Transuranic Waste

Waste Isolation Pilot Plant M&O contractor Nuclear Waste Partnership is “disappointed” after receiving only 7 percent of available fee in Fiscal Year 2016 from the Department of Energy, the contractor said in a statement yesterday. Waste operations at WIPP have been shut down since February 2014 incidents including a salt truck fire and a radiological […]

Waste Isolation Pilot Plant contractor Nuclear Waste Partnership earned only 7 percent of its available fee in Fiscal Year 2014 after incidents shut down the repository, totaling $561,266 out of $8.2 million in maximum fee available, according to recently released fee information. WIPP was shut down for eight months of the fiscal year after a […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 4/10/2015 The long-awaited final Department of Energy Accident Investigation Board report on last year’s radiological release at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant appears set to be released by late next week, as DOE has set a public meeting for April 16 in Carlsbad, N.M., to discuss the report. The third and […]

NNSA Says ‘Considerable Time’ Needed to Resolve TRU Facility Analyses WC Monitor 4/10/2015 The National Nuclear Security Administration expects to take “considerable time” resolving issues with the documented safety analyses at Los Alamos National Laboratory’s facility for loading transuranic waste before allowing operations to restart, the agency said in a recent letter to the Defense […]

Joe Franco is stepping down as head of the Department of Energy’s Carlsbad Field Office, which oversees the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, to take a senior position at DOE’s Richland Operations Office, according to a message acting DOE cleanup chief Mark Whitney sent to employees yesterday. Franco is leaving the Carlsbad Field Office for “a […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board has scheduled hearings April 29 in Carlsbad, N.M., on last year’s incidents at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. The Board has scheduled four sessions from noon to 9 p.m. In the first session, a Department of Energy official will testify on recovery actions at WIPP following the salt haul […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 4/3/2015 Los Alamos National Security, LLC, the managing contractor for Los Alamos National Laboratory, is moving to significantly reduce subcontractor personnel working on transuranic waste processing, cutting workers from 42 down to eight, WC Monitor has learned. LANL had been the focus of a high-profile campaign to remove all aboveground transuranic […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 4/3/2015 The Department of Energy’s National TRU Program is kicking off an extensive review of transuranic waste generator sites in response to the radiological release at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant after the existing system of checks and balances failed to catch the drum linked to the release. The February 2014 […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 4/3/2015 The Department of Energy is changing its approach for a planned covert security review at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant after information was publicly posted on a government website late last week. DOE had issued a sources sought notice on the FedBizOpps web site to begin conducting market research to […]

DOE Issues RFP for Carlsbad Technical Assistance Contract WC Monitor 4/3/2015 The Department of Energy this week issued a final Request for Proposals for the new technical assistance contract at the Carlsbad Field Office. The small business set-aside contract is expected to be worth $30-35 million over five years, consisting of a three-year base period […]

The Department of Energy yesterday issued a request for proposal for a technical assistance contract for the Carlsbad Field Office. The small business set-aside contract is expected to total $30 million to $35 million over a three-year period of performance with a two-year option period. The contract supports Waste Isolation Pilot Plant operations and recovery, […]

Looking to improve security culture at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, the Department of Energy is seeking companies able to covertly evaluate management practices and staff for the Carlsbad Field Office, according to a sources sought notice posted Friday. The site’s operational security policy requires the protection of “critical information,” the notice states. ”However, the […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 3/27/2015 A months-long assessment into last year’s radiological release at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant by a team of experts from national laboratories was unable to determine the cause of the event with “absolute certainty”, but the team did largely confirm the leading theory, according to a report the Department of […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 3/27/2015 The Fiscal Year 2014 fee determination for Waste Isolation Pilot Plant M&O contractor Nuclear Waste Partnership, to be released “very soon,” will be reduced “significantly” due to the 2014 incidents at the plant, acting Department of Energy cleanup chief Mark Whitney said this week. Responding to questions about WIPP accountability […]

Newest Estimate Could Increase Costs By Nearly a Billion Dollars Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 3/27/2015 The Department of Energy should improve its cost estimates for transuranic waste programs at Los Alamos National Laboratory, which are expected to surpass previous estimates by at least $900 million, according to a Government Accountability Office report released this week.  […]

The Fiscal Year 2014 fee determination for Waste Isolation Pilot Plant M&O contractor Nuclear Waste Partnership, to be released “very soon,” will be reduced “significantly” due to the 2014 incidents at the plant, Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management Acting Assistant Secretary Mark Whitney said yesterday. Responding to questions about WIPP accountability at a […]

The Department of Energy should improve its cost estimates for transuranic waste programs at Los Alamos National Laboratory, which are expected to surpass previous estimates by at least $900 million, according to a Government Accountability Office report released yesterday. The 2006 cost estimates for the LANL transuranic waste removal project stood at $729 million, but […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 3/20/2015 PHOENIX, Ariz.—Recovery of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant is in full swing after the site’s managing contractor, Nuclear Waste Partnership, began major decontamination efforts last month and hopes to meet a goal this spring to close an underground panel, NWP WIPP Recovery Manager Jim Blankenhorn said here this week. The […]

Oak Ridge Increases Oversight at TWPC Preparing for Contract Transition WC Monitor 3/20/2015 The Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Environmental Management Office will increase oversight of the Transuranic Waste Processing Center during the transition to a new contractor. DOE last month notified incumbent contractor Wastren Advantage, Inc. that it will be implementing an “enhanced oversight […]

The Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Environmental Management Office will increase oversight of the Transuranic Waste Processing Center during the transition to a new contractor, according to a Feb. 13 Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board site rep report. DOE Oak Ridge sent a letter in February to incumbent contractor Wastren Advantage, Inc., stating it will […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 3/13/2015 After more than a year of probes into the 2014 radiological release at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, the Department of Energy is poised to release in the coming weeks its final Accident Investigation Board report into the root cause of the incident. The report is expected to implicate failures […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 3/13/2015 With 57 drums currently at Los Alamos National Laboratory containing similar materials to a drum that caused a major radiological release, officials plan to repackage the drums within the next two years using a “cold and dry” process. A drum processed at Los Alamos containing a volatile mixture of nitrate […]

Schedule Set for Hearings on NMED Compliance Orders Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 2/27/2015 New Mexico has asked Los Alamos National Laboratory to turn over records for a suspect batch of waste dating back to 2006, threatening fines of up to $10,000 per day if the Department of Energy doesn’t comply. The documents cover nitrate salt-bearing […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 2/27/2015 In preparation for a Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board hearing this spring on last year’s incidents at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, DNFSB Members Sean Sullivan and Daniel Santos plan to visit Carlsbad, N.M. next week. While the date and agenda for this spring’s public meeting have not yet been […]

New Mexico has asked Los Alamos National Laboratory to turn over records for a suspect batch of waste dating back to 2006, threatening fines of up to $10,000 per day if the Department of Energy doesn’t comply. The documents cover nitrate salt-bearing waste drums processed at LANL, one of which is thought to be the […]

EM Releases Field Office-Level Results From 2014 Employee Survey Mike Nartker WC Monitor 2/20/2015 Federal employees at the Department of Energy’s Carlsbad Field Office appear to be the most concerned across the entire DOE cleanup program of potentially being punished for raising concerns, according to data the DOE Office of Environmental Management recently provided to […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 2/13/2015 The New Mexico Environment Department this week warned that it plans to levy additional penalties of more than $100 million against the Department of Energy due to violations at Los Alamos National Laboratory if DOE does not accept accountability for past violations and work with the state on recent compliance […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 2/13/2015 Though the radiological release at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant a year ago this week exposed major issues in the nation’s transuranic waste program, local, state and federal officials are emphasizing progress while acknowledging the remaining substantial hurdles to fully resuming waste operations. On Feb. 5, 2014, a salt haul […]

Feb. 14 will mark the one-year anniversary of the radiation release that has shut down the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant and brought the Department of Energy’s once-successful national transuranic waste program to a sudden, devastating halt with no clear end in sight.  The last year has brought more than its share of finger pointing, shoulder […]

Responding to the potential $100 million in additional fines from New Mexico, the Department of Energy yesterday emphasized its commitment to addressing the issues raised by the state. New Mexico Environment Department Secretary Ryan Flynn yesterday said he is working on a new compliance order that tops $100 million linked to recent violations at Los […]