Cleanup & Remediation

The Canadian Nuclear Laboratories awarded late last week an $86.8 million contract to construct the Port Granby long-term waste management facility to a joint venture of Amec Foster Wheeler and CB&I, the companies announced. The contract calls for the excavation of legacy low-level radioactive waste from the Port Hope disposal area to the new construction […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 7/31/2015 Los Alamos National Laboratory’s (LANL) proposition to credit pipe overpack containers (POC) with a damage ratio of zero at the Area G nuclear waste disposal site was found “inappropriate” and “not technically defensible” by personnel from the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Environmental […]

Lance Moore WC Monitor 7/31/2015 The Department of Energy on Thursday said it had reached agreement with the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (Ohio EPA) on a plan for demolition of the process buildings and other structures at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant Site (PORTS). The buildings will be destroyed as part of the decontamination and […]

Chris Schneidmiller WC Monitor 07/31/2015 The Department of Energy has carried out nearly all commitments made in 2011 to strengthen the “nuclear safety culture” for the still-unfinished Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) at the Hanford Site in Washington state and the broader DOE defense nuclear enterprise, according to the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. […]

Staff Reports WC Monitor 7/31/2015 The state of Tennessee has raised concerns about the Department of Energy’s future cleanup funding for the Oak Ridge Reservation and says if things don’t change it may be forced to take actions – such as installing more legally enforceable milestones – to get the cleanup done in a timely […]

Staff Reports WC Monitor 07/31/2015 The Department of Energy and state of Washington have reached agreement on proposed new Tri-Party Agreement milestones for solid waste stored at the Hanford Site. The Tri-Party Agreement agencies will consider adopting the changes after a public meeting and public comment period. Following revisions five years ago, DOE has asked […]

Lance Moore WC Monitor 7/31/2015 The Energy Department’s Los Alamos Field Office in New Mexico has finished removal of mercury-tainted soil from the side of a canyon located on DOE land, the department’s Office of Environmental Management said on Tuesday. “We are committed to reducing the Laboratory’s historical footprint and intend to continue to make […]

Chris Schneidmiller WC Monitor 7/31/2015 Bechtel National in June agreed to pay $800,000 and take additional steps rather than face possible enforcement action by the Department of Energy over quality-assurance problems and other shortcomings in the contractor’s construction of the Hanford Site’s Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP). The consent order between DOE and Bechtel […]

Staff Reports WC Monitor 07/31/2015 The Washington state Court of Appeals has ruled in favor of Bartlett Services and ELR Consulting in a case that alleged negligence in a worker’s 50-foot fall from a catwalk in the Hanford Site’s 300 Area in 2009. The case hinged on the practice of staff augmentation subcontracting and who […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 7/31/2015 Portage has won the $100 million remediation contract for the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP) site in Luckey, Ohio, the Army Corps of Engineers’ Buffalo District announced this week. The contract for environmental remediation services and ancillary construction to support the cleanup is worth up to $100 […]

Los Alamos National Laboratory’s (LANL) proposition to credit pipe overpack containers (POC) with a damage ratio of zero at the Area G nuclear waste disposal site was found “inappropriate” and “not technically defensible” by personnel from the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Environmental Management, and LANL, according to a Defense […]

The Department of Energy and state of Washington have reached agreement on proposed new Tri-Party Agreement milestones for solid waste at the Hanford Site. The Tri-Party Agencies will consider adopting the changes after a public meeting and public comment period. Following revisions five years ago, DOE has asked the state to again revisit the M-091 series of […]

The Energy Department’s Los Alamos Field Office in New Mexico has finished removal of mercury-tainted soil from the side of a canyon located on DOE land, the department’s Office of Environmental Management said on Tuesday. “We are committed to reducing the Laboratory’s historical footprint and intend to continue to make progress on environmental legacy cleanup,” […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board has scheduled an Aug. 26 hearing in Kennewick, Wash., to consider ongoing efforts to improve the “safety culture” at the Hanford Site’s Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP). The hearing will address the Department of Energy’s efforts to address measures included in the DNFSB’s “Recommendation 2011-Safety Culture at the Waste […]

A story in the July 27 edition of the Weapons Complex Morning Briefing incorrectly identified the operator of a field office at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. The office is managed by the Department of Energy. WC Morning Briefing regrets the error.

Chris Schneidmiller WC Monitor 7/24/2015 A Department of Energy office incorrectly allowed the managing contractor at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina to reallocate funds from one cleanup project to three others in violation of federal directives, according to a DOE Inspector General’s Office report released on Wednesday. The report also found that contractor […]

Lance Moore WC Monitor 7/24/2015 The selection of Douglas E. Hintze as the permanent manager of the new Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) Los Alamos Field Office has paved the way for a more fluid transition of responsibilities for the remaining legacy cleanup at the facility from the DOE’s National Nuclear Security […]

Jeremy L. Dillon WC Monitor 7/24/2015 The Energy Department’s Office of Enterprise Assessments’ Office of Enforcement announced this week that it would launch an investigation into an incident in which two workers were exposed to a potassium hydroxide spill at the Portsmouth DUF6 Conversion Plant earlier this year. According to a letter to operating contractor […]

Staff Reports WC Monitor 7/24/2015 The federal judge hearing the Hanford consent decree case will appoint an expert panel to help her sort through technical issues on the legal battle pitting the state of Washington against the Department of Energy. After hearing arguments Thursday in Eastern Washington District U.S. Court, Judge Rosanna Malouf Peterson said […]

WC Monitor 7/24/2015 IN THE STATES The Nevada Division of Environmental Protection last week issued a request for public comment on the draft permit for the U.S. Department of Energy’s waste disposal facilities at the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS). The permit would cover four hazardous waste management units owned by the Department of Energy. […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 7/24/2015 Members of Missouri’s congressional delegation are calling on the Department of Energy to reconsider its rejection of the West Lake landfill cleanup for the Army Corps of Engineers’ Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program after a potential new waste stream emerged this week that would link the landfill to […]

A Department of Energy office incorrectly allowed the managing contractor at the Savannah River Site to reallocate funds from one cleanup project to three others in violation of federal directives on use of the money, according to a DOE Inspector General’s report released on Wednesday. The report also found that contractor Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) yesterday announced the appointment of Douglas Hintz as the manager of its new Los Alamos (EM-LA) Field Office. Hintz most recently served as assistant manager for mission support at the DOE Savannah River Operations Office (DOE-SR) since September 2012, and will work closely during the transition […]

Jeremy L. Dillon WC Monitor 7/17/2015 Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) is seeking subcontractors to aid in decontamination efforts that result in reducing the waste classification of certain components, according to a sources sought notice issued this week on FedBizOpps. The aim of the contract is to reduce transuranic contaminated material down to a low-level […]

September 2016 Milestone Still Uncertain Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 6/19/2015 Significant progress is being made in the demolition of Hanford’s Plutonium Finishing Plant, and though it is set to be one of the Department of Energy’s major cleanup achievements in 2016 it is not clear if it will meet its completion milestone, DOE Richland Operations […]

Staff Reports WC Monitor 7/17/2015 The schedule for cleanup of the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge reservation has been stretched many times over the past three decades, as the extent of environmental problems and decaying infrastructure were better understood, and now it appears another extension may be on the horizon. The completion date that’s set […]

Staff Reports WC Monitor 7/17/2015 URS-CH2M Oak Ridge earned almost $3.7 million in fees for the first six months of Fiscal Year 2015, according to a performance letter released by the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management in Oak Ridge. Sue Cange, DOE’s environmental manager in Oak Ridge, said UCOR “continued to do extremely […]

WC Monitor 7/17/2015 Plutonium Drums Do Not Pose Threat The Department of Energy says it has determined that a “small population” of drums containing plutonium do not pose a threat of detonation at a Oak Ridge National Laboratory storage site. The concern was first raised last year by URS-CH2M Oak Ridge, DOE’s environmental contractor in […]

WC Monitor 7/17/2015 IN DOE Department of Energy Inspector General Gregory Friedman this week announced his plans to retire after serving for 17 years as DOE’s internal investigative official. Friedman will step down effective Oct. 3, 2015, which would end his run as longest-serving federal inspector general at a cabinet-level agency. “While the mission is […]

Recent Energy Department budget projections have suggested that cleanup for the Oak Ridge reservation may take 20 years longer than expected, according to Chris Thompson, the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation’s (TDEC’s) key overseer of DOE activities at Oak Ridge. The completion date that’s set forth in the Federal Facilities Agreement, negotiated by DOE, […]