Cleanup & Remediation

The Environmental Protection Agency has until Oct. 15 to take action on a Richland, Wash., man’s petition requesting it object to the Clean Air Act operating permit issued in June 2016 by the Washington state Department of Ecology for the Hanford Site. Judge Salvador Mendoza Jr., of U.S. District Court for Eastern Washington, set the […]

The Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina earlier this month sent its first shipment of transuranic (TRU) waste for 2018 to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico, ending a yearlong layoff in waste exports. The DOE facility said in a press release it shipped “five standard waste boxes” to […]

The Energy Department wants to hear from businesses and universities that could test air ventilation systems for nuclear facilities. The department’s Office of Environmental Management issued a request for information (RFI)/sources sought notice Thursday seeking input from vendors that can evaluate high-efficiency particulate air filters for use in high-hazard DOE facilities. These filters help protect […]

Effective today, longtime James Owendoff has left his job as the No. 2 official in the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) to become a special adviser on nuclear cleanup issues at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. Mark Gilbertson, associate principal deputy assistant secretary for EM’s Office of Regulatory and Policy Affairs, […]

The Department of Energy is extending the public comment period for an evaluation that would allow remaining radioactive waste in the Hanford Site’s 16 C Farm single-shell tanks to be grouted in place after waste retrieval last fall was completed to regulatory standards. The grouting could allow the underground waste tanks in Eastern Washington state […]

One or more workers called a halt to work at the Hanford Site’s SX Tank Farm on Friday out of concern that an unexplained hole could indicate a problem with the integrity of an underground radioactive waste storage tank about 6 feet away. Personnel at the Department of Energy cleanup site in Washington state can […]

Workers at the Hanford Site in Washington state met the Department of Energy’s fiscal 2018 goal of treating 2.2 billion gallons of contaminated groundwater early, despite some downtime or limited operations at treatment plants to make improvements. Contractor CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co. hit the goal nearly two months before the Sept. 30 end of […]

A major infrastructure replacement at the Savannah River Site’s Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF) is inching toward completion, though the Department of Energy is hesitant to state when that might occur. The agency first reported in April that Parsons, the contractor that constructed the facility and is preparing it for operations, would need to replace […]

The Energy Department has extended the contract for the current security provider for the Oak Ridge Reservation in Tennessee through the end of the year. After a bid protest against the follow-on contract, the Energy Department said Aug. 10 it intends to keep Reston, Va.-based National Strategic Protective Services on the job from Sept. 22 […]

The Department of Energy will not be allowed to start filling the second Hanford Site PUREX Plant tunnel storing radioactive waste until after the end of a public comment period mandated by Washington state. In the wake of the partial collapse of the first PUREX storage tunnel in May 2017, DOE wants to use a […]

The 222-S Laboratory at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state was evacuated and two workers taken to a hospital on Thursday after a small fire. A piece of analytical equipment caught fire shortly before noon, according to Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS), which operates the lab where Wastren Advantage analyzes samples of […]

A truck carrying equipment contaminated at the Hanford Site’s Plutonium Finishing Plant traveled to two other sites on the Energy Department property and then off-site before the problem was discovered. Employees at the cleanup site in eastern Washington state received a DOE message about the incident last week. The incident occurred amid preparations to resume […]

A $50 million project intended to reduce the cost and time of nuclear cleanup at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site is at a standstill due to funding disagreements between the federal government and local stakeholders in South Carolina. The Aiken Advanced Manufacturing Partnership, a group spearheaded by a local economic development group, is […]

The Energy Department could issue a draft request for proposals this month for a paramilitary security services contract at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, according to a recently updated list of major procurements from DOE’s Office of Environmental Management (EM). The final RFP for the contract, forecast to be worth $1 billion to […]

A vice president for Hanford support services contractor Mission Support Alliance has reached an agreement with the Department of Justice to pay $124,440 to settle allegations of illegal kickbacks. Richard A. Olsen, the vice president of finance, was accused of taking at least $41,480 from Lockheed Martin between March 1, 2010, and Feb. 21, 2012. […]

Jacobs Engineering subsidiary CH2M boosted the parent company’s bottom line in its latest quarter thanks to enhancements in ongoing nuclear cleanup projects for the Department of Energy, Jacobs Chairman and CEO Steve Demetriou said Monday. Jacobs reported net earnings of $150 million ($1.05 per share) for the quarter ended June 30, the third quarter of […]

Tennessee-based RSI EnTech said Monday it would not follow a competitor’s lead in protesting the Energy Department’s recent $137 million consolidated contract award for technical support services at the Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office complex. “Yes, we received a debrief [on the contract award]; no, we did not/are not filing a protest,” RSI EnTech President Paul Clay […]

The Energy Department has issued a draft request for proposals (RFP) for a contract potentially worth up to $904 million over seven years for analysis services at the 222-S Laboratory at the Hanford Site in Washington state. The current contract, held by Veolia subsidiary Wastren Advantage, ends on Sept. 20, 2020, DOE said in a […]

Hiring has begun for the workers at the Hanford Site Waste Treatment Plant’s Analytical Laboratory who will support the plant’s commissioning prior to the start of operations by a 2023 federal court deadline. A 3,300-square-foot laboratory has been established at Columbia Basin College (CBC) near Hanford in Pasco, Wash., to help prepare for work at […]

AVANTech Inc. of Columbia, S.C., has acquired Mid Columbia Engineering Inc. (MCE), a Richland, Wash., firm that has done work at the nearby Hanford Site. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed. AVANTech plans to continue to expand the Richland manufacturing and service facility and use it to help deliver products and services to […]

Andrew Wheeler, acting head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, on Monday signed a record of decision laying out the final cleanup plan for the 100 D and H Areas along the horn of the Columbia River at the Hanford Site in Washington state. Cleanup began under interim decisions in the mid-1990s on 7.8 square […]

The ExchangeMonitor is taking its August recess, and Weapons Complex Monitor will not be published during the second and third 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. 24.

Fluor Chairman and CEO David Seaton said Thursday the company remains in pursuit of a multibillion-dollar liquid waste management contract at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina that the Department of Enregy is due to award again in a few weeks. Seaton offered his comments, without elaboration, during Fluor’s quarterly earnings call with Wall Street […]

Fluor Idaho is in the advanced stages of its investigation into the cause of an April 11 incident in which four drums of radioactive sludge overheated and ejected their lids, causing waste to spill onto the floor at an Idaho National Laboratory facility. Representatives of the contractor, Energy Department officials in Idaho, and the Idaho […]

An article in Wednesday’s Weapons Complex Morning Briefing, “DOE Contractor AVANTech Buys Mid Columbia Engineering,” should have specified that a recent AVANTech contract at the Hanford Site in Washington state is for a mobile cesium removal system rather than a fixed facility.

Weapons Complex Morning Briefing will be published on Tuesdays and Thursdays during the ExchangeMonitor’s publishing recess in the second and third week of August. The regular daily publishing schedule will resume on Monday, Aug. 20.

Waste treatment provider AVANTech, of Columbia, S.C., has acquired Mid Columbia Engineering (MCE), a Richland, Wash., firm that has done work at the nearby Hanford Site.  The companies did not release the sale price for the buyout. AVANTech plans to continue to expand its newly acquired Richland manufacturing and service facility, which will help deliver […]

Hiring has begun for the workers at the Hanford Site Waste Treatment Plant’s Analytical Laboratory who will support the facility’s commissioning prior to the start of operations by a 2023 federal court deadline. A 3,300-square-foot laboratory has been established at Columbia Basin College (CBC) near Hanford in Pasco, Wash., to help prepare for work at […]

One day after the Energy Department issued a draft request for proposals for lab services at the Hanford Site in Washington state, an agency official said a final RFP could soon hit the street for another contract. The final RFP for the potential 10-year, $4 billion Hanford Mission Essential Services contract could be out by […]

Andrew Wheeler, acting head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, on Monday signed a record of decision laying out the final cleanup plan for the 100 D and H Areas along the horn of the Columbia River at the Hanford Site in Washington state. Cleanup began under interim decisions in the mid-1990s on 7.8 square […]