Cleanup & Remediation

FY14 Omnibus Would Boost EM Funding Mike Nartker WC Monitor 1/17/2014 In a move that could have significant implications for how the Department of Energy plans and funds future cleanup activities, lawmakers are directing DOE to bring in an outside group of experts to determine the relative risks of the Department’s remaining work across the […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 1/17/2014 URS officially announced this week a set of top-level management changes in its Global Management & Operations Services Business Group, which is responsible for URS’ work in the Department of Energy and U.K. Nuclear Decommissioning Authority marketplaces. As WC Monitor first reported, James Taylor has been named as GMOS General […]

WASH. REGULATORS WANT ACTION ON DAMAGED DST WC MONITOR  1/17/2014 The state of Washington is growing impatient after no waste has been emptied from Hanford’s double-shell Tank AY-102 more than a year after the Department of Energy discovered a leak between the tank’s shells. The Washington State Department of Ecology told DOE in a strongly […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 1/17/2014 A group of state environmental regulators called on the Obama Administration this week for action on a number of initiatives to address issues related to mercury pollution, including the Department of Energy’s establishment of a national storage facility for excess mercury. DOE released in September a final Environmental Impact Statement […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 1/17/2014 The Savannah River Site is conducting a “site-wide integrated assessment” after an unusual cold snap last week shut down the site’s biomass plant and associated steam lines, resulting in the shutdown of numerous facilities across the site. While the Ameresco Biomass Cogeneration Facility is back up and running, the site […]

WC Monitor 5/23/2014 In Congress House Energy and Water Development Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) handily won this week the Republican primary for the Idaho House 2nd District. Pundits had declared the race “ground zero” for the ideological battle between the establishment of the Republican party and the more conservative-leaning Tea Party, but Simpson was […]

SRNS Officially Names New President WC Monitor 5/23/2014 Fluor officially announced this week that Carol Johnson will be the next president and CEO of Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, the managing contractor for the Savannah River Site. WC Monitor first reported earlier this month that Johnson was set to replace Dwayne Wilson, who is expected to leave SRNS […]

Staff reports WC Monitor 5/23/2014 The Department of Energy needs to get to the bottom of why cost and schedule projections on its large projects are so often underestimated, David Huizenga, senior adviser for DOE’s Office of Environmental Management, said this week. “It bothers me to think that collectively we cannot do a better job […]

RECORD NUMBER OF BALD EAGLES COUNTED WC Monitor 1/17/2014 A record number of bald eagles have been counted at Hanford this winter, possibly attracted by the record salmon runs. Hanford scientists spotted 60 eagles during boat trips on the Columbia River in December, said Michael Sackschewski, an environmental scientist for Mission Support Alliance. During the […]

MTOA-2 TASK BIDDERS TO GET EXTRA TIME WC Monitor 1/17/2014 Los Alamos National Laboratory is providing an extra two weeks to prepare proposals to companies interested in bidding on a new task order being competed under the lab’s Master Task Order Agreement-2, which covers sorting, segregating, and repacking of drums containing transuranic (TRU) waste. Bids […]

WC Monitor 1/17/2014 IN CONGRESS Lawmakers are backing the Obama Administration’s Fiscal Year 2014 budget request for the Department of Energy’s Office of Legacy Management in the omnibus spending bill for the remainder of this fiscal year unveiled this week. Under the bill, LM would receive approximately $177 million. Congress is expected to approve the […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 1/10/2014 EnergySolutions is starting off the new year with a set of senior management changes. As part of a new “consolidation” of the company’s management team, Mark Morant and Alan Parker have been named to oversee Projects; and Products, Projects and Technology, according to EnergySolutions spokesman Mark Walker. “Mark Morant is […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 1/10/2014 The Department of Energy appears to be making progress on closing still-pending recommendations from the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, with the DNFSB recently agreeing to close one recommendation and the Department seeking to have another one also closed. Last month, the DNFSB closed a recommendation from 2000 called “Prioritization […]

WC Monitor 1/10/2014 IN THE DNFSB Kenneth Mossman, the newest member of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, passed away this week. In November, he was confirmed by the Senate to join the Board. Mossman previously served as a professor of health physics at Arizona State University and an Administrative Judge for the Nuclear Regulatory […]

UCOR EARNS 90 PERCENT OF AWARD FEE WC Monitor 1/10/2014 Oak Ridge cleanup contractor URS-CH2M Oak Ridge, LLC, earned about 90 percent of its available award fee in the period from April 1 through September 30, 2013, according to information recently released by the Department of Energy. UCOR received about $3.11 million out of a […]

TRIDEC LOOKING AT BRINGING SMR TO HANFORD WC Monitor  1/10/2014 The Tri-City Development Council has issued a request for proposals to analyze the pros and cons of a small modular nuclear reactor system at Hanford to provide power for Department of Energy projects. Proposals are due Jan. 17. State Sen. Sharon Brown ( R-Kennewick) made […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 5/30/2014 Jack Zimmerman, federal project director for the Department of Energy’s two depleted uranium hexafluoride conversion plants, has been selected as DOE’s next cleanup chief for the Idaho site. Zimmerman is set to begin his new role as the DOE Idaho Operations Office’s Deputy Manager for the Idaho Cleanup Project in […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 5/30/2014 Demolition of the West Valley Main Plant Process Building won’t be done by the current end of CH2M Hill B&W West Valley’s contract in 2019 as originally expected, and the contractor is working with the Department of Energy on an extension, CHBWV President Dan Coyne told WC Monitor this week. […]

Additional Assessment Needed Before Actual Waste is Introduced, Board Says Mike Nartker WC Monitor 5/30/2014 As the Department of Energy works to get the Idaho Integrated Waste Treatment Unit fully operational, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board is calling on DOE to consider performing additional assessments prior to the introduction of actual radioactive waste due […]

Board Hears from Experts on How To Assess and Address Culture Issues Mike Nartker WC Monitor 5/30/2014 As the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board begins gearing up to take a new look at whether workers across the Department of Energy complex feel safe to raise concerns, one Board member warned this week that there is […]

The following interview with Glenn Podonsky, Director of the Department of Energy’s new Office of Independent Enterprise Assessments; and Matthew Moury, acting Associate Under Secretary for Environment, Health, Safety and Security, was conducted by ExchangeMonitor Publications Editor-in-Chief Mike Nartker.  WC Monitor 5/30/2014 To start things off, what was the thinking behind the creation of this […]

More Workers Report Vapor Exposure Symptoms WC Monitor 5/30/2014 Five Hanford workers experienced symptoms consistent with exposure to chemical vapors from waste tanks late this week, and one was taken to the hospital in Richland, Wash. A sixth worker who did not have symptoms also requested an evaluation at the hospital. That brings the number […]

State Puts Together Priority List WC Monitor 5/30/2014 Washington state has compiled a list of the Hanford cleanup priorities it believes are urgent as Hanford officials lay out a plan for far more work than is likely to be funded. Department of Energy officials at Hanford have released a budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2016 […]

DOE Questions How TOPS Subcontract Was Transferred WC Monitor 5/30/2014 The Department of Energy appears to have some concerns over the recent transfer of a waste-hauling subcontract from Transportation, Operations and Professional Services (TOPS), which was raided by federal law enforcement agents earlier this year, to Oak Ridge, Tenn.-based TFE Inc. When asked if DOE […]

WC Monitor 5/30/2014 In the Industry The American Nuclear Society has honored the five-year, billion-dollar demolition of the World War II-era K-25 uranium-enrichment facility in Oak Ridge. According to information from the Department of Energy, the project has been selected for the Project Excellence Award from the society’s Decommissioning and Environmental Services Division. The award […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 5/23/2014 More details emerged this week over URS’ ultimately unsuccessful attempt last summer to be terminated from the Separations Process Research Unit (SPRU) D&D project. At issue was a contract modification (M035) reached with the Department of Energy in the wake of a set of contamination incidents that disrupted work at […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 5/23/2014 Thanks to a boost in funding, the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management is looking to add more than 100 new staff in “several mission critical areas,” according to a memorandum issued late this week by EM’s new No. 2 official, Mark Whitney. While EM’s workforce has fallen below […]

Hanford Vit Plant Comes in Second Mike Nartker WC Monitor 5/23/2014 The Portsmouth D&D project has the most open Department of Energy investigations underway in the DOE cleanup program, according to documents WC Monitor obtained this week. The DOE Office of Enforcement is in the midst of three investigations—that could result in financial penalties— tied to incidents […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 5/23/2014 Concerns over numerous recent operations and engineering issues at the Savannah River Site are growing in both the Department of Energy and the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. The Department of Energy’s Savannah River Operations Office sent a letter last month to the site’s managing contractor, Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 5/23/2014 Despite White House opposition, the House approved a measure late this week that would significantly lower the maximum number of employees at the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. The House version of the Fiscal Year 2015 National Defense Authorization Act would cut the maximum number of employees the DNFSB has […]