Cleanup & Remediation

Former New Mexico Environment Secretary Ryan Flynn, who retired in August after three years as the state’s main liaison on federal nuclear cleanup in the Land of Enchantment, last week rejoined the private sector as executive director of the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association, the Albuquerque Journal reported. The 38 year-old Flynn, who resigned […]

Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) has joined the Department of Energy’s motion requesting dismissal of Washington state’s lawsuit seeking better chemical vapor protection for workers at the Hanford Site. DOE and its tank farm contractor both argue the state has no legal standing to file the lawsuit in U.S. District Court for Eastern Washington, but […]

A worker at the Energy Department’s Hanford Site near Richland, Wash., suffered no internal contamination after being exposed to radiation while assigned to preparing the Plutonium Finishing Plant (PFP) for demolition. The July incident was not disclosed until late last month in the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) site representative report for the week […]

With the federal appropriations process up in the air, Ohio’s Senate delegation has asked the Senate Appropriations Committee to make sure there is enough funding in the rapidly approaching 2017 fiscal year to continue planned cleanup of the Energy Department’s Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant. “As the fiscal year ends, it does not appear that Congress […]

Former New Mexico Environment Secretary Ryan Flynn, who retired in August after three years as the state’s main liaison on federal nuclear cleanup in the Land of Enchantment, last week rejoined the private sector as executive director of the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association, the Albuquerque Journal reported. The 38 year-old Flynn, who resigned from Gov. Susana […]

The U.S. Department of Justice and Fluor Federal Services are at odds on whether a federal court should throw out a lawsuit that alleges Fluor and Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) overcharged the federal government more than $5 million for home office expenses and other “unallowable costs” in operation of the Savannah River Site, according […]

A worker at the Energy Department’s Hanford Site near Richland, Wash., suffered no internal contamination after being exposed to radiation while assigned to preparing the Plutonium Finishing Plant (PFP) for demolition. The July incident was not disclosed until late last month in the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) site representative report for the week of July […]

Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) has joined the Department of Energy’s motion requesting dismissal of Washington state’s lawsuit seeking better chemical vapor protection for workers at the Hanford Site. DOE and its tank farm contractor both argue the state has no legal standing to file the lawsuit in U.S. District Court for Eastern Washington, but […]

The Hanford Atomic Metal Trades Council (HAMTC) and the Hanford Site’s tank farm contractor have signed a memorandum of understanding to lift the stop work order halting any work in the waste storage areas unless workers are using supplied air respirator. The parties signed the agreement, which requires certain conditions be met, on Wednesday. No […]

The Hanford Site’s tank farm contractor has been given a national safety for the second consecutive year, this time for better protection of workers against potentially deadly arc flashes. Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) received the Voluntary Protection Programs (VPP) Innovation Award this week at the VPP Participants’ Association national conference in Kissimmee, Fla. Until […]

Paducah-Area Congressman to Resign Tuesday Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.), the U.S. congressman whose district includes the Energy Department’s Paducah site, said Monday he will resign effective Sept. 6, cutting short his final term in Congress following his decision not to seek re-election in the wake of an ethics investigation last year. Whitfield’s office announced the […]

Washington Closure Hanford on Monday transferred the last of its Hanford Site field cleanup work to CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co. About 300 workers transferred with the projects to CH2M Hill or its subcontractors. Washington Closure, the Hanford River Corridor Closure prime contractor for 11 years, peaked at more than 1,200 workers in 2012 when […]

Gearing up to defend its turf as top dog of the Energy Department’s legacy liquid-waste cleanup operations, Los Angeles-based AECOM is moving an executive with experience in nuclear waste management into a senior position at its company’s Nuclear and Environment Strategic Business Unit, according to an internal memo dated Aug. 22. Effective Oct. 1, Terri Marts will become […]

The Energy Department picked up the last two options on the stopgap legacy waste remediation contract it awarded to Los Alamos National Security (LANS) last year, keeping the Los Alamos National Laboratory’s chastened prime as lead cleanup contractor there for another year at a cost of roughly $155 million. The department announced the move in a […]

The Energy Department picked up the last two options on the stopgap legacy cleanup contract it awarded to Los Alamos National Security (LANS) last year, keeping the Los Alamos National Laboratory’s chastened prime as lead cleanup contractor there for another year at a cost of roughly $155 million. The department announced the move in a Wednesday press […]

Weapons Complex Morning Briefing will not be published Monday in observance of Labor Day. Look for the next edition in your inbox on Tuesday, Sept. 6.

Washington Closure Hanford on Monday transferred the last of its Hanford Site field cleanup work to CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co. About 300 workers transferred with the projects to CH2M Hill or its subcontractors. Washington Closure, the Hanford River Corridor Closure prime contractor for 11 years, peaked at more than 1,200 workers in 2012 when […]

A story in Wednesday’s Weapons Complex Morning Briefing should have said the Energy Department, not contractor Nuclear Waste Partnership, said cold operations at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant were delayed because the agency did not approve new waste-disposal safety procedures as soon as expected. A story in Wednesday’s Weapons Complex Morning Briefing should have said demolition […]

Gearing up to defend its turf as top dog of the Energy Department’s legacy liquid-waste cleanup operations, Los Angeles-based AECOM is moving an executive with experience in nuclear waste management into a senior position at its company’s Nuclear and Environment Strategic Business Unit, according to an internal memo dated Aug. 22. Effective Oct. 1, Terri Marts will become […]

Congress was out and Washington was empty, but that didn’t stop news from breaking during our annual August publication break. As chronicled in the Weapons Complex Morning Briefing, here are a few stories that we’ve been following.   Hanford Tank AY-102 Waste Removal to Resume in October Hanford Site contractor Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) […]

WASHINGTON — There might be some adjustments to the recently completed shakeup of the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) in Washington, D.C., the agency’s No. 2 nuclear cleanup official said Wednesday. “There’s going to be tweaks that need to be made at some point,” Mark Whitney, DOE’s principal deputy assistant secretary for environmental […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management is giving contractors a few extra days to submit their proposals for two contracts. The due date for the liquid waste management contract at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina has been pushed back by two business days, to 3 p.m. EDT on Aug. 31, according […]

Members of the Savannah River Site Citizens Advisory Board are worried about recent drone sightings over the Department of Energy facility in South Carolina because no one knows who’s flying them or why. As of Thursday, site employees have documented 12 drone sightings above SRS, though the number of drones involved is unclear. The sightings […]

The Department of Justice is seeking dismissal of a federal lawsuit filed by Washington state over worker safety at the Hanford Site. It filed the motion this week in U.S. District Court for Eastern Washington, claiming the state had no legal standing to bring the case. Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson filed the lawsuit in […]

There might be some adjustments to the recently completed shakeup of the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) in Washington, D.C., the agency’s No. 2 nuclear cleanup official said Wednesday. “There’s going to be tweaks that need to be made at some point,” Mark Whitney, DOE’s principal deputy assistant secretary for environmental management, said in prepared […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management is giving contractors a few extra days to submit their proposals for two contracts. The due date for the liquid waste management contract at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina has been pushed back by two business days, to 3 p.m. EDT on Aug. 31, according to […]

Mark Fallon, former head of CH2M’s nuclear business group, will leave the company on Sept. 2 for another job, according to a Thursday filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Fallon, most recently corporate vice president and president of the company’s global regions business, “is resigning as both an officer and a director effective […]

An article in the Aug. 16 edition of Weapons Complex Morning Briefing incorrectly reported the outcome of the Savannah River Site Citizens Advisory Board (CAB) waste management committee’s consideration of a recommendation regarding liquid waste processing at the facility. The recommendation was approved.

Several anti-nuclear groups are suing the Department of Energy and DOE officials because they believe the agency has not provided the necessary documents before authorizing up to 150 shipments of liquid highly enriched uranium (HEU) from Canada to the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. The Energy Department would not verify if shipments have started, […]

Leidos Holdings, of Reston, Va., is officially a partner in the main support services contractor at the Energy Department’s Hanford Site, having completed its nearly $5-billion stock-and-cash acquisition of Lockheed Martin’s Information Systems & Global Solutions unit, the companies announced Tuesday. Leidos announced on Aug. 8 that its shareholders had overwhelmingly approved the acquisition. The IS&GS business […]