Cleanup & Remediation

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 5/30/2014 The Environmental Protection Agency wrapped up late last week radiation screening at the Bridgeton Municipal Athletic Complex, located next to the West Landfill near St. Louis, but the results have yet to be made public. The EPA had faced mounting community pressure to test the site after a private […]

RW 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, an election that had gained national attention due to a strong challenge by a Tea Party-backed candidate. “I’m grateful for the tremendous outpouring of support by the […]

Stressing the importance of “leadership,” Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board Member Sean Sullivan warned yesterday that there is no “magic bullet” to ensuring a strong safety culture throughout the Department of Energy complex. Sullivan’s remarks came during a Board meeting held with an industry expert, as well as representatives from the NRC and NASA, intended […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board  this morning is holdingthe first of two planned meetings on the subject of safety culture across the Department of Energy complex. During today’s meeting, the Board is scheduled to hear from representatives from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, NASA and industry on various approaches for assessing organizational culture and for […]

The Environmental Protection Agency late last week completed the radiation screening at the Bridgeton Municipal Athletic Complex, located next to the West Landfill near St. Louis. The EPA had faced mounting community pressure, highlighted by a recent letter from the Missouri Attorney General, to test the site after a private citizen’s test showed a spike near a […]

Fluor officially announced yesterday that Carol Johnson will be the next president and CEO of M&O contractor Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, as first reported by WC Monitor earlier this month. Johnson is a former URS official who most recently was head of Washington Closure Hanford and before that worked on the Sellafield project in the […]

The Department of Energy is set to have a “mediated discussion” within “the next couple of weeks” with Washington state officials on how to proceed with removing waste from a damaged double-shell tank at Hanford, Kevin Smith, Manager of the DOE Office of River Protection, said yesterday. In March, Washington state ordered DOE to begin […]

As the full House prepares to consider the Fiscal Year 2015 National Defense Authorization Act, Rep. Doc Hastings (R-Wash.) is submitting a provision that would prohibit discussing options that would could bring additional plutonium to Washington. The House legislation asks for a study to validate the Department of Energy’s plutonium disposition alternatives assessment, which was […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board is “increasingly concerned” with numerous recent issues at the Savannah River Site related to safe work performance, the Board said late last week in a letter to Department of Energy cleanup chief Dave Huizenga. Both contractors Savannah River Nuclear Solutions and Savannah River Remediation have experienced issues this year, […]

Rep. Doc Hastings (R-Wash.) is looking to obtain a small boost in cleanup funding in the House version of the FY 2015 National Defense Authorization Act. Hastings has put forth an amendment that would increase authorized defense environmental cleanup funding in the bill by $20 million. The increase would be offset by an equal cut […]

The Office of River Protection and Savannah River Site Congressional Nuclear Cleanup Caucus briefings are scheduled for this week. The ORP briefing is set for 8:30 a.m. Tuesday at 1334 Longworth House Office Building and is expected to include presentations from DOE officials at Hanford and contractors Washington River Protection Solutions and Bechtel National, Inc. […]

The Department of Energy has released a draft Workforce Restructuring Plan for Hanford. Changes are proposed to make the plan consistent with 2011 guidance from the energy secretary’s office. The plan does not change separation benefits now offered to contractor employees who are laid off at Hanford, according to DOE. The plan is posted at http://1.usa.gov/1n80SB7. […]

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Pittsburgh District issued a presolicitation notice late last week for a security contract for the Shallow Land Disposal Area, a Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program site in Armstrong County, Pa. The contract would call for security services on site 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to “carry […]

Fresh off its defeat at Y-12 and Pantex, Babcock & Wilcox is planning to make a push for a role at the Savannah River Site, President and Chief Executive Officer Jim Ferland said on a conference call with investors yesterday. B&W is “working hard on positioning for Savannah River, which we believe will come up […]

The path forward for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant recovery is the top challenge for the Office of Environmental Management, while cleanup work at Hanford is the No. 2 priority and Savannah River No. 3, the nomiinee to be the next EM Assistant Energy Secretary said at her confirmation hearing yesterday. Senate Energy and Natural […]

North America’s Building Trades Unions was “dismayed and frustrated” by the $120 million in MOX construction funding stripped last week by the House Armed Services Committee during markup of the 2015 National Defense Authorization Act, the group’s president said yesterday in a letter to Ranking Member Adam Smith (D-Wash.). “Once again, representatives of the party […]

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee is set today to consider the White House’s choice of Monica Regalbuto to serve as the next Assistant Energy Secretary for Environmental Management. Regalbuto, who currently is an official in the Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy, is likely to face questions related to Hanford and the […]

The Army Corps of Engineers’ Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program issued a presolicitation notice for a Single Award Task Order Contract (SATOC), worth up to $100 million over 10 years, for environmental remediation services and ancillary construction to support the cleanup of the Luckey site in Luckey, Ohio, according to a notice issued late […]

A new report from the U.S. Geological Survey which reviewed the site characterization work previously performed at the West Lake Landfill near St. Louis indicates that more radioactive waste may be present at the site than previously thought. The Geological Survey report reviews the work performed by Engineering Management Support, Inc., the company hired by […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission reaffirmed its commitment to helping move forward the cleanup at the Shallow Land Disposal Area site in Armstrong County, Pa. in a letter to Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) from NRC Chair Allison Macfarlane late last week. Casey had raised concerns last month concerning an NRC Investigator General report that indicated the […]

Dennis Deziel has been named the new Deputy Assistant Secretary for Program Planning and Budget in the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management, DOE cleanup chief David Huizenga said in a message to employees yesterday. Deziel replaces Terry Tyborowski, who moved last month to serve as Deputy Director for Budget Analysis in the DOE […]

While the schedule for the release of a Request for Proposal for the new contract to manage Oak Ridge’s Transuranic Waste Processing Center is currently uncertain, the Department of Energy still expects to award the new contract before the current contract held by Wastren Advantage expires in early 2015, Mark Whitney, manager of the Oak […]

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee is set to hold a hearing next week to consider the nomination of Monica Regalbuto to serve as Assistant Secretary of Energy for Environmental Management. The hearing is scheduled to be held May 13 beginning at 10 a.m. Regalbuto currently holds the position of Deputy Assistant Secretary of […]

Mark Whitney, manager of the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, has emerged as a key candidate to help fill the senior leadership gaps that currently exist at the DOE Office of Environmental Management’s headquarters, WC Monitor has learned. Currently the top three leadership positions in EM are being held on an […]

Department of Energy Richland Operations Office Manager Matt McCormick yesterday announced that he would be retiring from the Department beginning in mid June. McCormick has been at the post since July 2010, and prior to that he was assistant manager for the Central Plateau in Richland for seven years. During his tenure he developed the […]

Savannah River Nuclear Solutions President and CEO Dwayne Wilson announced yesterday that he is transferring to another post with the Fluor Corporation. Wilson has led the Savannah River M&O contractor since September 2011, and is expected to leave in mid-to-late June. SRNS hasn’t yet named his successor. During Wilson’s time at the site he oversaw […]

Government agencies have increased their overall efforts to address the Navajo Reservation uranium mine contamination cleanup, but more still needs to be done, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office report released yesterday. The extent of contamination and total scope of work still remains unknown, and federal funding for cleanup work has begun to shrink […]

The House Armed Services Committee is supporting continued construction of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility in the chairman’s mark of the Fiscal Year 2015 National Defense Authorization Act, despite the Department of Energy’s plans to suspend work on the project. In its FY’15 budget request, the National Nuclear Security Administration said it would put […]

The Oak Ridge Congressional Nuclear Cleanup Caucus Briefing is scheduled for this Wednesday at 4:00 p.m. at 1300 Longworth House Office Building. It is expected to include presentations from DOE Oak Ridge officials and officials from contractor URS CH2M Oak Ridge, LLC. 

Tracy Mustin, a former senior official in the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management, has been named to the Strategic Advisory Board of the consulting firm Longnecker & Associates. Mustin served as EM Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary from August 2011 until her retirement from federal service early this year. From 2003 to 2011, she […]