Archive

Cleanup & Remediation

Coverage of DOE-EM’s multi-billion-dollar effort to address Cold War and Manhattan Project nuclear legacy waste, including tank waste treatment, site remediation, and decommissioning at Hanford, Savannah River, Oak Ridge, and other major sites.

  • Portsmouth contractor group denies liability in cancer lawsuit

    In court papers filed this week, current and past contractors at the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio deny their work led to the cancer suffered by a former student at a now-closed middle school near the nuclear cleanup property. In a 12-page document filed Monday in U.S. District Court for Southern Ohio, the […]

  • Tritium-rod shipment contract extended; NNSA says other companies can do the work

    NAC International’s contract to transport irradiated rods containing tritium from the Tennessee Valley Authority to the Savannah River Site in South Carolina was renewed without competition in September, even though the National Nuclear Security Administration identified four companies that the agency believes could do the work.  The new five-year follow-on contract is being awarded on […]

  • EM biz office shops around for procurement support services

    The Department of Energy’s Cincinnati-based Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center is in the market for small companies to support upcoming procurements in the weapons complex. The Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center (EMCBC) on Tuesday published a combined sources sought and request for information for small businesses designated as an Indian Tribe or Alaska Native Corporation […]

  • Pandemic rules over, but Hanford workers lawyers want to keep litigating COVID suit

    The White House has ended remaining COVID-19 federal jobsite vaccination rules triggered by two 2021 executive orders but attorneys for 315 workers at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site say the legal fight should go on. The administration of President Joe Biden (D) and other defendants in David Donovan versus Brian Vance “have not relinquished […]

  • Tritium-rod irradiating Watts Bar Unit 1 reactor resumes operation following scheduled refueling

    Another power-generation cycle is underway at the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Watts Bar Nuclear Plant Unit 1, one of two reactors in which rods that help the National Nuclear Security Administration top off the tritium reservoirs of U.S. nuclear weapons are irradiated. The plant returned to operation on May 12 after a scheduled shutdown for maintenance […]

  • Contractor plans steady climb to double SWPF throughput

    The Department of Energy aims to use an advanced new solvent by the end of fiscal 2025 to improve the numbers at the Salt Waste Processing Facility at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, a cleanup contractor boss told a federal advisory board Tuesday. Other glitches at the Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF) should […]

  • Savannah River citizen panel updated on salt waste, security, NNSA transition

    State officials signed off last week on a Department of Energy request to delay installation of what’s known as Next Generation Solvent at the Salt Waste Processing Facility at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, a federal advisory board heard Monday. The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control on May 8 approved […]

  • DOE to delay transition to BWXT-led tank team at Hanford pending court protest

    The Department of Energy will not begin transition to a new BWX Technologies-led contractor at the Hanford Site in Washington state until a legal challenge of the $45-billion liquid-waste contract is resolved in court, according to a Friday court filing. The Department of Justice confirmed May 8 that DOE would stay performance of the potentially […]

  • Oak Ridge, firm searching for new city manager

    Oak Ridge, Tenn., City Council is expected to discuss its ongoing search for a new city manager during a regular meeting Tuesday following the May 5 retirement of Mark Watson, 68. Watson is retiring after holding the Oak Ridge post for more than a dozen years. Watson has served as a city manager in four […]

  • Wrap Up: DOE needs procurement people; SRS getting new security booths; LANL staff honored

    The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management is looking to beef up its staff devoted to procurement through what it calls the Environmental Management Career Acquisition Program, DOE said Friday. “Given how integral acquisition and contracting is to how we conduct our work, ensuring continuity in the procurement function is essential to the [Environmental […]

  • In rare move, Atkins-led losing bidder skips GAO, takes DOE to court over $45B Hanford award

    An Atkins-led team’s decision to bypass the Government Accountability Office and take a Department of Energy bid protest straight to the Court of Federal Claims is rare but not shocking given that $45 billion hangs in the balance, industry people told Exchange Monitor this week. Hanford Tank Disposition Alliance, which also includes Jacobs and Westinghouse […]

  • GAO denies bid protest over Centerra SRS security contract

    The Government Accountability Office this week denied a bid protest challenging the Department of Energy’s award to Centerra of a new security contract at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. In a redacted version of the decision posted online Thursday, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) dismissed Securitas-led SRS Critical Infrastructure Security’s (SCIS) argument that […]

  • 84% of Moab uranium mill tailings relocated, liaison says

    A contractor for the Department of Energy has removed 13.4 million tons at the Moab uranium tailings site in Utah and transported the debris to a disposal facility near Crescent Junction, a local advisory panel heard recently. “Approximately 96,991 tons of tailings and mill debris were moved in March 2023,” Jessica Thacker, a liaison for […]

  • Proposals due by June 26 on national small biz cleanup contract

    The Department of Energy’s final solicitation for small business nuclear deactivation and demolition contractors has hit the streets. Responses to the DOE Office of Environmental Management final request for proposals (RFP) is June 26 for the Small Business Nationwide Deactivation, Decommissioning and Removal procurement, the agency said in the cover letter published Friday. The DOE […]

  • BWXT earnings rise behind Hanford tanks, other government deals

    Earnings rose at BWX Technologies, Lynchburg, Va., in the first quarter, which the nuclear services and manufacturing company attributed largely to its government operations. Net earnings for the first quarter ended March 31 were $61 million or $0.67 per share up from $59.1 million, or $0.64 a share, in the year-ago quarter. Quarterly revenue was […]

  • Labor Department to discuss benefits for sick nuclear weapons workers at Hanford

    The U.S. Department of Labor invited both current and former nuclear-weapons workers to Richland, Wash., near the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site, to discuss eligibility for occupational illness benefits. The Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act outreach session will be held at 9 a.m. Pacific Time at the Holiday Inn Richland, according to a […]

  • Los Alamos plutonium-handling gloveboxes breached several times in March, April

    At least five glove-box breaches occurred at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in late March through mid-April, though none of the incidents resulted in worker skin contamination or otherwise compromised their health, according to two reports from the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board.  Two of the breaches at the lab’s PF-4 Plutonium Facility occurred in […]

  • State, feds, environmental group reach accord on Hanford’s leaking tanks

    Washington state, the Department of Energy and the public interest group Heart of America Northwest, have reached a settlement on how the government agencies should respond to leaks of underground radioactive waste tanks at the Hanford Site. The formal settlement agreement was filed with the Washington’s Pollution Control Hearings Board Wednesday, the parties announced. This […]

  • Jacobs plans to spin off government services biz

    Jacobs Solutions, Dallas, announced Tuesday it will spin off its Critical Mission Solutions business, which coordinates business with the Department of Energy, late next year. The DOE business, accounted by the parent company as an equity share from the joint venture companies that manage DOE sites, is only a small part of Critical Mission Solutions […]

  • First big shipment of uranium oxide cylinders arrives at WCS from Paducah

    The Department of Energy said Tuesday 60 uranium-oxide storage cylinders recently arrived by rail at a private radioactive waste disposal site in West Texas from the Paducah Site in Kentucky. DOE’s Office of Environmental Management said in a press release the 60 cylinders recently arrived at Waste Control Specialists in Andrews County, Texas from Paducah. […]

  • IWTU starts running 50% radioactive waste

    The recently-commissioned treatment plant at the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory is now processing an evenly mixed blend of simulant and liquid sodium-bearing radioactive waste, an agency spokesperson said this week. The $1.4-billion Integrated Waste Treatment Unit (IWTU) at the Idaho National Laboratory, which began radiological operations April 11, has progressed to a half-and-half […]

  • State, feds, environmental group reach accord on Hanford’s leaking tanks

    Washington state, the Department of Energy and the public interest group Heart of America Northwest, have reached a settlement on how the government agencies should respond to leaks of underground radioactive waste tanks at the Hanford Site. The formal settlement agreement was filed with the Washington’s Pollution Control Hearings Board Wednesday, the parties announced. This […]

  • Labor Department to discuss benefits for sick nuclear weapons workers at Hanford

    The U.S. Department of Labor invited both current and former nuclear-weapons workers to Richland, Wash., near the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site, to discuss eligibility for occupational illness benefits. The Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act outreach session will be held at 9 a.m. Pacific Time at the Holiday Inn Richland, according to a […]

  • GAO denies bid protest over Centerra SRS security contract

    The Government Accountability Office Tuesday denied a bid protest challenging the Department of Energy’s award of a new security contract to Centerra at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. While a redacted version of the Government Accountability Office (GAO) opinion likely won’t be available for several days, the federal watchdog posted a notice on […]

  • Rival bidder for Hanford tank contract sues DOE over $45B award

    An Atkins-led group that bid and lost on the Department of Energy’s $45-billion Integrated Tank Contract at the Hanford Site in Washington state bypassed the usual channels of protest and sued DOE over the award. Hanford Tank Disposition Alliance, a team with Atkins Nuclear Secured, Jacobs Technology, and Westinghouse Government Services, filed suit under seal […]

  • BWXT earnings rise behind Hanford tanks, other government deals

    Earnings rose at BWX Technologies, Lynchburg, Va., in the first quarter, which the nuclear services and manufacturing company attributed largely to its government operations. Net earnings for the first quarter ended March 31 were $61 million or $0.67 per share up from $59.1 million, or $0.64 a share, in the year-ago quarter. Quarterly revenue was […]

  • Jacobs to spin off government services biz in late 2024

    Jacobs Solutions, Dallas, announced Tuesday it will spin off its Critical Mission Solutions business, which coordinates business with the Department of Energy, late next year. The DOE business, accounted by the parent company as an equity share from the joint venture companies that manage DOE sites, is only a small part of Critical Mission Solutions […]

  • 84% of Moab uranium mill tailings relocated, liaison says

    A contractor for the Department of Energy has removed 13.4 million tons at the Moab uranium tailings site in Utah and transported the debris to a disposal facility near Crescent Junction, a local advisory panel heard recently. “Approximately 96,991 tons of tailings and mill debris were moved in March 2023,” Jessica Thacker, a liaison for […]

  • SRS K Area gets new security access booths to ease construction access

    New security access facilities have arrived at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina as the complex prepares for increased construction activity in K Area including installation of new Surplus Plutonium Disposition project gloveboxes. A new four-lane facility, with glass panels used across the DOE complex, will replace a much smaller, single-lane […]

  • First BWXT call after Hanford tank award on slate for Monday

    BWX Technologies CEO Rex Geveden could share new details today on a 10-year, $45-billion Department of Energy contract recently awarded to a joint venture the company is leading at the Hanford Site in Washington state. Lynchburg, Va.,-based BWXT will discuss the company’s first quarter 2023 financial earnings today at 5 p.m. Eastern time during a […]