Archive

Defense Low-Level Waste

News on the generation, packaging, transportation, and disposal of low-level radioactive waste from the weapons complex at licensed federal and commercial facilities.

  • Orano Grabs Waste Container Services Contract in U.K.

    Orano TN on Wednesday sealed a contract worth millions of dollars to refurbish and maintain three radioactive waste containers, and provide other services, to the United Kingdom’s LLW Repository Ltd. The specific value of the contract is not being released for commercial reasons, an Orano spokesperson said by email Thursday. LLW Repository Ltd. is charged […]

  • Army Corps of Engineers Begins Shipping Contaminated Soil From FUSRAP Site

    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Tuesday began moving radioactively contaminated soil from a former beryllium production plant in Ohio to final disposal in Michigan. The transport is a key step in cleanup of the Luckey Site property about 22 miles from Toledo under the Army Corps’ Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP). The […]

  • Army Corps of Engineers to Move Contaminated Soil From FUSRAP Site

    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers expects this week to begin moving contaminated soil from a former beryllium production plant in Ohio to final disposal in Michigan. The Army Corps in April formally began cleanup of the Luckey site under its Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP). Contractor North Wind-Portage at the time began digging […]

  • UniTech Receives NRC Export License for Rad Waste

    The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued an export license for UniTech Services Group to return up to 10,000 metric tons of radioactively contaminated material to Canada. The export license dated April 30 covers “tools, metals and other solid materials contaminated with byproduct materials,” and was signed by David Skeen, deputy director for the NRC’s […]

  • UniTech Receives NRC Export License for Rad Waste

    The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued an export license for UniTech Services Group to return up to 10,000 metric tons of radioactively contaminated material to Canada. The April 30 license covers “tools, metals and other solid materials contaminated with byproduct materials,” and was signed by David Skeen, deputy director for the NRC’s Office of […]

  • EnergySolutions Proposes New Rad Waste Classification

    The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission should establish a new classification for radioactive waste – “Class D” – to replace the more nebulous Greater-Than-Class C designation, according to disposal provider EnergySolutions. “The NRC should designate a new waste category specifically defining what it is. It should not be defined by what it is greater than, or […]

  • EnergySolutions Proposes New Rad Waste Classification

    The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission should establish a new classification for radioactive waste – “Class D” – to replace the more nebulous Greater Than Class C designation, according to disposal provider EnergySolutions. “The NRC should designate a new waste category specifically defining what it is. It should not be defined by what it is greater […]

  • DOE Awards Waste Disposal Contracts to WCS, EnergySolutions

    Utah-based EnergySolutions and Texas-based Waste Control Specialists (WCS) have been awarded Energy Department contracts to dispose of low-level radioactive waste (LLW) and mixed-low level radioactive waste. The contracts are indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (ID/IQ) agreements, DOE said in a press release. It did not provide dollar values for the contracts. The two vendors will compete for […]

  • Perma-Fix Revenue Dips in 4Q, as Management Touts Outlook

    By John Stang Complications in waste treatment operations and closure costs of a facility in Tennessee trimmed Perma-Fix Environmental Services’ revenue and produced an operating loss in the fourth quarter of 2017. However, executives said the company’s outlook is strong in 2018 as it vies for new government and commercial contracts and looks toward a potential […]

  • Perma-Fix Revenue Drops in 4Q, as Management Touts Outlook

    By John Stang Complications in waste treatment operations and closure costs of a facility in Tennessee trimmed Perma-Fix Environmental Services’ revenue and produced an operating loss in the fourth quarter of 2017. However, executives said the company’s outlook is strong in 2018 as it vies for new government and commercial contracts and looks toward a potential […]

  • Perma-Fix Revenue Down in 4Q, Management Touts Outlook

    Complications in waste treatment operations and closure costs of a site in Tennessee trimmed Perma-Fix Environmental Services’ revenue and increased its operating loss in the fourth quarter of 2017. The Atlanta-based environmental services company said Wednesday it recorded $12.6 million in revenue for the fourth quarter of 2017, compared to $13.4 million in the same period […]

  • DOE Failing on Radioactive Waste Disposal, Groups Say

    The Trump administration Department of Energy has failed to follow through on its commitment to take decisive action on permanent disposal of the nation’s ever-growing stockpile of nuclear waste, the head of a nuclear industry group said in a Jan. 23 letter to Energy Secretary Rick Perry. U.S. Nuclear Infrastructure Council Executive Director David Blee […]

  • Departing DNFSB Chair Suggests He Lost Staff’s Confidence

    In his farewell memo last week, Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board Chairman Sean Sullivan suggested he lost the confidence of the 120 staff members of the independent safety watchdog he led for a year and wanted to disband. “Our fine staff deserves to be led by an executive the staff believes in,” Sullivan, a board […]

  • House Science Panel to Hear from Dabbar, Menezes on DOE Management

    Two top officials at the U.S. Energy Department, including one with responsibility for the Office of Environmental Management (EM), are scheduled to testify Tuesday at a House Science, Space, and Technology Committee hearing on DOE management and priorities. Undersecretary for Science Paul Dabbar and Undersecretary of Energy Mark Menezes are the only two witnesses listed […]

  • Barton: Bill to Update DOE Should Look at Role of Labs

    It is time for Congress to take a look at the Department of Energy’s 17 national laboratories and their contribution to the agency’s mission, according to Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas). During a Jan. 9 House Energy and Commerce energy subcommittee hearing on DOE modernization, Barton said he plans to draft a bipartisan reauthorization bill for […]

  • Hanford Outlines a Busy Short-Term Procurement Schedule

    The Hanford Site has five major procurements in the pipeline between now and fiscal 2020, according to an announcement published Jan. 3 by the Department of Energy’s Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center (EMCBC). Three of the five solicitations could extend for up to 10 years; a fourth for up to seven years; and the length […]

  • Hanford Waste Tank Prime Rated ‘Very Good’ for Fiscal 2017, Gets 89% of Fee

    Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS), waste storage tank operations contractor at the Hanford Site in Washington state, received 89 percent of its available fee for fiscal 2017, the Department of Energy noted in a recently issued performance scorecard. WRPS earned $11.89 million of the available $13.35 million for the budget year ended Sept. 30, 2017. […]

  • DNFSB Sets Plan for Government Shutdown

    The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, the safety watchdog for Department of Energy nuclear sites around the country, has issued a new plan for operations in the event of a federal government shutdown. Congress has until Jan. 19 to pass a budget for the remainder of fiscal 2018, or another continuing resolution to keep the […]

  • Hanford Site Details Short-Term Procurement Plans

    The Hanford Site has five major procurements in the pipeline between now and fiscal 2020, according to an announcement published Jan. 3 by the Department of Energy’s Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center (EMCBC). Three of the five solicitations could extend for up to 10 years; a fourth for up to seven years; and the length […]

  • Grand County, Utah, Group to Seek More Moab UMTRA Funds

    A delegation of local officials from Grand County, Utah, plans to travel to Washington, D.C., within the next month to promote increased cleanup funding for the Energy Department’s Moab Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action (UMTRA) Project. The group is expected to meet with members of Utah’s congressional delegation and Energy Department officials in February to […]

  • All Quiet on the Bid Protest Front for New DOE Contracts

    As of Thursday, the Government Accountability Office had not ruled on protests filed against the Energy Department’s award of a $4.7 billion liquid waste management contract at the Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina. It also appears the GAO has not to date received any bid protests on the $1.39 billion award for legacy […]

  • Piketon Mayor Urges Senators to Oppose Portsmouth Disposal Cell

    Piketon, Ohio, Mayor Billy Spencer is urging the state’s U.S. senators to oppose funding to build the on-site disposal cell for waste from cleanup of the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant. “DOE has made it clear that they fully intend to bury radioactive, toxic and hazardous waste in Piketon despite the community’s opposition, and Ohio EPA […]

  • Piketon Crowd Voices Disposal Cell Concerns to DOE

    Energy Department officials who attended a Monday meeting of the village of Piketon, Ohio, Council to give a progress update on cleanup of the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant, ended up hearing a lot about local opposition to an on-site disposal site for waste from the project. It was a standing room only crowd, Piketon Mayor […]

  • Without Meeting Perry, Piketon Mayor Takes Anti-Disposal Case to Ohio Lawmaker

    Piketon, Ohio, Mayor Billy Spencer did not get a meeting with Energy Secretary Rick Perry last week, but still hopes to persuade the Energy Department to drop plans for an on-site disposal cell for waste from decommissioning of the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant. Perry visited DOE’s Portsmouth Site on Friday, but “time constraints” during his […]

  • DOE Undeterred From Portsmouth Waste Landfill

    The findings of a recent report questioning the cohesion of the bedrock on which a nuclear waste disposal facility is to be built in Ohio has not deterred the Energy Department from moving forward with the project. “Based on the intensive review of all the information provided in the Ferguson Group Report, DOE does not […]

  • DOE Undeterred From Portsmouth Waste Landfill

    The findings of a recent report questioning the cohesion of the bedrock on which a nuclear waste disposal facility is to be built in Ohio has not deterred the Energy Department from moving forward with the project. “Based on the intensive review of all the information provided in the Ferguson Group Report, DOE does not […]

  • DOE Waste Disposal Contract Goes to Bid

    The Department of Energy on Wednesday formally started the bidding process on one or multiple new contracts for disposal of federal low-level waste and mixed-low-level waste. Interested parties have until Sept. 22 to submit questions, to LLW_MLLWDisposal@emcbc.doe.gov. Bids are due by 3 p.m. Oct. 23 via FedConnect. “DOE intends, but is not required, to award one […]

  • DOE Waste Disposal Contract Goes to Bid

    The Department of Energy on Wednesday formally started the bidding process for a new contract for disposal of low-level waste and mixed-low-level waste. Interested parties have until Sept. 22 to submit questions, to LLW_MLLWDisposal@emcbc.doe.gov. Bids are due by 3 p.m. Oct. 23 via FedConnect. “DOE intends, but is not required, to award one or more contracts […]

  • Piketon Mayor Says DOE Building Portsmouth Landfill on Cracked Bedrock

    The village of Piketon, Ohio, has renewed calls for the Energy Department to cancel a planned nuclear waste disposal facility at the nearby Portsmouth Site, citing a new report that claims the agency plans to build the landfill on fractured bedrock. Piketon Mayor Billy Spencer, who for years has opposed what is officially known as an […]

  • NRC Investigates LLRW Transport Violations

    The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Tuesday it has scheduled a meeting to address apparent violations of federal low-level radioactive waste transportation regulations by U.S. uranium producer Cameco Resources. The regulator said in an April 3 letter to Cameco that it is considering “escalated enforcement action” after identifying nine seeming breaches of NRC and U.S. Transportation Department […]