Vol. 29, No. 32 
Energy Dept. Cleanup Office Swaps Out Chief Deputy to New Role
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Cleanup & Remediation
Draft RFP Issued for SRS Management Contract
The Department of Energy this week released a draft solicitation for a Savannah River Site management and operations contract that could be worth nearly $15 billion over 10 years, including construction of new tritium facilities to power up U.S. nuclear weapons. Interested parties can meet DOE officials on site for two days of one-on-one meetings and […]
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Contracts & Procurement
GAO Dismissed Bid Protest Because DOE Plans Tech Support Do-Over
The Government Accountability Office dismissed a bid protest over a $137 million consolidated technical support contract at the Energy Department’s Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office because the award is being reconsidered. That is according to the Aug. 17 decision document issued by the GAO after Albuquerque, N.M.-based Strategic Management Solutions protested the June contract award to a […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
Energy Dept. IG Faults Hanford Workers’ Comp Program Controls
The Department of Energy does not have effective processes, procedures, and controls over the workers’ compensation program at the Hanford Site in Washington state, the DOE Office of Inspector General said Thursday. Concerns ranged from inadequate communication with workers filing claims for illnesses and injuries to letters of credit issued without adequate controls to a […]
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Budget & Policy
Much ‘Attrition’ Expected In Planned DNFSB Reorganization
Restructuring the independent federal agency charged with health and safety oversight at Department of Energy nuclear-weapon and cleanup sites will not involve layoffs, according to the head of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. “We are not going to have to involuntarily separate anyone,” acting DNFSB Chairman Bruce Hamilton said in an Aug. 16 telephone […]
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National Laboratories
New Mexico AG Asked to Look at Los Alamos Community Group Expense Irregularities
A dispute over irregularities in expense reimbursements for the former executive director of the Regional Coalition of LANL Communities (RCLC) has attracted the attention of the New Mexico attorney general. “We can confirm the Office of the Attorney General has received a public referral and this matter is under review,” David Carl, spokesman for New […]
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Budget & Policy
Panel Endorses DOE General Counsel Nominee
William Cooper, the Trump administration’s nominee to become Energy Department general counsel, was passed out of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on a voice vote Thursday afternoon. The vote came after the panel’s business meeting was postponed Thursday morning, a committee staffer said. The nominee will now await action by the full Senate. […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
Hanford 222-S Lab Workload to Increase in Next Contract
The Energy Department’s Office of River Protection expects the workload will increase significantly during the next contract period at the 222-S Laboratory at the Hanford Site in Washington state. The Office of Environmental Management on July 30 issued a draft request for proposals (RFP) for a potential seven-year, $904 million contract for analytical work, testing, […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
Truck With Contaminated Gear Moved Around Hanford, Off-Site
A truck carrying equipment contaminated at the Hanford Site’s Plutonium Finishing Plant traveled to two other sites on the Energy Department property and then off-site before the problem was discovered. Employees at the cleanup site in eastern Washington state received a DOE message about the incident in early August. The incident occurred amid preparations to […]
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High-Level & Tank Waste
BWXT Still Eager to Land Next Savannah River Liquid Waste Contract
BWX Technologies still hopes its team can win the multibillion-dollar liquid waste management contract for the Energy Department’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina, executives said Aug. 7. The Lynchburg, Va., company partnered with Bechtel and Honeywell in Savannah River EcoManagement, which last fall initially won a 10-year, $4.7 billion contract to take over the […]
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Vitrification & Grout
Perma-Fix Expects GeoMelt System to go Online Late This Year
John Stang Perma-Fix expect its GeoMelt radioactive waste treatment system to go into fuller production in late 2018 at its Washington state location, according to President and CEO Mark Duff. Early this year, the Atlanta-based waste management company entered into a contract with Veolia Nuclear Solutions to install its patented vitrification technology in Perma-Fix’s Richland […]
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High-Level & Tank Waste
DOE Gives Mostly Upbeat Assessments on Hanford Waste Treatment Plant Construction
The Department of Energy’s oversight of contractors building the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) at the Hanford Site in Washington state is improving, according a recent review by DOE’s Office of Enterprise Assessments (EA). In a separate report, the DOE oversight office gave WTP prime contractor Bechtel National a clean review for recent development […]
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Transuranic Waste
Savannah River Sends First TRU Waste Shipment of Year to WIPP
The Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina earlier this month sent its first shipment of transuranic (TRU) waste for 2018 to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico, ending a yearlong layoff in waste exports. The DOE facility said in a press release it shipped “five standard waste boxes” to […]
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High-Level & Tank Waste
Valve Replacements at Savannah River Waste Facility Nearing Completion
A major infrastructure replacement at the Savannah River Site’s Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF) is inching toward completion, though the Department of Energy is hesitant to state when that might occur. The agency first reported in April that Parsons, the contractor that constructed the facility and is preparing it for operations, would need to replace […]
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Transuranic Waste
Wrap Up: Stop-Work Order Lifted in Hanford Tank Farm
Most work resumed Monday on the Hanford Site’s SX Tank Farm after a stop-work order was lifted. One or more workers called a halt to work Friday in the radioactive waste storage area out of safety concerns that a hole discovered the day before could impair the integrity of a nearby underground tank. However, a […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
While We Were Out
The August doldrums in Washington weren’t quite as quiet as in past years, and there was plenty of news during the ExchangeMonitor’s annual publication break. As chronicled in the Weapons Complex Morning Briefing, here are a few stories we’ve been following. Hanford Treats Over 2 Billion Gallons of Contaminated Groundwater in FY18 Workers at the Hanford […]