Cleanup & Remediation

It will probably be late September before there is resolution of the dispute over the final liquid-waste management contract for the Energy Department’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina, a BWX Technologies official said Monday. The situation has dragged on longer than expected, David Black, senior vice president and chief financial officer, said during the […]

Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS), the tank management contractor for the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state, has issued a request for information (RFI) for subcontractors interested in doing construction work inside the tank farm. WRPS expects to issue a formal request for proposals (RFP) during the final quarter of fiscal 2018, which ends […]

A federal judge has decided to let the Department of Energy and a contractor argue in court about whether the agency was allowed to claw back some $20 million in fees on a long-overdue, over-budget plutonium disposal plant in South Carolina. That is according to an April 27 order by U.S. Court of Federal Claims Judge […]

The governor of South Carolina this week promised a court challenge if the Department of Energy cancels the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) under construction in his state, or turns the planned plutonium-disposal plant into a new weapons facility. The sprawling facility, billions over budget and years behind schedule, is being built to turn […]

The House of Representatives’ version of the fiscal 2019 National Defense Authorization Act would authorize $65 million in funding to begin work on a new low-yield nuclear warhead for submarine-launched ballistic missiles as part of an overall $15.3 billion National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) budget, according to a bill summary provided Friday by the House […]

A new class action lawsuit was filed Monday on behalf of Hanford Site workers whose pension benefits were reduced when they were transferred from contractors and subcontractors at the Department of Energy facility to six “enterprise companies” in 1996. Attorney Douglas McKinley, of Kennewick, Wash., filed the lawsuit in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims […]

A National Academies committee studying technology development needed across the Department of Energy environmental management complex should focus on technologies that can provide final and lasting reductions in long-term risk, according to the Oregon Department of Energy. The fiscal 2017 DOE appropriations bill directed the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to study technologies […]

Centrus Energy is asking the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to amend its nuclear material license at the Energy Department’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio. The application was filed as the company is closing out decommissioning of its American Centrifuge uranium enrichment demonstration project. In a May 1 Federal Register notice, the NRC is seeking comments on […]

The new Hanford Workforce Engagement Center could serve as a model across the Department of Energy nuclear cleanup complex, said Anne White, the new DOE assistant secretary for environmental management. Sworn in little more than a month ago, she made her second visit to the Hanford Site in Eastern Washington this week and spoke at […]

The Energy Department needs to address some shortcomings in fire protection at the Solid Waste Management Facility (SWMF) at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) said recently. There is no comprehensive fire-detection system covering the entirety of the facility, which is staffed only four days per week […]

The government sector was one of the few bright spots early this year in what Fluor Chairman and CEO David Seaton described Thursday as “a disastrous quarter.” “I think we have a good brand in that market and are continuing to bid those projects and being successful,” Seaton said of the company’s business with the […]

The Washington state Department of Ecology has postponed, for now, a second public meeting to seek input on management of waste storage tunnels at the PUREX Plant at the Hanford Site in Washington state, after the older of the two tunnels was found to be partially collapsed last May. Since then work crews had by […]

The Energy Department and cleanup contractor Fluor Idaho are still in the early stages of the investigation of an April 11 breach of four drums of radioactive waste at the Idaho Site, a state official said this week. “They have made several re-entries and are in the process of collecting samples but it will likely […]

At least one member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform said last week he supports giving the Hanford Site in Washington state the ability to pursue lower-cost options for disposal of millions of tons of radioactive waste. Rep. Steve Russell (R-Okla.) said he favors giving the Energy Department extra flexibility at Hanford […]

Parsons has asked Energy Department officials to retract a notice of concern that claimed significant mismanagement in the company’s work to start up the multibillion-dollar Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF) at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. In an April 6 letter obtained by Weapons Complex Monitor, Parsons SWPF project manager Frank Sheppard said the March […]

Newport News Nuclear BWXT-Los Alamos (N3B) became the new contractor in charge of legacy nuclear cleanup at the Energy Department’s Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in New Mexico effective Monday morning. The contractor just finished a 90-day transition that has included hiring staff, inspecting cleanup areas and setting up new policy and business procedures, the […]

Centrus Energy is asking the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to amend a nuclear material license at the Energy Department’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio. The application was filed as the company is closing out decommissioning of its American Centrifuge uranium enrichment demonstration project. The nuclear material license was originally issued in February 2004 when Centrus (then […]

The Board of Directors for the Regional Coalition of LANL Communities (RCLC) voted April 27 to advertise for a new executive director to succeed Andrea Romero, whose contract was not renewed at the end of February following a public dispute over expense reimbursements. Los Alamos County, N.M., is preparing the necessary advertisement, County Manager Harry […]

Sentencing has been scheduled for the two men who pleaded guilty to stealing $4.4 million from the federal government while conducting work for the MOX project at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina. Aaron Vennefron and Phillip Thompson will both be sentenced on May 24 by Judge J. Michelle Childs, of […]

A new class action lawsuit was filed Monday against the Department of Energy on behalf of Hanford Site workers whose pension benefits were reduced when they were transferred from contractors and subcontractors at the Washington state facility to six “enterprise companies” in 1996. Attorney Douglas McKinley, of Kennewick, Wash., filed the lawsuit in the U.S. […]

The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) will hold a public meeting today in Washington, D.C., as part of its study of the viability of the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico to dispose of downblended plutonium from the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. The preliminary agenda for the 2:30 p.m. […]

Parsons has asked Energy Department officials to rescind a notice of concern that claimed significant mismanagement in the company’s work to start up the multibillion-dollar Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF) at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. In an April 6 letter obtained by Weapons Complex Morning Briefing, Parsons SWPF project manager Frank Sheppard said […]

At least one member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform said last week he favors giving the Hanford Site in Washington state the ability to pursue lower-cost options for disposal of millions of tons of radioactive waste. Rep. Steve Russell (R-Okla.) said he favors giving the Energy Department extra flexibility at Hanford […]

The Department of Energy is allowing an extra two weeks for submission of bids to build the Outfall 200 Mercury Treatment Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn. A new amendment to the request for proposals, among other things, extends the deadline for submission to 3 p.m. Eastern time on May […]

Newport News Nuclear BWXT-Los Alamos (N3B) became the new contractor in charge of legacy nuclear cleanup at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in New Mexico effective Monday morning. A spokesperson for N3B President and Project Manager Nick Lombardo confirmed the news late Monday afternoon, saying the firm would issue a formal announcement later this […]

Fluor Idaho said Friday it hopes to have a plan in place by the end of this week for the probe and initial site recovery for the April 11 breach of four drums of radioactive waste at the Energy Department’s Idaho Site. A plan for “investigation, sampling, and recovery” should be complete by May 4, […]

An article in the April 26 edition of Weapons Complex Monitor Morning Briefing should have reported Bechtel could initially trace more than 90 percent of the material test reports for the Low-Activity Waste (LAW) and Analytical Laboratory (LAB) sections within the Waste Treatment Plant (WTP) at the Hanford Site in Washington state.

Contractor Parsons’ “degrading performance” while testing and commissioning the Savannah River Site’s $2 billion Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF) could push its start of operations back by several months, according to a notice of concern from the Department of Energy. Rather than the long-anticipated start of operations in December, Parsons’ data suggests SWPF should begin […]

Washington Closure Hanford and the Department of Justice received a final extension Friday to seal a settlement agreement in a civil lawsuit alleging the former Hanford Site contractor knowingly awarded small business subcontracts to front companies. Judge Sal Mendoza Jr. stayed the case in U.S. District Court in Eastern Washington until a June 8 hearing, […]

A House Armed Services subcommittee is seeking briefings every six months from the Energy Department Office of Environmental Management (EM) regarding ongoing problems with toxic vapors at the Hanford Site in Washington state. “Over the past several years, many workers have reported suspicious odors and subsequent health effects,” the HASC strategic forces subcommittee said in […]