Decommissioning

Two worker deaths have occurred the past two days in separate incidents at the Fukushima Daii-chi cleanup site, the Tokyo Electric Power Company announced yesterday. The deaths brings the total work fatalities at the site to three in the past year after a worker died from falling rubble while digging a ditch last March. The […]

DOE to Replace Ventilation System at WESF as Part of Shutdown WC Monitor 1/9/2015 The Department of Energy is making plans to replace the hot cell ventilation system at Hanford’s Waste Encapsulation and Storage Facility, a necessary step to shut down the building. Earlier this year, DOE’s Office of Inspector General said that 1,936 capsules […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 1/9/2015 The Army Corps of Engineers is projecting a significant increase in the cost to complete the cleanup of the Shallow Land Disposal Area (SLDA) site in Armstrong County, Pa., according to information released this week. The Corps’ new estimate puts the final cost of cleaning up the SLDA site […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 12/19/2014 A federal fund used to help cover cleanup costs at the Oak Ridge, Paducah and Portsmouth sites remains on track to be empty by Fiscal Year 2020, at which point the Department of Energy will need to find other Congressional funding sources to pay for the work, according to a […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 12/19/2014 After delays and cost increases at Hanford’s Plutonium Finishing Plant were highlighted in a recent Department of Energy Office of Inspector General report, DOE has directed cleanup contractor CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Company to complete a corrective action plan due in mid-January. The IG report, released in September, found issues […]

Contractor Requests New Roof for REDOX Plant WC Monitor 12/19/2014 After a failing roof is leading to leaking and contamination migration in the Reduction-Oxidation Plant at Hanford, site cleanup contractor CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Company has requested funding for a new roof totaling about $7 million. Though the facility has not operated since the 1960s […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 12/5/2014 The completion of a risk reduction plan for Building 235-F at the Savannah River Site will be delayed 29 months due to budget setbacks, the Department of Energy told the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board last week. The DNFSB formally urged action to reduce risk at the former plutonium processing […]

DOE Decides to Seal and Close Leaking Reactor Pool WC Monitor 12/5/2014 The Department of Energy has decided to clean up, seal and close a leaking reactor pool at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, but some of the details – including whether to incorporate a second reactor pool in the project – have yet to be […]

K-31 Demolition Ahead of Schedule, UCOR Chief Says WC Monitor 11/21/2014 Demolition of Building K-31 at Oak Ridge got started on Oct. 8, and already the project is weeks ahead of schedule, according to cleanup contractor URS-CH2M Oak Ridge, LLC. UCOR President Ken Rueter said this week that the contractor has already knocked down major […]

DOE Issues Proposed Plans for D&D, Waste Disposition WC Monitor 11/7/2014 The Department of Energy issued this week proposed plans for D&D and waste disposition at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant that call for an on-site disposal capability. The two formal proposed plans are a required step in the regulatory process for records of decision […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 11/7/2014 A lack of an Environmental Impact Statement for the Army Corps of Engineers’ decommissioning of the Sturgis barge in Galveston, Texas, has the local city council up-in-arms over the Corps’ handling of the project. The Corps issued a contract to CB&I Federal Services earlier this year for the dismantlement […]

TEPCO Making Progress on Water Contamination Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 11/7/2014 The Tokyo Electric Power Company this week completed the transfer of spent fuel assemblies from the Fukushima Daii-chi Unit 4 spent fuel pool.  In what TEPCO deemed “a sold step forward” in decommissioning the plant, the company moved 1,331 fuel assemblies to a […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 10/24/2014 AMELIA ISLAND, Fla.—This week marked the official handoff of the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant to the Department of Energy and deactivation contractor Fluor, and the focus in the coming months will now be on deactivation work and integrating scope with outgoing cleanup contractor LATA Environmental Services of Kentucky, officials said […]

TEPCO announced yesterday that it has successfully begun testing its enhanced ALPS water treatment system at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. The new ALPS system builds off the existing treatment system in an effort to increase treatment capacity. TEPCO already installed two additional systems in the past month. The enhanced systems should be capable […]

The turnover of the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant to the Department of Energy and deactivation contractor Fluor was completed yesterday by former plant operator Centrus Energy Corporation, previously known as USEC. Current Paducah cleanup contractor LATA-Kentucky will continue work until the end of its contract in July 2015, after which Fluor will take over remaining […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 10/17/2014 With transition set to wrap up next week on the Paducah deactivation services contract to a Fluor-led team, the local United Steelworkers union is raising concerns about a lack of transparency on worker hiring for the new contractor. The Department of Energy awarded the work to Fluor in July under […]

Japan’s International Research Institute for Nuclear Decommissioning (IRID) re-issued a Request for Proposals yesterday for a feasibility study on technology capable of investigating the reactor pressure vessel at the Fukushima Daii-chi Power Station. IRID had issued the original RFP last month with a due date of Oct. 3 for submittals, but according to IRID, “the […]

K-31 Demolition Moving Forward WC Monitor 10/10/2014 URS-CH2M Oak Ridge, LLC, the cleanup contractor at the Oak Ridge site, reached a new demolition milestone this week as the contractor began taking down the skeleton of the former K-31 uranium enrichment facility. The equipment inside the 750,000-square-foot building was removed a decade ago, along with most […]

FBP Warns Worse Layoffs Could Come if Needed Funding Isn’t Obtained Mike Nartker WC Monitor 10/10/2014 Hundreds of workers at the Portsmouth D&D project can breathe a sigh of relief, at least for now, with contractor Fluor-B&W Portsmouth announcing late this week that it is suspending planned layoffs that could have cut the project’s total […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 10/3/2014 The Department of Energy was unable to meet a Sept. 30 goal to have a final cost-and-schedule baseline in place for D&D efforts underway at the Separations Process Research Unit (SPRU) site. “Discussions are ongoing with URS in an attempt to clarify remaining project technical risks and uncertainties which will […]

Leak at Old Research Reactor Stable, Officials Say WC Monitor 10/3/2014 The search for the leak in a reactor pool at one of Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s stable of shutdown nuclear research reactors is still ongoing, but officials emphasized that the situation is stable and not getting worse. Some issues have apparently been ruled out. […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 9/26/2014 After numerous issues led to a three-year delay and increased costs at Hanford’s Plutonium Finishing Plant, the Department of Energy is taking steps to increase oversight of CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Company’s contract. D&D work at the former plutonium processing facility was originally expected to be complete by September 2013 […]

DOE Completes Final EA on Demo of Central Facilities Area Structures WC Monitor 9/26/2014 The Department of Energy has completed a Final Environmental Assessment on the proposed demolition of five structures at the Idaho National Laboratory’s Central Facilities Area, finding that the action will not have a significant impact on the environment. The facilities, which […]

After numerous issues led to a three-year delay and increased costs at Hanford’s Plutonium Finishing Plant, additional steps should be taken to improve performance and oversight at the project, according to a Department of Energy Inspector General report released yesterday. D&D work at the former plutonium processing facility was originally expected to be complete by […]

Four-Year Project Now to Take More Than 10 Years to Finish Mike Nartker WC Monitor 9/19/2014 Efforts to complete the long-troubled Separations Process Research Unit (SPRU) D&D project appear to have hit a new hurdle, with the Department of Energy now projecting the need for an additional three years from previous estimates to complete the […]

Leak in ORNL Research Reactor Fuel Pool Still Under Investigation WC Monitor 9/19/2014 More than a week after a leak was discovered at an old research reactor at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the investigating team is still trying to pinpoint the location and come up with a plan to fix it. The Department of Energy’s […]

Workers Enter PFP’s McCluskey Room WC Monitor 9/12/2014 Workers entered the McCluskey Room, the site of one of Hanford’s worst radiological accidents, this week after a year of preparation. The room still contains the glovebox where a 1976 chemical explosion shattered the thick glass windows of the box. Radioactive concentrated nitric acid and shards of […]

EM Procurement Chief Says Decision on Possible Rebid Coming ‘Soon’ Mike Nartker and Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 9/5/2014 The Department of Energy appears to be in the final stages of deciding whether to rebid the Portsmouth D&D contract or exercise the five-year option remaining in Fluor-B&W Portsmouth, LLC’s current contract. Jack Surash, Deputy Assistant Secretary […]

NDA Completes Formal Award of Magnox Contract to Cavendish-Fluor Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 9/5/2014 The Cavendish Fluor Partnership has named its executive leadership team after the U.K.’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority this week formally completed the share transfer for the new contract to manage 10 Magnox sites and two research reactor sites. That includes Managing Director […]

The U.K.’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority yesterday formally completed the share transfer to the Cavendish Fluor Partnership for the new contract to manage 10 Magnox sites and two research reactor sites. The NDA announced the award of the contract to the team in late March and the contract is expected to be worth £4 billion to […]