Cleanup & Remediation

The Department of Energy delayed the release of a draft request for proposals for further cleanup of the Hanford Site’s central plateau until sometime between now and Sept. 30, the agency announced this week. The draft solicitation won’t be issued until after the department discusses the planned procurement in August with prospective vendors. “The Central […]

A sinkhole discovered last month near the 2H Evaporator at the Energy Department’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina has been fixed, a DOE spokesperson said Friday by email. The sinkhole, about 4 feet long, 3 feet wide, and more than 3 feet deep, was discovered in asphalt on the east side of the evaporator […]

To prevent it from collapsing, the Department of Energy wants to start filling a second PUREX plant waste storage tunnel at the Hanford site with concrete-like grout in August — before the end of a scheduled public comment period about the effort. The Washington State Department of Ecology, lead state regulator at Hanford, plans a […]

The Department of Energy is limiting options for future use of Hanford land with the cleanup decisions it is making now, according to a new Columbia Riverkeeper report. The Oregon-based group, which works to protect and restore the water quality of the Columbia River, released “Competing Visions for the Future of Hanford” on Tuesday. DOE […]

The Energy Department and contractor Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth expect soil excavation and installation of necessary infrastructure for a planned on-site radioactive waste disposal cell at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio should be completed in fiscal 2019. Recent progress includes setting up trailers for work crews, installing security fencing along the perimeter of the site, including sedimentation […]

The Environmental Protection Agency expects to issue its Record of Decision for cleanup of the radioactively contaminated West Lake Landfill in Missouri by Sept. 30. The agency’s preferred option for cleanup is called partial excavation: removing soil contaminated at 52.9 picocuries per gram or more to 16 feet below ground, then covering the area. Some residents […]

A new project baseline proposal for the Savannah River Site’s Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF) was recently submitted by Parsons and is currently under review by the U.S. Department of Energy, an agency spokesperson confirmed this week in an email. Parsons submitted the plan last month. The Department of Energy (DOE) spokesperson said SWPF will […]

The Department of Energy delayed the release of a draft request for proposals for further cleanup of the Hanford Site’s central plateau until some time between now and Sept. 30, the agency announced Tuesday. “The Central Plateau Cleanup Contract (CPCC) Draft Request For Proposal is now anticipated to be released by the end of the […]

Nuclear Watch New Mexico (NukeWatch) can continue to pursue its lawsuit against the Energy Department and its former Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) contractor for failing to do certain tasks spelled out in a 2005 consent order, but a federal judge won’t throw out a revised 2016 settlement between DOE and the state of New […]

The Energy Department is seeking feedback from small business contractors who might be interested in cleaning up the F-Building Storage Yard (F-Yard) at the Separations Process Research Unit (SPRU) facility near Schenectady, N.Y. The department’s Office of Environmental Management said Tuesday it is issuing a request for information (RFI)/sources sought, in order to connect with […]

Bob McQuinn, an AECOM senior executive who, among other things, led the prime contractor team for the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), for about a year following a 2014 accident, has announced he will retire at the end of August. McQuinn is vice president of the company’s performance assurance and high-level waste sector. […]

To prevent it from collapsing, the Department of Energy wants to start filling a second PUREX plant waste storage tunnel at the Hanford site with concrete-like grout in August — before the end of a scheduled public comment period about the effort. The Washington State Department of Ecology, lead state regulator at Hanford, plans a 45-day […]

The Environmental Protection Agency is scheduled today to release the public comments it received in recent months regarding its preferred plan for cleanup of the radioactively contaminated West Lake Landfill in Missouri. The agency in February announced its “partial excavation” approach, in which it would remove soil contaminated at 52.9 picocuries per gram or more to 16 […]

The Washington state Department of Ecology will kick off a 45-day public comment period in mid-August to take input on proposed changes by the Energy Department and CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation to the PUREX Storage Tunnels at the Hanford Site. There are two public hearings slated, one Aug. 27 at 5:30 p.m., at the Richland, […]

A dozen current and former fire captains or platoon sergeants at the Hanford site in Washington state are seeking overtime back pay and damages in a federal lawsuit filed against site-wide services contractor Mission Support Alliance (MSA). The plaintiffs say MSA owes them overtime pay, equal to one-and-a-half times their normal hourly wage, for time […]

The Energy Department and contractor Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth expect soil excavation and installation of necessary infrastructure for a planned on-site radioactive waste disposal cell at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio should be completed in fiscal 2019. Recent progress includes setting up trailers for work crews, installing security fencing along the perimeter of the site, including sedimentation […]

All Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) operations resumed at the end of June, following a two-month pause on all missions considered not essential to maintaining safety.  Lab management initiated the pause due to growing concerns over the facility’s safety culture. The Department of Energy lab in South Carolina has been in management-controlled operations since June […]

The Washington state Department of Ecology has issued an operations permit for the analytical laboratory for the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site. This permit, issued in the spring, is the state agency’s first operations approval for the plant being built by Bechtel to turn Hanford’s radioactive tank […]

The Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management on Tuesday released a request for information and sources sought inquiry for stack dismantlement at the Brookhaven National Laboratory on Long Island, N.Y. The Environmental Management office is planning an upcoming solicitation for a contractor to decommission, tear down, and conduct site clearance for the High Flux Beam […]

The Energy Department is seeking Nuclear Regulatory Commission approval for a one-time shipment of 2.5 kilograms of spent nuclear fuel material from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee to the Idaho National Laboratory for research purposes. The nuclear regulator said June 26 it had received DOE’s application for approval of a shipment route and […]

The parties to the Tri-Party Agreement on environmental remediation of the Hanford Site in Washington state have verified that the challenging cleanup of the 618-10 Burial Ground has been completed. That meets the deadline under the agreement for completion of the project by the end of this fiscal year, according to the Department of Energy. […]

After Losing Suit, Former Savannah River Employee Must Pay Printing Costs In what should be the final chapter of a federal discrimination lawsuit, a former employee of the Savannah River Site’s management and operations contractor has been ordered to pay the company $908.45 for the cost of documents printed documents over the course of the […]

The current 30-month option period for Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth’s $3.4 billion decontamination and decommissioning contract for the Energy Department’s Portsmouth Site in Piketon, Ohio, is scheduled to expire Sept. 30. While a DOE spokesperson confirmed Tuesday the contract has not been extended beyond Sept. 30, other details were sparse. The Energy Department has not said if […]

Although RSI EnTech did not win a recently announced successor contract for technical support services at the Energy Department’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio, company President Paul Clay thinks the 97 percent rating on a new performance scorecard demonstrates the firm’s caliber of work. RSI EnTech’s current $51 million, five-year contract at Portsmouth expires at the […]

All Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) operations resumed at the end of June, following a two-month pause on all missions considered not essential to maintaining safety.  Lab management initiated the pause due to growing concerns over the facility’s safety culture. The Department of Energy lab in South Carolina has been in management-controlled operations since June […]

In what should be the final chapter of a federal discrimination lawsuit, a former employee of the Savannah River Site’s management and operations contractor has been ordered to pay the company $908.45 for the cost of printed documents over the course of the two-year case. U.S. District Judge J. Michelle Childs issued her decision on […]

The resignation of controversy-plagued Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt will not change the federal approach for cleanup of the radioactively contaminated West Lake Landfill in Missouri, according to the agency. On July 5, Pruitt submitted his resignation to President Donald Trump following a 17-month term in office in which he was battered by a […]

The Energy Department is seeking Nuclear Regulatory Commission approval for a one-time shipment of 2.5 kilograms of spent nuclear fuel material from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee to the Idaho National Laboratory for research purposes. The nuclear regulator said June 26 it had received DOE’s application for approval of a shipment route and […]

All Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) operations resumed at the end of June, following a two-month pause on all missions considered not essential to maintaining safety.  Lab management initiated the pause due to growing concerns over the facility’s safety culture. The Department of Energy lab in South Carolina has been in management-controlled operations since June […]

The current 30-month option period for Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth’s $3.4 billion decontamination and decommissioning contract for the Energy Department’s Portsmouth Site in Piketon, Ohio, is scheduled to expire Sept. 30. While a DOE spokesperson confirmed Tuesday the contract has not been extended beyond Sept. 30, other details were sparse. The Energy Department has not said if […]