Cleanup & Remediation

In the first of a trio of reports after its testing last fall, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers St. Louis District said Tuesday the now-closed Jana Elementary School in Florissant, Mo., is safe, from a radiological standpoint. The 460-page report “provides additional data from our structural surveys and sampling, all of which have confirmed […]

Leidos-led Hanford Mission Integration Solutions, the landlord contractor at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state is in the market for a sub to replace old electric power lines and related equipment at the former plutonium production complex. In an online procurement notice this week, the site management contractor said it was seeking […]

Earnings rose for Honeywell in the 1st quarter of 2023, which the aerospace and defense contractor, leading trans at five Department of Energy nuclear sites attributed mostly to a growth in commercial aviation. The company generated $1.4 billion in net income in the first quarter, about $300 million better than the first quarter of 2022, […]

The Department of Energy has produced its first 18 canisters of solidified granular waste with the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit (IWTU) at the Idaho National Laboratory, agency officials told a federal advisory panel Thursday. The $1.4-billion Integrated Waste Treatment Unit (IWTU) began radiological operations April 11, Mark Brown, deputy manager of DOE’s Idaho nuclear, told […]

As expected, the Department of Energy formally extended the Huntington Ingalls-led legacy cleanup contractor at the Los Alamos National Laboratory by three years, according to an agency document published online this week. The Los Alamos legacy cleanup business held by Newport News Nuclear BWXT Los Alamos (N3B) has been extended through April 29, 2026, according […]

The Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state only lost 12 acres to wildfire on the 580-square-mile property during 2022, due partly to controlled burns and other risk reduction steps overseen by the Leidos-led landlord contractor, the agency said Tuesday. By contrast, in June 2020, a wildfire started by lightning charred 5,000 acres on […]

Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm touted big liquid-waste-cleanup milestones in Idaho and Washington state in testimony Wednesday at the Senate Armed Services Committee. Though the fiscal year 2024 budget request for the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) is about flat overall, tweaks to the 2024 proposal support a big “a ramp up […]

In the first of a trio of reports after its testing last fall, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers St. Louis District said Tuesday the now-closed Jana Elementary School in Florissant, Mo., is safe, from a radiological standpoint. The 460-page report “provides additional data from our structural surveys and sampling, all of which have confirmed […]

Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm, former two-term governor of Michigan, will headline a fundraising event for the South Carolina Democratic Party Friday evening in Columbia, S.C., roughly an hour’s drive from Aiken, where the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site is located. “She is not on official travel” but personal travel, and the federal government […]

An indictment was filed last Thursday against a Hanford subcontractor accused of stealing $1.313 million in COVID relief money from the federal government. Filed in U.S. District Court in Eastern Washington, the indictment charged Wilson Stevenson III, 44, owner of BNL Technical Services, with 11 counts of fraud. The fraud charges carry maximum sentences of […]

The Los Alamos National Laboratory over 16 years sent almost 50 containers of incorrectly labeled radioactive waste to the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, the site’s prime contractor recently told the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The lab assigned the containers codes that indicated they should have been able to generate less combustible hydrogen during […]

Three long-tenured officials in the Washington State Ecology Department’s nuclear waste program planned to retire beginning in May, an agency spokesperson said. Starting May 1, Theresa Howell will be the new Tri-Party Agreement Section Manager and Beth Rochette will be the new Cleanup Section Manager at Ecology’s Nuclear Waste Program, a spokesperson for the agencies […]

The Department of Energy’s former prime contractor at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico and an employee who filed suit in 2021, claiming he was wrongly bypassed for promotion because of his race, have agreed to dismiss the federal court case. As a result, a status conference set for April 12 in the […]

Cement-like grout might be a viable cleanup alternative for up to 60% of the liquid radioactive waste at the Hanford Site in Washington state, the acting head of the Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup office told Senators this week.  The long-delayed Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant being built by Bechtel to solidify radioactive waste into […]

The Department of Energy’s Enforcement Office is investigating a November 2022 accident at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee, which resulted in an amputated finger for a carpenter working on construction of the new Mercury Treatment Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex. Contractor APTIM – North Wind Construction was informed of the planned investigation […]

The Department of Energy should within a week brief bidders about the agency’s reasons for awarding a $45-billion Hanford Site liquid waste cleanup contract to a BWX Technologies-led venture,  industry executives said this week. As a result, any protest by a losing bidder should likely be filed with the Government Accountability Office by May 1 […]

During fiscal 2023, the Department of Energy expects to make 15 shipments of transuranic defense waste from down-blended plutonium stocks to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico from the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, a contractor executive said last week. Look for the level of such transuranic waste shipments, from the Surplus […]

The $1.4-billion Integrated Waste Treatment Unit, which started up radiological operations last week at the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory, has turned out seven canisters of “treated, blended” waste so far, the agency said Wednesday. Currently, the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit (IWTU) is processing a blend of 90% simulant and 10% sodium-bearing radioactive waste […]

Perma-Fix Environmental Services said April 14 its team lost the Department of Energy’s Integrated Tank Disposition Contract, potentially worth $45 billion over 10 years at the Hanford Site in Washington state, which went to a joint venture led by BWX Technologies. “Despite the loss of the [Hanford tanks] contract bid, the company expects to continue […]

A longtime Department of Energy hand, Kristen Ellis, is taking over as the acting head of regulatory and policy affairs for the Office of Environmental Management effective this weekend. With the recently-announced departure of Randall Hendrickson, who is taking a job with private industry, Ellis will temporarily assume his responsibilities in addition to her current […]

Cement-like grout might be a viable cleanup alternative for up to 60% of the liquid radioactive waste at the Hanford Site in Washington state, the acting head of the Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup office told Senators Tuesday.  The long-delayed Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant being built by Bechtel to solidify radioactive waste into a […]

The Department of Energy’s former prime contractor at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico and an employee who filed suit in 2021, claiming he was wrongly bypassed for promotion because of his race, have agreed to dismiss the federal court case. As a result, a status conference set for April 12 in the […]

The Department of Energy should within a week brief bidders about the agency’s reasons for awarding a $45-billion Hanford Site liquid waste cleanup contract to a BWX Technologies-led venture, an industry executive said Monday. As a result, any protest by a losing bidder should likely be filed with the Government Accountability Office by May 1 […]

Procurement officials with the Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup branch plan to issue a no-bid contract to a Virginia firm to provide training for the agency’s mentor partnerships, according to a Monday public notice. The Cincinnati-based Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center said in a Monday procurement notice it plans to issue a contract to The […]

Robert Bennett has left his post as executive director of the economic development authority for Columbia County, Ga., after being selected as the new CEO for the non-profit promoting economic growth in areas around the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina.   The Augusta, Ga., Chronicle reported Saturday that Bennett has been chosen […]

Perma-Fix Environmental Services said Friday its team lost the Department of Energy’s Integrated Tank Disposition Contract, potentially worth $45 billion over 10 years at the Hanford Site in Washington state, which went to a joint venture led by BWX Technologies. “Despite the loss of the [Hanford tanks] contract bid, the company expects to continue to […]

Here are some events related to defense and civilian nuclear matters that Exchange Monitor staff are tracking this week. 18: Meeting: The Nuclear and Radiation Studies Board holds a virtual public meeting starting at 1 p.m. Eastern Time.  19: Hearing, Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. “Hearings to examine the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s proposed fiscal year […]

The Department of Energy is seeking new members to join its federal advisory board for the Office of Environmental Management, according to a Monday Federal Register notice. The deadline for nominations to the Environmental Management Advisory Board is May 15. Customarily DOE draws the advisory board members for the $8-billion-plus Office of Environmental Management from […]

Due to vacancies, the Savannah River operations office for DOE nuclear cleanup is not doing safety system oversight assessments as often as specified in agency guidance, according to a report out this month from the DOE Office of Enterprise Assessments. It has become a common refrain across the weapons complex, and now, staffing holes are […]

The Department of Energy’s “fast-track, design-build approach” at the multibillion-dollar Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant at the Hanford Site in Washington state resulted in cost increases and schedule delays, according to an Office of Inspector General probe of whistleblower allegations. The report by DOE Inspector General Teri Donaldson was drafted back in August 2020 but […]