Cleanup & Remediation

A major environmental management contract at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in New Mexico is scheduled to expire Saturday, but don’t be surprised if the incumbent cleanup provider receives an extension to wind up an ongoing project. Los Alamos National Security (LANS), the laboratory’s management and operations prime, is at the tail end of […]

The extended closure of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico threatens the Energy’s Department legal obligation to remove all transuranic waste from Idaho by the end of 2018, the DOE Inspector General’s Office said in a report released on Sept. 15. Department officials have acknowledged the possible risk cited in the IG’s […]

The Civilian Board of Contract Appeals has ordered the Energy Department to pay an additional $33.2 million to the former prime cleanup contractor for the Idaho Site. The board said CH2M-WG Idaho is entitled to recover more than $27.3 million in incentive fees for work it did on the Idaho Cleanup Project. In addition, the […]

Attorneys for Mission Support Alliance (MSA) say the Hanford Site support-services contractor had good reason to fire an employee who filed a lawsuit alleging retaliation. The attorney for the former manager, Julie Atwood, claims she was targeted by upper management who did not value strong women. Lawyers made their opening statements in the Benton County […]

A Hanford Site subcontractor has agreed to pay $2 million to resolve allegations it violated the False Claims Act in connection with small business subcontracts, the Department of Justice announced Thursday. Federal Engineers & Constructors (FE&C) of Richland has long maintained it did nothing improper and admitted no liability in the settlement agreement. The settlement […]

URS-CH2M Oak Ridge (UCOR), the cleanup prime for the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Reservation in Tennessee, has awarded a $1.4 million contract to GEM Technologies to begin preparing the site of a new mercury treatment facility at Y-12 National Complex. By the end of November, GEM will begin demolishing old Oak Ridge electric cables […]

The Department of Energy, NASA, and Boeing are wrestling with missed deadlines and expectations for the massive cleanup of the Santa Susana Field Laboratory in California, which was supposed to be well underway this year but remains largely in the planning stages. The state of California is still taking comments on two key documents for […]

The Washington state Department of Ecology is giving the Department of Energy more time to submit a proposal for safe storage of radioactive waste in the Hanford Site’s two PUREX Plant tunnels. The deadline to submit the information in the form of a draft modification to the Hanford RCRA (Resource Conservation and Recovery Act) dangerous […]

The siting, construction, and operation of a proposed dry capsule storage area for the Hanford Site’s cesium and strontium capsules will be discussed at a meeting Thursday in Richland, Wash. The capsules will be moved from underwater storage at the Waste Encapsulation and Storage Facility in central Hanford due to concerns that a severe earthquake […]

The state of California is taking comments on two key documents for cleanup of the Santa Susana Field Laboratory, even as the Department of Energy has acknowledged it cannot meet the 2017 deadline for soil and groundwater remediation of a portion of the site. Interested parties have until Oct. 23 to submit comments by email, […]

A federal judge last week set the schedule in a discrimination lawsuit against the liquid waste management contractor for the Energy Department’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina, but has not set a date for trial. Adrienne Saulsberry, an African-American woman and former employee of 23 years at Savannah River Remediation (SRR), alleged in an […]

The Civilian Board of Contract Appeals has ordered the Energy Department to pay an additional $33.2 million to the former prime cleanup contractor for the Idaho Site. The board said CH2M-WG Idaho is entitled to recover more than $27.3 million in incentive fees for work it did on the Idaho Cleanup Project. In addition, the […]

The extended closure of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico threatens the Energy’s Department legal obligation to remove all transuranic waste from Idaho by the end of 2018, the DOE Inspector General’s Office said in a report released Friday. Department officials have acknowledged the possible risk cited in the IG’s audit of interim […]

The Washington state Department of Ecology is giving the Department of Energy more time to submit a proposal for safe storage of radioactive waste in the Hanford Site’s two PUREX Plant tunnels. The deadline to submit the information in the form of a draft modification to the Hanford RCRA (Resource Conservation and Recovery Act) dangerous […]

The cleanup contractor for the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Reservation in Tennessee said this week it is among a number of agency contractors to be recognized for their safety performance last year. The National Safety Council in July recognized 51 member entities for “outstanding safety achievements” in calendar year 2016 through the Industry Leader […]

DOE to Skip Another Hanford Cleanup Life-Cycle Report The Department of Energy will not be required to issue an annual report in January outlining the remaining costs and schedule for cleanup of the Hanford Site in Washington state. The annual Hanford Lifecycle Scope, Schedule and Cost Report has been mandatory since 2010, when it was […]

Contractor Washington River Protection Solutions is ending fiscal 2017 with two successful evaporation campaigns that have freed up enough of the Hanford Site’s limited double-shell tank space to store 525,000 gallons of waste. Material from 149 single-shell tanks is being emptied into the site’s 27 double-shell tanks at Hanford that remain in service until the […]

The final paperwork is being filed to declare the Department of Energy’s X-326 building at Portsmouth, Ohio, “cold and dark” and ready for demolition, Robert Edwards, manager of DOE’s Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office, said Wednesday. The cold and dark designation could come in early 2018, Edwards and Dennis Carr, site director for Portsmouth cleanup contractor Fluor-BWXT […]

The Energy Department’s Environmental Management Field Office at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico is studying potential strategies for dealing with combustible radioactive waste held at a private facility in West Texas. Between 300 and 400 drums of waste from Los Alamos have been kept at Waste Control Specialists storage complex in Andrews […]

The Environmental Protection Agency has not made a permanent plan for management of its office at the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state. Instead, the EPA on Monday assigned two staffers at its Hanford Project Office to fill in as acting manager over the next eight months. The move came after Dennis Faulk, who […]

Damage at the Energy Department’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina this week from Hurricane Irma was limited to downed trees, with no reported issues at any facilities. Wind gusts reached up to 76 mph at the site near Aiken, S.C., with sustained winds of 35 mph on Monday when Irma did most of its damage in […]

With a large budget request, a programmatic review process encompassing top officials at Department of Energy headquarters and sites, and political appointees who seem to share a “bias for action,” there is cause for optimism about increasing the pace of cleanup of DOE’s nuclear legacy, officials said Wednesday. That was the sense that emerged following […]

Acting Assistant Energy Secretary for Environmental Management James Owendoff said Wednesday not to expect a major formal “list” of objectives to be published from his recently completed 45-day review of the Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup office. “There is not a list out there per se,” he said during DOE’s National Cleanup Workshop in Alexandria, […]

The final paperwork is being filed to declare the Department of Energy’s X-326 building at Portsmouth, Ohio, “cold and dark” and ready for demolition, Robert Edwards, manager of the DOE Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office, said Wednesday. The cold and dark designation could come in early 2018, Edwards and Dennis Carr, site project director for Portsmouth Site […]

The Energy Department’s Environmental Management (EM) Field Office at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico  is studying potential strategies for dealing with combustible waste stored at a private facility in West Texas. Between 300 and 400 drums of waste from Los Alamos have been held at Waste Control Specialists storage complex in Andrews County […]

Acting Assistant Energy Secretary for Environmental Management James Owendoff said Wednesday not to expect any big formal “list” of objectives to be published from his recently completed 45-day review of the Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup office. There has been much buzz about the 45-day review since Owendoff was named to head DOE’s Office of […]

The Department of Energy will not be required to issue an annual report in January outlining the remaining costs and schedule for cleanup of the Hanford Site in Washington state. The annual Hanford Lifecycle Scope, Schedule and Cost Report has been mandatory since 2010, when it was added to the Tri-Party Agreement as part of […]

The Environmental Protection Agency has not made a permanent plan for management of its office at the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state. Instead, the EPA on Monday assigned two staffers at its Hanford Project Office to fill in as acting manager over the next eight months. The move came after Dennis Faulk, who […]

The cleanup contractor for the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Reservation in Tennessee said this week it is among a number of agency contractors to be recognized for their safety performance last year. The National Safety Council in July recognized 51 member entities for “outstanding safety achievements” in calendar year 2016 through the Industry Leader […]

Deputy Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette will discuss the department’s priorities under the Trump administration today at the third DOE National Cleanup Workshop in Alexandria, Va. Brouillette was sworn in as deputy secretary in August, the second and to date most recent DOE political appointee in the administration, behind only Energy Secretary Rick Perry. The Cleanup Workshop […]