Publications: Weapons Cleanup Monitor

Susan Beard, a Department of Energy attorney of more than 25 years nominated in April to become the agency’s next inspector general, had her day in the Senate Thursday, where lawmakers who must consent to her nomination pressed her about the DOE’s Hanford Site: regarded by many as the most challenging cleanup in the entire […]

The current management and operations contract for the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico has been extended for one year, to fiscal 2018, but will be up for grabs after that. Lab Director Charles McMillan made the announcement at an all-hands meeting on Wednesday, according to an internal announcement issued Thursday. A formal notice […]

The Department of Energy later this month will lift the curtain a little on its plans for temporarily storing 35 cubic yards of radioactive sludge at the Hanford Site near Richland, Wash., before disposing of the material permanently. The changes will be detailed in an official document known as an Explanation of Significant Difference for […]

Profits rose at Fluor Corp.’s Government division in the first quarter, and the segment checked in with big wins on major Energy Department cleanup jobs for the period ended March 31, the Irving, Texas-based engineering and construction giant announced late Thursday. The win comes as overall profits in the quarter fell on a weaker performance […]

The Department of Energy on Tuesday said it approved changes to an official safety document that lays the groundwork for contractor Nuclear Waste Partnership (NWP) to reopen the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M., and resume nuclear waste disposal in the underground facility after two years spent recovering from a radiation release and […]

BWX Technologies’ (BWXT) said Monday its adjusted earnings per share from continuing operations for the first quarter of 2016 rose 11 cents year over year, to 44 cents a share , with revenue in the period rising 9 percent to about $365 million. On a nonadjusted basis, the now-nuclear-only company posted first-quarter earnings of 46 […]

When lawmakers return to Capitol Hill next week, yet another report proclaiming the fundamental unsoundness of the Energy Department’s proposal to store surplus plutonium at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M. will greet them. Delivered to the Hill on Thursday, the latest report by Greensboro, Ga.-based High Bridge Associates — the consulting firm […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued its final supplement to the Department of Energy’s Yucca Mountain environmental impact statement (EIS) late Thursday, finding the impact to groundwater from any potential spent nuclear fuel leaks and high-level nuclear waste at the planned nuclear waste repository in Nevada would be “small.” DOE submitted its final EIS in 2002, and […]

James Taylor, the former AECOM executive, is now general manager of Bechtel’s global Environmental business line, the company announced in a thursday press release. In his new role, Taylor will lead government and commercial environmental remediation projects worldwide for Bechtel’s Nuclear, Security and Environmental global business unit, the press release said. Taylor, formerly executive vice […]

Hanford Site contractor CH2M Plateau Remediation Co. has earned 95 percent of the available fee for fiscal 2015 and a rating of “excellent,” the Department of Energy announced this week. The contractor, which is responsible for Hanford groundwater and Central Plateau cleanup, earned about $10.6 million of about $10.9 million available. The excellent rating was […]

A manager with Battelle Memorial Institute said Wednesday the company is in final discussions with multiple landowners for a potential borehole field test site in South Dakota, and organizers will hold an additional public meeting next week. After abandoning its original planned test site in North Dakota in the face of public opposition, Battelle is […]

The Savannah River Site’s two largest contractors reported recently that they are focusing on hiring more personnel as a significant number of their workforces near retirement eligibility. Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS), the SRS management and operations contractor, and Savannah River Remediation (SRR), the site’s liquid waste contractor, both gave presentations in April to the […]

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson said this week they are each considering steps to hold the Department of Energy accountable at the Hanford Site tank farms. Both visited the Hanford area Thursday, dropping hints at a press conference about what their next steps may be. Ferguson, a Democrat up […]

The story “DOE Close to Figuring Out which Excess Nuclear Facilities to Tear Down First,” [Weapons Complex Monitor, April 22] should have said DOE sub-agencies such as the National Nuclear Security Administration are responsible for maintaining facilities they no longer need for active missions until the Environmental Management office takes over those facilities for cleanup.

The contractor for the Department of Energy’s project to test the feasibility of storing nuclear waste in deep boreholes has run into more opposition, this time in South Dakota, after abandoning its original test site in North Dakota. Battelle Memorial Institute representatives met with residents and officials in Spink County, S.D., on Wednesday and Thursday to […]

With research and development efforts winding down in earnest at the American Centrifuge Plant near the Energy Department’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio, Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) made a plea on the Senate floor Tuesday to increase the fiscal 2017 budget for another big Pike County jobs project: an on-site waste-disposal facility. As part of the […]

In fiscal 2015, Energy Department contractor LATA Environmental Services of Kentucky nabbed about 75 percent of its possible award fee, good for just under $2.5 million in the final year of the company’s five-year remediation contract for the Paducah Site in Kentucky. LATA has been officially off the job since its contract, worth just over […]

Portage Inc. on Tuesday laid off 31 employees at the Energy Department’s Moab site in Utah, where the company recently received a follow-on contract for uranium tailings cleanup work, a local public radio station reported. The layoffs leave 80 people on the job at Moab, the station, KUER 90.1, reported. A Portage spokesperson Wednesday declined […]

Senators left Washington for a weeklong recess Friday without passing their fiscal 2017 energy and water spending bill, but the chamber’s Republican leader has vowed to try again on May 9, despite no signs that the partisan strife which prevented a floor vote this week will abate. The bill was cruising toward a vote Wednesday […]

The Department of Energy and contractor Nuclear Waste Partnership have made strides in updating safety procedures at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M., but there are still “significant challenges” to surmount if the facility is to reopen in December as planned, according to a new report from the agency’s Office of Enterprise […]

The Energy Department on Thursday released a draft solicitation for a potentially 10-year cleanup contract at the former Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Kentucky, which is now undergoing deactivation by Fluor Federal Services. Fluor’s deal, worth $465 million over three years, runs out July 31, 2017, and DOE is looking for a contractor that could be in […]

The lead parent company for Savannah River Remediation (SRR), the Savannah River Site’s liquid waste contractor, participated last week in a pre-solicitation event attended by parties interested in taking over that work once the current deal expires in June 2017. “AECOM is extremely interested in continuing our success in cleaning up SRS, specifically within the […]

The White House on Thursday announced the nomination of nuclear policy and technology consultant Gail Marcus to the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. Marcus would presumably replace DNFSB Vice Chairman Jessie Hill Roberson, who has been nominated to fill a vacancy on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The Senate has yet to take action on Roberson’s […]

Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) agreed this month to pay the federal government $175,000 after multiple safety incidents, including one that resulted in a pause of all nonessential work, occurred under the company’s watch. Carol Johnson, president of the Savannah River Site’s management and operations contractor, signed a consent order on April 22. The document […]

The Department of Energy has been tight-lipped about shipment of Consolidated Edison Uranium Solidification Project (CEUSP) materials that include a highly radioactive and fissionable U-233/U-235 mix from the Oak Ridge Reservation to the Nevada National Security Site for burial. The Department of Energy carried out extended negotiations with the state of Nevada before it began […]

A dozen workers were evaluated Thursday for possible exposure to chemical vapors during work to empty the Hanford Site double-shell tank with an interior leak and transfer the waste to a sturdier double-shell tank. Pumping to remove waste from Tank AY-102 has been stopped due to the possible vapor issues, according to the Department of […]

The second melter at the Savannah River Site’s (SRS) Defense Waste Processing Facility has now processed twice as much radioactive waste as the plant’s now-retired first melter, according to a press release issued Monday. The facility just over two decades ago began converting high-level radioactive waste stored at the Department of Energy facility in South […]