Cleanup & Remediation

A compromise version of the National Defense Authorization Act, passed Tuesday by the House and awaiting a vote in the Senate at deadline Friday, would authorize funding for Department of Energy nuclear waste programs at the requested level for fiscal year 2022. In the bill, DOE’s Office of Environmental Management would get the requested $6.84 […]

With virtually all federal employees mandated to be vaccinated against COVID-19, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board envisions a staff return-to-workplace date of Jan. 24, a spokesperson for the board said this week. “[P]lans may change, but this is our current plan,” Tara Tadlock, the associate director for board operations at the Defense Nuclear Facilities […]

With virtually all federal employees mandated to be vaccinated against COVID-19, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board envisions a staff return-to-workplace date of Jan. 24, a spokesperson for the board said this week. “[P]lans may change, but this is our current plan,” Tara Tadlock, the associate director for board operations at the Defense Nuclear Facilities […]

ALEXANDRIA, VA.—During a Thursday address to the National Cleanup Workshop here, Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.) touched upon everything from Congress averting a government shutdown to the need for a new disposal site for nuclear debris at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee. “We are either going to pass a budget or get a year-long CR […]

ALEXIANDRIA, VA — The Department of Energy expects a new ventilation system at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico to come online between 2024 and 2026, the manager of the agency’s Carlsbad field office said here Wednesday. The agency’s Office of Environmental Management expects its rebaselining of the cost and schedule for the […]

ALEXANDRIA, VA. — The demolition of the massive X-326 Process Building, which began in the spring, is underway and should be finished in summer 2022, an executive with the decommissioning contractor at the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio said at a conference here Wednesday. “We are off to a very good start of […]

ALEXANDRIA, VA. – Department of Energy officials kicked off the National Cleanup Workshop here Wednesday by praising the Office of Environmental Management and its contract workers for continuing remediation of nuclear site remediation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm, in a pre-recorded message, thanked Environmental Management (EM) workers for “going into the […]

The senior vice president of Pacific Gas & Electric’s generation business, also the head of its nuclear energy segment, will retire at the end of the year, the company said Monday. Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) Senior Vice President of Generation and chief nuclear officer Jim Welsch planned to retire effective Dec. 31, according to […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board announced Monday it has appointed Eric Richardson as a resident inspector at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina. In this role, Richardson will advise the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) on the safety conditions of facilities at federal complex near the Georgia state line, […]

With virtually all federal employees mandated to be vaccinated against COVID-19, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board envisions a staff return-to-workplace date of Jan. 24, a spokesperson for the board said Tuesday morning. “[P]lans may change, but this is our current plan,” Tara Tadlock, the associate director for board operations at the Defense Nuclear Facilities […]

For the second time in two months, the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site has dealt with a truck fire, according to a recently-published staff report by the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. A truck that workers used to move soil into a radiological buffer area in the West section of Hanford caught fire “and was […]

A federal district judge in Eastern Washington has rejected claims filed against President Joe Biden, Dr. Anthony Fauci and various federal agencies connected with a COVID-19 vaccination mandate for federal contractors in a lawsuit filed by an individual representing himself. “The Court finds that Plaintiff’s claims against Federal Defendants are properly dismissed for either a […]

Oak Ridge Environmental Partners, the same venture that last month challenged the Department of Energy’s issuance of the new Cleanup Contract, potentially worth $8.3 billion, at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee, protested the contract again. A notice dated Friday on the Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) website showed another protest of the contract issued to […]

Here are some events related to defense and civilian matters that the Exchange Monitor staff is tracking this week: Dec. 06-10 – The House, then the Senate, were scheduled to vote on a compromise National Defense Authorization Act, media reported. The compromise bill would replace a version of the annual military policy bill that the Senate  last […]

Prospective bidders on the Department of Energy’s multibillion-dollar Hanford Integrated Tank Waste Disposition Contract in Washington state need not submit proposals before Christmas after all, thanks to an extension announced Friday. The deadline for submitting bid proposals on the potential $45-billion contract is being extended by 17 days to Jan. 6, 2022, rather than Dec. […]

A federal district judge in South Carolina refused late Friday to issue a preliminary injunction blocking the COVID-19 vaccination mandate by the prime contractor at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site. U.S. District Judge Michelle Childs ruled the 97 vaccine holdouts suing Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) “have not made a clear showing that […]

Virginia-based Akima Intra-Data withdrew its protest of the Department of Energy’s September award of a five-year, $135-million Infrastructure Support Services contract at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio to North Wind Dynamics. Akima dropped the protest Nov. 16, according to a notice on the Government Accountability Office (GAO) website. The company protested the award on Oct. […]

The Department of Energy said in a Nov. 18 posting there will be a 120-day transition period for the winner of the potential $45-billion Integrated Tank Disposition Contract, at the Hanford Site in Washington state, to take over from the existing contractors. The final Request for Proposals issued last month included some incorrect references to […]

Profits at Jacobs Engineering, Dallas, fell 3% for the fiscal year ended Oct. 1 as revenue rose by proportionally the same amount, the company said early Nov. 30 in its latest earnings release.  Net earnings for the year were about $477 million, or $3.20 a share, down from more than $490 million, or $3.71 a […]

While he is no longer acting assistant secretary, career fed William (Ike) White remains the top boss at the Department of Energy’s $7-billion-plus Office of Environmental Management as he has been for about two-and-a-half years, an agency spokesperson confirmed before Thanksgiving. The latest DOE Office of Environmental Management (EM) organizational chart dated Nov. 17 shows […]

A compromise stopgap budget bill passed Congress Thursday to avert a government shutdown and keep Department of Energy nuclear weapons and waste budgets at 2021 levels past Valentine’s Day and preserve a funding safety valve for uranium-enrichment cleanup. The Senate voted 69-to-28 Thursday evening to approve the continuing budget resolution to keep the federal government […]

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant has received 13,000 shipments of defense-related transuranic waste at the underground disposal site near Carlsbad, N.M., since it opened in 1999, the agency said Nov. 23. The shipment arrived at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) Nov. 11 from the Idaho National Laboratory, which had produced more […]

With COVID-19 cases declining again in the Department of Energy weapons complex and government officials considering how to deal with an emerging variant of the virus, much of this week’s industry focus is on courtroom battles concerning a small number of employees who refuse to comply with a vaccination mandate for federal contractors. On the […]

The Department of Energy’s prime at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico says a ventilation fan that has been dormant for years will start operating again during the New Year. “While the 700-C fan is functionally operational and has been through all of the necessary testing and monitoring, including underground testing and balancing […]

Out of perhaps 950-to-1,000 United Steelworkers members employed by various companies at the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site in Piketon, Ohio between 10 and 15 are expected to be fired as a result of the COVID-19 vaccination mandate for federal contractors, a union official said Tuesday. It is always possible a couple of those heretofore […]

The monthly pace of retirement notices among prime contractor employees during 2021 at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state is up sharply compared with last year, especially in recent months, according to the two most recent monthly reports by the site’s services contractor. “The Retirement Program has had a significant increase in […]

The new BWX Technologies-led joint venture scheduled to take over nuclear waste work at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina announced its top managers on Wednesday.  Savannah River Mission Completion (SRMC) said in a press release that Dave Olson, who has 34 years of experience at the Savannah River Site, will […]

In a revised complaint that they hope will convince a federal judge to block expected firings arising from a COVID vaccine mandate at the Savannah River Site, employees who have not taken a vaccine argued that the site’s operations contractor effectively pressured two employees into resigning before the official deadline for getting the vaccine. The […]

The Department of Energy is hoping to give economically-troubled nuclear power plant operators a little certainty by speeding delivery of subsidies recently signed into law as part of this year’s bipartisan infrastructure plan, a DOE official said Wednesday at an industry conference. “[I]t can take a little while for tax credits to kick in, [so] […]

A Hanford-focused consulting firm was acquired by Deep Isolation, a California company developing a new method of spent nuclear fuel disposal.  Deep Isolation bought privately-owned, 23 year-old Freestone Environmental Services of Richland, Wash., the Berkeley, Calif., firm announced Tuesday. Deep Isolation declined to reveal the price. Freestone has 25 employees.  Deep Isolation plans to take […]