Cleanup & Remediation

Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said yesterday the Department of Energy was examining ways to “soften the blow” to the skilled workforce currently building the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility as DOE moves to put the facility into cold standby. The Department’s decision to put the facility in cold standby has drawn significant opposition from South […]

Attempting not to get “overly nasty,” South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham (R) ripped into the Obama Administration’s decision to put the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility project into cold standby, arguing at a Senate Armed Services Emerging Threats and Capabilities Subcommittee hearing yesterday that MOX was the only viable option for disposing of 34 metric […]

The Administration’s should urge continued use of appropriated funds for construction of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility, rather than the planned suspension of the project, a bipartisan group of 20 House lawmakers said in a letter yesterday to Department of Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz. They note that funds were “explicitly provided” for construction, not […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission did not identify any areas needing improvement in Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility construction in 2013, contractor Shaw AREVA MOX Services announced Friday. The annual review conducted by NRC’s resident inspectors aims to identify potential construction and procedure safety issues at the MOX project, which is currently slated for suspension by […]

More than three weeks after the Obama Administration announced plans to immediately place into cold standby the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility, the project’s contractor is still continuing work as normal without any direction on how to proceed. The National Nuclear Security Administration said in the budget request released early this month that it would […]

Two more Hanford tank workers were taken to the hospital Wednesday after developing symptoms believed linked to tank vapors. Four workers also were evaluated by the Hanford medical provider, HPMC Occupational Medical Services, after reporting symptoms. It was the second day in a row and the third day in the last two weeks that workers […]

The Shallow Land Disposal Area, located in Parks Township, Pa., received the largest bump in requested funding in the Army Corps of Engineers’ Civil Works budget, according to detailed budget documents released this week. The Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program’s (FUSRAP) cleanup site has come under heavy scrutiny lately from Sen. Robert Casey (D-Pa.) […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management is seeking market research information on potential companies capable of treating low-level radioactive waste and mixed low-level waste originating from its federal facilities, according to a Sources Sought Synopsis/Request For Information posted yesterday. The current Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity contracts for the waste treatment services ends next year […]

The Department of Energy plans to hold a site tour next week for companies interested in bidding on the new contract to provide architect and engineering services for design of the Sludge Processing Facility Buildouts Project at the Oak Ridge Transuranic Waste Processing Center. The site tour is scheduled to be held April 3, and […]

Two Hanford tank farm workers were taken to the Richland hospital after developing symptoms believed linked to chemical vapors Tuesday morning. They were released later in the day without medication and were expected to be cleared by Hanford’s medical provider, HPMC Occupational Medical Services, to return to work, said John Britton, spokesman for Washington River […]

South Carolina plans to pressure the Department of Energy to complete a waste determination for hundreds of kilograms of plutonium from Japan if it is sent to the Savannah River Site. The Obama Administration earlier this week announced plans to send the material to a “secure facility” in the United States for processing in preparation […]

The Army Corps of Engineers’ Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP) has elected to add a new site to its cleanup list. The Middlesex North Site, also known as the Middlesex Municipal Landfill,located in New Jersey, will join the list of cleanup sites during Fiscal Year 2015, according to Corps spokesman Candy Walters. The […]

The Environmental Protection Agency has reached out to the Army Corps of Engineers to help in the construction of an isolation barrier at the West Lake Landfill near St. Louis, according to a letter from EPA Administrator Karl Brooks to Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster late last week. Koster along with other state officials including […]

The 2014 House Cleanup Caucus briefing series is set to kick off this week, with an overview presentation from Department of Energy cleanup chief David Huizenga. The briefing is scheduled to be hled Thursday March 27 at 9 a.m. in Room 1324 of the Longworth House Office Building. The dates for the remainder of the […]

Savannah River Site contractors are implementing corrective actions after an assessment of a biomass plant and steam line outage in January caused by an unusual freeze. The outage impacted facilities across the site that were shut down as a result of a loss of steam heat, and the site will release a report this week […]

Given the Obama Administration’s intent to suspend the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility project, South Carolina says the weapons-grade plutonium in the state may need to be reclassified as waste and disposed of within a year. The plutonium  was intended to be converted by MOX into fuel for use in nuclear reactors, but given the […]

The state of Washington ordered the Department of Energy Friday to start emptying liquid waste by Sept. 1 from Hanford double-shell Tank AY-102, which has an interior leak. The state is expected to follow up that order as early as this week with an announcement on the 2010 consent decree that sets milestones for tank […]

The Department of Energy announced late yesterday its intent to close Hanford’s Waste Sampling and Characterization Facility within a year and to remove sample analysis from Mission Support Alliance’s current scope of work. The move is expected to save approximately $12 million annually once WCSF is placed in “a low-cost surveillance and maintenance mode,” Matt […]

Terry Tyborowski, who currently serves as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Budget and Program Planning in the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management, is moving next month to take a job in the Department’s Chief Financial Officer’s office. Tyborowski will serve as Deputy Director for Budget Analysis, effective April 21. Dennis Deziel, who currently serves […]

The Department of Energy yesterday posted budget details here for the Office of Environmental Management’s Fiscal Year 2015 budget request. Sites that saw the biggest cuts over current enacted levels include Richland, at about a $98 million cut, Paducah at a nearly $55 million cut and Oak Ridge, with a cut of about $45 million. […]

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory is seeking companies interested in demolition work at the Old Town area of the Lab, posting a sources sought notice yesterday. The University of California may set aside the contract for small businesses “if a sufficient number of small businesses are pre-qualified,” according to the sources sought notice. “This project includes […]

Approximately two weeks after the Department of Energy issued top-level details of its Fiscal Year 2015 budget request, there is still no sign of detailed budget documents for the Office of Environmental Management. Notably, EM is the only major DOE program office for which a detailed FY 2015 budget justification document has not been released. […]

In an effort to halt the suspension of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility, South Carolina officials yesterday announced that the state is suing the Department of Energy over its decision to put the project into a “cold standby” mode. In a complaint filed yesterday in U.S. District Court for South Carolina, officials focused on […]

A group of scientists from the Sustainable Fuel Cycle Task Force called on Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz to take a more active role in the handling of the nation’s waste, especially after seeing the Department’s recent budget request, according to a letter sent to Moniz yesterday. The group became concerned after the most recent budget […]

The Department of Energy issued a notice yesterday seeking qualifications from firms interested in providing architect and engineering services for design of the Sludge Processing Facility Buildouts Project at the Oak Ridge Transuranic Waste Processing Center. The procurement is being competed on an unrestricted basis, and DOE plans to issue a cost-reimbursable-type contract that will […]

The Department of Energy is seeking applicants for the Savannah River Operations Office Deputy Manager position through April 4, according to a posting on USAJobs. Zack Smith last held the position before leaving early this year for a post at EnergySolutions. “This position serves as the alter ego and assists the Manager, SR, in providing […]

Officials within Environmental Protection Agency allegedly pressured an EPA review board to soften its criticism of the plan to handle the radioactive waste located at the West Lake Landfill, just outside St. Louis, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal yesterday. The report continues in a long line of complaints about the EPA’s […]

Sen. Claire McCaskill is set to hold a “roundtable” this morning with two former Hanford employees who have charged they faced retaliation for raising safety concerns at the Waste Treatment Plant project. Those set to participate in the event include Donna Busche, who served as a key nuclear safety manager at the WTP and who […]

The Hanford Atomic Metal Trades Council appears to have dropped a lawsuit it filed against Washington River Protection Solutions over what the union had alleged was the unfair termination of four employees last year. On March 7, a federal judge agreed to dismiss the union’s suit, with prejudice. HAMTC had sued WRPS in late January […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management has launched a new interactive timeline tracing the history of DOE’s cleanup efforts. The timeline stretches from the beginning of the Manhattan Project in the 1940s to the closure of underground waste tanks at the Savannah River Site last year. “Our Internet-savvy timeline is another example of […]