Cleanup & Remediation

The Savannah River Site Citizen’s Advisory Board will hold its full board meeting today and tomorrow in Beaufort, South Carolina. On the agenda are two recommendations urging improved communications from the Department of Energy as well as a recommendation on DOE’s Fiscal Year 2015 budget request calling for full funding for liquid waste cleanup. 

Reviews Find Need for Additional Resources at Several Sites to Address Maintenance Concerns LANL Director Emphasizes Advantages of Keeping Cleanup Work in Contract SPRU Schedule Slips Once Again DOE Approves New SWPF Baseline, Cost Increase Nears $1 Billion Senate Confirms New DOE Deputy Secretary Congress Completes Work on FY 2015 Stop-Gap Funding Measure CH2M Hill […]

Mike Nartker and Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 9/19/2014 Contractors at several Department of Energy sites are facing growing maintenance needs that could disrupt cleanup efforts if not addressed, according to a set of assessments DOE recently provided to WC Monitor. The assessments were conducted as part of a complex-wide extent-of-condition review of deferred maintenance across […]

New Mexico Has Called for LANL Cleanup to be Taken Out of NNSA Kenneth Fletcher and Todd Jacobson WC Monitor 9/19/2014 Following a call from New Mexico’s environmental regulator to break out the cleanup work at Los Alamos National Laboratory, LANL Director Charlie McMillan this week emphasized the advantages of keeping cleanup in the current […]

Four-Year Project Now to Take More Than 10 Years to Finish Mike Nartker WC Monitor 9/19/2014 Efforts to complete the long-troubled Separations Process Research Unit (SPRU) D&D project appear to have hit a new hurdle, with the Department of Energy now projecting the need for an additional three years from previous estimates to complete the […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 9/19/2014 CH2M Hill is looking to reduce its workforce by approximately 1,200 people out of 26,000 employees as part of a new restructuring plan that the company said last week is intended to generate approximately $100 million in “operational efficiencies.” The restructuring will entail “a voluntary retirement program, workforce reductions and […]

DOE Silent on Potential Actions Against Contractor Mike Nartker WC Monitor 9/19/2014 Hanford tank farms contractor Washington River Protection Solutions is challenging a preliminary order from the Department of Labor to reinstate a former employee who has charged she was terminated for raising concerns. Late this week, close to the end of a 30-day deadline, […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 9/19/2014 Limited storage capacity is a major hurdle for Oak Ridge’s transuranic waste program during the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant’s current shutdown, and though the site is taking steps to continue progress, it is at risk of missing regulatory milestones. With storage nearing its limit at the site’s TRU Waste Processing […]

N.M. Regulator Has Called for LANL Cleanup to be Taken Out of NNSA Kenneth Fletcher and Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 9/19/2014 Following a call from New Mexico’s environmental regulator to break out the cleanup work at Los Alamos National Laboratory, LANL Director Charlie McMillan this week emphasized the advantages of keeping cleanup in the current […]

Jeremy L. Dillon WC Monitor 9/19/2014 The Department of Energy announced this week that it plans to issue in the next 15-to-45 days a draft Request for Proposals for a new contract to manage Nuclear Regulatory Commission-licensed facilities at the Idaho site, as well as the Fort St. Vrain facility. The new contract would cover […]

More Contractors Shift to Four-Day Work Week WC Monitor 9/19/2014 Two more of the major Hanford contractors switched to four-day work weeks starting this week. Employees are working 10 hours a day Monday through Thursday with Fridays off at Washington River Protection Solutions and Mission Support Alliance. Together they employ about 3,300 workers. CH2M Hill […]

Leak in ORNL Research Reactor Fuel Pool Still Under Investigation WC Monitor 9/19/2014 More than a week after a leak was discovered at an old research reactor at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the investigating team is still trying to pinpoint the location and come up with a plan to fix it. The Department of Energy’s […]

WC Monitor 9/19/2014 IN DOE The Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board will meet in late October in Augusta, Ga. to discuss the Department of Energy’s activities at the Savannah River Site. “Topics that will be discussed at the meeting include issues related to storage of DOE SNF at the L Basin at SRS, alternatives for […]

Mike Nartker NS&D Monitor 9/19/2014 CH2M Hill is looking to reduce its workforce by approximately 1,200 people out of 26,000 employees as part of a new restructuring plan that the company said last week is intended to generate approximately $100 million in “operational efficiencies.” The restructuring will entail “a voluntary retirement program, workforce reductions and […]

Workers Enter PFP’s McCluskey Room WC Monitor 9/12/2014 Workers entered the McCluskey Room, the site of one of Hanford’s worst radiological accidents, this week after a year of preparation. The room still contains the glovebox where a 1976 chemical explosion shattered the thick glass windows of the box. Radioactive concentrated nitric acid and shards of […]

Deputy Energy Sec. Nominee Clears Senate Energy Panel Mike Nartker WC Monitor 9/12/2014 Monica Regalbuto’s nomination to serve as the next Assistant Energy Secretary for Environmental Management appears to have hit a roadblock in the Senate because of one lawmaker’s concerns over DOE’s uranium transfer policies. Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso (R) has placed a hold […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 09/12/2014 As the Department of Energy pursues yet another new mission for H-Canyon involving Belgian material, questions remain on Savannah River tank space issues and whether a new dissolver will be funded for the facility. The Department of Energy is pursuing a host of international nonproliferation missions for the nuclear chemical […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 9/12/2014 The Department of Energy is moving forward with competing the first of four planned cleanup contracts for the Idaho site, announcing this week that a draft Request for Proposals for the new Idaho Cleanup Project (ICP) Core contract is set to be released within the next 15-to-45 days. The ICP […]

Move Could Send Issue to Federal Court Staff Reports WC Monitor 9/12/2014 Hanford is a step closer to possibly having a federal judge make key cleanup decisions, after the state of Washington said late last week that it would not extend a deadline for discussions on proposals to modify a 2010 consent decree that governs […]

2013 Marks Lowest Radioactive Air Emissions Rate in Decades WC Monitor 9/12/2014 In 2013 Los Alamos National Laboratory measured the lowest radioactive air emissions rate in 20 years, according to results released this week. Last year’s offsite dose rate, measured by the 40 air monitoring stations in the area, was 0.21 millirem, compared to the […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 9/12/2014 The smoldering fire near the West Lake Landfill may be spreading closer to the radioactively contaminated section of the site, according to a report by a landfill consultant for the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. This news follows on the heels of a recent Army Corps of Engineers’ analyses […]

***This article was updated on 9/10/2014 to clarify the Corps role at the site. USACE is not participating in the construction of the barrier. Rather, their role is assist the EPA by providing technical review and oversight of the site owner’s cleanup plans/activities.   Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 9/5/2014 Construction of a planned isolation barrier […]

The Department of Energy is looking to issue a draft Request for Proposals for the new Idaho Cleanup Project Core (ICP Core) contract within the next 15-45 days, according to a notice issued yesterday. The new contract is intended to largely replace the two current cleanup contracts at DOE’s Idaho site that are set to […]

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee announced late last week that he will not extend a deadline requiring continued dispute resolution with the Department of Energy over changes to Hanford’s 2010 court-enforced consent decree. DOE and the state had agreed not to ask a court to intervene on the consent decree at least through Sept. 5 while […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 9/5/2014 SUMMERLIN, Nev.—While a working group of officials from the state of Nevada and the Department of Energy put together for a controversial batch of uranium-233 has made significant progress, according to officials, nearly a year after the effort was launched there is no timeline yet as to when a decision […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 9/5/2014 A final Request for Proposals for the new contract to operate the Oak Ridge Transuranic Waste Processing Center is set to be released within the next month, the Department of Energy said late this week. DOE is looking to issue the final RFP by “end of September 2014/early October 2014,” […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 9/5/2014 The National Nuclear Security Administration appears to need a little more time to make a decision on who should win the new Nevada National Security Site environmental services contract. The NNSA has asked bidders on the new contract to extend their proposals’ expiration dates to Sept. 30, WC Monitor has […]

HAMTC Workers Reject New Contract Offer From PNNL WC Monitor 9/5/2014 Hanford Atomic Metal Trades Council workers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory overwhelmingly rejected a contract proposal by Battelle in a vote late this week. The total was 186 workers opposed and 11 workers in favor of the proposed five-year contract. “This certainly sends a […]

City Bringing in Consultants to Evaluate DOE’s Proposed Landfill  WC Monitor 9/5/2014 The city of Oak Ridge, Tenn. has hired a team of consultants to assess the potential impacts of a new proposed nuclear landfill at the government’s Oak Ridge reservation and help the city decide whether it should accept and support the disposal facility. […]

SRNS Expands Mentor-Protégé Program WC Monitor 9/5/2014 Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, the managing contractor for the Savannah River Site, is expanding its mentor-protégé program with the award of longer-term contracts to up to three small businesses, the company announced this week. The program aims to build relationships and experience working with small businesses. Previously the […]