Cleanup & Remediation

The 50th anniversary of the Richland Federal Building will be celebrated Thursday. The building, with 386,561 gross square feet, houses the Department of Energy Richland Operations Office staff, plus some other federal officials. Most Hanford visitors see the seven-story, mid-century modern style building as the first stop on any Hanford tour when they obtain security badges […]

The Tri-Party Agencies at Hanford plan a series of public meetings starting Wednesday to discuss a major set of proposed changes to milestones for much of the remaining Department of Energy Richland Operations Office cleanup work in central Hanford and along the Columbia River. The Tri-Party Agreement has had about 450 changes through the years […]

Brian Bradley WC Monitor 10/30/2015 The Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management has started communicating with other government bodies about how shutting down the Piketon, Ohio, portion of the American Centrifuge Project (ACP) will be paid for, and who will foot the bill, Mark Whitney, DOE principal deputy assistant secretary for environmental management, told House […]

Brian Bradley WC Monitor 10/30/2015 AMELIA ISLAND, Fla. – The Los Alamos National Laboratory legacy cleanup contract is expected to be awarded next year, and will most likely yield the winning prime contractor or prime team approximately $150 million-$180 million annually, Jack Surash, deputy assistant secretary for acquisition and project management for the Energy Department’s […]

Staff Reports WC Monitor 10/30/2015 Washington Closure Hanford has wrapped up its currently planned cleanup work within the fenced industrial complex of the 300 Area. Over the 16 years that cleanup has been ongoing in the 300 Area, much of it by Washington Closure and its predecessor Bechtel Hanford, 209 facilities have been demolished and […]

Brian Bradley WC Monitor 10/30/2015 The Government Accountability Office on Oct. 23 released the record of decision for its Sept. 21 denial of a protest by Gaithersburg, Md.-based Advanced Technologies and Laboratories (ATL) International of a $44.6 million contract to Piketon, Ohio-based Wastren Advantage for analytical services and testing at the Hanford Site’s 222-S Laboratory. […]

Staff Reports WC Monitor 10/30/2015  The Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency are proposing a waiver of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act requirement that waste be treated before it is placed for disposal in Hanford’s Environmental Restoration Disposal Facility. The waiver would reduce risk to workers, they said in their proposal. In […]

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WC Monitor 10/30/2015   UCOR Recognized in DOE Safety Initiative URS-CH2M Oak Ridge, the Department of Energy’s cleanup manager in Oak Ridge, has been recognized with Star Status in DOE’s Voluntary Protection Program – a safety initiative that has taken on high priority within the federal agency’s nuclear industrial complex. In a ceremony Thursday a […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 10/30/2015 The Department of Energy last week canceled the first of two planned shipments of research commercial spent nuclear fuel to the Idaho National Laboratory. Controversy erupted earlier this year when DOE sought a waiver that would allow research quantities of spent nuclear fuel into Idaho, but state officials would […]

The Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency are proposing a waiver of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act requirement that waste be treated before it is placed for disposal in Hanford’s Environmental Restoration Disposal Facility. The waiver would reduce risk to workers, they said in their proposal. In the past some large, long, […]

The Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management has started communicating with other government bodies about how shutting down the Piketon, Ohio, portion of the American Centrifuge Project (ACP) will be paid for, and who will foot the bill, Mark Whitney, DOE principal deputy assistant secretary for environmental management, told House lawmakers yesterday. No decisions have […]

Stakeholders across the country agreed the United States needs to reinvigorate confidence in its ability to dispose of nuclear waste, the Bipartisan Policy Center said in a policy brief released this morning. The brief offers a variety of stakeholder opinions the BPC heard during regional meetings meant to renew a national dialogue on nuclear waste […]

A Savannah River Site subcontractor employee who was struck by a slow-moving truck and injured Wednesday in a laydown yard near the site’s B Area was released from the hospital on Friday and is recovering at home, the subcontracting company’s president told Weapons Complex Morning Briefing yesterday. “We’re waiting for SRS’ investigation to be completed […]

The Government Accountability Office on Friday released the record of decision behind its Sept. 21 denial of a protest by Gaithersburg, Md.-based Advanced Technologies and Laboratories (ATL) International of a $44.6 million contract to Piketon, Ohio-based Wastren Advantage for analytical services and testing at the Hanford Site’s 222-S Laboratory. ATL, the incumbent contractor for 222-S […]

The Department of Energy canceled last week the first of two shipments of research commercial spent nuclear fuel to the Idaho National Laboratory. Controversy erupted earlier this year when DOE sought a waiver that would allow research quantities of spent nuclear fuel into Idaho, but Idaho officials would only allow it if cleanup milestones at […]

Brian Bradley WC Monitor 10/23/2015 AMELIA ISLAND, Fla. – The Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management plans to award more contracts with a five-year minimum award term, and that incorporate increasingly more fixed-price work scopes, Jack Surash, EM deputy assistant secretary for acquisition and project management, said here yesterday. “I’m going to be looking for […]

Jeremy L. Dillon WC Monitor 10/23/2015 House Appropriations energy and water development subcommittee Chairman Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) has called for greater predictability in the funding and operation of the Department of Energy’s environmental management program. Simpson, a longtime advocate for the cleanup of DOE legacy defense nuclear sites, offered his thoughts earlier this month during […]

Brian Bradley WC Monitor 10/23/2015 A recent Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board staff report indicated several areas for improvement within the Savannah River Site’s L Area Complex safety basis, although the Energy Department’s Savannah River Operations Office did not break any DOE requirements. DNFSB Chairwoman Joyce Connery referenced those findings in an Oct. 20 letter […]

Brian Bradley WC Monitor 10/23/2015 The U.S. has agreed to assist Spain in cleaning up plutonium, uranium, and americium that was spread across at least 24 acres along the European nation’s southern coast after a B-52 carrying nuclear cargo for U.S. Strategic Air Command crashed with another U.S. military aircraft over the Mediterranean city of […]

WC Monitor 10/23/2015 Washington State Recognizes Hanford Contractor The state of Washington has recognized Hanford Site tank farm contractor Washington River Protection Solutions for recruiting, hiring, and promoting individuals with disabilities. It received an outreach award on Tuesday from the state’s Division of Vocational Rehabilitation. “We’ve put together a highly skilled, safety-conscious workforce at WRPS […]

WC Monitor 10/23/2015 Hanford Union Workers Approve Wage Increase Wages for workers represented by the Hanford Atomic Metal Trades Council (HAMTC) at several Hanford Site contractors would increase 2 percent in 2016, 2017, and 2018 under agreements approved in worker votes Thursday. HAMTC, an umbrella group for 14 affiliated unions, reported that agreements passed for […]

WC Monitor 10/23/2015 SRNS Receives Letter of Intent for M&O Contract Extension The Energy Department last month sent SRS management and operations contractor Savannah River Nuclear Solutions a letter of intent to extend its current contract beyond the September 2016 expiration date, SRNS President and CEO Carol Johnson said at the ExchangeMonitor Decisionmakers’ Forum this […]

WC Monitor 10/23/2015 IN THE INDUSTRY Frazer Lockhart, vice president for waste operations at Stoller Newport News Nuclear, has been appointed to the Energy Department’s Environmental Management Advisory Board, SN3 parent company Huntington Ingalls Industries announced on Oct. 16. "I hope to use my experience in project management and acquisition to provide meaningful assistance to […]

The Savannah River Site’s H Canyon is expected to enter deliberate operations next week, and HB Line should start deliberate ops by the end of November, SRS announced yesterday. Site contractor Savannah River Nuclear Solutions entered a company-wide operational pause of all nonessential nuclear and non-nuclear operations on Sept. 11, after 400 grams of plutonium […]

  Monday, October 19, 2015 3:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. Registration Registration Refreshments Sponsored by:  5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. Opening Reception Sponsored by    Champagne Toast Sponsored by:     Tuesday, October 20, 2015 8:00 a.m. Registration 8:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m. Breakfast 9:00 a.m. – 9:15 a.m. Introductory Remarks Speakers: Llewellyn King, Conference Co-Chair, […]

The state of Washington has recognized Hanford Site tank farm contractor Washington River Protection Solutions for recruiting, hiring, and promoting individuals with disabilities. It received an outreach award on Tuesday from the state’s Division of Vocational Rehabilitation. “We’ve put together a highly skilled, safety-conscious workforce at WRPS by focusing on abilities rather than disabilities,” said […]

URS/CH2M Oak Ridge expects in December to declare deactivated the K-27 gaseous diffusion plant at what is now the East Tennessee Technology Park, UCOR President Ken Rueter said on Tuesday. Demolition would then begin the following month. “We are presently on track to putting yellow iron to K-27 in the first or second week of […]

Savannah River Site workers recently relocated 156 of glassified waste from Glass Waste Storage Building (GWSB) 1 to GWSB 2, starting the modification process for double-stacking canisters at the site, and potentially opening up the possibility for actual double-stacking to begin in 2016, SRS stated in a press release yesterday. Developed by SRS liquid waste […]

The 27th Annual Weapons Complex Monitor Decisionmakers’ Forum kicked off with a reception last night in Amelia Island, Fla., and will run through Thursday. Speakers this week include Mark Whitney, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management, New Mexico Environment Department Secretary Ryan Flynn; Frank Marcinowski, DOE-EM Deputy Assistant Secretary […]