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.

  • Cleanup office shuffles leadership at WIPP, Portsmouth-Paducah

    By the end of this month, the manager of the Department of Energy’s Carlsbad Field Office in New Mexico will leave to become deputy manager of the Portsmouth-Paducah Project Office in Lexington, Ky., an agency executive said Tuesday. Carlsbad manager Reinhard Knerr, responsible for overseeing the agency’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant since July 2020, is […]

  • Mo. Lawmakers seek more testing for school near FUSRAP site

    Two members of congress from Missouri, a Republican senator and a House Democrat, want the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to do more testing for radiological contamination at a St. Louis area school. “We write to urge the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) to conduct additional radioactive contaminant testing of Hazelwood School District’s properties,” […]

  • Central Plateau Cleanup urged to tighten up certain practices at Hanford’s 324 Building

    While Department of Energy contractor Central Plateau Cleanup Co. is doing a good job on hazardous nuclear remediation within Building 324 at the Hanford Site in Washington state, it needs to tackle some safety risks, according to the agency’s Office of Enterprise Assessments. Generally, the DOE Office of Enterprise Assessments said in a review published […]

  • Mo. Lawmakers seek more testing for school near FUSRAP site

    Two members of congress from Missouri, a Republican senator and a House Democrat, want the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to do more testing for radiological contamination at a St. Louis area school. “We write to urge the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) to conduct additional radioactive contaminant testing of Hazelwood School District’s properties,” […]

  • Central Plateau Cleanup urged to tighten up certain practices at Hanford’s 324 Building

    While Department of Energy contractor Central Plateau Cleanup Co. is doing a good job on hazardous nuclear remediation within Building 324 at the Hanford Site in Washington state, it needs to tackle some safety risks, according to the agency’s Office of Enterprise Assessments. Generally, the DOE Office of Enterprise Assessments said in a review published […]

  • Cleanup office shuffles leadership at WIPP, Portsmouth-Paducah

    By the end of this month, the manager of the Department of Energy’s Carlsbad Field Office in New Mexico will leave to become deputy manager of the Portsmouth-Paducah Project Office in Lexington, Ky., an agency executive said Tuesday. Carlsbad manager Reinhard Knerr, responsible for overseeing the agency’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant since July 2020, is […]

  • DOE cleanup office making headway on technology development database

    In December, the Department of Energy’s $8-billion Office of Environmental Management completed what its head of field operations calls the “beta phase” of a new electronic “dashboard” for tracking nuclear remediation technology development. All of the research-and-development data run through Environmental Management (EM) headquarters in Washington, D.C., has been entered into the system, Nicole Nelson-Jean […]

  • Slew of companies keeping watch on DOE nuclear cleanup work for small biz

    More than 20 companies expressed interest to the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management in landing a slice of various nuclear remediation projects set aside for small business. Twenty-one signed up by Dec. 20 to be on an “interested vendors” list, for the Nationwide Deactivation, Decommissioning and Removal procurement, according to a DOE Environmental […]

  • Construction of new Oak Ridge landfill still a few years off

    Amentum-led United Cleanup Oak Ridge plans this summer to hire a subcontractor to start site preparation for a new landfill to dispose of 2.2-million cubic yards of low-level waste at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee, a federal spokesperson said Tuesday. “There are still several significant steps remaining,” before United Cleanup Oak […]

  • NMED, DOE tell judge they are close to revamping LANL cleanup rules

    New Mexico and the Department of Energy are close to resolving the state’s lawsuit about cleanup rules for the Los Alamos National Laboratory and a federal judge Thursday granted the parties another 90 days to negotiate. Lawyers for the state and the Department of Justice told the U.S. District Court for New Mexico that the […]

  • Startup of Integrated Waste Treatment Unit hits a snag

    The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management last month suspended heat up of a long-anticipated waste treatment facility at the Idaho National Laboratory after a small leak of “non-radioactive, non-hazardous solids,” was discovered, DOE said Tuesday. The suspension came Dec. 29, 10 days after beginning warmup to prepare for radiological operations at the Integrated […]

  • Feds highlight construction of Paducah emergency ops center

    Work crews at the Department of Energy’s Paducah Site in Kentucky are making progress in building a new 3,500-square-foot emergency operations center at the former gaseous diffusion plant complex, DOE said Tuesday. The new, more modern center to house emergency management staff and monitor environmental conditions will replace the one set up in 1990 within […]

  • NMED, DOE tell judge they are close to revamping LANL cleanup rules

    New Mexico and the Department of Energy are close to resolving the state’s lawsuit about cleanup rules for the Los Alamos National Laboratory and asked a federal judge Wednesday for another 90 days to negotiate. Lawyers for the state and the Department of Justice told the U.S. District Court for New Mexico that the two […]

  • Startup of Integrated Waste Treatment Unit hits a snag

    The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management last month suspended heat up of a long-anticipated waste treatment facility at the Idaho National Laboratory after a small leak of “non-radioactive, non-hazardous solids,” was discovered, DOE said Tuesday. The suspension came Dec. 29, 10 days after beginning warmup to prepare for radiological operations at the Integrated […]

  • Construction of new Oak Ridge landfill still a few years off

    Amentum-led United Cleanup Oak Ridge plans this summer to hire a subcontractor to start site preparation for a new landfill to dispose of 2.2-million cubic yards of low-level waste at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee, a federal spokesperson said Tuesday. “There are still several significant steps remaining,” before United Cleanup Oak […]

  • Veolia business touts expansion of Pennsylvania rail facility

    Alaron Nuclear Services, a Veolia affiliate, said in a Jan. 5 news release it has finished a project to double the rail capacity at its low-level radioactive waste transfer site in Western Pennsylvania. The Veolia Nuclear Solutions – Federal Services business said completion of the project enables up to 24 rail cars on the Alaron […]

  • Wrap Up: BWXT promotes execs; SRS reuse boss retiring; JV lands tech support biz; ex-EM honcho exits SEC; union prez bullish on nickel study

    Lynchburg, Va., -based BWX Technologies said Wednesday it has promoted Ronald (Chip) Whitford, Jr., to a senior vice president post succeeding Thomas McCabe, who will retire from the nuclear company this summer. Separately, the company has promoted Omar Meguid to chief digital officer, a new executive role that reports directly to CEO Rex Geveden, according […]

  • DOE scorecard cites safety improvement at Four Rivers

    Jacobs-led Four Rivers Nuclear Partnership won 69% of its discretionary fee for cleanup work at the Department of Energy’s Paducah Site in Kentucky during fiscal 2022, an improvement from its performance in fiscal 2021. Overall the contractor claimed 80% of its total potential award fee for 2022, according to an agency scorecard dated Dec. 28. […]

  • Mid-America wins more than 90% of overall fee for DUF6 work at Portsmouth and Paducah

    Atkins-led Mid-America Conversion Services earned 93% of its overall fee and roughly three-quarters of its subjective fee during fiscal 2022 under its depleted uranium hexafluoride contract at gaseous diffusion plants in Ohio and Kentucky, the Department of Energy said. The contractor won $1.7 million out of a potential $2.3 million or 74% of its subjective […]

  • Fluor-BWXT earns more than 90% of available fees for second half of fiscal 2022

    The Department of Energy’s Fluor-led cleanup contractor for the Portsmouth Site in Ohio pocketed 93%, or $14 million, of $15 million in overall available fees in the second half of fiscal 2022, according to a scorecard released by the agency Dec. 28. Fluor‐BWXT Portsmouth took home all of the available $10.54 million in performance-based fees […]

  • Middle school replacement funds included in Portsmouth 2023 budget

    The fiscal 2023 omnibus budget that the 117th Congress passed just before adjourning before Christmas includes $20 million for replacement of a middle school that closed in May 2019 due to concern over radiological contamination from the Department of Energy’s adjacent Portsmouth Site in Piketon, Ohio. The $20 million toward replacement of the Zahns Corner […]

  • Fifth Circuit rules in favor of states, finds Biden’s COVID-19 contractor order goes too far

    In a majority opinion, a panel of judges for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit found President Joe Biden overstepped his authority by using the Procurement Act to require virtually all federal contract workers be vaccinated against COVID-19. “The President asks this Court to ratify an exercise of proprietary authority that would […]

  • Fifth Circuit rules in favor of states, finds Biden’s COVID-19 contractor order goes too far

    In a majority opinion, a panel of judges for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit found President Joe Biden overstepped his authority by using the Procurement Act to require virtually all federal contract workers be vaccinated against COVID-19. “The President asks this Court to ratify an exercise of proprietary authority that would […]

  • Feds urge 9th Circuit to keep Hanford COVID vax policy in place

    A federal judge in Eastern Washington, who twice allowed 314 employees at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site to amend their complaint over government COVID-19 vaccination requirements, was justified in dismissing the case, Justice Department attorneys told the Ninth U.S. Court of Appeals Dec. 23. Only seven of the plaintiffs in the David Donovan versus […]

  • WIPP, Hanford, procurement, workforce issues linger at EM in 2023

    By way of disclaimer, Wall Street gurus like to caution that past performance cannot predict future results. Nevertheless, here are a few Exchange Monitor observations — let’s not call them predictions — about where things stand at the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) as 2023 begins. Congressional funding for the Office of […]

  • Feds urge 9th Circuit to keep Hanford COVID vax policy in place

    A federal judge in Eastern Washington, who twice allowed 314 employees at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site to amend their complaint over government COVID-19 vaccination requirements, was justified in dismissing the case, Justice Department attorneys told the Ninth U.S. Court of Appeals Dec. 23. Only seven of the plaintiffs in the David Donovan versus […]

  • Fifth Circuit rules in favor of states, finds Biden’s COVID-19 contractor order goes too far

    In a majority opinion, a panel of judges for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit found President Joe Biden overstepped his authority by using the Procurement Act to require virtually all federal contract workers be vaccinated against COVID-19. “The President asks this Court to ratify an exercise of proprietary authority that would […]

  • Middle school replacement funds included in Portsmouth 2023 budget

    The fiscal 2023 omnibus budget that the 117th Congress passed just before adjourning before Christmas includes $20 million for replacement of a middle school that closed in May 2019 due to concern over radiological contamination from the Department of Energy’s adjacent Portsmouth Site in Piketon, Ohio. The $20 million toward replacement of the Zahns Corner […]

  • DOE scorecard cites safety improvement at Four Rivers

    Jacobs-led Four Rivers Nuclear Partnership won 69% of its discretionary fee for cleanup work at the Department of Energy’s Paducah Site in Kentucky during fiscal 2022, an improvement from its performance in fiscal 2021. Overall the contractor claimed 80% of its total potential award fee for 2022, according to an agency scorecard dated Dec. 28. […]

  • Fluor-BWXT earns more than 90% of available fees for second half of fiscal 2022

    The Department of Energy’s Fluor-led cleanup contractor for the Portsmouth Site in Ohio pocketed 93%, or $14 million, of $15 million in overall available fees in the second half of fiscal 2022, according to a scorecard released by the agency Dec. 28. Fluor‐BWXT Portsmouth took home all of the available $10.54 million in performance-based fees […]