Archive

Decommissioning

Project reporting on the decontamination and decommissioning of legacy nuclear facilities across the DOE-EM complex, from building teardowns to soil and groundwater remediation.

  • NDA LAUNCHES MAGNOX TRANSITION, NO CHALLENGES SO FAR

    After no legal challenges to the award were filed during the standstill period, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority yesterday began a five-month  transition to the Cavendish Fluor Partnership for management of 10 Magnox and two research reactor sites. The NDA and the winning team inked the transition agreement after a required two-week standstill period following the […]

  • AREVA TEAM WINS SELLAFIELD SILOS PLANT CONTRACT

    Sellafield Ltd. yesterday selected a joint venture of AREVA, Mace and Atkins (a.m.a.) as the preferred bidder for the Silos Direct-encapsulation Plant Project at Sellafield. The a.m.a. joint venture will complete the engineering design, procurement, construction, and commissioning related activities for the facility. When complete, SDP will process nuclear waste recovered from the Magnox Swaf […]

  • MAGNOX STANDSTILL PERIOD ENDS TODAY

    The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority’s standstill period comes to an end today for potential challenges to its recent award of the Magnox contract to the Cavendish Fluor Partnership. “The UK and EU procurement regulations require a standstill period (10 days minimum) triggered by the provision of debriefing information and during which unsuccessful bidders may request further […]

  • UK NDA ANNOUNCES TWO ADDITIONS TO EXECUTIVE TEAM

    The U.K.’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority has appointed two new members to its executive team: Rob Higgins to business services director and Kenna Kintrea as assurance director. Higgens previously served as NDA head of legal starting in 2009 while Kintrea joined the NDA in 2013 from the Olympic Delivery Authority. The appointments are part of a […]

  • ATL TO PURCHASE DENUKE SERVICES

    Advanced Technologies and Laboratories (ATL) has entered into an agreement to purchase DeNuke Services—a sale DeNuke Services President Fred Gardner said yesterday that he expects to complete within a month. “We’ve entered in a letter of intent and we’re selling all the assets of DeNuke to ATL,” Gardner told Weapons Complex Morning Briefing. “We think […]

  • DOUNREAY COSTS MAY GO UP £200 MILLION

    Cleanup costs at the U.K.’s Dounreay site are expected to go up £200 million, the Independent reported. The Babcock Dounreay Partnership, a team including Babcock, URS and CH2M Hill that took over the contract in 2012, submitted a change order and negotiations with the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority will go on into the summer, according to […]

  • MAGNOX CHALLENGE DEADLINE COMES THIS WEEK

    A deadline is coming late this week in the first step toward challenging the U.K. Nuclear Decommissioning Authority’s recent award of the Magnox contract to the Cavendish Fluor Partnership. Unsuccessful bidders have 10 days after the March 31 award to request further information on the award before filing a legal challenge. Reactor Site Solutions, the […]

  • BECHTEL-ENERGYSOLUTIONS CONSIDERING CHALLENGING MAGNOX AWARD?

    The Bechtel-EnergySolutions team appears to be considering challenging the U.K. Nuclear Decommissioning Authority’s recent award of the new Magnox contract to the Cavendish Fluor Partnership. EnergySolutions currently manages the 10 Magnox reactor sites and expects to earn $1.2 billion in the contract year that ended this week, according to a financial filing posted yesterday. The […]

  • MAGNOX TRANSITION TO FLUOR-CAVENDISH TEAM TO FINISH IN SEPTEMBER

    The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority plans to complete a five-month transition by Sept. 1 for the new Magnox contract to the Cavendish Fluor Partnership. The NDA announced yesterday its selection of the joint venture between Fluor Corporation and U.K.-based Babcock subsidiary Cavendish Nuclear to manage the 10 Magnox reactor sites and two research reactor sites under […]

  • WORKER AT FUKUSHIMA CLEANUP DIES FOLLOWING CAVE-IN ACCIDENT

    A worker at the Fukushima Daiichi cleanup site died late last week after a trench caved-in, according to a release from Tokyo Electric Power Company.  According to TEPCO, the worker was one of a group of workers involved in the repair of foundation piles at a currently empty container storage facility, and to access the […]

  • USACE AWARDS STURGIS DECOMMISSIONING CONTRACT TO CB&I

    The Army Corps of Engineers Baltimore District announced the awarding of a contract to CB&I Federal Services for the decommissioning of an Army ship nuclear reactor. The contract, worth approximately $37.7 million, calls for the dismantlement of the MH-1A nuclear reactor currently installed on the STURGIS barge, which is stored at the James River Reserve […]

  • NDA AWARDS MAGNOX CONTRACT TO CAVENDISH-FLUOR TEAM

    The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority this morning awarded the Cavendish-Fluor Partnership the new contract to manage the 10 Magnox nuclear reactor sites and two research reactor sites. The other three teams, which submitted bids last fall, include Reactor Site Solutions, comprised of Bechtel and EnergySolutions; CAS Restoration Partnership, made up of CH2M Hill, AREVA and Serco; […]

  • KURION OPENS TOKYO OFFICE

    Kurion has opened an office in Tokyo in an effort to support its expanded role at the Fukushima cleanup site. The company already has a presence with the cleanup through its water treatment technologies, and it expects to grow its role at the site in the coming year. “Following the third anniversary of the earthquake […]

  • DOE STAYING MUM ON ANY PLANS FOR POTENTIAL PORTS. D&D RECOMPETE

    With only about two years remaining in the base period of Fluor-B&W Portsmouth’s contract for D&D of the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant, the Department of Energy is so far staying quiet as to whether it plans to exercise an available option period or look to recompete the contract. In remarks yesterday at the Waste Management […]

  • THREE NEW MEMBERS JOIN NDA BOARD

    Three new members have joined the Board of the U.K. Nuclear Decommissioning Authority after being appointed by the U.K Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, the NDA announced yesterday. Ken McCallum, previously the NDA’s Shareholder Executive’s Director, has been appointed as a non-executive director. Peter Lutwyche, the new Sellafield Programme Director, has been […]

  • PARLIAMENT REPORT SEEKS MORE SELLAFIELD REVIEWS AND IMPROVEMENTS

    Questioning the U.K. Nuclear Decommissioning Authority’s decision last fall to extend for five years URS-led Nuclear Management Partners’ contract to clean up the Sellafield site, Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee released a report today demanding additional improvements. “The Authority must monitor progress and terminate the contract if NMP’s performance does not improve quickly. We want the […]

  • PARLIAMENTARY REPORT ON SELLAFIELD PROGRESS COMING OUT THIS WEEK

    A report on progress at Sellafield by the U.K. Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee is expected to be made public this week, according to The Guardian. The report would come after a PAC hearing in December in which committee members sharply questioned the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority’s recent decision to extend for five years Nuclear Management Partners’ […]

  • SELLAFIELD WORKERS STAY HOME FRIDAY AFTER RADON SETS OFF MONITORS

    After Sellafield’s radiation monitoring system detected elevated levels Thursday night, non-essential workers were told to stay home Friday at the U.K. site. “Overnight the monitoring system initially indicated elevated levels of activity. Following investigation and analysis, we can now confirm these levels to be naturally occurring background radon,” according to a statement Friday from Sellafield […]

  • HANFORD PLUTONIUM RECYCLE TEST REACTOR REMOVED

    Contractor Washington Closure Hanford has completed removal of the massive Plutonium Recycle Test Reactor from the site’s 300 area, the contractor announced yesterday. The 1,538 ton reactor will be disposed of at Hanford’s onsite landfill, the Environmental Restoration Disposal Facility. “Removing the reactor was one of the most complex and hazardous projects Washington Closure has […]

  • HANFORD PLUTONIUM RECYCLE TEST REACTOR REMOVED

    Contractor Washington Closure Hanford has completed removal of the massive Plutonium Recycle Test Reactor from the site’s 300 area, the contractor announced yesterday. The 1,538 ton reactor will be disposed of at Hanford’s onsite landfill, the Environmental Restoration Disposal Facility. “Removing the reactor was one of the most complex and hazardous projects Washington Closure has […]

  • STAKEHOLDERS ‘INCREASINGLY’ ENGAGING IN DECOMMISSIONING PROCESS

    Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 1/17/2014 As an aging fleet of nuclear reactors begin to cease their operations,  an increasing amount of public stakeholders are taking an active interest in the decommissioning of the reactors, according to a panel held this week at the 29th Annual Institute of Nuclear Materials Management’s Spent Fuel Management Seminar. […]

  • DOE Seeks Revised Final Offers from Paducah Deactivation Bidders

    Mike Nartker WC Monitor 4/25/2014 The Department of Energy has asked the two teams bidding on the new Paducah deactivation contract to submit best-and-final offers, with responses due in early May. DOE is believed to be seeking “final proposal revisions” from the teams of Fluor-CB&I-LATA and AECOM-Stoller-Newport News to help resolve discrepancies between the two […]

  • K-25 Contamination in City Sludge Being Shipped to Perma-Fix Facility

    Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 4/18/2014 After technetium from the K-25 demolition ended up in an Oak Ridge city wastewater treatment plant, the Department of Energy is making progress in shipping contaminated sewer sludge to the Perma-Fix Northwest Richland facility for processing. Cleanup contractor URS-CH2M Oak Ridge, LLC, wrapped up recently the high-profile effort at the […]

  • Ports. D&D Contractor Defends Plan To Descope Work from Pro2Serve

    Fluor-B&W Portsmouth Says It Can Save Money Mike Nartker WC Monitor 4/11/2014 Fluor-B&W Portsmouth, LLC, sought to defend its plan to self-perform some work at the Portsmouth D&D project currently being handled by Professional Project Services (Pro2Serve) in a court filing late last week. Pro2Serve is suing FBP in federal court, accusing it of seeking […]

  • DOE Cleanup Chief Defends Cut to FY15 Oak Ridge D&D

    Says Department Hopes to Begin U-233 Shipments to Nevada ‘Later This Year’ Mike Nartker WC Monitor 4/11/2014              Department of Energy cleanup chief David Huizenga this week defended DOE’s decision to seek a funding reduction for D&D activities at Oak Ridge in its Fiscal Year 2015 budget request. DOE is proposing to […]

  • ATL to Purchase DeNuke Services

    Sale to be Completed Within the Month Mike Nartker WC Monitor 4/11/2014 Advanced Technologies and Laboratories (ATL) has entered into an agreement to purchase DeNuke Services—a sale DeNuke Services President Fred Gardner said this week that he expects to complete within a month. “We’ve entered in a letter of intent and we’re selling all the […]

  • DOE RELEASES NOTICE FOR ETEC CLEANUP EIS

    In a move linked to an ongoing procurement for cleanup of the Energy Technology Engineering Center in California, the Department of Energy last week released an amendment to its notice of intent to prepare an environmental impact statement for cleanup work at the broader Santa Susana Field Laboratory. DOE said it expects to issue a […]

  • DOE STAYING MUM ON ANY PLANS FOR POTENTIAL PORTS. D&D RECOMPETE

    With only about two years remaining in the base period of Fluor-B&W Portsmouth’s contract for D&D of the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant, the Department of Energy is so far staying quiet as to whether it plans to exercise an available option period or look to recompete the contract. In remarks yesterday at the Waste Management […]

  • DOE UPDATES DRAFT RTP FOR ETEC WORK

    The Department of Energy late last week updated its draft Request for Task Proposals for the Energy Technology Engineering Center environmental monitoring and D&D procurement. The posting follows a draft RTP that DOE released in September for the procurement, which is taking place under DOE’s nationwide small business set-aside indefinite quantity/indefinite delivery contracts. At that […]

  • FINAL ETEC RTP DELAYED DUE TO DISCUSSIONS WITH BOEING

    The Department of Energy is delaying the release of the final Request for Task Proposals for the Energy Technology Engineering Center environmental monitoring and D&D procurement due to ongoing discussions with Boeing, a DOE official said yesterday. Environmental work at ETEC is currently being performed by Boeing, which owns the broader Santa Susana Field Laboratory […]