Cleanup & Remediation

Nearly two years after it said the complexity of remediating the Santa Susana Field Laboratory was responsible for missed cleanup deadlines, the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) has still not published two key environmental reports In its summary of June activity at the 2,850-acre chemically and radioactively contaminated site in Ventura County, the […]

Boston Government Services disclosed Tuesday it is partnering with Cincinnati-based Trinity Engineering Associates in the BTP Services joint venture that on July 31 won a potential $49.5 million technical support services contract from the Energy Department. Oak Ridge-based Boston Government Services previously said it is majority owner of the partnership. Headed by founder and President […]

The U.S. Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management has received 117 questions from prospective bidders on the next remediation contract for the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS). The office posted the latest tranche of questions Monday on the potential 10-year, $350 million successor award to the business held through January 2020 by Navarro Research and […]

The contractor that operates the U.S. Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina has mismanaged security incident reports over the past two years, with problems ranging from late submission of documents to the federal agency to providing incomplete information when they are delivered. In one instance, Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) was supposed to close out a report within 90 days. However, […]

Bechtel National has settled litigation brought by a former worker at the Waste Treatment Plant the company is building at the U.S. Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state. “The parties have arrived at a mutually satisfactory resolution of the case,” Bechtel spokeswoman Staci West said by email Sunday. She declined to release any further […]

The security provider at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina is expected to receive a four-month contract extension ahead of the end of its current deal on Oct. 7. Florida-based Centerra could also secure another eight months on the job. That would come via two more four-month extensions, keeping the […]

A soil sample with elevated levels of plutonium discovered in the vicinity of the former Rocky Flats nuclear weapons facility near Denver has drawn attention from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. The Jefferson Parkway Public Highway Authority on Aug. 16 informed the health department of the sample taken on the parkway’s right-of-way […]

While there could be cheaper alternatives to vitrifying all low-activity radioactive waste at the Hanford Site in Washington state, the Energy Department should do more vetting before committing to one or more of those options, according to a new assessment from a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine panel. The fiscal 2017 National Defense […]

International Isotopes on Wednesday reported a net loss of nearly $1.2 million for the second quarter of 2019, primarily due to expenses for ongoing remediation of a May radioactive contamination incident in Seattle. The net loss was close to four times the $332,279 loss reported in the same period of 2018, the Idaho Falls, Idaho, […]

A worker at the Savannah River National Laboratory was restricted from radiological work for the rest of 2019 after receiving a dose of radiation somewhere off site that put him well above a key exposure threshold at the Aiken, S.C. site, a spokesperson for site contractor Savannah River Nuclear Solutions said Wednesday. The employee took […]

The Civilian Board of Contract Appeals (CBCA) is again telling the U.S. Energy Department to pay a former cleanup contractor at the Idaho National Laboratory more than $33 million in fees. In a ruling issued Aug. 8, a three-judge panel for the CBCA said DOE’s reasoning for failing to pay CH2M-WG Idaho (WGI) the full […]

The U.S. Energy Department’s Office of Enterprise Assessments (EA) is investigating possible breaches of federal nuclear safety regulations by the cleanup contractor at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio. The probe involves “radiation protection program implementation deficiencies at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant,” according to an Aug. 8 notice of intent to investigate Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth. Investigators […]

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers last week awarded a $95 million contract for environmental remediation in the St. Louis, Mo., area under the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP). HydroGeoLogic, headquartered in Reston, Va., overcame one other bidder for the cost-plus-fixed fee deal, according to an Aug. 8 procurement notice from the Pentagon. […]

US Ecology has indicated that a customer failed to provide it with necessary information about waste that caused an explosion that killed one worker and injured eight others while being processed at the company’s its Grand View, Idaho, facility. In an executive summary to the report on the company’s investigation of the Nov. 17, 2018, […]

The U.S. Energy Department is giving contractors an extra month to submit their bids for the next environmental remediation contract at the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS). The deadline for requests for proposals (RFP) for the Nevada Environmental Program Services contract, originally set for Aug. 21, has been being pushed back to 4 p.m. ET […]

The ExchangeMonitor is heading into its annual August recess, and Weapons Complex Monitor will not be published during the second and third full weeks of the month. We’ll still be in the office, so keep the news tips coming, and look for the next weekly newsletter in your inbox on Friday, Aug. 30.

BWX Technologies expects to share in high-dollar contracts at the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state, but is tempering its 2019 earnings outlook due to the slower-than-expected pace of awards. The company is lowering its full-year operating income guidance for the Nuclear Services Group, which includes BWXT’s work for the DOE nuclear cleanup office that […]

Dallas-based Jacobs Engineering hopes to win at least one of two Energy Department awards for potential 10-year, multibillion-dollar contracts at the Hanford Site in Washington state, including one where it is the incumbent vendor. Jacobs Chairman and CEO Steve Demetriou said Monday he anticipates DOE will award the Central Plateau Cleanup Contract at Hanford soon, […]

A federal judge this week dismissed a key component in a racial discrimination lawsuit filed by an African-American woman who says she was unfairly terminated, and subsequently not rehired, by the liquid waste management contractor for the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina. In her order, U.S. District Judge J. Michelle Childs […]

The top brass at AECOM said this week it has received plenty of positive feedback since announcing June 17 that it would spin off the business segment that contracts with the Department of Energy and other federal agencies. “We are moving ahead of schedule” toward separating the Management Services line into its own publicly traded […]

The Nevada Division of Environmental Protection (NDEP) expects by the end of this month to receive additional U.S. Energy Department information on numerous shipments of mislabeled radioactive waste to the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS). After reviewing the latest material from DOE, the state “will determine whether the material is stable in the current disposal […]

The U.S. Energy Department on Tuesday issued a sources sought/request for information for remediation of the Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory and the Kesselring Site, both in New York state. The agency wants to gauge small business interest in a potential contract that includes tearing down and removing contaminated facilities, along with waste management services, at […]

The Richland Operations Office for the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state has extended the comment period on a cost and engineering report for hazard mitigation at the Plutonium Uranium Extraction (PUREX) Plant until Aug. 17. The original comment deadline was Aug. 2 for the engineering evaluation/cost analysis (EE/CA). The federal agency announced the […]

Perma-Fix Environmental Services on Thursday reported a 30.2% spike in its second-quarter revenue, from $13.2 million in 2018 to $17.1 million in 2019. That encompassed a 75.4% sales boost in the Atlanta-based company’s services business, from $4 million last year to $7 million in the latest reporting period, along with a more modest 10.4% revenue […]

After receiving no bids initially, the legacy cleanup contractor for the Energy Department’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico is extending its search by two weeks for a subcontractor to provide background checks on job applicants. Newport News Nuclear BWXT-Los Alamos (N3B) pushed back the proposal deadline from Aug. 5 until 3 p.m. Mountain […]

The Scioto Valley Local School District in Ohio plans a community meeting Saturday to discuss radioactive contamination concerns at a middle school located about 2 miles from the Energy Department’s Portsmouth Site. Zahn’s Corner Middle School will be tested for radioactive byproducts released into the air by the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant during past uranium […]

Perma-Fix Environmental Services on Thursday reported a 30.2% spike in its second-quarter revenue, from $13.2 million in 2018 to $17.1 million in 2019. That encompassed a 75.4% sales boost in the Atlanta-based waste management specialist’s business, from $4 million last year to $7 million in the latest reporting period, along with a more modest 10.4% […]

By John Stang Federal and internal investigators believe the fatal November 2018 explosion at a US Ecology waste facility in Idaho was the result of an unintended chemical reaction, though they don’t necessarily agree on all details of the event. US Ecology recently submitted its report identifying the cause of the explosion to the Idaho […]

Longenecker & Associates promoted Mike Briggs to the newly created post of group vice president for High-Hazard Operations support, the small-business subcontractor at the Los Alamos National Laboratory said. Briggs joined the Las Vegas-based company last year and helped launch the business line that supports incident response and recovery at DOE sites, the company said […]

The Nevada Division of Environmental Protection (NDEP) expects by the end of this month to receive additional U.S. Energy Department information on numerous shipments of mislabeled radioactive waste to the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS). After reviewing the latest material from DOE, the state “will determine whether the material is stable in the current disposal […]