Cleanup & Remediation

The Department of Energy is taking applications until Feb. 12 for a new nuclear cleanup field office manager to replace Michael Mikolanis at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, according to a recent online notice. Mikolanis is leaving by March to become the top DOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) executive at the […]

The federal prosecutor for Eastern Washington state has filed a complaint in federal district court accusing the Department of Energy’s landlord contractor for the Hanford Site of fraudulently padding labor charges for fire safety by millions of dollars. The case against Hanford Mission Integration Solutions (HMIS), a joint venture made up of Leidos, Centerra and […]

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is looking for a contractor to do cleanup at the former DuPont Chambers Works site in Deepwater, N.J., according to a pre-solicitation notice published Tuesday. The Corps plans a single award task order contract for cleanup of the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP) site at Deepwater, according […]

David Bowen, the top state regulator assigned to the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site, has accepted a new job within the Washington Department of Ecology, the state agency said Tuesday. Bowen, who has been with Ecology since 2016 and led the Nuclear Waste Program since December 2020, has been appointed director of the agency’s central […]

Here is an event related to defense and civilian nuclear matters that Exchange Monitor staff are tracking this week: January 22: Meeting: The Department of Energy is hosting a public meeting on the Los Alamos National Laboratory chromium plume starting at 6 p.m. Mountain Time at Cities of Gold Hotel and Casino Ballroom, 10 Cities […]

A federal judge in East Tennessee granted a request Thursday by the cleanup contractor at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Site to delay more proceedings in a COVID-19 lawsuit until a higher court decides if the contractor is shielded from the suit. U.S. District Judge Charles Atchley ruled that Amentum-led United Cleanup Oak Ridge […]

Workers for United Cleanup Oak Ridge, the environmental prime at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee,  are reporting to work at 9:30 a.m. Eastern Time this morning due to lingering icy road conditions, according to a social media post. Also at Oak Ridge, the Y-12 National Security Complex is resuming a normal schedule although the […]

The Department of Energy is taking applications until Feb. 12 for a new nuclear cleanup field office manager to replace Michael Mikolanis at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, according to a recent online notice. Mikolanis is leaving by March to become the top DOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) executive at the […]

Most workers at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state were told to stay home Friday due to sleet and snow creating challenging driving conditions — one day after most onsite staffers were sent home early. Elsewhere in the DOE weapons complex, it appears the weather is moderating at the Oak Ridge Site […]

The Department of Energy prime for the Savannah River Site in South Carolina is shopping around for subcontractors interested in building a new emergency operations center. The request for information and expressions of interest by Fluor-led Savannah River Nuclear Solutions was published online Wednesday.   Responses are due by 5 p.m. Eastern Time on Feb. 5 […]

The Department of Energy’s landlord contractor for the Hanford Site in Washington state, earned only 35% of its subjective fee during fiscal 2023 in part because of its failure to keep on top of fire suppression system maintenance, according to a scorecard released Tuesday. That translates to $2.4 million out of a potential $8.4 million, […]

Tom Bailie, a farmer who lived in the shadow of the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state and became an advocate for downwinders affected by nuclear radiation, died at age 76, the Spokane Spokesman-Review newspaper reported Sunday. Born in Pasco, Wash. in 1947, Bailie’s family moved soon afterward to a farm across the […]

The prime contractor of the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory wants a federal judge to dismiss a long-running lawsuit by two employees, a married couple, who the contractor said balked at getting COVID-19 vaccines but suffered no real damages. The motion for summary judgment and supporting materials were filed by the management joint […]

Laura Wilkerson, the Department of Energy’s deputy manager of the Oak Ridge Site’s nuclear cleanup office, accepted the newly-created chief engineer position at the Eastern-Tennessee site, the department said Thursday. In the same press release, the DOE Office of Environmental Management said another longtime hand Erik Olds, director of communications in Washington, D.C., will succeed […]

The Department of Energy prime for the Savannah River Site in South Carolina is shopping around for subcontractors interested in building a new emergency operations center. The request for information and expressions of interest by Fluor-led Savannah River Nuclear Solutions was published online Wednesday.   Responses are due by 5 p.m. Eastern Time on Feb. 5 […]

Wintry weather continues to bedevil parts of the Department of Energy weapons complex in Washington state and Tennessee. Most workers were sent home Wednesday morning from DOE’s Hanford Site in Washington due to freezing rain and an overnight swing shift was canceled, according to the agency. Regular work hours resumed Thursday although drivers were advised […]

The prime contractor of the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory wants a federal judge to dismiss a long-running lawsuit by two employees, a married couple, who the contractor said balked at getting COVID-19 vaccines but suffered no real damages. The motion for summary judgment and supporting materials were filed by the management joint […]

Amentum-led United Cleanup Oak Ridge, which remediates the Department of Energy Site in Eastern Tennessee will continue to be closed Wednesday “due to inclement weather,” it said in a social media post. “Workers should not report to locations during this closure,” the contractor said on the social media platform X. “However, workers who can telework […]

The Department of Energy’s landlord contractor for the Hanford Site in Washington state, earned only 35% of its subjective fee during fiscal 2023 in part because of its failure to keep on top of fire suppression system maintenance, according to a scorecard released Tuesday. That translates to $2.4 million out of a potential $8.4 million, […]

Feds and contract workers at both the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee and its headquarters offices in Washington, D.C., are having their Tuesday work schedules affected by a winter storm. The DOE’s Y-12 National Security Complex at Oak Ridge will remain on “maximum telework status” for Jan. 16, Y-12 managers announced via […]

Tom Bailie, a farmer who lived in the shadow of the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state and became an advocate for downwinders affected by nuclear radiation, died at age 76, the Spokane Spokesman-Review newspaper reported Sunday. Born in Pasco, Wash. in 1947, Bailie’s family moved soon afterward to a farm across the […]

Here are some events related to defense and civilian nuclear matters that Exchange Monitor staff are tracking this week: 17: Meeting: The Nevada Site Specific Advisory Board holds a hybrid meeting starting at 4 p.m. Pacific Time from the Valley Electric Association’s Valley Conference Center 800 E Highway 372, Pahrump, NV 89048. For remote access,  […]

The Department of Energy plans to extend its contract with CDM Smith for technical support services at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory in Ventura County, Calif., into August, increasing the value of the deal by $3 million. The notice announcing the justification for departure from normal competitive bidding was posted Jan. 3 in the government’s […]

The New Mexico Environment Department and the Department of Energy are getting three more months to work on reaching a new deal for legacy cleanup at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. U.S. Magistrate Judge John Robbenhaar agreed to the extension in an order Tuesday. The magistrate judge had issued the most recent  90-day extension in […]

A joint venture of APTIM and North Wind Group failed to properly train laborers on use of a circular saw prior to a November 2022 accident, which caused a worker to lose a finger at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee, the agency said last week. “While cutting, a kickback occurred, which […]

In coming weeks, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will review hundreds more documents in response to a Freedom of Information Act request about a new low-level radioactive waste landfill at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee, according to a Jan. 5 court filing. In addition, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the […]

The Jacobs-led remediation contractor at the West Valley Demonstration Project in western New York state announced this week Jason Casper is its new president and general manager, succeeding the recently-retired John Rendall. Rendall led CH2M HILL BWXT West Valley since February 2020 and worked with Department of Energy contractor CH2M, now part of Jacobs, since […]

Physicians for Social Responsibility and other groups sued the U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, Secretary of Interior Deb Haaland and other federal agencies Monday, claiming radioactive contaminants still linger along the former grounds of the Department of Energy’s Rocky Flats Plant in Colorado. “Although this facility is no longer in operation, the radioactive contaminants, […]

The final solicitation for a new remediation contract at the West Valley Demonstration Project in New York state, potentially worth $3 billion over a decade, was issued Thursday by the Department of Energy. The DOE Office of Environmental Management announced the request for proposals (RFP) for what it calls Phase 1B cleanup in a press […]

Over the winter holidays, the Department of Energy revealed it will raise the value of the $4-billion landlord contract held by Leidos-led Hanford Mission Integration Solutions at the Hanford Site in Washington state to more than $5.3 billion. Without the modification the current contract ceiling “is insufficient to enable the contractor to continue full operations […]