Cleanup & Remediation

An item in Tuesday’s Weapons Complex Morning Briefing (“DOE Seeking Information for Next SRS Management Contract) should have said the next Savannah River Site management and operations contractor will not have responsibility for any tank farm operations.

David Adler, a longtime manager at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge, Tenn., Office of Environmental Management, has taken over as director of the office’s Quality and Mission Support Division. He replaces Ed Worth, who retired. Adler will manage a team that works on two distinct areas in cleanup of the Oak Ridge site, DOE said […]

Personnel working in a Hanford Site tank farm pit were contaminated with material associated with radioactive waste Tuesday morning. Initial reports were that at least seven workers had low levels of contamination on their skin, despite wearing protective clothing. Additional tests are being done as a precaution to ensure the workers do not have internal […]

The U.K. Nuclear Decommissioning Authority said Monday it had successfully delivered four flasks of vitrified highly active waste to Würenlingen, Switzerland, on Thursday. Delivered to Swiss utilities AXPO AG and BKW Energie, the material represents the second and final shipment of vitrified waste between the two countries under the U.K.’s vitrified residue returns program. According to transport […]

The president of CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co. (CHPRC) at the Hanford Site in Washington state is taking a job with CH2M’s corporate office and will be replaced with an executive from the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. John Ciucci, president of the Hanford Central Plateau contractor, announced the change in a message to […]

The chase to run the Energy Department’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina after 2018 is unofficially on after the agency on Monday released a request for information that will shape a procurement of a follow-on deal to the facility’s current $9.5-billion management and operations contract. The management and operations contract awarded in 2008 to the […]

Washington River Protection Solutions has redesigned and expanded its website with information for the public and Hanford Site workers on chemical vapors at the Department of Energy facility’s waste tank farms. A team of union, professional, and management employees rebuilt hanfordvapors.com from the ground up, according to the tank farm contractor. “We are putting a […]

The United Kingdom’s Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) as of Wednesday has complied with a 2015 regulatory demand that it improve management of higher-active radioactive waste at its Aldermaston site in Berkshire. The U.K. Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) issued the improvement notice in July 2015 because the Defense Ministry contractor had not met the terms […]

The Department of Energy is defending its chemical vapor protections at the Hanford Site in Washington state, saying in court documents that its program not only protects workers but is being constantly updated and improved. “Plaintiffs’ claims present an unwarranted intrusion into DOE’s ongoing cleanup operations at Hanford, including the world-class worker-safety and industrial-hygiene measures […]

Hurricane Matthew’s damages at the Savannah River Site (SRS) near Aiken, S.C. were largely limited to downed trees and leaky roofs, according to Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS), the Department of Energy facility’s management and operations contractor. Spokeswoman Barbara Smoak said site crews reported during a briefing Monday’s that about 80 trees fell across the […]

A recent audit found that the Department of Energy has not developed a long-term strategy for operating the Savannah River Site’s H Canyon – a nuclear materials processing facility that is scheduled to remain open through 2024. The audit, conducted by the DOE Inspector General’s Office, was released on Sept. 26, and also says H […]

After two and a half hours of arguments Wednesday in a hearing over a preliminary injunction request for Hanford Site worker safety, U.S. District Judge Thomas Rice said he would issue a detailed written order as promptly as he can. Plaintiffs Washington state, Hanford Challenge, and Plumbers and Steamfitters Local Union 598 have asked for […]

A recent audit found that the Department of Energy has not developed a long-term strategy for operating the Savannah River Site’s H Canyon – a nuclear materials processing facility that is scheduled to remain open through 2024. The audit, conducted by the DOE Inspector General’s Office, was released on Sept. 26, and also says H Canyon […]

The United Kingdom’s Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) as of Wednesday has complied with a 2015 regulatory demand that it improve management of higher-active radioactive waste at its Aldermaston site in Berkshire. The U.K. Office for Nuclear Regulation issued the improvement notice in July 2015 because the Defense Ministry contractor had not met the terms of […]

After two and a half hours of arguments Wednesday in a hearing over a preliminary injunction request for Hanford Site worker safety, U.S. District Judge Thomas Rice said he would issue a detailed written order as promptly as he can. Plaintiffs Washington state, Hanford Challenge, and Plumbers and Steamfitters Local Union 598 have asked for […]

The Energy Department next week will shed more light on its procurement strategy for management and operations of the Savannah River Site near Aiken, S.C., with the release of a request for information about the work. The request for information, the next drizzle of data in the procurement cycle after a draft statement of work the agency […]

A recent audit found that the Department of Energy has not developed a long-term strategy for operating the Savannah River Site’s H Canyon – a nuclear materials processing facility that is scheduled to stay open through 2024. The audit, conducted by the DOE Inspector General’s Office, was released on Sept. 26, and also says H Canyon […]

The state of Washington accused the Department of Energy of “backward thinking and outright denial” in the final court filings before a judge hears the state’s request for a preliminary injunction on Hanford Site worker safety Wednesday morning at the federal courthouse in Spokane. The state, the watchdog organization Hanford Challenge, and Plumbers and Steamfitters […]

Hurricane Matthew’s damages at the Savannah River Site (SRS) near Aiken, S.C. were largely limited to downed trees and leaky roofs, according to Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS), the Department of Energy facility’s management and operations contractor. Spokeswoman Barbara Smoak said site crews reported during a briefing Monday’s that about 80 trees fell across the […]

A resident near the Hanford Site has filed a lawsuit seeking an order that Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy issue or deny the Department of Energy facility’s air operating permit required by the Clean Air Act. Richland resident Bill Green said the EPA is obligated to take action after the Washington state Department of […]

The Department of Energy is seeking a contractor to provide technical support services for the Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM). The five-year, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract features a $20,000 minimum value of services and a $49 million maximum, according to the request for proposals issued on Thursday. The RFP is a small business set-aside and […]

A $10.5 million grant from the Department of Energy will finally enable the University of Arkansas to move ahead with demolition of the Southwest Experimental Fast Oxide Reactor (SEFOR) facility, which has gone unused for 30 years. The funding will pay for a series of cleanup operations culminating in decommissioning and dismantlement of the facility […]

The Department of Energy last week issued two grants worth nearly $3 million for further research into deploying robots in hazardous nuclear cleanup operations. The grants to Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh and the University of Massachusetts Lowell were provided under a program solicitation for the National Science Foundation’s National Robotics Initiative, which aims to […]

The last major activity is underway at the Hanford Site’s Plutonium Finishing Plant before demolition starts on the facility’s large, central building and attached annexes. In late September a crane removed the topmost part of the roof of the Plutonium Reclamation Facility, a fifth and sixth floor rising above the rest of the plant. Since […]

The Department of Energy and Hanford Site prime contractors will hold the annual Bridging Partnerships Small Business Symposium on Oct. 19 at the TRAC Center in Pasco, Wash. An evening reception is planned the day before, with events scheduled from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Oct. 19 to help businesses learn contracting tips and tricks, […]

Department of Energy veteran Brian Henry has been appointed portfolio federal project director for cleanup at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn., DOE announced Monday in a press release. In his new role at the Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, Henry will oversee planning for and execution of current and upcoming Y-12’s cleanup projects, […]

A resident near the Hanford Site has filed a lawsuit seeking an order that Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy issue or deny the Department of Energy facility’s air operating permit required by the Clean Air Act. Richland resident Bill Green said the EPA is obligated to take action after the Washington state Department of […]

The University of Arkansas in Fayetteville has received a $10.5 million grant from the Department of Energy for a host of cleanup operations for the Southwest Experimental Fast Oxide Reactor (SEFOR) near West Fork, Ark. SEFOR was an experimental fast breeder reactor used in the late 1960s for testing the suggested inherent safety features of the oxide fuel/sodium […]

The Department of Energy is defending its chemical vapor protections at the Hanford Site in Washington state, saying in court documents that its program not only protects workers but is being constantly updated and improved. “Plaintiffs’ claims present an unwarranted intrusion into DOE’s ongoing cleanup operations at Hanford, including the world-class worker-safety and industrial-hygiene measures […]

The Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site said Friday it has begun downblending 6 metric tons of surplus nuclear weapon-usable plutonium. The milestone follows DOE’s announcement on April 5 that it would downblend the material and send it to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico for disposal. The process of blending plutonium oxide […]