Publications: ExchangeMonitor Morning Briefing

As of early Dec. 30, no companies have filed challenges with the Government Accountability Office to contest the Dec. 10 award of the new $160-million Paducah Infrastructure Support Services Contract to Kentucky-based Swift & Staley. The Department of Energy received four bids for the contract, an agency spokesperson said Dec. 17. The spokesperson did not […]

Like other federal agencies, the Department of Energy may continue to reimburse contractors for paid leave related to COVID-19 through March 31, under the combination omnibus budget bill and coronavirus relief package signed into law this week. The paid-leave reimbursement became law this summer in section 3610 of the CARES act, an early COVID-19 stimulus […]

The Department of Energy liked what it saw in Washington River Protection Solutions’ tank waste management at the Hanford Site in Washington state during fiscal 2020. The DOE awarded the Amentum-Atkins partnership about $42.58 million or 95% out of a potential $45 million in fees for overseeing Hanford’s 56 million gallons of highly radioactive and […]

The nuclear cleanup properties overseen by the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management had 431 active cases of COVID-19 as of the close of business Wednesday. The figure, shared in a Thursday email by an Environmental Management (EM) spokesperson, is a jump from the 366 active cases reported by the office one week before […]

The Los Alamos National Laboratory has finished technical preparations to vent the headspace of some tritium-bearing waste drums that cannot be disposed of until they’re depressurized, but the operation is on hold until after the winter, pending the approval of the state of New Mexico. The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and lab contractor Triad […]

Just before Christmas, and months after two losing teams protested the award, the Department of Energy canned a $13-billion liquid-waste cleanup contract awarded in May to a BWX Technologies-led team. In a Dec. 23 memo to Hanford employees, DOE said it scrapped the Tank Closure Contract because it wants to combine that work — emptying […]

Nuclear Regulatory Commission veteran Mirela Gavrilas will replace Brian Holian as director of the Office of Nuclear Security and Incident Response on Dec. 31. The office leads the NRC effort to safeguard nuclear plants from foreign attacks in conjunction with the Department of Homeland Security, law enforcement and other agencies through methods like force-on-force inspections […]

The Government Accountability Office says Hanford Tank Closure Co., made up of Atkins, Amentum and Westinghouse Government Services, is not entitled reimbursement of its legal costs for protesting a $13-billion tank closure contract issued in May by the Department of Energy. In a November decision published this month, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said the […]

After months of public dispute and consternation, Lacey Township has reached a settlement with Holtec to allow the company to add more storage casks to its fuel storage pad at the Oyster Creek nuclear plant in New Jersey.  The township approved the deal at a planning board meeting on Dec. 14, and the settlement was […]

Pennsylvania-based Westinghouse Nuclear signed a contract with Vattenfall, a Swedish utility, to dismantle the Ågesta Nuclear Plant near Stockholm, the country’s first commercial nuclear power plant. Along with performing site work, Westinghouse will manufacture the special tools for the job. The company will mechanically cut the reactor vessel underwater, along with its internal components, and […]

Entergy and Holtec jointly submitted a license transfer application with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to allow Holtec to decommission the Palisades nuclear plant after it shuts down in 2022. Holtec plans to dismantle, decontaminate and remediate the Palisades plant by 2041, around 40 years before Entergy would be able to decommission it through the 60-year […]

Navarro-led Hanford Laboratory Management and Integration on Monday received notice from the Department of Energy to begin taking over the 222-S Laboratory at the Hanford Site in Washington state. Located in the 200-West Area of the former plutonium complex, the primary purpose of the 70,000 square foot lab is to provide analytical support for the […]

The Department of Energy said Monday that Centerra, the paramilitary security contractor at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, is taking home roughly 98% of its potential $6.73 million in fee for the 12 months ended Oct. 7. Centerra-Savannah River Site will pocket $6.58 million for providing an armed and uniformed security force for […]

The ex-finance chief of the Honeywell-led Nevada site operations contractor Mission Support and Test Services is pressing on with a lawsuit in which he claims that his exposure of alleged financial impropriety at the privately held contractor was protected by the Sarbanes Oxley anti-corruption act. “Privately held companies such as MSTS [Mission Support and Test […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration in November shot its first deep-underground test involving special nuclear materials at the Nevada National Security Site in more than a year, according to a recent report from the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. The Los Alamos National Lab and Nevada site prime Mission Support and Test Services supervised the […]

On Sunday, nearly a week after Congress passed it, President Donald Trump at last signed a permanent 2021 spending bill that locks in raises for the Department of Energy’s major nuclear waste and weapons programs. DOE’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) would receive over $7.5 billion for the rest of 2021, some $130 million over […]

The Department of Energy reiterated in Dec. 23 online comments that questions on the long-term contract, potentially worth up to $8.3-billion, at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee, are due at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time today, Monday Dec. 28. In answer to a question submitted by a potential bidder, the DOE stressed any questions should […]

Bypassing the state legislature, an Ohio judge on Monday blocked collection of House Bill 6 nuclear bailout fees, which are slated to hit ratepayer bills next month. During December’s emergency legislative session, state lawmakers failed to come to an agreement about what, if anything, to do about the $60-million nuclear bailout. In July, ex-Ohio House […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management said Dec. 21 that it has transferred the Separations Process Research Unit in New York from the nuclear cleanup office to the DOE Office of Naval Reactors as of Dec. 16. The DOE announced the transfer of the Separations Process Research Unit (SPRU) areas from the Office […]

UCOR, the Amentum-Jacobs team in charge of remediation at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee, earned 98% of its potential fee, almost $28 million, for its work for the final six months of fiscal 2020. The joint venture earned 100% of its $20.8 million in objective fee for meeting deadlines and accomplishing […]

The COVID-19 pandemic did not take a holiday during Christmas week, with new infections reported at Department of Energy nuclear cleanup operations such as the Hanford Site in Washington state and the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico. Supervisors at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) were notified of nine positive COVID-19 cases between […]

A single-owner team led by Battelle Memorial Institute will manage the Savannah River National Laboratory for up to 10 years under a potentially $3.8 billion contract announced Tuesday by the Department of Energy. Battelle Savannah River Alliance, LLC (BSRA), Columbus, Ohio, beat out three other bidders for the cost-plus-award-fee contract just awarded by DOE’s Environmental […]

Cold War and Manhattan Project locations being cleaned up by the Department of Energy could be viable candidates for new nuclear power plants, a federal official said during an online presentation Wednesday. About a dozen of the 16 nuclear cleanup properties run by the DOE Office of Environmental Management (EM) boast “unique characteristics” potentially attractive […]

Weapons Complex Morning Briefing will not publish next week in observance of the Christmas holiday. Look for the next issue in your inbox on Monday, Dec. 28.

The Washington state Department of Ecology will hold an online public hearing Jan. 21 on proposed modifications to certain facilities at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site. The DOE and contractor Washington River Protection Solutions seek a class 2 modification to allow expansion of loading areas at the Liquid Effluent Retention Facility and the 200 […]

Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.), whose district includes the Savannah River Site, has tested positive for COVID-19, the congressman’s office said in a statement late Wednesday. “Earlier this evening I learned that I have tested positive for COVID-19,” Wilson said in the written statement posted to his website. “I will be taking all necessary precautions, as […]