Publications: Weapons Cleanup Monitor

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 […]

WC Monitor 11/13/2015   IN EM The Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management will host its next quarterly forum to discuss business opportunities in the legacy nuclear cleanup arena from 10 a.m. to noon on Dec. 15 at DOE headquarters (Forrestal Building) in Washington, D.C. “Organized by EM’s Office of Acquisition and Project Management, the […]

Brian Bradley WC Monitor 10/30/2015 The Department of Energy this week defended itself against criticism by the Carlsbad (N.M.) Mayor’s Nuclear Task Force, whose chairman on Oct. 23 said a delayed release of a DOE report on recovery of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant “undercut” progress being made on WIPP safety culture change, training, and […]

Brian Bradley WC Monitor 10/30/2015 House Appropriations energy and water subcommittee Chairman Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) on Tuesday said his chamber’s appropriators are including $283 million for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in the fiscal 2016 spending bill, $35 million more than the Obama administration’s request, but that the funding might not be enough to keep […]

Brian Bradley WC Monitor 11/6/2015 The Energy Department said Thursday it aims to have cleanup at the Moab uranium mill tailings site halfway done by early 2016. The site was a uranium ore processing facility on the west bank of the Colorado River. "In early 2016, the U.S. Department of Energy plans to reach 8 […]

Brian Bradley WC Monitor 11/6/2015 The Energy Department expects to approve a new performance measurement baseline (PMB) for restarting operations at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant by the end of this year. The document could be released on the late end of that timeline as all levels of DOE leadership would have to vet it […]

Staff Reports WC Monitor 11/6/2015 Proposed changes being considered to the Hanford Tri-Party Agreement are not ideal, but they reflect reality, said Hanford officials during the initial public discussions this week on change packages covering much of the remaining central Hanford work assigned to the Department of Energy Richland Operations Office. Some milestones will be […]

Brian Bradley WC Monitor 11/6/2015 URS | CH2M Hill Oak Ridge (UCOR) has reported that 76 percent, or $331 million, of its subcontracted work at East Tennessee Technology Park was awarded to small businesses from August 2011 to August 2014, surpassing UCOR’s own 65-percent goal stated in its small business subcontracting plan, according to an […]

Brian Bradley WC Monitor 11/6/2015 A former Babcock & Wilcox employee is suing the company, along with recent spinoffs BWXT and BWXT Nuclear Operations Group, for at least $1.5 million as a result of lost compensation and benefits and other damages she said resulted from her wrongful termination in 2013, according to a complaint filed […]

Staff Reports WC Monitor 11/6/2015 Some mercury cleanup activities at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant are seemingly starting to pay off with results in the environment, although much more remains to be done to address the plant’s biggest legacy from the Cold War. The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management in Oak Ridge said […]

Brian Bradley WC Monitor 11/6/2015 The Environmental Protection Agency will host a rare public meeting of the Interagency Steering Committee on Radiation Standards (ISCORS) from 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Nov. 9, at EPA’s William Jefferson Clinton East Building in Washington, D.C., according to a notice posted Monday in the Federal Register. ISCORS is expected […]