Publications: Weapons Cleanup Monitor

The contractor that manages the U.S. Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site took appropriate actions upon finding that a solution sample taken at a key processing facility contained a higher level of plutonium than it should have. The incident, characterized as an anomaly, resulted in no criticality issues, harm to the environment, or danger to […]

The Department of Energy Office of Enforcement is concerned that agency oversight was needed to identify that Hanford Site contractor Mission Support Alliance (MSA) had not adequately developed and implemented a software quality assurance program that met federal requirements. The office on Nov. 2 sent an enforcement letter to the support services provider for the […]

BWX Technologies has rolled up a trio of big “wins” in the Energy Department’s cleanup complex during the past 12 months and is hoping for more, President and CEO Rex Geveden said Wednesday. “There remain significant pending opportunities including the re-award of the Savannah River [Site] liquid waste contract, Savannah River management and operations,” along […]

The $15 million contract Centrus Energy was awarded last month for decontamination and decommissioning (D&D) at the Energy Department’s Oak Ridge Reservation in Tennessee demonstrates the company is tapping new markets while riding out tough times in the nuclear fuel business, managers said Thursday. The work authorization to prepare the K-1600 facility at the East […]

Fluor Idaho still does not have a date for resuming sludge repackaging inside the building at Energy Department’s Idaho National Laboratory where four drums of the radioactive waste overheated and blew off their lids on April 11. That is a key takeaway from a monthly report the lab’s cleanup contractor filed Oct. 30 with the […]

Jeff Griffin, a longtime manager around the Energy Department complex, is the new head of field operations for the agency’s Office of Environmental Management (EM). Griffin, previously associate director for environmental management at the Savannah River National Laboratory in South Carolina, has been named EM’s new associate principal deputy assistant secretary for field operations. Assistant […]

Jacobs Engineering intends to compete for two major environmental remediation projects at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state, a senior executive said Tuesday. That demonstrates the Dallas-based company’s commitment to working at the massive cleanup program for the long term, according to Terry Hagen, Jacobs’ chief operating officer and president for its […]

Cathy Hickey has departed her post as president of Westinghouse Government Services, 17 months after the company opened a new office just outside of Washington, D.C., to increase its visibility within the Energy Department contracting world. Hickey “chose to leave via a voluntary separation package,” Westinghouse Electric spokeswoman Sarah Cassella said by email Wednesday. Company […]

While Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) easily won re-election Tuesday, his ability to influence the money flow to the Energy Department’s Idaho National Laboratory, and federal nuclear cleanup operations as a whole, appears to be on the decline. Simpson took more than 60 percent of the vote in Idaho’s 2nd Congressional District to decisively defeat Democrat […]

The Department of Energy could be at risk of millions of dollars of additional unnecessary costs at the Hanford Site in Washington state if it does not improve its oversight at the massive nuclear cleanup project, the agency’s inspector general said in a report this week. The Office of Inspector General released a summary of […]

The Energy Department contractor at the West Valley Demonstration Project near Buffalo, N.Y., recently finished shipping the last of the site’s legacy low-level radioactive waste for disposal. Contractor CH2M HILL BWXT West Valley (CHBWV) finished the shipments on Sept. 6, seven months ahead of the April 2019 deadline, a spokesman said by email. The waste, […]

The Energy Department must address concerns about potential water contamination before the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) is ready to sign off on a new waste disposal landfill at the Oak Ridge Reservation. “To gain the state’s support, DOE may need to revise the landfill design, because groundwater near the land surface could […]

Extensive mediation has not resolved a dispute over the amount of money former Department of Energy cleanup contractor Washington Closure must pay Savage Logistics in attorney fees and other legal costs as part of a lawsuit settlement, according to federal court documents. In mid-June, Washington Closure Hanford agreed to pay $3.2 million to settle a […]

The state of Idaho has now assessed the Energy Department $4.77 million in penalties for its failure to start treating sodium-bearing waste at the Idaho National Laboratory. Fluor Idaho has estimated it could be well into 2019 before it begins operation of DOE’s Integrated Waste Treatment Unit (IWTU), Natalie Creed, hazardous waste unit manager at […]

Fluor Chairman and CEO David Seaton on Thursday lauded two Department of Energy contract extensions for programs led by the company and expressed optimism about winning more business during the fourth quarter. The Fluor-led Savannah River Nuclear Solutions team, which manages the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, received a 12-month contract extension from in […]

The congressional district that covers the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) will have new representation in January after incumbent Rep. Steve Pearce stepped aside to run for New Mexico governor. Pearce is facing off against a colleague in Congress, Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-N.M.), to succeed term-limited governor Susana Martinez, a Republican. Pearce, […]

The head of the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management will attend a Nov. 28 public hearing about a controversial agency order the independent Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) fears will limit its access to defense-nuclear sites across the country. Anne Marie White, assistant secretary for environmental management, accepted the invitation on or […]

Workers at the Hanford Site on Wednesday resumed stabilizing the second PUREX Plant radioactive waste storage tunnel with concrete-like grout to prevent its possible collapse. The project was suspended for several days after an Oct. 26 incident in which steam was spotted coming from a small building attached to the tunnel, leading to a precautionary […]

The Energy Department said this week it is reviewing a new baseline laying out an updated cost and schedule for completion of the Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF) at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. The agency has not released details of the baseline submitted in June by SWPF contractor Parsons or said when […]

Contractors and other observers are still waiting to see who will be selected as permanent second in command for the U.S. Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management (EM). “We are all waiting on an EM-2” to be named, one industry source said Monday, using the common term for the principal deputy assistant secretary to the […]

Computer Sciences Corp. (CSC) has agreed to pay $389,355 to settle a civil lawsuit related to its former work as the prime medical services provider for the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for Eastern Washington and joined this week by the Department of Justice, claimed […]

Lynchburg, Va.-based BWX Technologies has selected executive David Brown to head a joint venture, BWSR LLC, focused on decommissioning and tearing down facilities at Naval Nuclear Laboratory sites. As president of BWSR, Brown will lead the 250-person BWXT Technical Services Group-APTIM Federal Services team that provides cleanup at sites under contract to Fluor Marine Propulsion […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) voted against submission of a preliminary fiscal 2020 budget request to the White House Office of Management and Budget after three of the four board members questioned whether the document reflected the agency’s funding and staffing needs, according to a recently published voting decision. On Oct. 17, the DNFSB […]

Cleanup contractor Fluor Idaho should have taken greater precautions in repackaging sludge prior to an April 11 incident in which four drums of the radioactive waste overheated and blew off their lids at a building inside the Energy Department’s Idaho National Laboratory. That is the crux of a report Thursday from the company, and overseen […]

The contractor that manages the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina performed well during its emergency response drills earlier this year, but needs to improve its response in several areas, according to a new agency report. In a detailed assessment of the SRS Emergency Management Exercise Program, DOE’s Office of Enterprise Assessments […]

Six workers reported smelling a suspicious odor Wednesday outside the U waste storage tank farm at the Hanford Site in Washington state, bringing the number of workers reporting possible chemical vapors so far this year to 20. However, just five have requested medical evaluations. That number is down significantly from the more than 50 workers […]

Bechtel National expects in the next few months to fill up to 300 jobs at the Waste Treatment Plant it is building at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state. The hiring comes as the contractor continues to shift from primarily construction to preparations for waste processing by a federal court-enforced deadline of […]

Despite its unusual circumstances, the 10-year contract for legacy cleanup at the Energy Department’s Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in New Mexico is off to a good start for Newport News Nuclear BWXT-Los Alamos (N3B). The contractor has about 500 employees at the lab, but fewer than 100 came over in April from prior environmental […]