Cleanup & Remediation

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Tuesday began moving radioactively contaminated soil from a former beryllium production plant in Ohio to final disposal in Michigan. The transport is a key step in cleanup of the Luckey Site property about 22 miles from Toledo under the Army Corps’ Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP). The […]

As she closes out her third full month at the helm of the Energy Department’s nuclear cleanup office, Assistant Energy Secretary for Environmental Management Anne Marie White might not be finished putting together her leadership team. Bechtel Project Manager Mark Frei is said to be in consideration for a top Environmental Management post, possibly even […]

URS-CH2M Oak Ridge (UCOR) officially announced Monday that it has hired a former Energy Department senior adviser for environmental management issues, Roger Jarrell, for a government and stakeholder relations position. Jarrell, who left DOE on June 15, was a Trump administration political appointee who joined the department in January 2017 and started working on nuclear […]

The Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management would continue to enjoy a hefty budget under the “minibus” appropriation package for fiscal 2019 passed by the Senate on Monday evening. Voting senators approved the proposal 86-5. The Senate bill, which covers funding for energy and water development programs, among others, would provide $7.2 billion in total […]

The Energy Department has drilled two open-borehole bedrock wells as it tries to gauge the extent of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in groundwater within Area IV of the Santa Susana Field Laboratory in California. The Energy Department is also seeking to determine if a VOC source exists at Building 4457, part of the Hazardous Materials […]

URS-CH2M Oak Ridge (UCOR), prime cleanup contractor for the Energy Department’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee, earned a total of $6.24 million in fee awards for the first half of 2018, according to a recent performance scorecard. The contractor garnered 100 percent of the potential $2.59 million in objective criteria fee, along with $3.65 million, […]

The first of up to two dozen containers of highly radioactive sludge was trucked Monday morning to storage in the center of the Hanford Site in Washington state. Workers have for nine years been preparing for the sludge transfer from underwater containers in the K West Reactor Basin, which is just 400 yards from the […]

The state of Missouri on Friday formally established a fund for investigation of potential radioactive waste contamination in any jurisdiction. The fund, which would receive no more than $150,000 in any fiscal year, was included in broader legislation addressing operations of the state Department of Natural Resources. Gov. Michael Parson (R) signed the bill on […]

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers expects this week to begin moving contaminated soil from a former beryllium production plant in Ohio to final disposal in Michigan. The Army Corps in April formally began cleanup of the Luckey site under its Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP). Contractor North Wind-Portage at the time began digging […]

The Energy Department is advertising for a deputy manager at the Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM) in Tennessee. The position has not been filled permanently since Jay Mullis became OREM manager last fall. Mullis had been OREM’s acting manager since October 2016, and was also the deputy manager since February 2015. The Energy […]

A newly updated organizational chart suggests the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management has made further changes to its leadership hierarchy. Angela Watmore as of June 1 is listed as an acting chief of staff and senior adviser within DOE’s nuclear cleanup branch. The slot was described as “vacant” in an April 19 version of […]

The Department of Energy said Thursday it plans to extend the Hanford Site Plateau Remediation Contract held by CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co.  The proposed contract extension is for up to an additional year through Sept. 30, 2019. CH2M’s current 10-year contract is set to expire in just over three months at the end of […]

Four workers at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state received medical evaluations for potential exposure to chemical vapors over the last week, according to waste tank farm contractor Washington River Protection Solutions. In the most recent incident, three workers reported suspicious odors Thursday morning outside the AW Tank Farm, where supplied-air respirators […]

In an introductory letter to new Assistant Energy Secretary for Environmental Management Anne Marie White, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) highlighted a number of safety concerns across the Energy Department’s nuclear cleanup complex. The independent safety watchdog is tracking several issues at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina and the Hanford Site […]

The Energy Department found no evidence its conflicts of interest rules were violated when the Portsmouth Site Specific Advisory Board (SSAB) voted May 10 whether to request the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, and DOE, reopen the 2015 record of decision for an on-site waste disposal cell at the cleanup site. Advisory panel member Dennis Foreman, […]

Streamlining top-level management of the Energy Department’s nuclear cleanup operation is one part of a sweeping blueprint for restructuring the federal government, which the White House Housed unveiled on Thursday. The report, “Delivering Government Solutions in the 21st Century: Reform Plan and Reorganization Recommendations,” proposes to increase efficiency in agency operations across the federal government. That […]

Fluor Idaho said this week it has not yet lifted a stop work order in effect for certain operations at the Energy Department’s Idaho National Laboratory. The order was issued after a June 5 accident in which an employee suffered a puncture wound while doing cleanup work in a glove box at the Advanced Mixed […]

Respiratory protection requirements have again been eased at a Hanford Site double-shell tank farm, with directives in some additional radioactive waste storage tank farms expected to be reduced later this summer, according to contractor Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS). Workers now are allowed to use full-face air-purifying respirators equipped with filter cartridges as protection from […]

The federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) on Monday reported that exposure to radioactive materials near St. Louis, Mo., could be linked to a heightened danger of various types of cancer. Coldwater Creek in north St. Louis County was contaminated by upstream storage facilities for radiological waste from uranium extraction operations in […]

Fluor Idaho said this week it has not yet lifted a stop work order in effect for certain operations at the Energy Department’s Idaho National Laboratory. The order was issued after a June 5 accident in which an employee suffered a puncture wound while doing cleanup work in a glove box at the Advanced Mixed […]

In an introductory letter to new Assistant Energy Secretary for Environmental Management Anne Marie White, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) highlighted a number of safety concerns across the Energy Department’s nuclear cleanup complex. The independent safety watchdog is tracking several issues at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina and the Hanford Site […]

Two workers at the Hanford Site in Washington state on Friday received medical evaluations after one smelled a suspicious odor and developed symptoms consistent with possible exposure to chemical vapors from radioactive tank waste, according to tank farm contractor Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS). The second worker had no symptoms but requested a medical check […]

The Energy Department found no evidence its conflicts of interest rules were violated when the Portsmouth Site Specific Advisory Board (SSAB) voted May 10 whether to request the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, and DOE, reopen the 2015 record of decision for an on-site waste disposal cell at the cleanup site. Advisory panel member Dennis Foreman, […]

The federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) on Monday reported that exposure to radioactive materials near St. Louis, Mo., could be linked to a heightened danger of various types of cancer. Coldwater Creek was contaminated by upstream storage facilities for radiological waste from uranium extraction operations in St. Louis for the World […]

A local branch of the United Steelworkers and contractor Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth remain at odds about the company’s plans to basically stop work during the week of July 4 at the Energy Department’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio. USW Local 1-689 President John Knauff said by telephone Monday he has filed grievances, through the normal dispute procedures […]

A newly updated organizational chart suggests the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management has made further changes to its management hierarchy. Angela Watmore as of June 1 is listed as an acting chief of staff and senior adviser within DOE’s nuclear cleanup branch. The slot was described as “vacant” in an April 19 version of […]

Respiratory protection requirements have again been eased at a Hanford Site double-shell tank farm, with directives in some additional radioactive waste storage tank farms expected to be reduced later this summer, according to contractor Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS). Workers now are allowed to use full-face air-purifying respirators equipped with filter cartridges as protection from […]

Former Idaho Gov. Philip Batt opposes potential Energy Department shipment of transuranic waste from the Hanford Site in Washington state to the Idaho National Laboratory. Batt, a Republican, was governor from 1995 to 1999, and championed a landmark settlement between the state, DOE, and the U.S. Navy that limited nuclear waste storage in Idaho. He […]

The Department of Energy has yet to determine whether certain members of the Portsmouth Site Specific Advisory Board (SSAB) had conflicts of interest that should have kept them from voting on an issue last month, sources said this week. Dennis Foreman, a Pike County, Ohio, teacher who serves on the advisory panel, made a formal […]

A June 8 article in Weapons Complex Monitor cited the Idaho Site and the Southwest Experimental Fast Oxide Reactor (SEFOR) as “small cites” in Energy Department cleanup operations, and failed to include the Separations Process Research Unit, the West Valley Demonstration Project, and the Nevada National Security Site. While the Energy Department’s fiscal 2019 budget […]