Cleanup & Remediation

The entire Washington state congressional delegation on Monday urged President-elect Donald Trump to make environmental cleanup, worker health, and the safety of nearby communities at the Hanford Site a priority in his administration. Sen. Maria Cantwell (D) organized the letter sent to Trump, which was also signed by Sen. Patty Murray (D) and the state’s […]

Los Alamos National Security earned 90 percent of all fees available in fiscal 2016 for its bridge contract for legacy cleanup operations at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, according to the latest performance scorecard from the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management. The contractor’s fee totaled $9.1 million, of a total […]

Pocatello, Idaho-based SUNSi JV has secured a contract worth as much as $4 million over five years to provide a host of technical services at multiple Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management (EM) sites. The time and materials, indefinite-delivery/indefinite quantity (ID/IQ) contract covers support activities in quality assurance, safety, radiological protection, emergency management, safeguards […]

The entire Washington state congressional delegation on Monday urged President-elect Donald Trump to make environmental cleanup, worker health, and the safety of nearby communities at the Hanford Site a priority in his administration. Sen. Maria Cantwell (D) organized the letter sent to Trump, which was also signed by Sen. Patty Murray (D) and the state’s […]

Roughly 26,000 gallons of waste remains to be extracted from Tank AY-102 at the Hanford Site in Washington state, the Department of Energy’s waste contractor for the former plutonium production facility said Friday. Washington River Protection Solutions on March 3, 2016, began retrieving the estimated 800,000 gallons of liquid and sludge from the double-shell tank, where […]

The Energy Department late Friday released a draft environmental impact statement for soil and groundwater cleanup at the former rocket and atomic test site at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory in Simi Valley, Calif. The overdue draft — DOE once thought it would finish the Santa Susana environmental impact process last year — examines a […]

The Savannah River Site’s liquid waste contractor earned 94 percent, $23.2 million out of a possible $24.6 million, of its performance award and incentive fees for fiscal 2016. On the recently released performance scorecard, the Department of Energy highlighted Savannah River Remediation’s (SRR) response in February to a leak in an evaporator pot, which slowed […]

South Carolina has hit the restart button on a multimillion-dollar fine over a missed plutonium disposition deadline at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site (SRS). A 2003 agreement between the state and DOE requires the federal government to process 1 metric ton of plutonium at SRS through the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF), […]

  The Department of Energy said it has made significant progress in resolving technical issues that have slowed progress on construction of the Hanford Site’s Waste Treatment Plant since 2012. DOE’s Office of River Protection has sent letters describing resolution of three of the eight technical issues to the agency headquarters, where they are being […]

The Department of Energy made significant advances in cleaning up the legacy of its Cold War nuclear weapons operations during the eight years of the Obama administration, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said Thursday in his Cabinet Exit Memo. American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding “accelerated the cleanup of contaminated, often hazardous, legacy sites from the […]

URS-CH2M Oak Ridge (UCOR) scooped up nearly all of its available award fee for cleanup operations at the Energy Department’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee in the six months ended Sept. 30, according to the contractor’s latest award-fee scorecard. During the period just scored, UCOR earned some $3.4 million in fees, good for about 94 […]

The Energy Department has to date spent about $785 million on its Integrated Waste Treatment Unit at the Idaho National Laboratory, a DOE spokeswoman said, a tally that is more than $200 million over budget. The system’s budget was capped at $571 million in 2010, while a 2006 estimate had said the facility — designed […]

Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.) has wasted no time in inviting President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for energy secretary to visit the Hanford Site. Newhouse issued an invitation to former Texas governor Rick Perry in a letter Thursday. Perry, also a former two-time presidential candidate, famously forgot the Department of Energy during a 2011 debate as one […]

The next head of the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management could be a New York attorney who last served DOE in the Office of the General Counsel. Two sources this week said the incoming Donald Trump administration is considering Gary Lavine to head DOE’s $6-billion-a-year Cold War nuclear-cleanup program as assistant secretary for environmental […]

The Energy Department may assess civil penalties against contractors that retaliate against whistleblowers within their ranks, under a new agency rule that goes into effect Jan. 26. The agency released a summary of the final rule late last year in the Federal Register. Senate Democrats from Washington state and Oregon, major stakeholders in the cleanup of the […]

South Carolina has hit the restart button on a multimillion-dollar fine over a missed plutonium disposition deadline at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site (SRS). A 2003 agreement between the state and DOE requires the federal government to process 1 metric ton of plutonium at SRS through the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF), or remove […]

The main cleanup contractor at the Hanford Site’s central plateau started tearing down the infamous “McCluskey Room” at the Plutonium Finishing Plant on Dec. 30, the Energy Department said Wednesday. The room, officially called the Americium Recovery Facility, is where Hanford worker Harold McCluskey was exposed to a massive dose of americium by a glove box […]

South Carolina has hit the restart button on a multimillion-dollar fine over a missed plutonium disposition deadline at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site (SRS). A 2003 agreement between the state and DOE requires the federal government to process 1 metric ton of plutonium at SRS through the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF), or remove […]

The contractor managing construction of the Mixed Oxide (MOX) Fuel Fabrication Facility at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina intends to issue a solicitation for a fixed-price subcontract to install HVAC ductwork and supports for the MOX project. CB&I AREVA MOX Services said in a Dec. 28 presolicitation notice that the […]

The Energy Department has to date spent about $785 million on its Integrated Waste Treatment Unit at the Idaho National Laboratory, a DOE spokeswoman said, a tally that is more than $200 million over budget. The system’s budget was capped at $571 million in 2010, while a 2006 estimate had said the facility — designed […]

The Energy Department may assess civil penalties against contractors that retaliate against whistleblowers within their ranks, under a new agency rule that goes into effect Jan. 26. The agency released a summary of the final rule last week in the Federal Register. Senate Democrats from Washington state and Oregon, major stakeholders in the cleanup of the Hanford […]

The spread of radioactive and hazardous contamination in the Hanford Site’s REDOX processing complex is escalating, according to a new Department of Energy engineering evaluation and cost analysis. The plant is not expected to be demolished until about 2032, but might be left standing longer due to its proximity in central Hanford to the 222-S Laboratory. […]

Longenecker & Associates, the Las Vegas-based consulting shop focused on the Energy Department, has promoted Martin Schneider to senior vice president, expanding his business development responsibilities beyond the agency’s legacy nuclear cleanup mission. Schneider joined Longenecker in 2015 and was most recently the company’s group vice president for environmental management programs. Schneider will remain involved with […]

It will take somewhere between nine months and a year longer than hoped to get 27 new sensors for the Hanford Site’s double-shell waste storage tanks in working order, the Energy Department disclosed last week. DOE was supposed to have the sensors inside the annulus of Hanford’s 28 double-shell tanks working by December 2016, per a […]

URS-CH2M Oak Ridge (UCOR) scooped up nearly all of its available award fee for demolition and decommissioning at the Energy Department’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee in the six months ended Sept. 30, according to the contractor’s latest award-fee scorecard. During the period just scored, UCOR earned some $3.4 million in fees, good for about 94 […]

The Savannah River Site’s security contractor earned $5.66 million out of a possible $5.92 million, or 95.5 percent, of its performance award fee for fiscal 2016. The Department of Energy highlighted Centerra-Savannah River Site’s efforts in keeping employees safe and cutting costs in the 12-month period ending Sept. 30. Contractors earn award fees each year by […]

A senior official at the Office of River Protection (ORP) at the Hanford Site in Washington state will early next year become deputy manager of the Richland Operations Office (RL) at the Department of Energy facility, according to an announcement Wednesday. Tom Fletcher currently is the DOE assistant manager for start-up, commissioning, and integration of […]

By the time the public comment period closes on the Energy Department’s draft plan for a Defense Waste Repository to house nuclear waste from military programs, the Donald Trump administration may already have decided if it wants DOE to pursue the project. While routinely delivered late in a new president’s first year in office, the […]

The Energy Department is still looking to restrict airborne drones from flying above the Savannah River Site and other “sensitive” facilities, but has not yet filed a request with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). From June 19 to July 22, SRS employees reported 12 drone sightings over key areas of the site. These included: the Mixed […]

Weapons Complex Monitor will not be published next week in observance of the Christmas and New Year’s holidays. Look for the next issue in your inbox on Friday, Jan. 6, 2017.