract Bid Protest Lineup Now Set

    The Government Accountability Office should by the end of April rule on challenges to $14 billion worth of Energy Department contract awards at the Hanford Site in Washington state. With the deadline now passed for additional challenges, the GAO has single protests on its docket for each award: the 10-year, $10-billion Hanford Central Plateau cleanup […]

  • Remaining Savannah River Cleanup Includes Demolition of Over 1,100 Facilities

    Demolition of a Cold War-era legacy facility in December still leaves more than 1,100 facilities and buildings to tear down at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina. Specifically, 1,127 facilities have been identified for eventual demolition, SRS spokesman Monte Volk said via email. Those facilities encompass offices, power production plants, […]

  • Federal-State Talks on Hanford Stuck in Neutral

    Wide-ranging talks between the U.S. Department of Energy and the Washington state Department of Ecology on radioactive waste issues at the Hanford Site have apparently not progressed beyond the starting line. “The parties are still working through some preliminary arrangements,” Ecology spokesman Randy Bradbury said in a Thursday email. The agencies confirmed in October they […]

  • California Regulators Could Issue Final Santa Susana Environmental Reports by Summer

    The California Department of Toxic Substances Control is “making every effort” to publish this summer the final versions of two long-awaited environmental reports for cleanup of the Santa Susana Field Laboratory, a spokesman said recently. The state agency oversees remediation of the 2,800-acre site in Ventura County, about 30 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles, […]

  • Savannah River Contractor Must Pay Another $295K to Former Employee in Discrimination Case

    A former employee of the liquid waste contractor for the U.S. Energy Department’s Savannah River Site has been awarded $240,107 in front pay she would have earned if the company had not unfairly denied her employment after she was initially laid off. In addition, U.S. District Judge J. Michelle Childs ruled on Jan. 17 that […]

  • Correction

    An article in the Jan. 17 issue of Weapons Complex Monitor should have reported that Centerra’s paramilitary security contract extension at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina was scheduled to expire in February. The U.S. Energy Department can exercise two more four-month options to keep the vendor on the job into October.

  • Potential Bidders Ask Many Questions About DOE National Deactivation Contract

    The U.S. Energy Department’s request for proposals (RFP) for the Nationwide Deactivation, Decommissioning, and Removal contract has seemingly sparked significant interest from the contractor community. Vendors submitted 152 questions in response to the agency procurement for the potential 10-year, $3 billion award. The DOE Office of Environmental Management in December released the final request for […]

  • DNFSB Wants to Address DOE Issues With Brouillette

    The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) hopes to meet soon with new U.S. Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette to discuss public health and safety issues at nuclear sites overseen by his agency. In a Jan. 16 letter, DNFSB Chairman Bruce Hamilton congratulated Brouillette on his December confirmation as energy secretary and said the board would […]

  • Centerra Inks Another 4-Month Agreement for Savannah River Security

    The vendor providing paramilitary security for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina received its second four-month contract extension this week, keeping it on the job at least through June 7. The option with DOE was signed Thursday, Suzanne Piner, a spokeswoman for Centerra Group parent company Constellis, said by email. […]

  • Wrap Up: BWXT Vice President Becomes Chief Administrative Officer

    Lynchburg, Va. -based BWX Technologies has promoted Richard Loving to a newly created post of senior vice president and chief administrative officer (CAO). Loving has been senior vice president for human resources at BWXT since mid-2016. He has about 40 years of management experience in manufacturing, energy, and government operations, according to a press release. […]

  • Hanford Central Plateau Contract Award Draws Protest

    A Bechtel-led joint venture filed a protest Tuesday with the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) over the December award of a potential 10-year, $10-billion cleanup contract at the Hanford Site in Washington state. The Project W Restoration partnership is headed by Bechtel National, and the other members are Tetra Tech and EnergySolutions, an industry source […]

  • DNFSB Hopes to Meet With Brouillette By March

    The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) hopes to meet soon with new U.S. Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette to discuss public health and safety issues at nuclear sites overseen by his agency. In a Jan. 16 letter, DNFSB Chairman Bruce Hamilton congratulated Brouillette on his December confirmation as energy secretary and said the board would […]

  • Bid Protest Filed Over Hanford Central Plateau Award

    A Bechtel-led joint venture filed a protest Tuesday with the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) over the December award of a potential 10-year, $10-billion cleanup contract at the Hanford Site in Washington state. The Project W Restoration partnership is led by Bechtel National, and the other members of the venture are Tetra Tech and EnergySolutions, […]

  • West Valley Task Force Buoyed by Reauthorization, Security Funding

    Passage of a law to reauthorize the U.S. Energy Department’s cleanup of the West Valley Demonstration Project in New York state drew kudos Wednesday from participants at a local meeting. The measure, which passed the U.S. Senate on Dec. 2 and was subsequently signed into law by President Donald Trump on Dec. 20, would reauthorize […]

  • UniTech Names New Vice President

    Massachusetts-based UniTech Services Group has made Michael Bovino its new vice president, effective Jan. 1. Bovino brings 35 years of management and contamination control experience to the post at the nuclear services company. The executive is a 29-year veteran of UniTech and its parent, UniFirst Corp., most recently serving as division general manager responsible for […]

  • California Regulators Hope to Issue Final Santa Susana Environmental Reports by Summer

    The California Department of Toxic Substances Control is “making every effort” to publish the final versions of two long-awaited environmental reports for cleanup of the Santa Susana Field Laboratory in this summer, a spokesman said this month. The state agency oversees remediation of the 2,800-acre site in Ventura County, about 30 miles northwest of downtown […]

  • Savannah River Contractor Must Pay Another $295K to Former Employee

    A former employee of the liquid waste contractor for the U.S. Energy Department’s Savannah River Site has been awarded $240,107 in front pay she would have earned if the company had not unfairly denied her employment after she was initially laid off. In addition, U.S. District Judge J. Michelle Childs ruled on Jan. 17 that […]

  • BWXT Vice President Becomes Chief Administrative Officer

    Lynchburg, Va. -based BWX Technologies has promoted Richard Loving to a newly created post of senior vice president and chief administrative officer (CAO). Loving has been senior vice president for human resources at BWXT since mid-2016. He has about 40 years of management experience in manufacturing, energy, and government operations, according to a press release. […]

  • Potential Bidders Have Many Questions About DOE National Deactivation Contract

    The U.S. Energy Department’s request for proposals (RFP) for the Nationwide Deactivation, Decommissioning, and Removal contract has seemingly sparked significant interest from the contractor community. Vendors submitted 152 questions in response to the agency procurement for the potential 10-year, $3 billion award. The DOE Office of Environmental Management in December released the final request for […]

  • Wrap Up: Waste Management Symposia Hires New Manager

    Jackie Quintyne, a Chicago native with 19 years of conference planning experience, has been named conference manager for the Waste Management Symposia in Phoenix. The annual WM Symposia in March is considered the largest international conference for the management of radioactive material and related topics. It provides a forum for discussing cost-effective and environmentally responsible […]

  • New Support Services Vendor for Portsmouth/Paducah Gets Green Light

    The new technical support services contractor for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office (PPPO) has received its formal notice to proceed with the transition from its predecessors. The formal notice to proceed was issued to Pro2Serve subsidiary Enterprise Technical Assistance Services (E-TAS) on Jan. 6, a DOE spokesperson said in a Jan. 10 […]

  • Correction

    An article in the Jan. 10 issue of Weapons Complex Monitor, “Pit TRU Waste Would Take Up Half of Available WIPP Space Over 50 Years, NNSA Says,” should have said remarks by Todd Shrader of the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management were delivered in June 2018.

  • RFP for Paducah Infrastructure Services Could be Out Soon, DOE Says

    The U.S. Energy Depart expects within 15 to 60 days to issue a solicitation for a new Paducah Infrastructure Support Services contract to replace the deal now held by Swift & Staley. The timeline set in the Jan. 10 notice would mean the request for proposals should be out by early March. The procurement will […]