Cleanup & Remediation

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 11/7/2014 The Energy Facility Contractors Group is eliminating nine of its 13 working groups and cutting its December semi-annual meeting following a Department of Energy request for the restructuring. The changes come as part of efforts by DOE and EFCOG to bring a greater focus to the group’s efforts and ultimately […]

Draft ‘Transition Plan’ Says New EM Los Alamos Field Office Could Open by January Mike Nartker WC Monitor 11/7/2014 As the Department of Energy prepares to shift management of the remaining legacy cleanup work at the Los Alamos National Laboratory to the Office of the Environmental Management from the National Nuclear Security Administration, DOE anticipates […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 11/7/2014 EnergySolutions is looking to hire Danny Nichols, who currently leads Idaho Treatment Group, LLC, from Babcock & Wilcox to oversee the company’s waste treatment facilities in Tennessee, WC Monitor has learned. Notably, B&W and EnergySolutions, along with URS, help make up ITG, responsible for the Idaho Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 11/7/2014 The Energy Facility Contractors Group is eliminating nine of its 13 working groups and cutting its December semi-annual meeting following a Department of Energy request for the restructuring. The changes come as part of efforts by DOE and EFCOG to bring a greater focus to the group’s efforts and ultimately […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 11/7/2014 Potential bidders on the Department of Energy’s new contract to manage Nuclear Regulatory Commission-licensed facilities are raising questions about the skill mix required in the recently issued  draft Request for Proposals for the planned small business contract. Industry officials last week completed a site tour of one of the facilities […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 11/7/2014 The Army Corps of Engineers Buffalo District issued a solicitation this week for remediation services at its Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program site in Luckey, Ohio. The contract for environmental remediation services and ancillary construction to support the cleanup is worth up to $100 million over 10 years, […]

With the Department of Energy working to shift responsibility for the remaining legacy cleanup work at the Los Alamos National Laboratory to the Office of Environmental Management from the National Nuclear Security Administration, EM is looking at needing 18-to-24 months to compete and award new “incentive-based” cleanup contracts for the lab, according to a plan WC […]

The Army Corps of Engineers Buffalo District issued a solicitation yesterday for remediation services at its Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program site in Luckey, Ohio. The contract for environmental remediation services and ancillary construction to support the cleanup is worth up to $100 million over 10 years, with a base period of five years […]

As the Department of Energy moves cleanup work at Los Alamos National Laboratory from the National Nuclear Security Administration to the Office of Environmental Management, members of New Mexico’s Congressional delegation are urging EM to keep requirements aimed at local businesses. DOE is developing a plan for transferring the cleanup work at LANL from NNSA […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 10/31/2014 Oak Ridge cleanup contractor URS CH2M Oak Ridge, LLC, earned $3.2 million in award fee out of an available $3.4 million available, almost 94 percent, for the period from Oct. 1, 2013, through March 2014, according to the Department of Energy’s latest fee determination. UCOR’s fee includes $609,749 in project […]

DOE Plans to Conduct New Assessment at Hanford This Winter Mike Nartker WC Monitor 10/31/2014 AMELIA ISLAND, Fla.—While the Department of Energy currently plans to conduct a new safety culture assessment at Hanford this winter and has warned of consequences if that review does not show improvement, top DOE and contractor officials at the site […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 10/31/2014 AMELIA ISLAND, Fla.—A senior official in the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management defended here last week EM’s use of cost caps on a set of troubled cleanup projects, though acknowledged that the best time to implement such measures was not in the middle of projects but rather more […]

Contractors: DOE Should Incentivize Maintenance Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 10/31/2014 AMELIA ISLAND, Fla.—Maintenance and infrastructure will play an “explicit part” in the budget planning process at the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management in future years, acting  Assistant EM Secretary Mark Whitney said last week. Deferred maintenance and infrastructure have been in the spotlight […]

Member Sullivan Voted Against Emergency Preparedness Recommendation Mike Nartker and Todd Jacobson WC Monitor 10/31/2014 Over the past two years, Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board members have clashed on a number of issues, from a recent recommendation on emergency preparedness to the scope of the Board’s jurisdiction and access to Board information, according to notational […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 10/31/2014 West Valley Demonstration Project contractor CH2M Hill B&W West Valley has improved schedule planning and addressed issues with its water treatment system after receiving about 53 percent of available award fee from the Department of Energy in the latest available period, CHBWV President Dan Coyne told WC Monitor this week. […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 10/31/2014 In the latest hurdle to getting the Idaho Integrated Waste Treatment Unit up and running, startup testing has been on hold for most of this month because of an equipment issue, and it remains to be seen when the testing will resume. Since Oct. 3, the IWTU has been shut […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 10/31/2014 AMELIA ISLAND, Fla.–While the schedule for downblending some of Oak Ridge’s stockpile of uranium-233 remains uncertain due to delays in disposal of other portions of the material, the site is making progress on preparations for the processing, an Oak Ridge official said here last week. The Department of Energy and […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 10/31/2014 The Department of Energy late last week issued a draft Request for Proposals for the new contract to manage Nuclear Regulatory Commission-licensed facilities at the Department’s Idaho site and in Colorado. The new contract, which is being set aside for small businesses, would cover the Fort St. Vrain facility; the […]

Two GAO Protests Still Pending Mike Nartker WC Monitor 10/31/2014 Navarro Research and Engineering has survived the first challenge filed over its win of the new Nevada National Security Site environmental programs services contract, with the Small Business Administration having determined that Navarro did meet the size standard used for the small business set-aside procurement. […]

Member Sullivan Voted Against Emergency Preparedness Recommendation Mike Nartker and Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 10/31/2014 Over the past two years, Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board members have clashed on a number of issues, from a recent recommendation on emergency preparedness to the scope of the Board’s jurisdiction and access to Board information, according to notational […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 10/31/2014 The Department of Energy is paying the vast majority of surveillance and maintenance costs for former commercial uranium mill sites that are supposed to be covered by fees charged to the mill operators, the DOE Inspector General ‘s Office said in a report released this week. The “Title II” uranium […]

SRNL Panel Calls for Improvements Against Brief Tank Vapor Exposures WC Monitor 10/31/2014 Hanford tank farms contractor Washington River Protection Solutions can take steps to better protect workers from brief exposures to relatively high concentrations of chemicals that are difficult to measure and document, according to the Hanford Tank Vapor Assessment Report released late this week. […]

Yakama Nation Preparing Lawsuit Over 300 Area Cleanup ROD WC Monitor 10/31/2014 The Yakama Nation is preparing to sue the Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency over the final record of decision for the Hanford 300 Area just north of Richland, Wash. The Yakama Tribal Council has provided formal notice to the federal […]

Kenneth Fletcher RW Monitor 10/31/2014 The Department of Energy is paying the vast majority of surveillance and maintenance costs for former commercial uranium mill sites that are supposed to be covered by fees charged to the mill operators, the DOE Inspector General ‘s Office said in a report released this week. The “Title II” uranium […]

Navarro Research and Engineering has survived the first challenge filed over its win of the new Nevada National Security Site environmental programs services contract, with the Small Business Administration having determined that Navarro did meet the size standard used for the small business set-aside procurement. INTERA, one of the unsuccessful bidders on the new contract, […]

Oak Ridge cleanup contractor URS CH2M Oak Ridge, LLC, earned $3.2 million in award fee out of $3.4 million available, about 94 percent, for the period from October 2013 through March 2014, according to the latest available award fee determination. That includes $609,749 in project management incentive and $2.6 million for the cost incentive. “During […]

The Department of Energy is paying the vast majority of surveillance and maintenance costs for former commercial uranium mill sites that were supposed to be covered by fees charged to the former operators of the sites, the DOE Inspector General said in a report released yesterday. The “Title II” uranium mill tailings sites were cleaned […]

West Valley contractor CH2M Hill B&W West Valley earned $150,000 out of $285,029 in available award fee from August 2013 through February 2014, or about 53 percent, according to the latest fee scorecard the Department of Energy has made available. DOE reduced the fee by $50,000 due to a Category 2 incident involving turbidity in […]

The Department of Energy late last week issued a draft Request for Proposals for the new contract to manage Nuclear Regulatory Commission-licensed facilities at the Department’s Idaho site and in Colorado. One area in the draft likely to prompt questions from industry officials is DOE’s proposed evaluation criteria, which appears to deviate from the Department’s […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 10/24/2014 AMELIA ISLAND, Fla.—As the Department of Energy wrestles with revamping its contracting approaches, increasing an emphasis on nuclear safety while cutting back on fee, it doesn’t appear likely to continue the approach pursued in Bechtel’s contract for the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant. The WTP contract sought to incentivize safety culture […]