Cleanup & Remediation

Recently obtained email messages indicate the Department of Justice might be investigating time-card issues involving the Waste Treatment Plant (WTP) project at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state. The investigation follows two settlements in recent years for alleged time-card fraud at the Hanford waste tank farms. An email sent on July 27 […]

The Energy Department, Boeing and NASA have submitted a plan to the California Department of Toxic Substances Control outlining how they plan to determine baseline air quality prior to cleanup work at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory. That’s among the recent milestones cited in a September report by (California Department of Toxic Substances Control) DTSC […]

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency anticipates issuing its final remedy plan for cleanup of radiologically contaminated material at the West Lake Landfill in a period of months, a spokesman said Friday. The agency was responding to a query regarding language added to Rep. John Shimkus’ (R-Ill.) legislation on the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository that […]

The federally-appointed citizens panel for the Oak Ridge Reservation is getting a half-dozen new members, and many of them have some background with Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management announced Oct. 26. The Oak Ridge Site Specific Advisory Board (ORSSAB) is designed to provide independent advice and recommendations […]

In a closed-door meeting Thursday, the acting head of the Energy Department’s nuclear cleanup program briefed the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board on the 45-day review of his office’s operations and other key issues. An entry on the DNFSB calendar says the five-person board was scheduled to receive one of its periodic briefings from EM-1, […]

The Salt Waste Processing Facility that has been built by Parsons Government Services at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina should be commissioned by the end of 2018. An article in the Oct. 20 edition of Weapons Complex Monitor misstated the timeline for commissioning. We regret the error.

A major waste treatment facility at the Energy Department’s Savannah River Site as of this week remained in deliberate operations, more than four months after it was placed into the slowed work mode due to multiple safety-related incidents. Officials at the South Carolina facility did not respond to an inquiry regarding how much longer the situation […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission Inspector General’s Office plans in the current federal budget year to review the most serious potential vulnerabilities facing the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board as part of the IG’s responsibility to examine management and performance of the Energy Department watchdog. In documents released last week, the NRC IG said challenges include […]

Groundwater contamination at the site of old Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Tennessee may persist beyond 2020, when the Department of Energy’s current $2.5 billion cleanup contract with URS-CH2M Oak Ridge (UCOR) ends. David Adler, director of DOE’s Oak Ridge Environmental Management Quality and Mission Support Division, told a local advisory board that some […]

Robert Card, who served as undersecretary of energy from 2001 to 2004 and later became president and CEO of the Canadian engineering firm SNC-Lavalin, has joined the Strategic Advisory Board for Energy Department contractor Longenecker & Associates. “Bob is one of the most brilliant strategic minds in our industry and I am honored that he […]

Congressman John Shimkus’ (R-Ill.) legislation aimed at advancing development of the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository also sets a deadline for the Environmental Protection Agency to prepare a final remedy for cleanup of radioactive material at the West Lake Landfill in Missouri. “Not later than one year after the date of enactment of this Act, […]

CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co. (CHPRC) has been awarded 92 percent of the fee available for fiscal 2016, the Department of Energy announced Monday. That compares to 95 percent the previous year. The Hanford Site cleanup contractor earned $14.1 million of $15.4 million available for the budget year ended Sept. 30, 2016. “CHPRC was very […]

The Wood Group and AREVA Projets SAS said Wednesday they had partnered to win a contract to extract 50 metric tons of radioactive waste from a French nuclear facility and prepare it for storage. The low- and medium-level, short-lived waste is magnesium cladding generated by processing of natural uranium-graphite-gas fuels at three former reactors at […]

CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co. (CHPRC) has been awarded 92 percent of the fee available for fiscal 2016, the Department of Energy announced Monday. That compares to 95 percent the previous year. The Hanford Site cleanup contractor earned $14.1 million of $15.4 million available for the budget year ended Sept. 30, 2016. “CHPRC was very […]

CH2M anticipates the Energy Department will pursue a legal challenge to a $33.2 million decision from the Civilian Board of Contract Appeals last month in favor of a CH2M joint venture that was the former prime cleanup contractor for the Idaho National Laboratory. That is according to documents that CH2M filed Tuesday with the U.S. […]

A CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co. project director has been selected as the new manager for the Office of River Protection at the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state. Brian Vance takes over from Kevin Smith, who retired at the end of September. The Office of River Protection is responsible for management of 56 […]

Robert Card, who served as undersecretary of energy from 2001 to 2004 and later became president and CEO of the Canadian engineering firm SNC-Lavalin, has joined the Strategic Advisory Board for Energy Department contractor Longenecker & Associates. “Bob is one of the most brilliant strategic minds in our industry and I am honored that he […]

Site managers for the Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management (EM) will discuss with stakeholders, elected officials, and regulators the proposals resulting from a review of the office’s operations that started in late June, according to Stacy Charboneau, EM associate principal deputy assistant secretary for field operations. She discussed the 45-day review initiated by […]

A major contractor for Los Alamos National Laboratory has recently completed $7.5 million of cleanup work adjacent to the Los Alamos townsite in New Mexico. The cleanup, conducted by TerranearPMC and overseen by lab prime Los Alamos National Security LLC (LANS), was done on DOE property along the south-facing slopes of the Los Alamos Canyon. […]

The Savannah River Site in South Carolina garnered a 99.9 percent compliance rate last year for the amount of pollutants it discharges into water on and off site, according to the management and operations contractor for the Department of Energy facility. The compliance rate is based on the regularity with which SRS remained in line […]

Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) and the U.S. Justice Department are seeking opinions from a federal board on whether the contractor and one of its parent companies overcharged the federal government to the tune of $5 million, according to a recently filed status report in U.S. District Court. The document, filed on Oct. 10, arrived after six […]

An article in the Oct. 13 edition of Weapons Complex Monitor should have reported that the new liquid waste management contract for the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site will not immediately cover the Salt Waste Processing Facility built by Parsons Government Services. Savannah River EcoManagement would run the plant after startup and one year […]

Some 31 of 305 bioassays collected from workers after the airborne spread of radioactive contamination at the Hanford Site’s Plutonium Finishing Plant (PFP) in June have tested positive for internal radioactive contamination. Doses were very low, the Department of Energy said in a statement on Wednesday.  Of the 31 workers with positive results, 18 had […]

Hanford Treatment Plants Process 2.2B Gallons of Water in FY17 The six groundwater treatment plants at the Hanford Site cleaned 2.2 billion gallons of water in the fiscal year just ended, reinjecting the processed water back into the ground, the Department of Energy announced Thursday. More than 145,000 pounds (72.5 tons) of contamination were removed. […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) said in a new report the Energy Department Office of Environmental Management has more work to do to resolve safety issues connected with criticality and flammable gas at the Waste Treatment Plant’s Pretreatment Facility at the Hanford Site in Washington state. The 100-page-plus technical report centers on four […]

The Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM) has turned over for eventual private use parcels of land that once held two gaseous diffusion facilities at the Oak Ridge Reservation in Tennessee. The sites of the K-31 and K-33 buildings cover about 215 acres in what is now the East Tennessee Technology […]

After a bombshell report that the head of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board wants Congress to dissolve the independent Department of Energy watchdog, several seasoned watchers of the weapons complex — running the gamut from former Department of Energy employees to hardcore anti-nuclear activists — said lawmakers should not eliminate the board. “The Board […]

Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) and the U.S. Justice Department are seeking opinions from a federal board on whether the contractor and one of its parent companies overcharged the federal government to the tune of $5 million, according to a recently filed status report in U.S. District Court. The document, filed on Oct. 10, arrived after six […]

Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) and the U.S. Justice Department are seeking opinions from a federal board on whether the contractor and one of its parent companies overcharged the federal government to the tune of $5 million, according to a recently filed status report in U.S. District Court. The document, filed on Oct. 10, arrived after six […]

An article in Tuesday’s Weapons Complex Morning Briefing should have reported that Apollo Mechanical Contractors, rather than Apollo Inc., had received a subcontract for work on the Hanford Site’s 324 Building. The companies share a majority owner but are separate corporate entities.