Cleanup & Remediation

While Congress approved a reprogramming request for $59.2 million towards construction of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility late last year, those funds have yet to reach the project, NW&M Monitor has learned. The National Nuclear Security Administration originally submitted the reprogramming request to Congress in early August in order to avoid losses to the […]

In another step in talks on a potential path forward for the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility, Department of Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz met last week with contractor officials and Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and Mary Landrieu (D-La.). As DOE said it would take a look at plutonium disposition alternatives due to […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration has dispatched a consultant to the Savannah River Site in recent days to examine options for terminating Shaw AREVA MOX Services’ contract for construction of the MOX plant at the site, according to officials with knowledge of the project. NNSA yesterday declined to comment, but the consultant is believed to be […]

In the wake of URS firing a key nuclear safety manager at the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant, Sen. Ron Wyden said yesterday that he will ask the Government Accountability Office investigate how whistleblowers are treated at the Department of Energy. Wyden criticized DOE earlier this week after URS terminated Donna Busche, who had held the […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration has not sufficiently analyzed the root causes of cost increases in its plutonium disposition program, according to a Government Accountability Office report expected to be released today. The report looked at the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility, which rose in cost by about $3 billion in a 2012 estimate, as […]

The Energy Communities Alliance, which represents local governments near DOE sites, is set to hold a peer exchange meeting this week. Speakers at the meeting are set to include Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho), chair of the House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee; Bruce Held, acting head of the National Nuclear Security Administration; and DOE Deputy […]

Carol Johnson has joined the strategic advisory board of the consulting firm Longenecker & Associates. Johnson previously served as President of Washington Closure Hanford until her retirement from URS at the end of last year. “Carol has a proven track record in improving organizations to make them successful, and has experience throughout the DOE complex. […]

A group of contractor executives is set to meet today with officials from the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management to discuss efforts to improve project and contract management. The meeting, being held at DOE headquarters, is intended to discuss the various factors that challenge EM’s successful completion of projects. “EM leadership routinely communicates […]

A Nuclear Regulatory Commission legal panel late last week ruled in favor of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility contractor in a longstanding challenge to the facility’s license application over security concerns. The NRC’s Atomic Safety and Licensing Board released an initial decision Feb. 27, but said the details of the decision will need to […]

The Department of Energy last week awarded a task order to Strata-G to collect data and perform characterization at Outfall 200, where a mercury water treatment facility is planned at Oak Ridge’s Y-12 National Security Complex. The company will gather data about the site of the proposed plant and deliver a sampling and analysis plan […]

Oak Ridge cleanup contractor URS CH2M Oak Ridge, LLC, has reassigned to other subcontractors about 25 workers of Transportation, Operations and Professional Services, Inc., (TOPS) a protégé firm to UCOR. “TOPS, in addition to providing waste hauling services to UCOR, also provides professional services to UCOR,” UCOR spokesman Allen Schubert said yesterday. “Their contract to provide […]

The Missouri Congressional delegation is calling on the Environmental Protection Agency to relinquish control of the West Lake Landfill cleanup to the Army Corps of Engineers’ Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program in a letter to EPA Region 7 Administrator Karl Brooks. The letter, sent on Feb. 28 by Sens. Claire McCaskill (D) and Roy […]

The Senate Subcommittee on Financial and Contracting Oversight is set to hold a hearing next week on the safety culture at the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant. The hearing appears to have been prompted by the recent decision of URS, a major subcontractor at the WTP, to terminate Donna Busche, who served as a key nuclear […]

Cabrera Services has added two new members to its board of directors, including a former head of the Army Corps of Engineers, the company announced yesterday. General Robert Flowers, former chief of engineers and commanding general of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and Michael Morrison, current president of Matrix Capital Markets Group, will join […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

Mark Haub is taking over as Pro2Serve’s Chief Financial Officer/Treasure, the company said yesterday. Haub replaces Paul Martin, who retired in early March. Haub has more than 20 years of experience as a financial official. “Paul Martin succeeded in establishing the CFO role as a critical element of Pro2Serve’s continuing growth and success over the last […]

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 […]

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 […]

The South Carolina Attorney General is considering taking legal action in response to the Administration’s plans to put the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility into “cold standby” and analyze alternatives to the program. “The Attorney General’s office is examining all possible avenues for legal action should the need for action arise,” South Carolina AG spokesman […]

The Department of Energy plans to hold an industry day Dec. 4 in Idaho Falls, Idaho, to discuss planned procurements to replace the current cleanup contracts at DOE’s Idaho site once they expire at the end of Fiscal Year 2015. The “contemplated procurement(s)” will cover the remaining work at the Idaho site once the current […]

Frazer Lockhart is set to join S.M. Stoller upon his retirement from the Department of Energy in January, Stoller announced late last week. Lockhart currently serves as the DOE HQ Technical Oversight for the Idaho Tank Waste Program, and once at Stoller, he will serve as an Assistant Vice President and be based out of […]

David Pethick is retiring from URS, effective Dec. 13. Pethick has been with URS for 12 years, and currently holds the position of General Manager of the company’s Global Management & Operations Services Group. “We wish David well in his future endeavors. George Nash, Chief Operating Officer of the Energy & Construction Division, will serve […]

The Department of Energy late last week updated its draft Request for Task Proposals for the Energy Technology Engineering Center environmental monitoring and D&D procurement. The posting follows a draft RTP that DOE released in September for the procurement, which is taking place under DOE’s nationwide small business set-aside indefinite quantity/indefinite delivery contracts. At that […]

A total of 101 cleanup workers at the Department of Energy’s Paducah sites will be laid off by the end of the year, according to a notice sent Monday, impacting more than a quarter of employees for cleanup contractor LATA Kentucky . The layoffs are part of a workforce restructuring plan approved by the Department […]

Tracy Mustin, the No. 2 official in the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management, plans to retire from federal service at the end of this year. Mustin announced her retirement plans in a message to employees late last week, a copy of which was obtained by Weapons Complex Morning Briefing yesterday. “This is not […]

The Department of Energy is delaying the release of the final Request for Task Proposals for the Energy Technology Engineering Center environmental monitoring and D&D procurement due to ongoing discussions with Boeing, a DOE official said yesterday. Environmental work at ETEC is currently being performed by Boeing, which owns the broader Santa Susana Field Laboratory […]

Washington Closure Hanford has named Scott Sax, an experienced Hanford leader, as its new president and project director. Sax will start work next week and replace Carol Johnson, who is retiring after a 30-year career in the nuclear industry. Sax spent more than a decade at Hanford before leaving about two years ago to serve […]

The Department of Energy has begun conducting market research for its upcoming procurement for new cleanup contracts at the Idaho site once the current ones expire at the end of Fiscal Year 2015. Late last week, DOE issued a request for information seeking “feedback from contractors and other interested parties regarding options for innovative approaches […]