Cleanup & Remediation

URS senior executive David Pethick has stepped down from the Board of Directors of Oak Ridge cleanup contractor URS-CH2M Oak Ridge, LLC, UCOR spokesman Dennis Hill said yesterday. Pethick has been replaced by James Taylor, senior vice president in URS’ Global Management and Operations Services unit. In a brief written response, Hill described the swap […]

Ty Blackford, the vice president of waste and fuels management for CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co., also has taken over the duties of Kurt Kehler, former vice president of decommissioning and demolition. Kehler has left Hanford to pursue strategic international opportunities at CH2M Hill. Blackford has 26 years of nuclear project management experience, including 19 […]

Savannah River Nuclear Solutions did not meet contractual obligations for two contracts it awarded to parent companies Fluor and Newport News Nuclear in 2009, according to a Department of Energy Inspector General report released Friday. “SRNS had not obtained required Department approval for the two noncompetitive contracts it awarded to Fluor and Newport News during […]

Navarro-Intera, the cleanup contractor for the Nevada National Security Site, late last week issued a Request for Proposals for a new subcontract to provide unexploded ordinance support services at the Tonopah Test Range. According to the RFP, Navarro-Intera intends to award a fixed-unit rate Time and Materials type subcontract set to run for up to […]

House appropriators aren’t supporting the Department of Energy’s FY 2013 budget request for its Office of Environmental Management, instead proposing a small funding cut in their version of the FY 2013 Energy and Water Appropriations bill scheduled to be marked up in subcommittee today. Under the bill, the text of which was released yesterday, EM […]

Senate appropriators are looking to spend slightly more than the Department of Energy requested for Fiscal Year 2013 for cleanup activities, reporting out of subcommittee yesterday an FY 2013 Energy and Water Appropriations bill that would provide a total of approximately $5.7 billion for DOE’s Office of Environmental Management. The proposed funding level represents an […]

When does the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management plan to resume D&D efforts at the Separations Process Research Unit (SPRU) site that have been suspended since a set of contamination incidents occurred almost a year-and-a-half-ago? It’s a question House appropriators appear to be eager to have answered, according to the committee report accompanying […]

CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co. is set to get another five years to perform cleanup work at Hanford, the Department of Energy announced yesterday. DOE said it plans to exercise the full five-year option in CHPRC’s contract, which is set to run from 2013 to 2018. The value of the extension is estimated to be […]

Rep. Jim Matheson (D-Utah) called on the Department of Energy yesterday to justify its new approach for the Moab uranium mill tailings project that will entail workers only being employed on the project for a portion of each year. DOE and new Moab cleanup contractor Portage plan to implement a new approach for the project […]

After being vacant in a full-time capacity for almost a year, Rep. Doc Hastings (R-Wash.) is calling on the Obama Administration to officially nominate a new Assistant Energy Secretary for Environmental Management. In an April 30 letter to the White House, Hastings criticized the lack of progress on a nomination as “unacceptable,” adding, “To date, […]

The Department of Energy has tapped a senior official within the National Nuclear Security Administration to head up cleanup efforts at Oak Ridge. Yesterday, DOE announced that Mark Whitney, who currently serves as acting NNSA Principal Assistant Deputy Administrator for Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation, would serve as Assistant Manager for Environmental Management at the Oak Ridge […]

West Valley Demonstration Project cleanup contractor CH2M HILL B&W West Valley, LLC, is still awaiting word from the Department of Energy on whether the recent decision to remove General Manager Ryan Dodd from the project less than nine months after taking over will cost them the full $500,000 penalty included in their contract. CHBWV Deputy […]

The Department of Energy is looking to wrap up in August negotiations with CH2M-WG Idaho on a multi-year extension to its current contract to perform cleanup work at the Idaho site, according to a DOE spokeswoman. DOE and CWI have been in talks for months on a planned three-year extension to CWI’s current contract at […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board is OK with the Department of Energy’s plans to improve the safety culture at the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant. In a brief letter sent to Secretary of Energy Steven Chu March 2, the Board said DOE’s implementation plan is an “acceptable response” to DNFSB Recommendation 2011-1, which warned of […]

Operations have fully resumed at Idaho’s Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project following a safety pause instituted in response to a series of Technical Safety Requirement violations. Among the corrective actions taken during the pause, according to managing contractor Idaho Treatment Group, was Technical Safety Requirement retraining for first-line managers, Conduct of Operation proficiency demonstrations, procedure […]

Sen. Sherrod Brown is calling on the Department of Energy to reconsider plans to target the cafeteria at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant as one of the initial site facilities to be closed as part of D&D efforts there. In a letter sent last week to Under Secretary of Energy for Nuclear Security Tom D’Agostino, […]

Washington River Protection Solutions has received a letter of enforcement following an evaluation for unreviewed safety questions it identified, including one involving a discrepancy in the tank farm waste transfer system design temperature. The unreviewed safety questions also included unanalyzed freezing during active waste transfer and unanalyzed potential failure of relief valves due to solids […]

Shari Davenport, a political appointee who is serving as head of the Department of Energy cleanup program’s Office of Communications and External Affairs, is leaving EM to serve as Chief Operating Officer for DOE’s Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs. The move, which will shift Davenport from the political ranks to a federal employee, is […]

Hanks, Hanks and Associates, LLC, is challenging the Department of Energy’s recent award of a new business and administrative support services contract for the Oak Ridge Operations Office. On March 8, Hanks, Hanks and Associates filed a protest with the Government Accountability Office over DOE’s decision to award the new contract to BEI-JES Oak Ridge […]

Prime cleanup contractors at Hanford and Oak Ridge are gearing up to put out new subcontracts for bid in the next several weeks. CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co. expects to issue a Request for Proposals “on or about” the week of April 23 for a new subcontract to provide interim safe storage of Hanford’s 105-KE […]

DP road, the place where the town of Los Alamos comes closest to lab property, was closed for part of Wednesday after a 60-year-old chemical canister “flared” while it was being examined during cleanup work. The area, which dates to the Manhattan Project era, is in the midst of a major cleanup project, with work […]

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) questioned the Department of Energy’s Fiscal Year 2013 budget request for its cleanup efforts yesterday, suggesting that DOE sought to boost funding for its Office of Environmental Management at the expense of nuclear weapons modernization efforts. During a Senate Armed Forces Strategic Forces Subcommittee hearing on DOE’s request, Sessions questioned the […]

Perma Fix yesterday gave a solid earnings report for the fourth quarter of 2011, and the year 2011 overall, in the wake of its acquisition of Safety and Ecology Corporation. Revenues for the full year were $118.5 million, and revenue for the fourth quarter of 2011 increased to $33.3 million, versus $25.5 million for the […]

CH2M-WG Idaho has successfully completed its Operational Readiness Review for the Sodium-Bearing Waste Treatment Facility at the Department of Energy’s Idaho site, DOE said yesterday. The review, which ran from Feb. 27 to March 9, identified nine pre-start findings that DOE said related mainly to the “to the paper side of the review such as […]

West Valley Demonstration Project cleanup contractor CH2M Hill B&W West Valley plans to resubmit its baseline to the Department of Energy next week after issues emerged with the baseline it submitted in late December. “After reconsideration, CH2M HILL B&W, together with DOE, decided to retract the original submission in order to made modifications and improve […]

Pete Maggiore has been named the new Assistant Manager for Environmental Projects at the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Los Alamos Site Office. Maggiore, who last served as deputy assistant manager for environmental projects, replaces George Rael, who has been named as Assistant Manager for National Security Missions. Prior to joining the NNSA’s Los Alamos office […]

Oak Ridge cleanup contractor UCOR’s recent decision to complete subcontract work through staff augmentation has resulted in savings that have already led to acceleration of efforts, contractor President Leo Sain said yesterday. Earlier this year UCOR cancelled several subcontracts and announced that it was taking a new approach. Instead of having companies manage tasks, the […]

The Government Accountability Office earlier this week dismissed a protest filed by Hanks, Hanks and Associates, LLC, over the Department of Energy’s recent award of a new business and administrative support services contract for the Oak Ridge Operations Office. Hanks, Hanks and Associates filed their protest with the GAO on March 8 to challenge DOE’s […]

Concerns over whether workers feel comfortable to raise safety concerns appear to be centered primarily on the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant and are less evident at other Department of Energy cleanup sites, a senior official in DOE’s Office of Environmental Management said yesterday. To date, EM has not seen safety culture issues at other cleanup […]

While the Department of Energy is having to slow the planned acceleration of the bulk of the remaining legacy cleanup work at the Idaho site, there are still significant benefits to moving forward with a planned multi-year extension for the site’s current cleanup contractor, CH2M-WG Idaho, a senior official in DOE’s Idaho Operations Office said yesterday. […]