Publications: Weapons Cleanup Monitor

Two companies are working together to extract rare isotopes for cancer treatment research from nuclear waste at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Tennessee. The project was unveiled in late November by Isotek Systems, a DOE contractor that oversees management of uranium-233 stored at ORNL, and TerraPower, a company co-founded […]

AECOM has named Bruce Covert as deputy general manager at the Waste Treatment Completion Co., based at the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state. Waste Treatment Completion Co. is a joint venture formed by Bechtel and AECOM in January 2017 that acts as a subcontractor to Bechtel National for startup of low-activity waste vitrification […]

Less than two months after U.S. Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.) announced plans to leave Congress, several declared candidates are jockeying to take his place. Three Democrats and three Republicans have filed to run in their respective party primaries on May 19, 2020, according to the Ballotpedia website. The victors would then square off in the […]

A major defense policy bill would effectively block the U.S. Department of Energy from applying its new interpretation of high-level radioactive waste during fiscal 2020 in Washington state. That would cover the Hanford Site, a former plutonium production complex that is DOE’s largest cleanup project and home to much of its high-level waste. The fiscal […]

The Washington state Department of Ecology is threatening to fine the U.S. Energy Department for withholding important data about operations at the Hanford Site. For its part, DOE’s Office of Environmental Management claims the state misunderstands the level of access allowed under the 1989 Tri-Party Agreement that governs cleanup at the former plutonium production complex. […]

The Savannah River Site’s Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF) resumed operations last week, ending a four-month scheduled outage that allowed workers to tie the $2.3 billion Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF) into the rest of the liquid waste system at the Department of Energy complex in South Carolina. The DWPF is again treating radioactive sludge […]

Interim containment measures are underway on the eastern boundary of the chromium plume at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, U.S. Department of Energy Environmental Management Los Alamos Field Office (EM-LA) Manager Doug Hintze recently told the Regional Coalition of LANL Communities board. In his Nov. 15 briefing to the board, Hintze highlighted […]

U.S. Department of Defense senior executive Tom Mooney is apparently becoming the new chief of staff at the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management. Mooney is the current chief of staff for the Pentagon’s Office of the Chief Management Officer, according to a source who said the federal manager stopped by DOE headquarters in Washington, […]

The U.S. Energy Department plans by early 2020 to issue a final request for proposals for deactivation, decommissioning, and removal of excess facilities across the nuclear weapons complex. The agency posted a notice Dec. 5 saying the final RFP on the contract, potentially worth $3 billion over 10 years, should be released within 30 days. […]

The U.S. Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) would move to keep inspectors on the job at Department of Energy defense nuclear sites beyond Dec. 20, if the federal government shuts down when the current stopgap spending measure expires. In the event of a government closure, “the Chairman may designate resident inspectors at designated DOE defense […]

The U.S. Department of Energy on Tuesday awarded Waste Control Specialists (WCS) a task order for long-term storage of elemental mercury in existing buildings on its Andrews County, Texas, property. The agency’s press release did not reveal the value of the deal to lease WCS storage space for up to 6,800 metric tons (7,480 tons) […]

The U.S. Energy Department said Thursday it has awarded a potential 10-year, $10 billion contract for ongoing remediation of the Hanford Site Central Plateau in Washington state to a joint venture of AECOM, Fluor, and Atkins. The proposal by Central Plateau Cleanup Co., as the partnership is known, provides the best value to the federal […]

New U.S. Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette assured a Senate committee recently that steps are being taken to tighten his department’s shipment of radioactive waste for disposal at the Nevada National Security Site. Brouillette, at the time deputy energy secretary, listed several measures in a written response to a question submitted by Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto […]

Members of the federal Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board would generally not be allowed to serve in expired terms any longer, if Congress’ compromise 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) becomes law. The measure would make an exception in cases where the departure of a board member would leave the nominally five-member body without its […]

Cost and schedule issues at the Waste Treatment Plant at the Hanford Site in Washington state have prompted the U.S. Energy Department to downgrade the performance of facility construction and operations contractor Bechtel National. That’s one of the observations in a semiannual report from the DOE’s Office of Inspector General regarding its work. This report […]

A risk of combustion linked to calcium prompted suspension in November of transuranic waste shipments from the U.S. Energy Department’s Los Alamos National Laboratory to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant further south in New Mexico, according to the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB). Workers discovered calcium metal in certain transuranic material that can ignite […]

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Despite one soil sample that showed an elevated level of radioactive contamination, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) thinks land near the former Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant poses no significant threat to people. “Our state experts and toxicologists do not believe there is any immediate threat to public […]

Washington state Department of Ecology Director Maia Bellon said Monday she would retire at the end of this month. Ecology is the state regulator for the U.S. Department of Energy’s sprawling Hanford Site through a variety of permits including the dangerous waste, or site-wide, permit. Bellon announced her pending retirement after 25 years as a […]

The U.S. Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management on Thursday awarded a potential 10-year, $4 billion contract for support services at the Hanford Site in Washington state to a slightly updated version of the incumbent vendor. Hanford Mission Integration Solutions (HMIS) is comprised of Leidos Integrated Technology, Centerra Group, and Parsons Government Services. Leidos also […]

Oversight of contractors and environmental remediation remains at the forefront of the U.S. Department of Energy’s management challenges for fiscal 2020, according to a Nov. 15 special report from DOE’s Office of Inspector General. Other major concerns include nuclear waste management, cybersecurity, safeguards and security of DOE installations, civilian stewardship of the U.S. nuclear arsenal, […]

The U.S. Senate on Monday passed legislation to reauthorize the Energy Department’s cleanup of the West Valley Demonstration Project in New York state. The measure awaits President Donald Trump’s signature after receiving unanimous consent from the Senate. The president is expected to sign the bill into law within a couple weeks, according to a congressional […]

Fluor is receiving strong interest as it seeks a buyer for the government contracting business that does work for the U.S. Department of Energy and other federal agencies, CEO Carlos Hernandez said Wednesday. “The interest in that business is very, very substantial,” Hernandez said during an appearance at the Credit Suisse 7th Annual Industrials Conference […]

A federal mediator will assist the U.S. Energy Department and the Washington state Ecology Department in their talks over cleanup milestones at the Hanford Site. The parties have agreed to use the services of a federal mediator to assist in the “holistic talks” on Hanford remediation issues, according to a slide presentation from Suzanne Dahl, […]

Based on conversations with the U.S. Department of Energy, the state of Idaho expects the long-awaited Integrated Waste Treatment Unit (IWTU) will start operating in late 2020 at the Idaho National Laboratory. However, the state for now will continue to assess financial penalties over DOE’s failure to meet the deadline for beginning operations at the […]

Congress had not produced a compromise National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2020 as of Friday morning, prolonging a lack of authorization for key nuclear modernization programs. It was a week of whiplash predictions from top defense authorizers Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) and Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), who in the aggregate appeared less certain of […]

The U.S. Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico received 275 shipments of defense-related transuranic waste during the first 10 months of this year, compared to 272 during the same period in 2018. October is the last full month for which shipment information is available through WIPP’s public database. It shows that the […]

Rick Perry ended his tenure as U.S. secretary of energy on Sunday, but not before issuing a press release highlighting the progress of cleanup at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory (SSFL) in Ventura County, Calif. “I am proud of the work the Department of Energy (DOE) has done to advance the final cleanup of the […]

Dan Brouillette was sworn in Wednesday as the 15th U.S. secretary of energy, after the Senate voted 70-15 to confirm him for the Cabinet spot earlier this week, a Department of Energy spokesperson said. Brouillette had served since 2017 as the deputy secretary of energy under Rick Perry, who resigned as secretary effective Sunday. The […]

Perma-Fix Northwest accepted a $23,275 fine for its failure in 2013-2014 to ensure it had sufficient third-party liability coverage for its Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) radioactive waste facility in Richland, Wash., the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Tuesday. Representatives for the federal agency and the company signed a consent agreement on Aug. 12. […]