Cleanup & Remediation

Oak Ridge cleanup contractor URS-CH2M Oak Ridge, LLC (UCOR), yesterday laid off 21 subcontractor employees with more layoffs expected this week as part of a broader workforce restructuring. “UCOR released 21 staff augmentation subcontractors today and plans to release some additional subcontractors and trade workers later this week. This is to restructure the workforce to […]

With the bulk of the federal government now operating under a six-month Continuing Resolution that maintains funding at approximately Fiscal Year 2012 levels, the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management is seeking to minimize potential layoffs that could occur at some cleanup sites because of funding issues. As a result of the CR, some […]

An excavator later found to have radioactive contamination was taken from Hanford to a Tri-Cities shop for maintenance. Workers at Powers Equipment in Pasco are not believed to have been put a risk, but some contaminated items were found there after the work was completed. The problem was discovered Monday afternoon when the excavator was […]

Kurion is set to appoint former Washington Group International executive Ralph DiSibio as Chairman of its Board of Directors, RW Monitor has learned. A formal announcement is expected in the coming days. DiSibio served as president of Washington Group International’s energy and environment division, before retiring in 2004.

The Department of Energy appears to need more time than previously planned to complete the evaluation of bids for the new Office of Legacy Management support services contract. In a letter sent to bidders late last week, DOE asked companies to extend their proposals through April 9, 2013. The one-page letter did not provide any […]

Pittsburgh, Pa. was more complex than anticipated, the Corps will maintain stewardship of the cleanup there. Work at the SLDA site, part of the Corps’ Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP), was stopped when site contractor Cabrera self-reported a safety violation, and subsequently greater quantities of complex materials were discovered. That discovery caused the […]

The Department of Energy earlier this week released a Request for Quotation for a $24.5 million environmental technical services contract at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant. The small business contract would run for three years with an additional two-year option period, with a goal of assisting environmental remediation and decontamination and decommissioning work at Paducah. […]

Savannah River Nuclear Solutions is looking for small businesses interested in work dismantling a coal plant and related buildings at the Savannah River Site, and plans to use scrap from the project to help fund the project. The contractor released a Sources Sought notice earlier this week seeking expressions of interest for dismantling the 484-D […]

Cabrera Services has named former Shaw Group executive Alan Solow as its new Chief Executive Officer. Solow replaced Lorenzo Cabrera, who led the company since it was created and who will remain Chairman of Cabrera Services’ Board of Directors, according to a company release. Solow previously served as Shaw Group Senior Vice President responsible for […]

Jerry O’Leary has been tapped as the new acting waste program manager for CH2M Hill B&W West Valley, LLC, the cleanup contractor for the West Valley Demonstration Project. O’Leary replaces Ray Geimer, who was elevated to CHBWV Deputy General Manager when Dan Coyne was named as the contractor’s new General Manager earlier this summer. Prior […]

Washington Closure Hanford has awarded what it expects to be its final subcontract for the completion of its cleanup work at Hanford’s N Reactor. TerranearPMC has been given a subcontract worth $5.6 million to clean up the remaining waste sites near N Reactor. Already the 113 support buildings and other facilities for N Reactor have […]

URS has tapped Jimmy Angelos to serve as President of URS Professional Solutions, which was created through a reorganization of the company’s Safety Management Solutions business. For the past eight months, Angelos has led the Consulting and Engineering business segments of Professional Solutions as its Acting President, and previously served for more than three years […]

Senior Department of Energy officials are set to again meet with a group of corporate executives from the parent companies of all prime cleanup contractors at DOE headquarters this week for a second workshop on contract performance and management. The meeting, set for Aug. 29 from noon to 5 pm, is a follow-up to a […]

Another top-level management shakeup is underway at Idaho Treatment Group, LLC, the managing contractor for the Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project at the Department of Energy’s Idaho site. Late yesterday, ITG announced that Richard Raaz has stepped down as Project Manager, effective immediately, and will be returning to URS to “assume corporate responsibilities.“ URS is […]

The DOE Office of Environmental Management held its second contract performance and management workshop in Washington, D.C., yesterday, bringing together DOE leadership with corporate executives from all of EM’s prime cleanup and construction contractors. In a statement, DOE said the goal of the workshop was to “identify opportunities related to EM’s goal to improve project, […]

The Department of Energy needs to take further steps to improve work control and planning at its various sites, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board said in a new report issued late last week. The Board said it found “similarities between the weaknesses in activity-level work planning and control documented in recent DOE accident investigation […]

Savannah River Site contractor Savannah River Nuclear Solutions on Friday asked employees to participate in another round of voluntary workforce reductions. So far 1,065 workers have left the site in a combination of several rounds of voluntary and involuntary layoffs since the reduction of 1,400 employees was authorized about two years ago. In a message […]

Oak Ridge National Laboratory contractor UT-Battelle, LLC, released an expression of interest Friday seeking companies willing to process radioactive waste generated at the lab. ORNL does not have the capability to process all remote handled and contact handled transuranic and liquid waste resulting from work at the lab, according to the EOI. “ORNL currently relies […]

ExchangeMonitor’s Sixth Annual RadWaste Summit kicks off today in Summerlin, Nev., with a keynote presentation by Francois-Michel Gonnot, chairman of ANDRA, and remarks by Waste Control Specialists President Rod Baltzer and EnergySolutions Federal Group President Alan Parker. The Summit, which will continue through Friday, is set to bring together nearly 300 participants to discuss the […]

CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co. is set to co-sponsor a jobs fair near Hanford next month to aid workers impacted by a workforce restructuring plan underway find new employment. CHPRC and its subcontractors have developed a workforce restructuring plan to eliminate 350 positions by the end of Fiscal Year 2012, though the contractor has recently […]

The Department of Energy now does not expect to resume start-up activities at the Idaho Sodium-Bearing Waste Treatment Facility until sometime next year as it works to address technical issues that emerged during startup this summer, according to a DOE spokeswoman. In recent months, DOE and CH2M-WG Idaho have been investigating the cause of a “filter […]

Officials from the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge office met with Secretary Steven Chu yesterday to discuss the status of efforts to remove uranium-233 being stored at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Oak Ridge acting Assistant Manager for Environmental Management Sue Cange and U-233 Federal Project Director John Krueger traveled to DOE headquarters to give an […]

Fiscal Year 2011 appears to have been a very good year for CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co. at Hanford, with the contractor having earned almost all of the available fee for base cleanup activities and Recovery Act-funded work. According to information the Department of Energy released yesterday, CHPRC earned approximately $8.533 million out of an […]

This week marks David Huizenga’s one-year anniversary as head of the Department of Energy’s cleanup program. In an interview with WC Monitor to mark the occasion, Huizenga discussed the impacts of his reorganization of the DOE Office of Environmental Management to establish mission units, EM’s efforts to finally get itself off the Government Accountability Office […]

Hanford workers moved the first batch of highly radioactive sludge from the K West Basin near the Columbia River to central Hanford for storage late last week. The transfer marked the culmination of three years of equipment design, system testing and operator training by contractor CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co. “Today marks a turning point […]

Shaw Environment and Infrastructure is parting ways with Federal Division President Bill Winkler, whose last day at the company will be Friday. As head of the Federal Division, Winkler has been involved in construction of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility by Shaw AREVA MOX Services at the Savannah River Site. “I can tell you […]

Some of the piping acquired for construction of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility has failed required safety tests, according to contractor Shaw AREVA MOX Services. Some of the one-half inch “SS” pipe to be used in the aqueous polishing portion of the plant under construction at the Savannah River Site is “thermally sensitized” and fails […]

Candice Trummell, chief of staff for the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management, is set to soon travel to Hanford to take a detail position with DOE’s Office of River Protection, according to a message DOE cleanup chief David Huizenga sent to employees yesterday. In her new position, set to go into effect in […]

Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility contractor Shaw AREVA MOX Services said the discovery of substandard piping bought for the facility so far has not delayed construction work at the plant, officials said at a meeting with Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff yesterday. “The particular pipe we’re talking about, of course we stopped the fabrication process while […]

Shaw Group is set to be purchased by Netherlands-based CB&I in a deal worth approximately $3 billion. The acquisition, which was announced yesterday and has been unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both companies, will involve CB&I paying approximately $46.00 per share of Shaw stock, consisting of $41.00 in cash and $5.00 in […]