Vol. 27, No. 22 
House Fails to Pass DOE Budget Bill, Leaves Town
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Cleanup & Remediation
DOE Releases Draft Solicitation for 10-Year LANL Cleanup Pact
A massive cleanup contract that would begin Oct. 1, 2017 at the Energy Department’s Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) includes five years, plus a pair of options that would stretch the deal out through 2027, according to a draft solicitation DOE released late Thursday. The final value of the Los Alamos Legacy Cleanup Contract will […]
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Plutonium Pit Production
DOE to Fork Over Details on MOX Estimate May 31
The Energy Department will shed more light next week on the role industry is playing in crafting an updated cost and schedule estimate for the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) under construction at the agency’s Savannah River Site, an agency spokesperson said Thursday. The Senate Armed Services Committee requested an update on the latest […]
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Plutonium Pit Production
South Carolina, DOE Trade Fresh Barbs in Plutonium Lawsuit
The Energy Department and South Carolina traded barbed court filings this week in the state’s $100-million lawsuit over plutonium disposal at the Savannah River Site (SRS) near Aiken, S.C. DOE still wants the suit, filed in February, thrown out of court. South Carolina still wants Judge J. Michelle Childs to forgo a trial and order […]
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Decommissioning
K-27 Demolition at Oak Ridge Set for ‘Late Summer’
It’s been clear that the demolition of the K-27 Building — the last of five gaseous diffusion plants in Oak Ridge — has been running well ahead of its schedule for an end-of-year target date, and now the Department of Energy’s cleanup manager has confirmed that the contractor expects to complete demolition in “late summer/early […]
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High-Level & Tank Waste
SRS Salt Waste Tank Fails Leak Test
Savannah River Site officials reported Tuesday the site’s Saltstone Disposal Unit 6 (SDU 6) failed a leak test this month and now will not be finished until March – about five months later than expected, but still about a year before DOE is expected to need it, in February 2018. The unit’s concrete cell has […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
WRPS Studies Mobile Lab to Detect Hanford Vapors
A new mobile laboratory may help Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) better protect Hanford workers from exposure to chemical vapors at the tank farms. This spring, about 50 workers at the Energy Department’s Hanford site near Richland, Wash., received medical evaluations for possible exposure to chemical vapors. All are being released to return to work. […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
DOE Likely to Miss Sept. 30 Start Date for Idaho Waste Plant
For the third time in four years, the Energy Department has delayed the start-date for treating almost 1 million gallons of liquid waste at its Idaho site, the agency announced late Friday. In a press release that hit the wire around 3 p.m. Eastern time, DOE said it “notified the State of Idaho that it […]
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High-Level & Tank Waste
At SRS: Contractor Hopes Dye Will Help Find Crack in Evaporator Pot
The prime liquid-waste contractor at DOE’s Savannah River Site is still hunting for the source of a leak in the 3H Evaporator that helps make room for more liquid waste in the H-Area tank farm, a company spokesperson said Monday. Discovered in February, the leak in the evaporator pot has eluded personnel on site, who are now […]