Publications: Weapons Cleanup Monitor

Staff Reports WC Monitor 11/20/2015 The Department of Energy has not yet come up with the official CERCLA “proposed plan” for its second-generation waste landfill in Oak Ridge, Tenn., which will include a period for public comments on the proposal. But the City of Oak Ridge has already prepared comments – and they are not […]

Staff Reports WC Monitor 11/20/2015 Washington Closure Hanford has completed digging up most of the chromium contamination near the Columbia River at the Hanford Site, excavating down to more than 85 feet in some places and removing more than 2 million tons of tainted soil. Any remaining work, which could be required near the K […]

Staff Reports WC Monitor 11/20/2015 Winds that gusted up to 70 mph this week at the Hanford Site in Washington state spread very small amounts of radioactive contamination to within 40 feet of a public highway. Washington Closure Hanford has had problems with contamination spreading from the 618-10 Burial Ground trenches since June 2014, but […]

WC Monitor 11/20/2015   WIPP EOC Conducting Performance Tests in Advance of Readiness Reviews Waste Isolation Pilot Plant Emergency Operations Center (WIPP/EOC) staff earlier this month conducted a series of “Limited Scope Performance Tests” testing the readiness of the WIPP Emergency Response Organization and the EOC, according to a Nov. 12 Energy Department announcement. “A […]

Brian Bradley WC Monitor 11/20/2015 The Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management is remaining mum on its latest cost estimate for cleanup at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, after New Mexico’s top environment official this week knocked DOE’s 2008 $1.2 billion estimate as “too low." The New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) “and DOE need to […]

Brian Bradley WC Monitor 11/20/2015 Funding for the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility is expected to be included in the final fiscal 2016 appropriations bill after President Barack Obama’s official funding request clattered its way through scrupulous Energy Department-commissioned reviews, contentious congressional negotiations, and reported private meetings between DOE and National Nuclear Security Administration brass […]

As is our annual practice, WC Monitor will not publish next week in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday. The next regular issue will be in your inbox on Dec. 4. The Weapons Complex Morning Briefing will be published Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of next week, and we will issue bulletins should any major news break in the interim.

Staff Reports WC Monitor 11/20/2015 The Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board (EMSSAB) gained traction Tuesday in efforts to redirect money collected from missed cleanup milestones at Department of Energy sites back to those same cleanup projects. Eight local boards fall under the EMSSAB, including the Savannah River Site Citizens Advisory Board (CAB). The CAB voted […]

Staff Reports WC Monitor 11/20/2015 The Department of Energy is proposing to have all parts of the Hanford Site Waste Treatment Plant operating by 2039, but also wants a system to allow extensions for that and other milestones in the court-enforced consent decree on cleanup of the former plutonium production site. Nov. 13 was the […]

Staff Reports WC Monitor 11/20/2015 The improper storage of plutonium by Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) employees resulted from a willful procedure violation by the SRNS work team, according to the Department of Energy. SRNS discovered on Sept. 3 that a group of three operators and a first-line manager stored a sample size of plutonium […]

Brian Bradley WC Monitor 11/20/2015 Depending on the results of a forthcoming month-long simulation test, the Energy Department will decide whether to change the planned course for disposing of some 900,000 gallons of liquid radioactive waste stored in steel tanks west of Idaho Falls. “Once the simulant run is complete the Department will evaluate plant […]

Staff Reports WC Monitor 11/20/2015 Some welding on the Savannah River Site’s Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MOX) may be redone following a violation detected during an inspection last month. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission noted that design documents for work at MOX included inadequate welding measurements based on standards established by the American Welding Society. […]

Brian Bradley WC Monitor 11/20/2015 The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Thursday favorably reported out three top Energy Department nominees. Despite opposition expressed by committee member Rob Portman (R-Ohio) over announced funding cuts for decontamination and decommissioning at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant and the Piketon, Ohio, piece of the American Centrifuge Project, […]

Karl Herchenroeder and Brian Bradley WC Monitor 11/20/2015 EnergySolutions announced Thursday that it had reached a tentative agreement to purchase competitor Waste Control Specialists for $270 million. The announcement came just days after the Utah-based nuclear services giant agreed to sell off its Hanford Site tank farm operation and other assets to WS Atkins for […]

Brian Bradley WC Monitor 11/20/2015 In perhaps a last-ditch effort to save the Piketon, Ohio, piece of the American Centrifuge Project, Ohio House of Representatives Speaker Cliff Rosenberger and state Rep. Terry Johnson (R) are calling for the Ohio legislature to officially reiterate to Congress that moving all of Centrus’ American Centrifuge Project (ACP) operations […]

Brian Bradley WC Monitor 11/13/2015 Paducah/Portsmouth Project Office (PPPO) Manager William Murphie will retire on Dec. 3 after 35 years of working for the Energy Department, according to an email sent to PPPO employees on Thursday.  PPPO Deputy Manager Robert Edwards will then serve as acting PPPO manager. “This decision has been a difficult one, […]

Staff Reports NS&D Monitor 11/13/2015 The state of South Carolina is mulling legal options in responding to a key plutonium disposal milestone the Department of Energy will miss at the Savannah River Site’s controversial Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF). The state’s decision could include the attempted levying of millions of dollars in fines over […]

Alissa Tabirian and Brian Bradley WC Monitor 11/13/2015 The U.S. Senate on Tuesday passed a new version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal 2016, sending it to President Barack Obama, who is expected to sign the legislation. The new bill that authorizes $607 billion in defense spending was passed in the House […]

Brian Bradley WC Monitor 11/13/2015   Above-Ground Storage Facility Could Operate Even After WIPP Reopens The Energy Department has implemented 70 percent of corrective actions recommended by DOE’s Accident Investigation Board for recovery of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, DOE Office of Environmental Management Carlsbad Field Office spokesman Tim Runyon said during a presentation in […]

Staff Reports WC Monitor 11/13/2015 Safety issues continue to be reported at the Hanford Site’s Plutonium Finishing Plant as employees conduct work on three high-hazard projects at once. Incidents of workers being contaminated with small amounts of radioactive material were first reported this summer in the weekly site reports from the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety […]

Staff Reports WC Monitor 11/13/2015 The Department of Energy is always looking for new ways to save money in its liquid waste work, said Jim Folk, the acting assistant manager for the waste disposition project at the Savannah River Site (SRS). One way to accomplish that could include restructuring the way SRS is closing its […]

Brian Bradley WC Monitor 11/13/2015 Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown (D) on Monday called on Office of Management and Budget Director Shaun Donovan and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz to request $460 million to fully fund cleanup at the Portsmouth Site in fiscal 2017, and to provide more predictable funding for the site in the future, as […]

Karl Herchenroeder WC Monitor 11/13/2015 Centrus Energy Corp. on Tuesday reported a net loss of $55.1 million for the third quarter of 2015, a drastic plunge from net income of $418.9 million for the same time period in 2014. Through the first three quarters of the year, Centrus has endured a net loss of $85.6 […]

Staff Reports WC Monitor 11/13/2015 The Hanford Advisory Board has asked the Department of Energy to release more information on protecting workers from chemical vapors and other issues at the Hanford Site tank farms. The board included the vapor issue on its proposed 2016 work plan, but DOE objected, and it is not included as […]

Brian Bradley WC Monitor 11/13/2015 Though no initiatives appear to have been started, Sen. Dan Coats (R-Ind.) hopes lawmakers will work to free up some $1.6 billion locked up in an essentially inactive account created 25 years ago to support activities of the then-newly initiated United States Enrichment Corp., after the senator highlighted the account […]

Staff Reports WC Monitor 11/13/2015 An electrical switchyard that was part of the early uranium enrichment work in Oak Ridge is about to be eliminated from the landscape at the sprawling site now known as the East Tennessee Technology Park. The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management earlier this year awarded a $2.1 million […]

Brian Bradley WC Monitor 11/13/2015 As part of the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management’s West Valley Demonstration Project (WVDP) in upstate New York, high-level waste has been placed in long-term outdoor storage for the first time, with the first waste canister being moved on Nov. 10, EM officials said this week. The agency is […]

WC Monitor 11/13/2013   Hanford TPA Comment Period Extended The Department of Energy and its regulators have extended the comment period for proposed changes to Tri-Party Agreement milestones for much of the remaining work in central Hanford after requests from stakeholders. The comment period will close Jan. 15 rather than Dec. 11, as originally scheduled. […]

Portage Receives Tech Support Contract WC Monitor 11/13/2015 The Energy Department said Thursday it has awarded incumbent Portage Inc., of Idaho Falls, a $42.4 million contract to provide technical support services to DOE’s Carlsbad Field Office in all program areas. The contract comprises a three-year base period and a two-year option period. The contract includes […]