Vitrification & Grout

A URS executive on the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant is alleging that URS sought to interfere with a Department of Energy investigation into safety concerns at the project. Donna Busche, who holds the position of Environmental and Nuclear Safety Manager, has alleged that a senior URS corporate official, Ellen Livingston-Behan, sought to interfere with her […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Health, Safety and Security believes URS management acted improperly in recently seeking to prevent a company employee from participating without supervision in an ongoing investigation into safety concerns at the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant. At issue is an allegation made by Donna Busche, who serves as WTP Environmental and Nuclear […]

While the Department of Energy is examining potential changes to Bechtel National’s contract for the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant to include safety culture elements, a senior contractor official said late last week that incentives aren’t needed for Bechtel National to make improvements. DOE is examining Bechtel National’s contract for possible revision as part of efforts […]

As part of efforts to address safety culture concerns at the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant, Bechtel National is bringing over Ward Sproat from Bechtel’s Power Global Business Unit to aid in efforts to help better align engineering and nuclear safety activities. In his new role at the WTP, which goes into effect Feb. 21, Sproat […]

The Department of Energy will look at better managing its Hanford Waste Treatment Plant contract to balance the demands of cost and schedule with a strong safety culture, according to DOE’s implementation plan for the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board’s safety culture recommendations, which was submitted to the Board Dec. 27. The plan goes beyond […]

The Hanford Waste Treatment Plant would be funded at an annual level of $740 million going forward under a new approach close to being finalized within the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management, WC Monitor has learned. The impacts of the new funding profile on the project remain unclear, but a DOE review conducted […]

A Washington state judge yesterday dismissed a lawsuit filed by Walt Tamosaitis, a former contractor official at the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant, against Bechtel National over allegations that Bechtel had interfered with his work on the WTP project. In a decision that ran slightly longer than one page, Judge Craig Matheson granted Bechtel National’s motion […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Health, Safety and Security is set to release later this week the results of a new review of the safety culture at the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant, WC Monitor has learned. While the review’s exact findings are still unknown, HSS is believed to have taken a more critical stance […]

The watchdog group Hanford Challenge is calling for a halt to some work at the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant in the wake of a new Department of Energy report that warns that a significant number of personnel don’t feel comfortable raising safety concerns. “There are too many outstanding unresolved safety and design issues to justify […]

The USA Today examines the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant in a hefty “special report” published today under the headline: “Problems Plague Cleanup at Hanford Nuclear Waste Site.” The full article is available here. “A USA TODAY investigation has found that the troubled, 10-year effort to build the treatment plant faces enormous problems just as it […]

The Department of Energy’s Chief Health, Safety and Security Officer, Glenn Podonsky, appears to be skeptical that changes in management personnel are needed to respond to safety culture concerns at the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant. Earlier this month, Podonsky’s office issued a report outlining the results of a second review conducted on the safety culture […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board is seeking more information from the Department of Energy on how it plans to address erosion and corrosion concerns at the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant. In a Jan. 20 letter, the Board outlined the results of a nine-month evaluation of the wear allowances specified by WTP contractor Bechtel National […]

Walt Tamosaitis, a former senior contractor official on the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant who has alleged he was removed from the project for raising safety concerns, is taking his legal fight over his removal to federal court in a lawsuit set to be filed today. The suit will be filed against the Department of Energy and […]

A second senior contractor official on the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant has filed a whistleblower complaint with the Department of Labor, alleging retaliation by WTP project contractor Bechtel National and subcontractor URS for raising safety issues. The complaint was filed late last week by Donna Busche, who works for URS and holds the position of […]

The Hanford Waste Treatment Plant is facing a new round of troubles, with DOE opening an official investigation into safety aspects of the plant’s design while acknowledging yesterday that the project is likely to go well above its current cost estimate of approximately $12.2 billion. In a letter sent to WTP contractor Bechtel National late […]

Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) sent a letter to the Department of Energy yesterday with a host of questions over the safety culture at the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant project. Markey’s letter comes approximately a week after a second contractor executive on the project, Donna Busche, filed a complaint with the Department of Labor alleging retaliation […]

An independent team of nuclear safety experts is set to release today the findings of a study conducted on the safety culture at the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant. The team was commissioned by WTP project contractor Bechtel National earlier this year in response to a Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board recommendation urging improvements to the […]

Walt Tamosaitis, the former Hanford Waste Treatment Plant employee-turned alleged whistleblower, appears to have found at least one high-profile supporter in Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), chair of the Senate Ad Hoc Subcommittee on Contracting Oversight. During a subcommittee hearing yesterday, McCaskill offered words of support to Tamosaitis, an employee of WTP subcontractor URS who has […]

In a court filing obtained by WC Monitor yesterday, Bechtel National is seeking a dismissal of a lawsuit filed by Tamosaitis, who has alleged he was removed from the project for raising safety issues. In a motion for summary judgment filed late last month in the Superior Court of Washington for Benton County, Bechtel National […]

In order to make updates to salt waste disposal equipment at the Savannah River Site, liquid waste contractor Savannah River Remediation this week suspended salt waste operations at the site until August. The nine-month planned outage will not affect the schedule for tank waste closure at the site, as work on the 15 tanks currently […]

Parsons has removed Mark Breor as project manager of the Salt Waste Processing Facility project at the Savannah River Site, replacing him with company executive Lou Jackson. Breor has served as project manager on the construction project since 2008. Jackson most recently served as Parsons’ Senior Vice President for the Chemical Demilitarization Division. Parsons did […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board plans to a hold a hearing next spring on the safety culture at the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant. The hearing is intended to examine what improvements have been made since the Board issued a recommendation this summer warning of an environment at the WTP where workers feel afraid to […]

The Hanford Waste Treatment Plant, already one of the Department of Energy’s most expensive projects, is at risk of another cost increase of almost half-a-billion dollars, according to a report DOE released late this week.