Cleanup & Remediation

The Energy Department could reissue the liquid waste management contract for the Savannah River Site in South Carolina within hours, according to the most recent schedule for major procurements at its Office of Environmental Management. The DOE nuclear cleanup office posted the latest timeline on Nov. 19, and said the waste contract could be awarded […]

While the Department of Energy has spent $164 billion since 1989 to remediate Cold War-related nuclear and hazardous waste, its environmental liability has grown, according to the agency’s Office of Inspector General. The department’s environmental liability has more than doubled from a low of $176 billion in fiscal 1997 to $384 billion in fiscal 2017, […]

Bechtel has hired a veteran Energy Department and nuclear energy industry manager as chief for nuclear safety and operations within its Engineering division. Chip Lagdon will oversee nuclear safety analyses for Bechtel’s DOE cleanup and nuclear security missions, the company said in a press release last week. Lagdon will also work on safety and licensing […]

A new law easing Washington state workers’ compensation program requirements for claims from employees of the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site violates the U.S. Constitution, according to the Department of Justice. The agency plans to file a civil lawsuit against the state near the end of this week to block the law, if a resolution […]

Oak Ridge, Tenn.-based Atkins Nuclear Secured Holdings Corp. on Nov. 8 named William Madia to its Board of Directors. In addition to heading his own energy consulting firm, Madia is chairman of the board and vice president for the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory at Stanford University in California. Originally called the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, […]

The Vermont Public Utility Commission is scheduled next week to issue its decision on approval of the sale of the shuttered Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant. Parties to the three-member panel’s review of the deal received notice Thursday in a one-sentence memorandum from Clerk of the Commission Judith Whitney: “The Vermont Public Utility Commission has […]

By John Stang It is unknown how long it will take to determine the cause of a Nov. 17 explosion that killed one man and injured three others inside a US Ecology building about 50 miles south of Boise, Idaho. “US Ecology mobilized a team of national experts and internal resources to complete a comprehensive […]

WASHINGTON, D.C. – While the Energy Department’s top nuclear cleanup manager said Wednesday her office will not use a new agency order to thwart oversight by the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB), members of the panel remained apprehensive. Order 140.1, issued in May, will not change the relationship between DOE’s Office of Environmental Management […]

The Department of Energy should increase use of solar power at the Savannah River Site as it addresses aging infrastructure issues, the SRS Citizens Advisory Board (CAB) said Tuesday. The recommendation was forwarded to DOE headquarters on a 17-0 board vote. It emphasizes the 310-square-mile South Carolina facility’s suitability for solar power: plenty of cleared land on which solar panels could […]

The Energy Department expects to soon issue a request for proposals for paramilitary security services at the Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina. The notice of the upcoming solicitation was posted Tuesday on the Federal Business Opportunities website. The Energy Department expects to issue the actual RFP within 15 to 60 days. The new […]

Nearly lost amid higher-profile nomination hearings in high-octane committees this week is a nuts-and-bolts piece of legislation that could open the door for more whistleblower disclosures in the nuclear weapons, waste, and power industries. The bill, slated for a hearing Thursday in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee along with several other pieces of legislation, […]

Mark Gilbertson’s official promotion to the No. 2 spot at the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management means added responsibility for his acting replacement as the cleanup office’s head of regulatory and policy issues. Assistant Secretary of Energy for Environmental Management Anne Marie White on Nov. 20 named Gilbertson her permanent principal deputy assistant secretary, […]

The federal government and South Carolina expressed optimism Monday that they can settle a $100 million claim over plutonium that remains stranded in the state. “Pursuant to the Court’s Order filed October 24, 2018 … the parties report that at this time they continue to believe that it is possible to resolve the pending disputes […]

Oak Ridge, Tenn.-based Atkins Nuclear Secured Holdings Corp. on Nov. 8 named William Madia to its Board of Directors. In addition to heading his own energy consulting firm, Madia is chairman of the board and vice president for the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory at Stanford University in California. Originally called the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, […]

The Department of Energy has awarded four indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contracts for technical support services at the Hanford Site in Washington state. The agency’s Office of River Protection at Hanford issued the awards on Nov. 20 to Independent Strategic Management Solutions, Inc., of Richland, Wash.; Street Legal of Oak Ridge, Tenn.; JFA-RC Technical […]

The management and operations contractor for the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site near Aiken, S.C., recently hired 24 new workers for tritium operations and plans to continue ramping up the staff. Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) manages production of tritium gas under the Savannah River Tritium Enterprise (SRTE). Tritium gas triggers the chain reaction […]

The Energy Department now anticipates reissuing the liquid waste management contract for the Savannah River Site in South Carolina by the end of this month, according to the latest schedule for major procurements at its Office of Environmental Management. The DOE nuclear cleanup office posted the latest timeline on Nov. 19. It supersedes an Oct. […]

Longenecker & Associates, the Las Vegas-based Energy Department subcontractor, has added a former Honeywell executive and a retired Air Force officer to its advisory board. The new members are retired U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Sandra Finan, now a consultant based in Spokane, Wash.; and ex-Honeywell Federal Manufacturing and Technologies (FM&T) President Chris Gentile, Longenecker […]

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plans to spend nearly $150 million in the current 2019 fiscal year on 20 separate nuclear cleanup projects under its Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP). That funding covers $120 million budgeted for the fiscal year that began on Oct. 1 and an additional $30 million under the […]

Bechtel has hired a veteran Energy Department and nuclear energy industry manager as chief for nuclear safety and operations within its Engineering division. Chip Lagdon will oversee nuclear safety analyses for Bechtel’s DOE cleanup and nuclear security missions, the company said in a press release last week. Lagdon will also work on safety and licensing […]

The Department of Energy’s (DOE) fiscal 2018 budget increase handily outpaced the rise in dollars under contract, according to a report from the agency’s Office of the Inspector General late last week. The DOE budget rose about 10 percent to some $34.5 billion between fiscal 2017 and fiscal 2018, while the amount of money under […]

Energy Department veteran Mark Gilbertson has officially been named principal deputy assistant secretary (PDAS) for the agency’s Office of Environmental Management. The move was announced in a Tuesday email to Energy Department representatives from Assistant Secretary of Energy for Environmental Management Anne Marie White. “Mark has excellent skills, temperament, and knowledge that compliment mine and […]

Weapons Complex Morning Briefing will not be published Thursday in observance of Thanksgiving Day. Look for the next issue in your inbox on Monday, Nov. 26.

Two former workers at the Hanford Site Waste Treatment Plant are accusing contractor Bechtel National in separate lawsuits of laying them off after they raised safety concerns. A jury trial has been set for July 2, 2019, for the lawsuit from Curtis W. Hall II, followed by a jury trial scheduled for Sept. 9, 2019, […]

The Energy Department could by the end of this month issue a revised decision on a consolidated technical support services contract for the Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office (PPPO), a source said Tuesday. The source said DOE could take one of several steps: reaffirm its initial award of a five-year, $137 million contract to a Professional Project […]

Jacobs Engineering Group on Tuesday reported rrevenue of $4.1 billion for the quarter ended Sept. 30, up significantly from the $2.7 billion reported a year earlier. Net earnings, however, showed a $23 million loss (-$0.16 per share) in the latest quarter compared to a $94 million or $0.78 per share, in net earnings for quarter […]

The prime contractor of a canceled plutonium-disposal plant in South Carolina cried foul in a long-running lawsuit against its client, the National Nuclear Security Administration, after the government allegedly broke a promise not to dispute certain costs claimed under the nearly 20-year-old contract. MOX Services said the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) disputed more than […]

Dallas-based Jacobs Engineering Group will hold its quarterly earnings call with Wall Street analysts today at 10 a.m. ET. The financial performance figures for the quarter ended Sept. 30, which marks the end of the company’s 2018 fiscal year, will be released prior to the market opening. Access to the conference call webcast is available […]

Weapons Complex Monitor will not be published next week in observance of the Thanksgiving Day holiday. Please look for the next issue in your inbox on Friday, Nov. 30.

An employee at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina has sued its management and operations contractor for more than $75,000, alleging he was severely injured while working on a trailer that had not been safely maintained. The lawsuit, filed Nov. 7 in U.S. District Court for South Carolina, says Henry Bradley […]