Cleanup & Remediation

Brian Bradley WC Monitor 11/20/2015 The Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management is remaining mum on its latest cost estimate for cleanup at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, after New Mexico’s top environment official this week knocked DOE’s 2008 $1.2 billion estimate as “too low." The New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) “and DOE need to […]

As is our annual practice, WC Monitor will not publish next week in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday. The next regular issue will be in your inbox on Dec. 4. The Weapons Complex Morning Briefing will be published Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of next week, and we will issue bulletins should any major news break in the interim.

Staff Reports WC Monitor 11/20/2015 The Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board (EMSSAB) gained traction Tuesday in efforts to redirect money collected from missed cleanup milestones at Department of Energy sites back to those same cleanup projects. Eight local boards fall under the EMSSAB, including the Savannah River Site Citizens Advisory Board (CAB). The CAB voted […]

Staff Reports WC Monitor 11/20/2015 The Department of Energy is proposing to have all parts of the Hanford Site Waste Treatment Plant operating by 2039, but also wants a system to allow extensions for that and other milestones in the court-enforced consent decree on cleanup of the former plutonium production site. Nov. 13 was the […]

Brian Bradley WC Monitor 11/20/2015 Depending on the results of a forthcoming month-long simulation test, the Energy Department will decide whether to change the planned course for disposing of some 900,000 gallons of liquid radioactive waste stored in steel tanks west of Idaho Falls. “Once the simulant run is complete the Department will evaluate plant […]

Depending on the results of a forthcoming month-long simulation test, the Energy Department will decide whether to change the planned course for disposing of some 900,000 gallons of liquid radioactive waste stored in Idaho. “Once the simulant run is complete the Department will evaluate plant performance and use that information to determine if an alternative […]

A whistleblower case involving an electronic medical records system at Hanford will be held by a Department of Labor administrative law judge Tuesday through Thursday at the Benton County courthouse near Hanford. Information technology professionals Kirt Clem and Matthew Spencer were removed from their jobs by Computer Sciences Corp., or CSC, after they reported the […]

Mission Support Alliance and the Hanford Guard Union have agreed to a 60-day contract extension for the union contract. The extension will extend talks past the holiday season, taking some of the pressure off those at the bargaining table. The guard’s contract was set to expire at the end of October and already was extended […]

The New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) on Thursday knocked the Energy Department’s recent $1.2 billion cost estimate for remaining cleanup at the Los Alamos National Laboratory as “too low," “NMED and DOE need to develop a new schedule to secure the increased funding necessary for remediation,” according to a briefing slide from the Northern New […]

The Department of Energy is proposing to have all parts of the Hanford Site Waste Treatment Plant operating in 2039, but also wants a system to allow extensions for that and other milestones in the court-enforced consent decree on cleanup of the site. Friday was the deadline for the state of Washington and DOE to […]

Brian Bradley WC Monitor 11/13/2015 Paducah/Portsmouth Project Office (PPPO) Manager William Murphie will retire on Dec. 3 after 35 years of working for the Energy Department, according to an email sent to PPPO employees on Thursday.  PPPO Deputy Manager Robert Edwards will then serve as acting PPPO manager. “This decision has been a difficult one, […]

Staff Reports WC Monitor 11/13/2015 Safety issues continue to be reported at the Hanford Site’s Plutonium Finishing Plant as employees conduct work on three high-hazard projects at once. Incidents of workers being contaminated with small amounts of radioactive material were first reported this summer in the weekly site reports from the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety […]

Brian Bradley WC Monitor 11/13/2015 Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown (D) on Monday called on Office of Management and Budget Director Shaun Donovan and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz to request $460 million to fully fund cleanup at the Portsmouth Site in fiscal 2017, and to provide more predictable funding for the site in the future, as […]

WC Monitor 11/13/2013   Hanford TPA Comment Period Extended The Department of Energy and its regulators have extended the comment period for proposed changes to Tri-Party Agreement milestones for much of the remaining work in central Hanford after requests from stakeholders. The comment period will close Jan. 15 rather than Dec. 11, as originally scheduled. […]

WC Monitor 11/13/2015   IN EM The Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management will host its next quarterly forum to discuss business opportunities in the legacy nuclear cleanup arena from 10 a.m. to noon on Dec. 15 at DOE headquarters (Forrestal Building) in Washington, D.C. “Organized by EM’s Office of Acquisition and Project Management, the […]

Safety issues continue to be reported at the Hanford Site’s Plutonium Finishing Plant as employees conduct work on three high-hazard projects at once. Incidents of workers being contaminated with small amounts of radioactive material were first reported this summer in the weekly site reports from the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. In August, CH2M Hill […]

Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown (D) yesterday called on Office of Management and Budget Director Shaun Donovan and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz to request $460 million to fully fund cleanup at the Portsmouth Site in fiscal 2017, and to provide more predictable funding for the site in the future, as hundreds of jobs potentially hang in […]

The Hanford Guard Union is continuing to negotiate a collective bargaining agreement under a short-term extension. The agreement was set to expire at the end of October, but has been extended until Nov. 14. The main issues being negotiated between the union and Mission Support Alliance are disability retirement benefits, an MSA proposal to change […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 11/6/2015 As congressional lawmakers negotiate toward a final fiscal 2016 spending bill, a newly formed lobbying group has already set its sights on the fiscal 2017 budget allocation for the Army Corps of Engineers’ Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program. The FUSRAP Coalition, made up of members of industry, local […]

Brian Bradley WC Monitor 11/6/2015 The Energy Department said Thursday it aims to have cleanup at the Moab uranium mill tailings site halfway done by early 2016. The site was a uranium ore processing facility on the west bank of the Colorado River. "In early 2016, the U.S. Department of Energy plans to reach 8 […]

Staff Reports WC Monitor 11/6/2015 Proposed changes being considered to the Hanford Tri-Party Agreement are not ideal, but they reflect reality, said Hanford officials during the initial public discussions this week on change packages covering much of the remaining central Hanford work assigned to the Department of Energy Richland Operations Office. Some milestones will be […]

Brian Bradley WC Monitor 11/6/2015 URS | CH2M Hill Oak Ridge (UCOR) has reported that 76 percent, or $331 million, of its subcontracted work at East Tennessee Technology Park was awarded to small businesses from August 2011 to August 2014, surpassing UCOR’s own 65-percent goal stated in its small business subcontracting plan, according to an […]

Brian Bradley WC Monitor 11/6/2015 A former Babcock & Wilcox employee is suing the company, along with recent spinoffs BWXT and BWXT Nuclear Operations Group, for at least $1.5 million as a result of lost compensation and benefits and other damages she said resulted from her wrongful termination in 2013, according to a complaint filed […]

Staff Reports WC Monitor 11/6/2015 Some mercury cleanup activities at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant are seemingly starting to pay off with results in the environment, although much more remains to be done to address the plant’s biggest legacy from the Cold War. The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management in Oak Ridge said […]

WC Monitor 11/6/2015 ORP Gets New Chief of Staff Mark Edgren has joined the Department of Energy Office of River Protection as chief of staff. He is the permanent replacement of Erik Olds, who became chief of staff of the DOE Richland Operations Office earlier this year. Edgren retired from the U.S. Army as a […]

IN WASHINGTON STATE WC Monitor 11/6/2015 The state of Washington will conduct a search for a new manager of the Department of Ecology’s Nuclear Waste Program. Jane Hedges, who has held the position for nearly a decade, has announced her retirement, effective at the end of February. She has worked in the Nuclear Waste Program […]

Staff Reports NS&D Monitor 11/6/2015 Some mercury cleanup activities at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant are seemingly starting to pay off with results in the environment, although much more remains to be done to address the plant’s biggest legacy from the Cold War. The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management in Oak Ridge said […]

The Nevada Site Specific Advisory Board has scheduled a public meeting for Tuesday, Nov. 10, to offer information on remediation operations at the Nevada National Security Site.   The topics will include “briefings and recommendation development related to the groundwater long-term monitoring plan and the cleanup of historic above-ground nuclear testing locations” at the former […]

URS | CH2M Hill Oak Ridge (UCOR) has reported that 76 percent, or $331 million, of its subcontracted work at East Tennessee Technology Park was awarded to small businesses from August 2011 to August 2014, surpassing UCOR’s own 65-percent goal stated in its small business subcontracting plan, according to an Energy Department inspector general’s report […]

The Savannah River Site Citizens Advisory Board will host its bimonthly full board meeting on Nov. 16 and 17 at the New Ellenton Community Center in New Ellenton, S.C. The agenda includes a planned presentation on mercury and a discussion on whether to prepare a lessons learned report on the “contract failures” for manufacturing containers […]