Cleanup & Remediation

Longtime member Sean Sullivan was set to leave the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) today after a short and tumultuous run as chairman, during which he suggested eliminating the independent federal agency where he has worked for the last five years. Sullivan announced his impending exit on Jan. 19 in a memo circulated to […]

By John Stang The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Thursday it has selected partial excavation as its first choice to remove a massive amount of radioactive soil from the West Lake Landfill in Missouri. In a Thursday press release, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt said the proposed five-year project would cost $236 million. But a 2017 […]

The town of Ashford, N.Y., hopes to eventually land federal payment in lieu of taxes funding to help offset the cost of the nuclear cleanup at the West Valley Demonstration Project site, which is within town limits. Ashford Town Supervisor Charles Davis said by telephone Wednesday he has been working with the office of Sen. […]

Stoller Newport News Nuclear (SN3) President Nick Lombardo has been tapped to lead the management team for the joint venture recently awarded the $1.39 billion legacy cleanup contract at the Energy Department’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. Lombardo will serve as program manager for Newport News Nuclear BWXT-Los Alamos, which will be responsible […]

Despite a self-imposed Jan. 31 deadline,  the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency had not announced its decision Wednesday on how it will tackle cleanup of radioactive waste buried in the West Lake Landfill near St. Louis, Mo. The agency said earlier this month that EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt would decide the remediation approach at some point in […]

The Washington state Department of Health has increasing concerns about the spread of radioactive contamination from the Hanford Site’s Plutonium Finishing Plant, saying the public could be put at risk if demolition resumes without better controls. Clark Halvorson, assistant secretary at the Health Department, sent a letter to DOE on Tuesday, outlining the concerns and […]

Energy Secretary Rick Perry will pay his first visit to the Savannah River Site in Aiken, S.C., today and Friday, the Department of Energy said. A DOE spokesperson in Washington declined Wednesday to provide Perry’s agenda for the two-day visit. Two people who were aware of the visit Wednesday said as far as they knew, […]

The Department of Energy on Monday transferred management of the troubled Plutonium Finishing Plant demolition at the Hanford Site in Washington state to Jacobs Engineering Group, the new owner of cleanup contractor CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co. (CHPRC). The change came after another spread of radioactive contamination at the plant was identified Friday, when a […]

Appearing Tuesday on Capitol Hill, new Department of Energy Undersecretary for Science Paul Dabbar was asked whether a recent DOE reorganization put too much on his plate by having him oversee both nuclear cleanup and federal scientific research. “The Environmental Management portfolio has dominated the time and attention of whichever undersecretary has had it,” Rep. […]

After postponing action earlier in the day, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Tuesday afternoon voted to support the nomination of Anne Marie White to become assistant secretary of energy for environmental management. The voice vote clears the way for White’s eventual consideration by the full Senate. The business meeting had been delayed […]

The federal government wants the two men who stole more than $4 million while conducting work for the Department of Energy’s MOX project at the Savannah River Site to fork over enough money and assets to cover the total sum. In a motion filed Monday in U.S. District Court for South Carolina, U.S. Attorney Beth Drake asked […]

Next week, the House Energy and Commerce energy subcommittee on will hold another hearing on modernizing the Department of Energy, this time with a focus on U.S. nuclear infrastructure, the committee announced Tuesday. The hearing, “DOE Modernization: Advancing the Economic and National Security Benefits of America’s Nuclear Infrastructure,” is on the slate for 10 a.m […]

The U.S. Energy Department’s industry day for the occupational medical (OccMed) services contract procurement at the Hanford Site in Washington state drew a crowd earlier this month, including incumbent provider HPM Corp. Thirty-seven individuals representing 13 companies, plus the Oak Ridge Associated Universities, were registered for the presolicitation conference, site tour, and individual sessions, according […]

A new contract modification will enable the Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup office in Oak Ridge, Tenn., to participate in a cancer research arrangement. The Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM) said a third-party medical company – whose name was not disclosed – will “milk” thorium from uranium stores at the Oak Ridge National […]

Longenecker & Associates has hired a new executive to lead its mission assurance team as it increases its workload in that area at two Department of Energy sites. Energy Department and nuclear navy veteran Craig Ferguson is now Longenecker’s group vice president for mission assurance, according to a Jan. 26 press release. The Las Vegas-based […]

The House’s top Department of Energy appropriator signaled Monday he might be interested in running the full Appropriations Committee next year after current Chairman Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.) retires from Congress. In a Twitter message, Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho), the blunt-talking, hard-nosed dentist-turned-lawmaker who chairs the House Appropriations energy and water subcommittee, said he has “always” […]

The Department of Energy plans to open a center to help ill current and former Hanford Site workers or their survivors understand the benefits for which they may qualify. The new center, called the Hanford Worker Engagement Center, is one of the steps DOE is taking after hearing worker complaints about difficulty getting help. The […]

Dave Einan, a remedial project manager at the Environmental Protection Agency’s Hanford Project Office, has been selected as the agency manager for the Department of Energy site in Washington state. The position, open since Dennis Faulk retired last summer after serving as EPA manager since 2009, was advertised as a Seattle or Hanford-area position, with […]

The three responsible parties for cleanup of the Santa Susana Field Laboratory site in California have asked the state Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) for two additional months to begin baseline air monitoring. NASA, acting on behalf of Boeing and the Department of Energy, made the request in a Nov. 27 letter to DTSC. The monitoring […]

A federal lawsuit accusing the management contractor at the Savannah River Site of forcing a worker to retire due to his sleep apnea should be thrown out, according to a recommendation from a U.S. magistrate judge. Judge Thomas Rogers wrote in his Jan. 19 recommendation that Steven Baxley, a former employee of Savannah River Nuclear […]

Having workers use supplied air respirators with lines that snake across the ground rather than heavy air tanks could be an option for certain tasks at the Hanford Site’s radioactive waste storage tank farms, according to tank farm contractor Washington River Protection Solutions. Workers have been testing use of air lines, including at the HAMMER […]

The Energy Department Office of Environmental Management anticipates it will in July issue a draft request for proposals for the Nevada Environmental Services Program at the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS). That is according to documents posted on a DOE procurement website for industry meetings held Monday and Tuesday in Las Vegas. The Office of […]

AECOM is still awaiting resolution of a $103 million claim filed against the Department of Energy in December 2014 in connection with the changed scope of cleanup at the Separations Process Research Unit in upstate New York. The Los Angeles-based engineering and infrastructure company noted the unresolved claim in its annual report, released on Jan. […]

A former subcontractor for URS-CH2M Oak Ridge in Tennessee was sentenced this week to 366 days in prison and ordered to repay the Internal Revenue Service more than $2.3 million for a scheme to defraud the federal government. The Justice Department said in a Tuesday news release that Joseph Anthony Armes, II, 38, of Petros, […]

New data has raised questions about the efficacy of monitoring for the spread of radioactive contamination during demolition of the Plutonium Finishing Plant at the Hanford Site in Washington state. The Department of Energy on Wednesday released additional results from the analysis of samples collected at DOE and state Department of Health air sampling stations. […]

The Washington state Senate on Thursday voted 35-14 to pass legislation that would ease requirements for ill Hanford Site workers to be approved for state workers’ compensation because of exposure to radiation or toxic chemicals on the job. House Bill 1723, which was first introduced last year by Republican state Rep. Larry Haler, a former […]

The Department of Energy’s plan for plutonium pit manufacturing will be made clearer in the Donald Trump administration’s 2019 budget request in February, agency officials told members of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board last week. That is according to a presentation uploaded to the board’s website Jan. 19 after a briefing with Department of […]

French nuclear fuel cycle company New AREVA officially has a new name as of Tuesday: Orano. Orano is the result of a corporate restructuring AREVA initiated in 2016 that late last year resulted in the sale of the company’s nuclear power business to French utility EDF and other entities. What was left was almost entirely […]

A federal lawsuit accusing the management contractor at the Savannah River Site of forcing a worker to retire due to his sleep apnea should be thrown out, according to a recommendation from a U.S. magistrate judge. Judge Thomas Rogers wrote in his Jan. 19 recommendation that Steven Baxley, a former employee of Savannah River Nuclear […]

Newport News Nuclear BWXT-Los Alamos said Wednesday it has received notice from the Department of Energy to start the transition into its $1.39 billion contract for cleanup services at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. The Stoller Newport News Nuclear-BWX Technologies team, which was named as the contract winner in December over two […]