Publications: Weapons Cleanup Monitor

The Hanford Site has five major procurements in the pipeline between now and fiscal 2020, according to an announcement published Jan. 3 by the Department of Energy’s Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center (EMCBC). Three of the five solicitations could extend for up to 10 years; a fourth for up to seven years; and the length […]

Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS), waste storage tank operations contractor at the Hanford Site in Washington state, received 89 percent of its available fee for fiscal 2017, the Department of Energy noted in a recently issued performance scorecard. WRPS earned $11.89 million of the available $13.35 million for the budget year ended Sept. 30, 2017. […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, the safety watchdog for Department of Energy nuclear sites around the country, has issued a new plan for operations in the event of a federal government shutdown. Congress has until Jan. 19 to pass a budget for the remainder of fiscal 2018, or another continuing resolution to keep the […]

A Washington state judge has refused to grant a new trial or reduce an $8.1 million jury verdict against Hanford Site support services contractor Mission Support Alliance (MSA) and one of its managers. The company and Steve Young, an MSA manager and also mayor of the largest city near Hanford, were sued in 2015 for […]

Federal and state regulators this week directed the U.S. Energy Department not to resume radiologically hazardous demolition at the Hanford Site’s Plutonium Finishing Plant until the agencies agree corrective actions are sufficient to protect workers and the public in the wake of a contamination spread. Contractor CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co. suspended teardown on Dec. […]

Contract management and technical expertise are the major reasons the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) will now report to DOE’s Office of Science, officials said Tuesday during a congressional hearing. Energy Secretary Rick Perry announced EM’s move from the Office of the Undersecretary for Management and Performance to Science on Dec. 15 as […]

The comment period on a draft environmental assessment (EA) for a planned above-ground storage facility at the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., has been extended by two weeks, DOE said recently. The original 30-day comment period, from Dec. 15 through Jan. 15, will now end Jan. 29, DOE said in a […]

Anne M. White’s nomination to become assistant secretary of energy for environmental management appears to be on a fast track. The energy industry consultant’s pending nomination was announced by the White House on Jan. 3, formally submitted to the Senate on Monday, and as of Friday has been scheduled for a Senate Energy and Natural […]

Oak Ridge, Tenn.-based Restoration Services, which was purchased by another company in October 2016, announced Monday it has changed its name to RSI EnTech. “We are excited about rebranding the company as RSI EnTech LLC while retaining the RSI brand that is synonymous with our exceptional service delivery and being an employer of choice,” said […]

With fewer than six months left on the incumbent’s contract, the Department of Energy still has not started competition for the next Savannah River Site management and operations deal — the pact that includes running the National Nuclear Security Administration’s tritium program. The NNSA extracts tritium gas, which boosts the yield of nuclear weapons, at the […]

The number of contaminated vehicles identified after a spread of radioactive contamination at the Hanford Site’s Plutonium Finishing Plant has increased to 21. Fourteen of those are government and contractor vehicles, and seven belong to workers. The last worker-owned car with contamination was released to its owner Wednesday. Surveys of vehicles are continuing at the […]

The number of contaminated vehicles identified after a spread of radioactive contamination at the Hanford Site’s Plutonium Finishing Plant has increased to 21. Fourteen of those are government and contractor vehicles, and seven belong to workers. The last worker-owned car with contamination was released to its owner Wednesday. Surveys of vehicles are continuing at the […]

Mission Support Alliance (MSA), the support services contractor for the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site, is asking for a new trial in Benton County, Wash., Superior Court after a jury in October awarded $8.1 million in damages for retaliation and discrimination against a former manager. If Judge Doug Federspiel does not agree to a new […]

President Donald Trump plans to nominate consultant Anne M. White of Michigan to head the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management, which oversees cleanup of DOE’s Cold War nuclear complex, the White House announced Wednesday. The intent to nominate declaration was issued nearly a year into Trump’s presidency. The position of assistant energy secretary for […]

A delegation of local officials from Grand County, Utah, plans to travel to Washington, D.C., within the next month to promote increased cleanup funding for the Energy Department’s Moab Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action (UMTRA) Project. The group is expected to meet with members of Utah’s congressional delegation and Energy Department officials in February to […]

As of Thursday, the Government Accountability Office had not ruled on protests filed against the Energy Department’s award of a $4.7 billion liquid waste management contract at the Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina. It also appears the GAO has not to date received any bid protests on the $1.39 billion award for legacy […]

Like everyone else, the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management and its contractors have turned the page to 2018, which is shaping up to be another year of transition, according to an informal survey of veteran watchers of the DOE nuclear cleanup complex. Here are a few of the issues to watch: A new leader […]

Brookfield Business Partners, a global asset management firm, announced Thursday it would purchase ailing nuclear energy and infrastructure giant Westinghouse Electric from Toshiba for $4.6 billion. The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that Westinghouse is looking to focus more on nuclear services, including reactor decommissioning. “The company operates within a complex regulatory and licensing environment […]

The Energy Department is seeking public comment until Jan. 15 on plans to build a 65,280- cubic-foot above-ground concrete storage facility at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., for contact-handled transuranic waste. The comment period opened Dec. 15 on the draft environmental assessment, required by the National Environmental Policy Act. The surface storage […]

Ohio Environmental Protection Agency Director Craig Butler said last month the state feels confident in the safety of a planned on-site disposal cell for waste from decommissioning of the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant — and that recent research by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency backs up that conclusion. “We have patiently and […]

The Department of Energy plans to close the Hanford Site’s waste storage Tank AY-102, which developed a slow leak from its inner shell into the space between its shells. Tank AY-102 was the first of 28 double-shell tanks built at the Energy Department site in Washington state, leaving 27 in service to hold waste emptied […]

The U.S. Department of Energy must be prepared to safely manage its 2,510-metric-ton stockpile of spent nuclear reactor fuel for decades until it can be placed in a permanent repository, according to new findings from a federal panel of experts. “While disposal of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and high-level radioactive waste (HLW) in a deep […]

The New Mexico State Auditor’s Office has questioned whether the state Environment Department (NMED) went too easy on the Department of Energy during legal settlements in recent years over cleanup problems and violations at the Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. In a Nov. 21 letter to New Mexico Environment Secretary Butch Tongate, […]

After a transuranic waste fire forced the Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Facility at the Idaho National Laboratory out of service on Dec. 21, the facility has now largely returned to operations, the Department of Energy confirmed Friday. “AMWTP Treatment Facility Operations have resumed following the scheduled holiday curtailment of operations with the exception of the […]

The Federal Aviation Administration on Monday announced that it is prohibiting flights of unmanned aerial vehicles over seven Department of Energy sites around the country. Drone flights will be banned from the surface to 400 feet above ground level at the Hanford Site in Washington state, the Pantex Plant in Texas, the Los Alamos National […]

Lynchburg, Va.-based BWX Technologies is interested in a potential 10-year, $4 billion support services contract at the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state, a spokesperson confirmed Tuesday. BWXT was one of many well-known DOE contractors to send representatives last week to information sessions on DOE’s draft request for proposals on the Hanford Mission Essential […]

After extending the deadline for an extra week due to Southern California wildfires, the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) has closed out the public comment period on two major reports on the cleanup of the radioactively contaminated Santa Susana Field Laboratory. The public comment period for the Santa Susana draft program environmental impact […]

It appears unlikely that the Government Accountability Office will rule by Christmas on protests filed against the Energy Department’s award of a new $4.7 billion liquid waste management contract at the Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina. The congressional auditor had not posted a decision as of early Dec. 21. Several lawyers connected with […]