Vol. 4, No. 57 Hanford Support-Services Vendor Should Receive Six-Month Extension
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Plutonium Pit Production
Judge Allows Nevada to Tweak Lawsuit to Seek Removal of Plutonium
Nevada will be allowed to seek removal of half a metric ton of nuclear weapon-usable plutonium sent to the Department of Energy’s Nevada National Security Site by amending a nearly year-old lawsuit, a federal judge ordered Monday. Nevada sued DOE and its semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) in U.S. District Court for Nevada in […]
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Stockpile Stewardship
DNFSB Chair Says Board Staff Will Attend DOE Nuclear Explosive Safety Meetings
In an escalation of an ongoing turf war, the federal Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) said last week it would send personnel to the Department of Energy’s secretive nuclear explosive safety study meetings, despite that agency’s position that it should not. “We have directed our staff to attend all phases of the NES [nuclear […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
Third-Party Firm Almost Ready to Commence Sampling Around Portsmouth Site
Solutient Technologies is near final approval to start taking air and dust samples at Zahn’s Corner Middle School and other properties near the U.S. Energy Department’s Portsmouth Site in Pike County, Ohio, in order to check on potential radiological contamination. In September, the Canton, Ohio-based radiological services and remediation specialist submitted its final scope of […]
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Contracts & Procurement
NNSA Considering Small, Complex-Wide Recruiting Services Contract
The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is mulling whether to establish an umbrella human-resources contract to help the entire nuclear security enterprise recruit and retain new personnel. In a request for information last week, the semiautonomous Department of Energy nuclear weapons agency said it was considering a seven-year contract worth a maximum of $8 […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
Firm Wins Nearly $6M Hanford Subcontract for Cesium, Strontium Dry Storage
Mechanical and industrial contractor Intermech will build a dry storage area for highly radioactive cesium and strontium now stored underwater at the U.S. Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state. The North Carolina-based company on Thursday received a $5.5 million subcontract from Hanford cleanup contractor CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co. Construction of the dry storage […]
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Decommissioning
Nuclear Companies Flock to Army Corps’ Reactor Decommissioning Site Visit
A number of companies with broad experience in nuclear and environmental remediation operations sent representatives to a Sept. 16 site visit for the decommissioning procurement for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ retired SM-1 reactor at Fort Belvoir, Va. Among the participants were Westinghouse, AECOM, Bechtel, APTIM, Atkins, EnergySolutions, and BWX Technologies, according to the […]
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Naval Nuclear Propulsion
Navy Sub Head Nominated To Lead STRATCOM
The Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday will hold its confirmation hearing for the Navy’s top submarine official to become the next leader of U.S. Strategic Command (STRATCOM). Vice. Adm. Charles Richard assumed his current duties in August 2018 as commander of Submarine Forces, commander of Submarine Force Atlantic, and commander of Allied Submarine Command. In […]
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Budget & Policy
House Committee Passes ARPA-E Bill With Rad Waste Language
The House of Representatives’ Science, Space, and Technology Committee last week advanced legislation that would assign the Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) to assist in disposal of radioactive waste. Committee Chair Eddie Bernice Johnson’s (D-Texas) ARPA-E Reauthorization Act of 2019 now awaits action by the full House. The bill would make a […]