Cleanup & Remediation

The Energy Department could in late February issue its final request for proposals for construction of the Outfall 200 Mercury Treatment Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn., according to recently released presolicitation documents. The agency expects prospective bidders will have 30 calendar days from the date of the final RFP […]

Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) injected a bit of drama into an otherwise routine confirmation hearing Thursday by saying he would not support the nomination of Anne Marie White to be assistant secretary of energy for environmental management until the Energy Department agrees to discontinue its “uranium barter” program. Barrasso made his comments during a Senate […]

The Savannah River Site’s management and operations contractor hired about 550 employees last year in an effort to offset personnel lost due to retirement. Some of the new Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) hires are operators, who assist in the operation of a process or equipment within a nuclear facility at the Department of Energy […]

It is time for Congress to take a look at the Department of Energy’s 17 national laboratories and their contribution to the agency’s mission, according to Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas). During a Jan. 9 House Energy and Commerce energy subcommittee hearing on DOE modernization, Barton said he plans to draft a bipartisan reauthorization bill for […]

A third South Carolina jurisdiction has officially called on the Department of Energy to move production of plutonium pits — the fissile hearts of nuclear warheads — to the Savannah River Site from the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. On Tuesday, the city of North Augusta, which neighbors the Savannah River Site, passed […]

The Energy Department could issue its final request for proposals in late February for construction of the Outfall 200 Mercury Treatment Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn., according to recently released presolicitation documents. The agency expects prospective bidders will have 30 calendar days from the date of the final RFP […]

Wastren Advantage Inc. (WAI) took home 96.1 percent of its potential award fee for its laboratory analysis and testing contract at the Hanford Site in Washington State for the period from Nov. 21, 2016, to Sept. 20, 2017, according to a recent performance scorecard from the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management. Wastren took in […]

The Savannah River Site’s management and operations contractor hired about 550 employees last year in an effort to offset personnel lost due to retirement. Some of the new Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) hires are operators, who assist in the operation of a process or equipment within a nuclear facility at the Department of Energy site in […]

Washington Closure Hanford has reached a settlement agreement in principle with the U.S. Department of Justice in a civil lawsuit over subcontracting at the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state. The Justice Department has accused the former Hanford cleanup prime contractor of awarding small business subcontracts to front companies. Washington Closure’s contract for environmental […]

After a series of temporary spending measures, major media outlets are reporting that the chance of a federal government shutdown is growing more likely at the end of the day Friday when the latest stop-gap ends. Congress on Dec. 21 adopted its third budget continuing resolution to all federal agencies operational through Jan. 19. Should […]

URS-CH2M Oak Ridge (UCOR) earned an award fee of $3.28 million of a potential $3.78 million for the second half of fiscal 2017 under its cleanup contract for the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Reservation in Tennessee, according to a scorecard from DOE’s Office of Environmental Management. The document, dated Dec. 5, 2017, said UCOR […]

With fewer than six months left on the incumbent’s contract, the Department of Energy still has not started competition for the next Savannah River Site management and operations deal — the pact that includes running the National Nuclear Security Administration’s tritium program. The NNSA extracts tritium gas, which boosts the yield of nuclear weapons, at the […]

South Carolina on Monday sued the federal government again to claim $100 million it says it is owed for the Department of Energy’s failure to remove 1 metric ton of nuclear weapon-usable plutonium from the state. The complaint filed in U.S. Court of Federal Claims, State of South Carolina vs. The United States of America, […]

Local governments near the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina this week said they would be glad if the facility took over manufacturing plutonium pits for the National Nuclear Security Administration. On Tuesday, the nine-member Aiken County Council voted unanimously to approve a resolution “Supporting and Encouraging the Department of Energy/National Nuclear […]

Bechtel National (BNI) has met a contract milestone in construction of the Hanford Site Waste Treatment Plant worth an incentive fee of $4.275 million, the company and the Department of Energy announced Tuesday. The milestone was for electrical work at the plant’s Low-Activity Waste (LAW) Facility, with bulk cable electrical installation completed nearly four months […]

The liquid waste contractor for the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site and a former employee have received additional time to produce names and contact information for potential witnesses in a discrimination suit against the company. U.S. Magistrate Judge Paige Gossett on Wednesday granted the joint request submitted five days earlier by plaintiff Adrienne Saulsberry and defendant […]

A key piece of equipment needed for liquid waste disposal at the Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina has successfully been replaced, but the yearlong outage of liquid waste processing remains in effect, the Department of Energy said Tuesday. Melter 3 is in place and operational as of Dec. 29, when it began pouring treated […]

Several management changes have been made at the Hanford Site tank farms and Waste Treatment Plant project to help meet the Department of Energy’s goal of vitrifying tank waste as soon as 2022. A new general manager has been named for Waste Treatment Completion Co. (WTCC), the subcontractor created for construction, startup, and commissioning of […]

The Hanford Site has five major procurements in the pipeline between now and fiscal 2020, according to an announcement published Jan. 3 by the Department of Energy’s Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center (EMCBC). Three of the five solicitations could extend for up to 10 years; a fourth for up to seven years; and the length […]

Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS), waste storage tank operations contractor at the Hanford Site in Washington state, received 89 percent of its available fee for fiscal 2017, the Department of Energy noted in a recently issued performance scorecard. WRPS earned $11.89 million of the available $13.35 million for the budget year ended Sept. 30, 2017. […]

A Washington state judge has refused to grant a new trial or reduce an $8.1 million jury verdict against Hanford Site support services contractor Mission Support Alliance (MSA) and one of its managers. The company and Steve Young, an MSA manager and also mayor of the largest city near Hanford, were sued in 2015 for […]

Federal and state regulators this week directed the U.S. Energy Department not to resume radiologically hazardous demolition at the Hanford Site’s Plutonium Finishing Plant until the agencies agree corrective actions are sufficient to protect workers and the public in the wake of a contamination spread. Contractor CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co. suspended teardown on Dec. […]

Contract management and technical expertise are the major reasons the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) will now report to DOE’s Office of Science, officials said Tuesday during a congressional hearing. Energy Secretary Rick Perry announced EM’s move from the Office of the Undersecretary for Management and Performance to Science on Dec. 15 as […]

Anne M. White’s nomination to become assistant secretary of energy for environmental management appears to be on a fast track. The energy industry consultant’s pending nomination was announced by the White House on Jan. 3, formally submitted to the Senate on Monday, and as of Friday has been scheduled for a Senate Energy and Natural […]

With fewer than six months left on the incumbent’s contract, the Department of Energy still has not started competition for the next Savannah River Site management and operations deal — the pact that includes running the National Nuclear Security Administration’s tritium program. The NNSA extracts tritium gas, which boosts the yield of nuclear weapons, at the […]

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt is due this month to issue a decision on the approach for remediation of radiologically contaminated material at the West Lake Superfund Site in Missouri, the agency said Tuesday. A number of options are still being considered, according to an EPA spokesman: “cap in place”; multiple partial excavations […]

The Hanford Site has five major procurements in the pipeline between now and fiscal 2020, according to an announcement published Jan. 3 by the Department of Energy’s Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center (EMCBC). Three of the five solicitations could extend for up to 10 years; a fourth for up to seven years; and the length […]

Local governments near the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina this week said they would be glad if the site took over manufacturing plutonium pits for the National Nuclear Security Administration. On Tuesday, the nine-member Aiken County Council voted unanimously to approve a resolution “Supporting and Encouraging the Department of Energy/National Nuclear […]

The liquid waste contractor for the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site and a former employee have received additional time to produce names and contact information for potential witnesses in a discrimination suit against the company. U.S. Magistrate Judge Paige Gossett on Wednesday granted the joint request submitted five days earlier by plaintiff Adrienne Saulsberry and defendant […]

Bechtel National (BNI) has met a contract milestone in construction of the Hanford Site Waste Treatment Plant worth an incentive fee of $4.275 million, the company and the Department of Energy announced Tuesday. The milestone was for electrical work at the plant’s Low-Activity Waste (LAW) Facility, with bulk cable electrical installation completed nearly four months […]