Cleanup & Remediation

While it did not generate much chatter Monday during a quarterly earnings call focused on strong numbers, BWX Technologies is in the running for billions more in government contracts across the Department of Energy weapons complex over the next year. Having already won the $21-billion, 15-year Savannah River Integrated Mission contract for liquid waste cleanup […]

The Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina will maintain precautions for “high” community rates for transmission of COVID-19, a DOE spokesperson said Monday. Savannah River DOE managers made the decision after learning the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control failed to update its COVID case numbers last week with the […]

An APTIM-North Wind joint venture that ran into bad luck and bedrock while building the Outfall 200 Mercury Treatment Facility at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee may have its contract extended beyond the current Dec. 5 expiration, a Department of Energy spokesperson said recently. “The Mercury Treatment Facility is scheduled to be operational in […]

Here are some events related to defense and civilian nuclear matters that Exchange Monitor staff are tracking this week August 01-26 – United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs. 10th Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons Review Conference. United Nations Headquarters, New York. 08: Second quarter earnings call, BWX Technologies,  5:00 p.m. EDT with a webcast […]

Counties surrounding the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state, Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee and DOE nuclear cleanup sites in Utah and Nevada no longer have high transmission levels of COVID-19. That is according to the latest data posted on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website Friday. When local CDC […]

As of Thursday evening, House Appropriations Committee member Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.) was narrowly leading an open primary in his 4th Congressional district that encompasses the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state with a Democratic Party challenger 1,000 votes behind. Newhouse, one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach then-President Donald Trump […]

The highly-contaminated Hanford Site in Washington state accounted for over half the environmental liability for the entire Department of Energy, but opportunities exist for curbing increasing costs at the property, according to a congressional watchdog. In a new report, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said DOE could save “tens of billions of dollars” by abandoning […]

Amid a profitable quarter, Fluor, Irving, Texas, said Friday the Department of Energy plans to extend a Fluor-led joint venture’s tenure as prime contractor at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina for up to five years. During an earnings call, Fluor CEO David Constable also expressed optimism about the company’s chances of landing individual […]

The entire Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments Sept. 13 in New Orleans on a case surrounding the Joe Biden administration’s authority to require most federal employees be vaccinated against COVID-19. That’s according to a notice posted recently on the appeals court’s website announcing the date of the “en banc” or […]

Swift & Staley, the incumbent landlord contractor at the Department of Energy’s Paducah Site in Kentucky, is urging an appeals court to set a hearing so the company can argue a lower court and the federal government were wrong to find the contractor too large to qualify for a follow-on contract. Swift & Staley Inc. […]

A draft energy and water development bill for fiscal 2023 posted last week by the chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee directs the Department of Energy to spend $2 million on a “reindustrialization” study at the Paducah Site in Kentucky. The document did not provide any detail on the scope of the study or when […]

Earnings rose at Jacobs, Dallas, in the 3rd quarter of fiscal 2022, which the engineering, procurement and construction contractor, active in the Department of Energy nuclear weapons complex, attributed to strong performances in the climate, data and consulting sectors. Net earnings for the third quarter ended July 1 were $196 million, or  $1.52 a share, […]

While the Department of Energy’s latest environmental review of the problem picked no preferred site for long-term storage of elemental mercury, the feds favor placing the metal in an existing facility that could accept the material quickly. “Because statutory milestone dates have now passed, DOE needs to designate a facility and begin accepting elemental mercury […]

The final major test run of the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit at the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory concluded last week and, after a decade of trying, the agency is hoping to start radiological operations this fall. The confirmatory run of the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit (IWTU) ended July 27 after DOE and its […]

A worker who on July 5, experienced radiological contamination on “unprotected areas” of the head and arm, at the Hanford Site 222-S laboratory tested negative for any internal contamination, a Department of Energy spokesperson said Tuesday. “The contamination was successfully removed from the individual’s skin and clothing without incident in the facility,” the DOE spokesperson […]

An Aug. 3 article in Weapons Complex Morning Briefing “DOE hoping to move quickly on mercury storage” should have reported today’s online public hearing starts at 1 p.m. Eastern Time.

The entire Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments Sept. 13 in New Orleans on a case surrounding the Joe Biden administration’s authority to require most federal employees be vaccinated against COVID-19. That’s according to a notice posted recently on the appeals court’s website announcing the date of the “en banc” or […]

A worker who on July 5, experienced radiological contamination on “unprotected areas” of the head and arm, at the Hanford Site 222-S laboratory tested negative for any internal contamination, a Department of Energy spokesperson said Tuesday. “The contamination was successfully removed from the individual’s skin and clothing without incident in the facility,” the DOE spokesperson […]

As of Wednesday morning, House Appropriations Committee member Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.) was leading an open primary in his 4th Congressional district that encompasses the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state. Newhouse, one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach then-President Donald Trump following the Jan. 6 insurrection, was No. 1 out […]

The final major test run of the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit at the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory concluded last week and, after a decade of trying, the agency is hoping to start radiological operations this fall. The confirmatory run of the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit (IWTU) ended July 27 after DOE and its […]

While the Department of Energy’s latest environmental review of the problem picked no preferred site for long-term storage of elemental mercury, the feds favor placing the metal in an existing facility that could accept the material quickly. “Because statutory milestone dates have now passed, DOE needs to designate a facility and begin accepting elemental mercury […]

The state of Michigan is still working to find a potential buyer who will save Palisades Nuclear Generating Station, a spokesperson for the state governor said Monday. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s (D) office continues to work with “potential buyers, operators, and stakeholders to keep this vital energy source and the 600 good-paying jobs right here in […]

Earnings rose at Jacobs, Dallas, in the 3rd quarter of fiscal 2022, which the engineering, procurement and construction contractor, active in the Department of Energy nuclear weapons complex, attributed to strong performances in the climate, data and consulting sectors. Net earnings for the third quarter ended July 1 were $196 million, or  $1.52 a share, […]

The political future of Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.), whose 4th Congressional district surrounds the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state, faces a big hurdle Tuesday during an open primary, his first electoral test since casting one of 10 GOP votes in the House of Representatives to impeach former president Donald Trump following the […]

The highly-contaminated Hanford Site in Washington state accounted for over half the environmental liability for the entire Department of Energy, but opportunities exist for curbing increasing costs at the property, according to a congressional watchdog. In a new report, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said DOE could save “tens of billions of dollars” by abandoning […]

A draft energy and water development bill for fiscal 2023 posted last week by the chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee directs the Department of Energy to spend $2 million on a “reindustrialization” study at the Paducah Site in Kentucky. The document did not provide any detail on the scope of the study or when […]

Here are some events related to defense and civilian nuclear matters that Exchange Monitor staff are tracking this week: 01-26 – United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs. 10th Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons Review Conference. United Nations Headquarters, New York.  2 – The Department of Energy was scheduled to host an open meeting of […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board favors having a national lab study the risk of a potential hydrogen explosion at a high-level radioactive waste vitrification plant being built at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state. In a document dated July 19, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB), charged by Congress with […]

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., this week saw its community rate for COVID-19 drop to “medium” from “high,” according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. As a result, it appears the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) might be the only DOE nuclear cleanup site approved […]

With the retirement of a top executive, Sharon Smoot will step in as president of BWX Technologies’ Nuclear Operations Group effective Aug. 1, the company said in a press release Wednesday morning. In her new role, Smoot will be responsible for the operations group’s complete range of nuclear components and services, “including the manufacture of […]