Publications: Weapons Cleanup Monitor

Alissa Tabirian and Brian Bradley WC Monitor 10/23/2015 President Barack Obama yesterday vetoed the fiscal 2016 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that authorized his $611.9 billion request for defense discretionary spending, including $5.1 billion for defense environmental cleanup. The NDAA also proposed boosting authorized cleanup funds for the Hanford Site in Washington state to $915.8 […]

Brian Bradley WC Monitor 10/23/2015 The Energy Department has chosen Spectra Tech, among six total bidders, for a $31.6 million contract to manage Nuclear Regulatory Commission-regulated spent nuclear fuel storage facilities and licenses for four to five years, according to an announcement this week from DOE’s Office of Environmental Management. The contract will encompass management […]

Staff Reports WC Monitor 10/23/2015 The 242-A Evaporator at the Hanford Site has completed a planned series of four operating campaigns over the last year after improvements were made to the facility. The evaporator plant is central to work to empty waste from Hanford’s single-shell tanks into newer double-shell tanks for storage until the Waste […]

Brian Bradley WC Monitor 10/23/2015 The Savannah River Site’s H Canyon is expected to enter deliberate operations next week, and HB Line should start deliberate ops by the end of November, SRS announced on Wednesday. Site contractor Savannah River Nuclear Solutions entered a company-wide operational pause of all nonessential nuclear and non-nuclear operations on Sept. […]

Brian Bradley WC Monitor 10/23/2015 A recent Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board staff report indicated several areas for improvement within the Savannah River Site’s L Area Complex safety basis, although the Energy Department’s Savannah River Operations Office did not break any DOE requirements. DNFSB Chairwoman Joyce Connery referenced those findings in an Oct. 20 letter […]

Brian Bradley WC Monitor 10/23/2015 The U.S. has agreed to assist Spain in cleaning up plutonium, uranium, and americium that was spread across at least 24 acres along the European nation’s southern coast after a B-52 carrying nuclear cargo for U.S. Strategic Air Command crashed with another U.S. military aircraft over the Mediterranean city of […]

Brian Bradley WC Monitor 10/23/2015 Savannah River Site workers recently relocated 156 canisters of glassified waste from Glass Waste Storage Building (GWSB) 1 to GWSB 2, starting the modification process for double-stacking canisters at the site and potentially opening the possibility for actual double-stacking to begin in 2016, SRS said in a press release on […]

WC Monitor 10/23/2015 Washington State Recognizes Hanford Contractor The state of Washington has recognized Hanford Site tank farm contractor Washington River Protection Solutions for recruiting, hiring, and promoting individuals with disabilities. It received an outreach award on Tuesday from the state’s Division of Vocational Rehabilitation. “We’ve put together a highly skilled, safety-conscious workforce at WRPS […]

WC Monitor 10/23/2015 WIPP Emergency Ops Center Complete Workers recently completed construction on a 4,000-square-foot, “state-of-the-art” emergency operations center at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, according to a WIPP press release. The Skeen-Whitlock Building, which houses the Energy Department’s Carlsbad Field Office, was remodeled over the past several months to make room for the center. […]

WC Monitor 10/23/2015 Hanford Union Workers Approve Wage Increase Wages for workers represented by the Hanford Atomic Metal Trades Council (HAMTC) at several Hanford Site contractors would increase 2 percent in 2016, 2017, and 2018 under agreements approved in worker votes Thursday. HAMTC, an umbrella group for 14 affiliated unions, reported that agreements passed for […]

WC Monitor 10/23/2015 SRNS Receives Letter of Intent for M&O Contract Extension The Energy Department last month sent SRS management and operations contractor Savannah River Nuclear Solutions a letter of intent to extend its current contract beyond the September 2016 expiration date, SRNS President and CEO Carol Johnson said at the ExchangeMonitor Decisionmakers’ Forum this […]

WC Monitor 10/23/2015 IN THE INDUSTRY Frazer Lockhart, vice president for waste operations at Stoller Newport News Nuclear, has been appointed to the Energy Department’s Environmental Management Advisory Board, SN3 parent company Huntington Ingalls Industries announced on Oct. 16. "I hope to use my experience in project management and acquisition to provide meaningful assistance to […]

Brian Bradley WC Monitor 10/16/2015 The Savannah River Site’s K Area Complex will move to deliberate operations on Monday, after facility contractor Savannah River Nuclear Solutions on Sept. 11 halted all nonessential nuclear and non-nuclear operations, Energy Department Savannah River Field Office spokesman Jim Giusti said by email this week. “All of the requirements for […]

Brian Bradley WC Monitor 10/16/2015 A Russian official on Tuesday signaled Moscow is willing to allow the U.S. to choose a different plutonium disposition method than the mixed-oxide approach mandated in a bilateral deal from 2000. The Plutonium Management and Disposition Agreement (PMDA) calls for each nation to dispose of 34 metric tons of weapon-usable […]

Staff Reports WC Monitor 10/16/2015 A federal judge has declined to dismiss a complaint filed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) against Washington Closure Hanford and other businesses over subcontracting practices at the Hanford Site. U.S. Judge Edward Shea ruled against defendants’ request for summary judgment on the complaint brought by the federal government, but […]

Chris Schneidmiller WC Monitor 10/16/2015 The state of New Mexico is losing patience with the failure to yet finalize settlements with the Department of Energy over high-profile incidents at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant and waste management problems at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, state Environment Secretary Ryan Flynn told WC Monitor. DOE in April […]

Brian Bradley WC Monitor 10/16/2015 The Government Accountability Office on Oct. 8 denied Aerostar Perma-Fix TRU Services LLC’s (APT Services) protest of the Energy Department’s June 18 award of a three- to five-year, $123.9 million support services contract for operation of the Oak Ridge Transuranic Waste Processing Center to North Wind Solutions, LLC, according to […]

Brian Bradley WC Monitor 10/16/2015 A former employee of a Los Alamos National Laboratory subcontractor who reportedly stole radiation-contaminated lab tools from the lab last month was subsequently involved in an Oct. 1 two-vehicle rollover crash while seemingly impaired by a “controlled substance,” according to the accident report obtained by Weapons Complex Monitor yesterday. The […]

Alissa Tabirian WC Monitor 10/16/2015 The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Environmental Management (EM) have approved a memorandum of understanding that dictates the responsibilities of each entity in the transition of legacy environmental cleanup work at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), according to a Defense Nuclear […]

Brian Bradley WC Monitor 10/16/2015 If the American Centrifuge Plant is shut down in line with Energy Department plans, the city of Portsmouth, Ohio, would lose $40,000 in annual revenue, and if Portsmouth Site decontamination and decommissioning work does not move forward, the city would lose $100,000 in yearly income tax, Portsmouth City Auditor M. […]

Alissa Tabirian WC Monitor 10/16/2015 The Department of Energy (DOE) is seeking university proposals for a partnership with Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) to conduct research and prototype development of nuclearized robots – technology capable of working in radioactively contaminated, hazardous areas – according to a special notice issued this week. SNL’s High Consequence Automation and […]

Staff Reports WC Monitor 10/16/2015 DOE EM Prepares for New Hanford Site Contracts The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management is taking steps to issue new contracts for cleanup and infrastructure and services work at the Hanford Site in Washington state, according to a press release issued on Thursday. The Environmental Management Consolidated Business […]

Staff Reports WC Monitor 10/16/2015 Hanford Contractor Formalizes New President Mark Lindholm’s job as president and project manager of Washington River Protection Solutions, the Hanford tank farm contractor, became official this week.  WRPS announced a month ago that Lindholm was its choice to replace Dave Olson, who was retiring. Lindholm was acting president starting Oct. […]

Staff Reports WC Monitor 10/16/2015 Fluor Issues RFP for Paducah Refrigerant Disposal Fluor on Thursday issued a request for proposals for companies interested in managing disposal of 8.5 million pounds of refrigerant left over from uranium enrichment operations at the Department of Energy’s Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant. Fluor is leading the deactivation of the facility, […]

Staff Reports WC Monitor 10/16/2015 SRS Starts Test to Advance Saltstone Unit Qualification Savannah River Site liquid waste contractor Savannah River Remediation on Monday began a liquid tightness test on Saltstone Disposal Unit 6 (SDU 6), the site announced this week. The purpose of the test on SRS’ first 30-million gallon, mega-volume salt waste disposal unit is […]

A story in the Oct. 9 edition of Weapons Complex Monitor incorrectly stated that River Corridor Cleanup contractor Washington Closure Hanford was set this week to start conventional outdoor demolition of 324 Building at the Hanford Site. Neither Washington Closure Hanford, nor any other contractor, is starting or authorized to begin demolition of the 324 […]

Brian Bradley WC Monitor 10/9/2015 The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management on Wednesday announced the demolition of a building at the Los Alamos National Laboratory as part of the ongoing remediation of the New Mexico site’s Technical Area 21. This demolition is the latest of several TA-21 dismantlement projects. The American Recovery and […]

In the Oct. 2 edition of Weapons Complex Monitor, an article about the reopening of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant incorrectly stated that Panel 7 will no longer require people to wear “additional” radiological protection equipment, yet it is and will remain posted as a “contamination area.” In actuality, the pathway to Panel 7 no […]

Brian Bradley WC Monitor 10/9/2015 The Department of Energy has issued a revised funding direction that enables Portsmouth Site contractor Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth to postpone up to 500 previously announced layoffs at least until Congress passes its final fiscal 2016 appropriations bill, after which DOE is expected to review the legislative language and make a final […]