Cleanup & Remediation

WC Monitor 2/28/2014 IN CONGRESS Rep. Ed Pastor (D-Ariz.) announced late this week that he will not seek re-election this November. Pastor is a member of the House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee, among other Congressional roles. “After 23 years in Congress serving the people of Arizona, I have decided that I will not seek […]

Employee Committee Calls for Ombudsman Mike Nartker WC Monitor 2/21/2014 In another sign of apparent management turmoil within the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, a group of Board employees tasked with examining morale concerns has found what appears to be a significant divide between staff and senior management. “Overall, the staff feels they no longer […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 2/21/2014 Unusually cold weather slowed down shipments at the Moab uranium mill tailings remediation project in Utah this winter, the first in which work continued all season since last year’s winter work curtailment. Cleanup contractor Portage last year undertook a three-month outage during the winter due to budget constraints, but a […]

DOE CONSIDERING UNDERGROUND PRETREAT SYSTEM WC Monitor 2/21/2014 The Department of Energy is considering building an underground interim pretreatment system that would use the same technologies as the planned Pretreatment Facility at Hanford’s Waste Treatment Plant, but on a smaller scale. The possible interim pretreatment system is one of the solutions discussed in what DOE […]

REMAINING HANFORD CLEANUP COST NOW $113.6B WC Monitor 2/21/2014 An estimated $113.6 billion is the new price tag for completing the remaining Hanford cleanup, plus post-cleanup long term stewardship through fiscal 2090.The new estimate was included in the 2014 Hanford Lifecycle Scope, Schedule and Cost Report released this week. It’s the fourth such report released […]

ITG PROVISIONALLY LOSES $150,000 IN FEE WC Monitor 2/21/2014 Idaho Treatment Group, LLC, the managing contractor for the Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project, has provisionally lost $150,000 in fee for safety issues, though the contractor may be able to earn back a portion, a Department of Energy spokeswoman said late this week. The fee reduction, […]

WC Monitor 2/21/2014 IN THE INDUSTRY Former Nevada Site Office Manager Stephen Mellington has joined Longenecker & Associates as a senior associate. Mellington retired from a 35-year federal career in 2012, serving the last four years as the top federal official at the Nevada National Security Site. Mellington previously served as the site office’s Assistant […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 2/14/2014 There appears to be ongoing discord between senior officials at the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management and Savannah River Site leaders over efforts to promote the “Enterprise SRS” vision for attracting more work to the site, WC Monitor has learned. Enterprise SRS, an effort to bring future business […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 2/14/2014 The Department of Energy is dissolving its Office of Health, Safety and Security in a new reorganization officially announced this week that DOE says is intended to better enhance its safety and security functions. As Weapons Complex Morning Briefing first reported, the reorganization will entail the creation of a new […]

Congressman Staunch Supporter of DOE’s Cleanup Efforts Mike Nartker WC Monitor 2/14/2014 Rep. Doc Hastings (R-Wash.), one of the strongest supporters of the Department of Energy’s cleanup program in Congress, announced late this week that he will not seek re-election this fall. Hastings, whose district includes the Hanford site, was first elected to Congress in […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 2/14/2014 Bill Lingard abruptly resigned from his position as URS President and Chief Operating Officer this week. URS announced Lingard’s resignation along with the release of the company’s preliminary Fiscal Year 2013 financial results, which came in below expectations. The company said its expected 2013 earnings would be $3.20-$3.30 per share, […]

Admin. Set to Submit Proposal to Modify 2010 Consent Decree By End of Month Mike Nartker WC Monitor 2/14/2014 Washington state officials are calling on the Obama Administration to submit a new plan for addressing Hanford’s tank waste that is “aggressive but realistic” when it submits a proposal to amend a 2010 consent decree that helps […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 2/14/2014 In an step towards starting D&D work at the Energy Technology Engineering Center in California, the Department of Energy last week released an amendment to its notice of intent to prepare an environmental impact statement for cleanup work at the site. DOE said it expects to issue a draft EIS […]

DOE GETS MORE TIME FOR TANK AY-102 PLAN WC Monitor 2/14/2014 The Washington State Department of Ecology has extended its deadline for the Department of Energy to provide a plan to empty Hanford’s Tank AY-102. The tank, which is Hanford’s oldest double-shell tank, is leaking waste between its inner and outer shell. The state demanded […]

WORK UNDERWAY TO REMOVE MASSIVE VAULT WC Monitor 2/14/2014 The Hanford 340 Vault, weighing about 1,100 tons, is expected to be rolled out of the ground in the 300 Area at the end of this week, weather permitting. It’s one of just two complex radioactive facilities that still need to be demolished or removed at […]

SRR CLEANS UP FREEZE-RELATED SALTSTONE SPILL WC Monitor 2/14/2014 After a spill of contaminated flush water at the Savannah River Site’s Saltstone Facilities during last month’s freeze, liquid waste contractor Savannah River Remediation has remediated soil and implemented controls. The event occurred on Jan. 9 during a spell of unusually cold weather that shut down […]

WC Monitor 2/14/2014 IN CONGRESS Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) was formally approved late this week as the new Chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Landrieu replaces Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) who has moved to head up the Senate Finance Committee following the confirmation of Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mon.) to serve as the new U.S. […]

Todd Jacobson and Mike Nartker WC Monitor  1/31/2014 Tensions are running high at the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board amidst personnel changes in a set of key management positions and a sharp drop in employee satisfaction over the last year, as well as a more recent Inspector General’s investigation in response to a complaint about […]

Three Years After Incident, Still No Sign of Final Cost for D&D Mike Nartker WC Monitor 1/31/2014 URS is wrapping up a project to address the remaining liquid waste at the Separations Process Research Unit (SPRU), but more than three years after a contamination incident brought work at SPRU largely to a halt, the final […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 1/31/2014 The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board this week closed a 2009 recommendation on policies and standards related to quantitative risk assessment methodologies in the Department of Energy complex. In December, the Department told the DNFSB of numerous steps it had taken to resolve issues in the recommendation “Risk Assessment Methodologies […]

TROPHY ELK ILLEGALLY SHOT ON HANFORD LAND WC Monitor 1/31/2014 Washington State Fish and Wildlife officials are looking for the antlers of a trophy bull elk illegally shot after hunters trespassed on Hanford land. Three men have been sentenced in a poaching case that involved two trophy bull elk shot on Hanford land closed to […]

DOE PROVIDE MORE DETAILS ON WRPS FY13 AWARD FEE WC Monitor 1/31/2014 A variety of performance concerns were behind the Department of Energy’s decision to withhold approximately $1.5 million in award fee from Hanford tank farms contractor Washington River Protection Solutions in Fiscal Year 2013, a DOE official said this week. According to documents DOE […]

WC Monitor 1/31/2014 IN CONGRESS Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), ranking member on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, is retiring from Congress at the end of this year. Waxman, who was first elected to Congress in 1974, announced late this week that he would not seek re-election. “The reason for my decision is simple. After […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 1/24/2014 The University of Arkansas is hoping cleanup funds will soon be provided for its Southwest Experimental Fast Oxide Reactor (SEFOR) after Congress last week directed the Department of Energy to develop a plan for finishing cleanup of the facility. In the spending bill approved last week, lawmakers directed DOE to […]

Staff Reports WC Monitor 1/24/2014 The 309 Reactor has been lifted out of the ground in what Washington Closure Hanford and the Department of Energy are calling one the most hazardous and complex cleanup projects in the Hanford River Corridor. The reactor, also called the Plutonium Recycle Test Reactor, is the largest and last remaining […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 1/24/2014 Overall Oak Ridge TRU Waste Processing Facility contractor Wastren Advantage, Inc., has done a good job implementing fire protection programs at the facility, though some improvements could be made, according to a recently posted Department of Energy review. As part of an assessment of fire protection programs (FPP) at nuclear […]

MOST HANFORD LAYOFFS CANCELLED AFTER BUDGET PASSED WC Monitor 1/24/2014 Hanford contractors laid off just 12 workers this week, far fewer than the 289 they were authorized to let go before Congress last week approved the Fiscal Year 2014 spending bill. The Department of Energy had approved three Hanford contractors to lay off a total […]

WC Monitor 1/24/2014 IN CONGRESS Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) announced this week that he will be running for governor of Louisiana in the 2015 election. Vitter made waves in the Department of Energy last October when he placed a hold on Elizabeth Robinson’s nomination to serve as the new Under Secretary for Management and Performance, […]

NEW SALTSTONE DISPOSAL UNITS COMPLETED WC Monitor 1/24/2014 The construction of two new Saltstone Disposal Units at the Savannah River site has been completed ahead of schedule and under budget, the Department of Energy and liquid waste contractor Savannah River Remediation announced this week. Saltstone units 3 and 5 have a new circular design, and […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 1/17/2014 The Department of Energy is considering creating a new Departmental organization that would be responsible for DOE’s major line-item construction projects across various programs, WC Monitor has learned. The proposal appears to be in its early stages, and its scope remains unclear, though it likely would entail those major construction […]