Cleanup & Remediation

Discussions over missed deadlines and penalties at the Savannah River Site’s Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF) have been held since November, even though the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (SCDHEC) said in December that talks were expected to wrap up in January. Construction of the facility is expected to be completed next […]

South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley said Tuesday she still expects the Department of Energy to pony up $100 million for missing a plutonium disposition milestone at the Savannah River Site’s Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF). South Carolina sued the federal government on Feb. 9 because DOE had failed for more than a month to […]

The Department of Energy on Tuesday said it would this year offer another 10 bus tours of cleanup operations at the Hanford Site in Washington state, after the originally planned 15 tours were filled. The added tour dates at the former plutonium production site are Aug. 2, 3, 10, 16, 17, 24, 30, and 31, […]

Washington Closure Hanford has begun removing waste from vertically buried pipes at the Hanford Site in Washington state for the first time. Just two Hanford burial grounds, 618-10 and 618-11, used the disposal method, called vertical pipe units. The two were saved as the last burial grounds in the river corridor for remediation because they […]

Consolidated Nuclear Security (CNS), the contractor that manages and operates the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn., is seeking expressions of interest for the replacement of body armor used at the site, according to a recent solicitation posted. Vendors must demonstrate good past performance within the last seven years on similar supply contracts […]

It remains unclear if there are human health concerns associated with radioactive material the Missouri Department of Natural Resources has identified on private property near the West Lake Landfill. In its final report on the matter, issued Friday, the department said additional investigation is needed on at least two soil samples that recorded radioactivity readings about […]

The Department of Energy has likely exceeded its expense estimate for building an Idaho Cleanup Project facility by about $181 million, breaching the cost cap of $571 million in the wake of a mishap that shut down the plant during testing in 2012, the DOE Inspector General’s Office said Monday. The Sodium-Bearing Waste Treatment Facility was built […]

Almost six months after it declared the deal all but done, Centrus Energy Corp. said Monday it has signed a contract to continue some work on new U.S.-designed uranium enrichment technology at the Energy Department’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. Centrus’ new centrifuge technology advancement subcontract with Oak Ridge prime contractor UT-Battelle is worth $32.3 million […]

Rather than making another request for an environmental impact statement (EIS) before the U.S. transports liquid highly enriched uranium (HEU) from Canada to the Savannah River Site, U.S. Rep. Brian Higgins (D-N.Y.) is instead asking to remove from consideration the route that would send the uranium through his district. The Energy Department anticipates overseeing up […]

Members of the Savannah River Site Citizens Advisory Board (CAB) said they walked away with more questions than answers Tuesday following a presentation on the downblending method of plutonium disposition. Instead of using the incomplete SRS Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) to convert 34 metric tons of weapon-usable plutonium to nuclear fuel, the Obama […]

About 60 workers, over the past two months, have been laid off at the incomplete Savannah River Site Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) in order to keep construction on track, a spokesperson for plant contractor CB&I AREVA MOX Services said Thursday. The layoffs are a result of severe restrictions on MOX project dollars, mainly because […]

The Energy Department’s top nuclear cleanup official will discuss the transition of DOE nuclear facilities from active missions to cleanup with the bipartisan House Nuclear Cleanup Caucus April 20, one of the caucus’ chairmen said in a press release. The event will be hosted by the East Tennessee Environmental Business Association (ETEBA), the Energy Facility […]

A revised consent order governing cleanup of legacy hazardous waste at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico aims to be more flexible than the original document. At the same time, it is designed to be more enforceable and focused on accomplishing the work at hand, according to state officials who have shaped the […]

The Department of Energy has yet to post a 2015 award fee scorecard for its prime contractor on the Waste Treatment Plant (WTP) now under construction by Bechtel National at the Hanford Site, a former plutonium production facility near Richland, Wash. Award fee determination scorecards are public-facing appraisals of a contractor’s performance at a DOE […]

Members of the Savannah River Site Citizens Advisory Board (CAB) said they walked away with more questions than answers Tuesday following a presentation on the downblending method of plutonium disposition. Instead of using the incomplete SRS Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) to convert 34 metric tons of weapon-usable plutonium to nuclear fuel, the Obama […]

The Energy Department on Thursday released a draft solicitation for liquid waste cleanup work at the Savannah River Site near Aiken, S.C. that could be worth up to $6 billion over 10 years, including options. The deal will follow-up an eight-year, $4.1 billion deal held by incumbent Savannah River Remediation, a conglomerate led by AECOM […]

Radioactive waste material at the West Lake Landfill in Missouri is located closer to a nearby, underground fire than previously thought, according to the latest findings from the Environmental Protection Agency. The agency provided a landfill update addressing previously unidentified waste late last week, which prompted criticism and concern from both government officials and local residents. Missouri Attorney […]

The New Mexico Environment Department on Wednesday rolled out a draft of a revised consent order governing hazardous waste cleanup at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. The package, presented at a meeting of the Northern New Mexico Citizens Advisory Board, includes a 45-day period for public comment that ends May 26. “We’ll have to sit down […]

Bechtel National has flipped its lid — a 28-ton melter lid for the Hanford Site Waste Treatment Plant’s Low-Activity Waste Facility (LAW). The lid, for one of the facility’s melters, had been upside down to allow for placement of the refractory, a cement-like insulation. To turn the lid right side up without damaging it, a […]

The Energy Department on Wednesday made official its decision to send 6 metric tons of nuclear weapon-usable plutonium from the Savannah River Site (SRS) near Aiken, S.C., to the agency’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M. The official stamp of approval arrives a day before the fourth and final Nuclear Security Summit convenes in […]

A Weapons Complex Morning Briefing article Tuesday should have said that highly enriched uranium shipped from Canada will be processed and downblended at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina to create low-enriched uranium. That material will then be sent to the Tennessee Valley Authority for conversion into reactor fuel.

Radioactive waste material at Missouri’s West Lake Landfill is located closer to a nearby, underground fire than previously thought, according to the latest findings from the Environmental Protection Agency. EPA provided a landfill update Thursday, which prompted criticism and concern from both government officials and local residents. Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster in a statement that […]

Almost six months after it declared the deal all but done, Centrus Energy Corp. said Monday it has signed a contract to continue some work on new U.S.-designed uranium enrichment technology at the Energy Department’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. Centrus’ new centrifuge technology advancement subcontract with Oak Ridge prime contractor UT-Battelle is worth $32.3 million […]

Rather than making another request for an environmental impact statement (EIS) before the U.S. transports liquid highly enriched uranium (HEU) from Canada to the Savannah River Site, U.S. Rep. Brian Higgins (D-N.Y.) is asking to remove from consideration the route that would send the uranium through his district. The Energy Department anticipates overseeing up to […]

The Energy Department’s top nuclear cleanup official will discuss the transition of DOE nuclear facilities from active missions to cleanup with the bipartisan House Nuclear Cleanup Caucus April 20, one of the caucus’ chairmen said in a press release. The event will be hosted by the East Tennessee Environmental Business Association (ETEBA), the Energy Facility […]

Officials with the Energy Department and Washington state will discuss their public communication plan for the Hanford Site’s Waste Treatment Plant (WTP) on April 13-14 at the next public meeting of the Hanford Advisory Board, according to a notice published Thursday in the Federal Register. The DOE-chartered group also will host, among others, a presentation […]

The state of Washington has picked an experienced environmental law attorney to lead the Hanford Site regulatory work at the Department of Ecology’s Nuclear Waste Program. Alex Smith will start work in the Richland office as program manager on April 18, replacing Jane Hedges, who retired at the end of February. Tom Tebbs will continue […]

The United States is suing the Savannah River Site’s management and operations contractor, Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS), and Fluor Federal Services, a parent company to the contractor, for allegedly committing fraud by claiming more than $5 million in “unallowable costs” dating to 2008 when SRNS took over the contract. The U.S. is listed as […]

A story in the March 11 issue of Weapons Complex Monitor [“Draft Savannah River Site Solicitation Leads EM Procurement Blitz”] should have said DOE has so far started preparing a solicitation for only one of the three major contracts managed by the Hanford Site’s Office of River Protection: the tank operations contract now held by Washington River […]

The Hanford Site’s Richland Operations Office estimates it needs a budget of $1.015 million in fiscal 2018 to meet Tri-Party Agreement and other regulatory requirements for the ongoing cleanup of the former plutonium production installation in Washington state. That would be an increase of more than $200 million above the Obama administration’s fiscal 2017 request, […]