Cleanup & Remediation

The Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee said this week it has easily beaten a September 2018 deadline to ship off 2,247 containers of mixed hazardous and radioactive waste. The project was carried out under the Oak Ridge Reservation Site Treatment Plan under a state order to the Department of Energy, according to a Y-12 […]

The Department of Energy still plans to develop a field research center in Oak Ridge, Tenn., to test new technologies for addressing mercury contamination in the environment, but the federal agency has decided not to construct the facility at the Horizon Center business park because of objections from the city of Oak Ridge. “The City […]

A regional group that supports job creation near the Savannah River Site in Aiken, S.C., was recently given $1 million to help fill future workforce needs at the site. The Department of Energy announced Monday that the grant totals $5 million that will be rationed out over five years. The money falls under the Workforce […]

A representative for Battelle Memorial Institute said Thursday he is “eternally optimistic” the company will submit a zoning application to Spink County, N.D., for its proposed deep borehole nuclear wast storage field test. Battelle spokesman T.R. Massey said that Wednesday’s third public meeting in Spink County was attended by about 150 people, including field test […]

A regional group that supports job creation near the Savannah River Site in Aiken, S.C., was recently given $1 million to help fill future workforce needs at the site. The Department of Energy announced Monday that the grant totals $5 million that will be rationed out over five years. The money falls under the Workforce […]

Susan Beard, a Department of Energy attorney of more than 25 years nominated in April to become the agency’s next inspector general, had her day in the Senate Thursday, where lawmakers who must consent to her nomination pressed her about the DOE’s Hanford Site: regarded by many as the most challenging cleanup in the entire […]

Another possible chemical vapor incident was reported Tuesday at the Hanford Site in Washington state for the first time in five days. This one was different because it was reported about 7 miles away from where previous reports were made. Previous potential exposures in recent weeks were in or near the group of tank farms in the […]

Washington Closure Hanford has notified Washington state that it will lay off its last 435 employees starting July 1. The notification was required by the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act as Washington Closure nears the end of its contract in September. Washington Closure has been cleaning up the Hanford River Corridor under a […]

The Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee said this week it has easily beaten a September 2018 deadline to ship off 2,247 containers of mixed hazardous and radioactive waste. The project was carried out under the Oak Ridge Reservation Site Treatment Plan under a state order to the Department of Energy, according to a Y-12 […]

The Department of Energy tacked on a new 25 cubic-yard uranium cleanup to a list of remediation projects at the Hanford Site’s 300 Area, according to a notice Monday from DOE, the Environmental Protection Agency, and Washington state. The contaminated soil, a patch of ground measuring 15 feet by 15 feet and known as the […]

The Graniteville, S.C.-based Savannah River Site Community Reuse Organization has received a $5 million, five-year grant to prepare students for careers supporting the Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management and National Nuclear Security Administration. The Workforce Opportunities in Regional Careers (WORC) program “will support and enhance the nation’s environmental management efforts by increasing the […]

The Department of Energy’s top nuclear-cleanup official on Thursday will mark the operational closure of Tank 12 at the Savannah River Site, and the 20th anniversary of Defense Waste Processing Facility operations at the facility, the liquid waste cleanup contractor for the Aiken, S.C., site announced Thursday. Tank 12 is the second at Savannah River’s H […]

The Department of Energy later this month will lift the curtain a little on its plans for temporarily storing 35 cubic yards of radioactive sludge at the Hanford Site near Richland, Wash., before disposing of the material permanently. The changes will be detailed in an official document known as an Explanation of Significant Difference for […]

Hanford Site contractor CH2M Plateau Remediation Co. has earned 95 percent of the available fee for fiscal 2015 and a rating of “excellent,” the Department of Energy announced this week. The contractor, which is responsible for Hanford groundwater and Central Plateau cleanup, earned about $10.6 million of about $10.9 million available. The excellent rating was […]

The Savannah River Site’s two largest contractors reported recently that they are focusing on hiring more personnel as a significant number of their workforces near retirement eligibility. Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS), the SRS management and operations contractor, and Savannah River Remediation (SRR), the site’s liquid waste contractor, both gave presentations in April to the […]

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson said this week they are each considering steps to hold the Department of Energy accountable at the Hanford Site tank farms. Both visited the Hanford area Thursday, dropping hints at a press conference about what their next steps may be. Ferguson, a Democrat up […]

The Savannah River Site’s two largest contractors reported recently that they are focusing on hiring more personnel as a significant number of their workforces near retirement eligibility. Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS), the SRS management and operations contractor, and Savannah River Remediation (SRR), the site’s liquid waste contractor, both gave presentations in April to the […]

The number of Hanford Site workers evaluated for possible exposure to chemical vapors from tank waste has reached 42 over seven days. Some 31 have reported symptoms and 11 requested checks as a precaution. All have been released to return to work. Five workers were sent to the on-site medical clinic Wednesday because of reported […]

The Department of Energy is facing more pressure to improve protection for Hanford Site personnel after Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson said early Tuesday evening he was exploring further legal options to keep workers safe from chemical vapors. He already filed a lawsuit in September against DOE and its tank farm contractor to better […]

The Department of Energy later this month will lift the curtain a little on its plans for temporarily storing 35 cubic yards of radioactive sludge at the Hanford Site near Richland, Wash., before disposing of the material permanently. The changes will be detailed in an official document known as an Explanation of Significant Difference for […]

More workers at the Hanford Site in Washington state came forward Friday saying they had experienced symptoms they suspected were tied to chemical vapors at the site’s radioactive waste tank farms Thursday. They bring the total number of workers receiving medical evaluations for possible chemical vapor exposure linked to work Thursday to 20. All were […]

The story “DOE Close to Figuring Out which Excess Nuclear Facilities to Tear Down First,” [Weapons Complex Monitor, April 22] should have said DOE sub-agencies such as the National Nuclear Security Administration are responsible for maintaining facilities they no longer need for active missions until the Environmental Management office takes over those facilities for cleanup.

With research and development efforts winding down in earnest at the American Centrifuge Plant near the Energy Department’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio, Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) made a plea on the Senate floor Tuesday to increase the fiscal 2017 budget for another big Pike County jobs project: an on-site waste-disposal facility. As part of the […]

In fiscal 2015, Energy Department contractor LATA Environmental Services of Kentucky nabbed about 75 percent of its possible award fee, good for just under $2.5 million in the final year of the company’s five-year remediation contract for the Paducah Site in Kentucky. LATA has been officially off the job since its contract, worth just over […]

Portage Inc. on Tuesday laid off 31 employees at the Energy Department’s Moab site in Utah, where the company recently received a follow-on contract for uranium tailings cleanup work, a local public radio station reported. The layoffs leave 80 people on the job at Moab, the station, KUER 90.1, reported. A Portage spokesperson Wednesday declined […]

The Energy Department on Thursday released a draft solicitation for a potentially 10-year cleanup contract at the former Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Kentucky, which is now undergoing deactivation by Fluor Federal Services. Fluor’s deal, worth $465 million over three years, runs out July 31, 2017, and DOE is looking for a contractor that could be in […]

The lead parent company for Savannah River Remediation (SRR), the Savannah River Site’s liquid waste contractor, participated last week in a pre-solicitation event attended by parties interested in taking over that work once the current deal expires in June 2017. “AECOM is extremely interested in continuing our success in cleaning up SRS, specifically within the […]

Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) agreed this month to pay the federal government $175,000 after multiple safety incidents, including one that resulted in a pause of all nonessential work, occurred under the company’s watch. Carol Johnson, president of the Savannah River Site’s management and operations contractor, signed a consent order on April 22. The document […]

The Department of Energy has been tight-lipped about shipment of Consolidated Edison Uranium Solidification Project (CEUSP) materials that include a highly radioactive and fissionable U-233/U-235 mix from the Oak Ridge Reservation to the Nevada National Security Site for burial. The Department of Energy carried out extended negotiations with the state of Nevada before it began […]

A dozen workers were evaluated Thursday for possible exposure to chemical vapors during work to empty the Hanford Site double-shell tank with an interior leak and transfer the waste to a sturdier double-shell tank. Pumping to remove waste from Tank AY-102 has been stopped due to the possible vapor issues, according to the Department of […]