Weapons Complex Vol. 26 No. 31 At Richland
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Cleanup & Remediation
Hanford Facility Hazards Analysis “Thorough” But Incomplete: DOE
Chris Schneidmiller WC Monitor 8/7/2015 The contractor building the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) at the Hanford Site in Washington state has prepared a comprehensive but not complete analysis of possible hazards to one of the plant’s facilities, the Department of Energy’s Office of Enterprise Assessments said in a review made public on Tuesday. […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
Publication Notice
As is our annual practice, WC Monitor is taking a summer publication break and will not publish for the next two weeks. The next regular issue will be on your desk Aug. 22. Subscribers to the Weapons Complex Morning Briefing service will receive editions twice-a-week on a Tuesday/Thursday basis during the break. In addition, we will issue a Special […]
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High-Level & Tank Waste
At Savannah River Site
WC Monitor 8/7/2015 Saltstone Operations Resume The Savannah River Site’s Saltstone facilities resumed operation in June after a suspension forced when elevated levels of mercury were detected in tank waste salt streams, according to a Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board report released this week. “Following DOE’s approval of the Evaluation of the Safety of the […]
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Uranium Enrichment & Fuel Cycle
At Portsmouth
WC Monitor 8/7/2015 DOE Extending BWXT Uranium Conversion Contract The Department of Energy on Wednesday said it would extend by nine months BWXT Conversion Services’ contract to operate depleted uranium hexafluoride conversion plants in Paducah, Ky., and Portsmouth, Ohio. “The Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Portsmouth/Portsmouth Project Office (PPPO), intends to issue a noncompetitive […]
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Uranium Enrichment & Fuel Cycle
NRC Inspecting Honeywell Plant After Uranium Hexafluoride Leak
Lance Moore WC Monitor 8/07/2015 A senior fuel facility inspector from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is expected this weekend to complete a weeklong assessment of the uranium hexafluoride (UF6) leak that occurred during maintenance activities at the Honeywell Metropolis Works facility in Illinois last Saturday. The amount of UF6 that leaked from a valve […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
DOE Pledges Sufficient Funding for FY16 Oak Ridge Cleanup
Staff Reports WC Monitor 8/7/2015 The Department of Energy’s environmental cleanup chief responded to the state of Tennessee’s concerns about reduced funding for Oak Ridge Reservation environmental projects and said they shared common interests, but he didn’t make any promises about future budgets or address the state’s specific concerns about funding trends. Mark Whitney, DOE’s […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
Senate Confirms Regalbuto as DOE Environmental Management Chief
Chris Schneidmiller and Lance Moore WC Monitor 8/7/2015 The Senate on Wednesday confirmed Monica Regalbuto as the Department of Energy’s assistant secretary for environmental management. The DOE veteran will lead the office tasked with managing the cleanup of U.S. nuclear arms operations and government-supported atomic energy activities. She most recently served as associate principal deputy […]
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Transuranic Waste
Faulty Equipment, Other Issues Delay WIPP Reopening: DOE
Chris Schneidmiller WC Monitor 8/7/2015 The Department of Energy said this week that faulty equipment and other challenges had forced it to delay the resumption of nuclear waste intake at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico. The underground storage facility has not accepted shipments of transuranic nuclear waste since a Feb. 5, 2014, […]
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Non-Proliferation
DOE’s Due Date for MOX Red Team Extended
Brian Bradley WC Monitor 8/7/2015 The Energy Department has extended its deadline for the red team reviewing options for disposal of tons of U.S. plutonium to report its findings to Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz from Aug. 10 to Aug. 17, an NNSA official told WC Monitor yesterday. “[I]t was done to ensure that the red team […]