Cleanup & Remediation

CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation must suspend work in radiologically contaminated areas of Building 324 at the Hanford Site in Washington state until it gets a handle on certain “negative trend,” according to a recent order from the U.S. Energy Department. The DOE’s Richland Operations Office “expects that workers at Hanford are protected from personnel radiological […]

The nomination of Deputy Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette to become energy secretary easily cleared the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Tuesday by a 16-4 vote. The full Senate has not yet scheduled a vote on the nomination, a source said. The previously announced resignation of Energy Secretary Rick Perry takes effect Dec. 1. […]

The U.S. Energy Department has yet to actually issue its announced six-month extension for the incumbent support services vendor at the Hanford Site in Washington state. Last month, DOE’s Office of Environmental Management signaled it plans to keep Leidos-led Mission Support Alliance (MSA) on the job after its current extension expires Monday. That next extension […]

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) has set a March 3, 2020, primary followed by a May 12 special election to replace U.S. Rep. Katie Hill (D-Calif.), who resigned on Nov. 1 after being targeted for investigation by the House Ethics Committee. Hill, who represented the state’s 25th Congressional District that adjoins the Santa Susana Field […]

Bechtel National has failed to sufficiently review the costs of subcontractors supporting construction of the $17 billion Waste Treatment Plant at the U.S. Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state, according to a recent agency audit. Between December 2000 and June 2018, Bechtel paid nearly $2 billion for 392 subcontracts with flexible prices, such as […]

Nuclear contractor UniTech Services Group, which provides laundry services for radioactive clothing in North America and Europe, has hired industry veteran Kevin Bumpus as business development manager for government accounts. Bumpus has 36 years in the nuclear business, including management experience in facilities and operations, and helped support key U.S. Energy Department initiatives, the company […]

Dallas-based Jacobs Engineering on Monday named Bill Pragada as its president and chief operating officer overseeing global operations, and said Kevin Berryman will be appointed president and chief financial officer. As president and COO, Pragada will still lead Jacobs’ Buildings, Infrastructure and Advanced Facilities (BIAF) business. The executive vice president and COO for Aerospace, Technology […]

WASHINGTON — Dan Brouillette, who a few years ago was lobbying for the insurance industry and now is on track to join President Donald Trump’s Cabinet as secretary of energy, cruised Thursday morning through a Senate nomination hearing that briefly crossed wires with presidential impeachment proceedings in the House. With approval from the Senate, Brouillette […]

The liquid waste contractor at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site says it should not have to pay an additional $1 million to a former employee after it already paid $1.5 million last month following a jury decision in a discrimination lawsuit. Savannah River Remediation (SRR) also said in a Nov. 8 filing […]

The final test run early in 2020 of the U.S. Energy Department’s Integrated Waste Treatment Unit (IWTU) will employ a waste simulant rather than actual radioactive waste, as indicated in a Nov. 8 article in Weapons Complex Monitor.

Parsons on Tuesday posted higher third-quarter earnings due to a tax benefit, sales up on acquisitions in its Federal Solutions Segment, and to a lesser degree on an increase in organic revenue. Net income climbed 38% to $56.8 million, $0.57 earnings per share (EPS), from $41.2 million ($0.52 EPS). Adjusted earnings were up a percent […]

AECOM, the international infrastructure company that is preparing its exit from contracting for the U.S. Energy Department, on Tuesday reported record annual revenue but a net loss for its fiscal 2019. Company-wide revenue of almost $20.2 billion was up 2% from $20.15 billion in fiscal 2018, according to AECOM’s latest earnings report. But the net […]

A group of current and former contractors at the U.S. Energy Department’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio say two federal lawsuits accusing them of failure to contain radioactive contamination should be dismissed. Centrus Energy and the other companies say Ursula McGlone and other residents who live within 7 miles of the former gaseous diffusion plant failed […]

Strengthened whistleblower protections approved by Congress are now written into most but not all major contracts at the U.S. Energy Department, according to a DOE Office of Inspector General report dated Nov. 4. The office reviewed 30 of DOE’s largest contracts, together worth about $386 billion – or 94% of the agency’s $411 billion in […]

A year after the U.S. Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management initiated its end-state contracting model, confusion remains over exactly what that approach involves, whether leadership is still behind it, and if staff is ready to execute. These are among the key takeaways Tuesday when DOE’s Environmental Management Advisory Board formally adopted a report on […]

The National Academies committee studying supplemental treatment of low-activity waste at the U.S. Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state is accepting public comments until Nov. 20 on its upcoming report. The comment period was originally scheduled to end Oct. 31. A National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine panel is reviewing a predecisional report […]

The U.S. Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management is starting market research for vendors to provide low-level and mixed low-level waste treatment services. The nuclear cleanup office on Tuesday issued a request for information (RFI)/sources-sought notice for waste treatment services at various sites across the DOE complex. The Cincinnati-based Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center said […]

U.S. Department of Energy officials are continuing to evaluate a decommissioning approach for the Molten Salt Reactor Experiment at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Tennessee that could involve removing above-ground structures and encasing contaminated structures below ground in a concrete-like grout. The DOE Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM) is beginning planning […]

The U.S. Department of Energy’s nuclear weapons programs would be funded at prior-year levels almost through the end of December, under a second stopgap spending plan announced Thursday to keep the federal government operating while Congress tries to finalize its fiscal 2020 budget. Meanwhile, the top Democrat and Republican members of the House and Senate […]

The U.S. Energy Department has tapped a longtime agency hand, Jack Zimmerman, to head its Cincinnati-based Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center (EMCBC). Zimmerman is currently manager of DOE’s Idaho Cleanup Project, where for the past five years he has helped lead environmental remediation of the Idaho National Laboratory. He is expected to assume his new post […]

The liquid waste contractor for the Savannah River Site in South Carolina hired 250 new employees in fiscal 2019 as part of ongoing efforts to offset the loss of employees due to retirement and attrition. Savannah River Remediation (SRR) said in its annual report this week that the hiring increase was needed to support ramping […]

It could be well into 2020 before the U.S. Department of Energy can begin shipping spent fuel from the Byron nuclear power plant in Illinois to DOE’s Idaho National Laboratory. Likewise, it will probably take years before all the lab transuranic waste covered by a 1995 settlement agreement between DOE, the state, and the Navy […]

The National Academies committee studying supplemental treatment of low-activity waste at the U.S. Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state is accepting public comments until Nov. 20 on its upcoming report. The comment period was originally scheduled to end Oct. 13. A National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine panel is reviewing a predecisional report […]

U.S. Department of Energy officials are continuing to evaluate the possibility of entombing the Molten Salt Reactor Experiment at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Tennessee, possibly burying contaminated structures below ground in grout. The DOE Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management is starting a planning process that could be part of a phased […]

The liquid waste contractor at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site says it should not have to pay an additional $1 million to a former employee after it already paid $1.5 million last month following a jury decision in a discrimination lawsuit. Savannah River Remediation (SRR) also said in a Nov. 8 filing […]

A year after the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management initiated its end-state contracting model, confusion remains over exactly what that approach involves, whether leadership is still behind it, and if staff is ready to execute. These are among the key takeaways Tuesday when DOE’s Environmental Management Advisory Board formally adopted a report on human […]

Parsons on Tuesday posted higher third-quarter earnings due to a tax benefit, sales up on acquisitions in its Federal Solutions Segment, and to a lesser degree on an increase in organic revenue. Net income climbed 38% to $56.8 million, $0.57 earnings per share (EPS), from $41.2 million ($0.52 EPS). Adjusted earnings were up a percent to […]

The U.S. Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management is starting market research for vendors to provide low-level and mixed low-level waste treatment services. The nuclear cleanup office on Tuesday issued a request for information (RFI)/sources-sought notice for waste treatment services at various sites across the DOE complex. The Cincinnati-based Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center said […]

Strengthened whistleblower protections approved by Congress are now written into most but not all major contracts at the Energy Department, according to a DOE Office of Inspector General report dated Nov. 4. The office reviewed 30 of DOE’s largest contracts, together worth about $386 billion – or 94% of the agency’s $411 billion in current […]

AECOM, the international infrastructure company that is preparing its exit from contracting for the U.S. Energy Department, on Tuesday reported record annual revenue of almost $20.2 billion for fiscal 2019. The annual revenue is up 2% from $20.15 billion in fiscal 2018, according to AECOM. But the company suffered a net loss of $266 million, […]