Cleanup & Remediation

An iPad burst into flames for about 30 seconds at the Energy Department’s Hanford Site near Richland, Wash., after a technician with contractor Mission Support Alliance attempted to remove the device’s lithium ion battery, according to an accident report posted online June 30. “While a technician was attempting to remove batteries from an iPad, one […]

The Energy Department’s prime cleanup contractor for the Separations Process Research Unit (SPRU) in upstate New York must explain to DOE how it will improve its policy to protect workers at the former plutonium separation facility from heat stress, but will otherwise face no penalties for an August incident during which a worker at the […]

Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) is seeking a dismissal of a federal lawsuit accusing the contractor and one of its parent companies of overcharging the government more than $5 million in “unallowable costs.” In papers filed on May 20, SRNS said the Department of Justice misused the Federal Claims Act in filing its lawsuit, and […]

A subcontractor at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) broke a finger June 15 while performing routine maintenance on a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system at the lab’s Energy Innovation Laboratory, an Energy Department spokesperson at the Idaho Falls facility said Monday. It was the second work accident involving a worker’s hand at Idaho in June — […]

The Hanford Site website for chemical vapors information has been expanded and given a new address, www.hanfordvapors.com, to make information easier to find. The website was launched in early June as part of the Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) internet pages to make more information publicly available about chemical vapors associated with waste held in […]

Broken pumps that transfer sludge waste from the Savannah River Site’s (SRS) Defense Waste Processing Facility back into the site’s H Area Tank Farm are being replaced with used pumps from the site’s F Area Tank Farm, the Energy Department and prime SRS liquid waste cleanup contractor Savannah River Remediation (SRR) announced Wednesday. The joint […]

The story “Waste Control Specialists Waiting on Permission to Keep LANL Waste in Texas,” (Vol. 27, No. 26) should have said that by the time the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) closed in 2014, the Energy Department had removed about 4,500 cubic yards of above-ground transuranic waste from the Los Alamos National Laboratory’a (LANL) Area G, most […]

Data from a qualified, independent agency may be needed to resolve concerns over chemical vapors at the Hanford Site in Washington state, a former top site manager said Thursday at a union hall forum to discuss the situation. The forum in Pasco – organized by Hanford Challenge, Plumbers and Steamfitters Local Union 598, and state […]

A federal judge on Thursday heard arguments for motions in South Carolina’s multimillion-dollar lawsuit against the Department of Energy over plutonium processing at the Savannah River Site, but gave no indication how or when she might rule on the requests. The federal government is seeking immediate dismissal of the state lawsuit demanding $100 million and […]

The Energy Department on Thursday inched closer toward a procurement for a facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex for treatment of mercury-contaminated water. The agency dropped its request for information late Thursday, asking companies to submit capabilities statements for building the facility described in a 30-page statement of work the agency released along with its request. […]

New Mexico and the Energy Department have formally agreed on the campaign-style approach the federal agency must follow for an estimated 19-year legacy waste-cleanup at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), making official a document the state believes — despite deep grass-roots skepticism from some quarters — will persuade Congress to open the funding taps. The 2016 consent order finalized […]

The advocacy group Nuclear Watch New Mexico slammed the state’s new rules for cleanup of legacy nuclear waste at the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory Wednesday in a long-telegraphed dressing down of the revised consent order between DOE and Sante Fe. “The new Consent Order is a giveaway to the Department of Energy […]

Broken pumps that transfer sludge waste from the Savannah River Site’s (SRS) Defense Waste Processing Facility back into the site’s H Area Tank Farm are being replaced with used pumps from the site’s F Area Tank Farm, the Energy Department and prime SRS liquid waste cleanup contractor Savannah River Remediation (SRR) announced Wednesday. The joint press release said […]

The Hanford Site website for chemical vapors information has been expanded and given a new address, www.hanfordvapors.com, to make information easier to find. The website was launched in early June as part of the Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) internet pages to make more information publicly available about chemical vapors associated with waste held in […]

Anne Smith, who previously held public affairs roles with Safety and Ecology Corp., Perma-Fix Environmental, and – most recently — URS/CH2M Oak Ridge, has been named the communications director at North Wind Group. The small business recently took over management of the Department of Energy’s Transuranic Waste Processing Center in Oak Ridge, Tenn. The company […]

Dade Moeller, a safety and radiation protection firm recently acquired by NV5 Global, has surpassed a safety milestone of 2 million hours worked without an Occupational Safety and Health Administration recordable injury. Reaching the milestone required nearly six years of incident-free work. Dade Moeller, based in Richland, Wa., serves as a Hanford Site subcontractor for […]

The Department of Energy has finished its annual assessment of the Richland Operations Office’s program for characterizing transuranic waste bound from the Hanford Site in Washington state for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico, the agency’s Carlsbad Field Office wrote in a letter to Monday to a New Mexico official. The Carlsbad […]

Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson will speak at a meeting Wednesday to hear worker concerns and share information about tank vapors at the Hanford Site. The forum is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at the union hall at 1328 N. 28th Ave., Pasco. The meeting was organized by Hanford Challenge, Plumbers and Steamfitters Local 598, […]

New Mexico officially amended the rules governing legacy nuclear-waste remediation at the Los Alamos National Laboratory late Friday, shifting to a so-called “campaign approach” that focuses on one cleanup project at a time, rather than setting a deadline for site-wide remediation. New Mexico unveiled the draft revised consent order on March 31. Remaining LANL cleanup work, DOE […]

In an eventful week for the Hanford Site tank farms, unions issued a list of demand for better worker protection against chemical vapors and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) agreed to conduct a safety and health evaluation of the chemical vapors situation. On Monday, the Hanford Atomic Metal Trades Council (HAMTC) […]

The New Mexico Environment Department on Thursday joined the Energy Department and one of its contractors as a defendant in a lawsuit filed in May by the advocacy group Nuclear Watch New Mexico. The group’s lawsuit alleges the federal agency owes the state millions of dollars after it blew a 2015 deadline to clean up a large cache of Cold […]

Scientists at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina are calling for more research to understand why mercury is being produced in tributaries that flow into the Savannah River waterways and how the environment is impacted when that mercury discharges into the river itself. During a June 8 presentation to a committee of the SRS […]

The Department of Energy is several years away from initiating a siting process for a defense-only repository, or disposal facility, for high-level nuclear waste, acting Assistant Energy Secretary for Nuclear Energy John Kotek said Monday. Kotek, who is leading the department’s consent-based siting effort for spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste, appeared before the Nuclear […]

The union representing federal workers at the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) in Washington, D.C., wants face-to-face meetings with senior DOE leaders about a planned reorganization that would bring nine field offices around the country under the supervision of a single, Washington-based manager. The National Treasury Employees Union [NTEU] “is requesting direct face-to-face negotiations […]

The Department of Energy’s first open industry briefing for the estimated $1.7 billion contract that covers up to 10 years of legacy nuclear cleanup work at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) drew a crowd of nearly 150 earlier this month, but the partners for incumbent Los Alamos National Security (LANS) kept a low profile, […]

The Department of Energy has completed only five of the 13 steps in a complex-wide emergency preparedness implementation plan the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board recommended the department start work on more than two years ago, according to a recently published letter to Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz. The letter is the latest to be made public […]

The Department of Energy and contractor Los Alamos National Security have until July 19 to respond to a lawsuit from the advocacy group Nuclear Watch New Mexico, which alleges the federal agency owes the state millions of dollars after it blew a 2015 deadline to clean up a large cache of Cold War-era nuclear waste at the […]

Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) said this week it will consider in good faith the demands made Monday by the Hanford Atomic Metal Trades Council (HAMTC) for better protection of workers from chemical vapors. However, as it evaluates the demands it will keep in mind “any changes in approach must be implementable, such that work […]

While its installation resulted in about $16.8 million in cost increases and a 12-month project timeline extension for the STURGIS barge decommissioning, a 440-ton crane that is key to the job is operating properly, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said Monday. The Corps, which is leading decommissioning of the onetime nuclear-reactor-equipped World War II Liberty Ship […]

The Hanford Atomic Metal Trades Council (HAMTC) issued a list of demands on Monday for better worker protection from chemical vapors associated with waste held in the Department of Energy site’s underground storage tanks. Demands include significantly increased requirements for use of supplied air respirators and moving all work that could cause the emission of […]