Publications: Weapons Cleanup Monitor

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 […]

Brian Bradley WC Monitor 10/9/2015 Officials are seeking a $27 million plus-up over President Barack Obama’s original fiscal 2016 request for nuclear materials funding within the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management (EM), according to an Oct. 5 internal email obtained by WC Monitor that was sent from Savannah River Site (SRS) Office of Integration […]

Brian Bradley WC Monitor 10/9/2015 Top Officials Say Dilution and Disposal Cheaper, More Practical Future costs and risks to build the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility are significantly greater than those associated with a dilute-and-dispose approach for 34 metric tons of excess U.S. weapon-grade plutonium, according to the executive summary of the second phase of […]

Brian Bradley WC Monitor 10/9/2015 The Senate on Wednesday voted 70-27 to pass the final version of the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2016, following an Oct. 1 House vote of 270-156 to pass the bill. President Barack Obama has threatened to veto the bill because of language that pluses up his fiscal 2016 […]

Staff Reports WC Monitor 10/9/2015 The last claims in the Hanford Site downwinder lawsuit filed in 1991 have been settled or withdrawn, according to documents filed this week in U.S. District Court for Eastern Washington. As many as 5,000 people, according to defense attorneys, had joined the case, claiming their health was damaged by radiation […]

Staff Reports WC Monitor 10/9/2015 Washington River Protection Solutions has begun operating an exhauster to evaporate liquid from Tank T-111, the Hanford Site single-shell tank that is leaking waste into the soil beneath it. “The exhauster is performing as we hoped it would,” said Mark Lindholm, WRPS acting president and project manager, in a statement. […]

Brian Bradley WC Monitor 10/9/2015 Washington Closure Hanford is scheduled next week to start leveling the last standing facility marked for demolition as part of the company’s River Corridor Cleanup project, specifically in the Hanford Site’s 300 Area, WCH President Scott Sax said last week during the Energy Department’s first National Cleanup Workshop in Arlington, […]

Brian Bradley WC Monitor 10/9/2015 The Los Alamos National Laboratory will likely reach its transuranic waste storage capacity in “approximately” fiscal 2017, according to a recently released Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board report. TRU waste storage areas include Area G, Technical Area 55, and the yet-to-be-completed Transuranic Waste Facility, according to the Aug. 14 report. […]

Staff Reports WC Monitor 10/9/2015 A report on risk-based management of Department of Energy defense cleanup sites fails to recognize the role of local communities in defining risk and their critical place in making decisions on remediation, according to the Energy Communities Alliance. The organization, which represents communities near DOE cleanup sites across the nation, […]

NS&D Monitor 10/9/2015 Lab Workers Approve New Contract Unionized workers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory on Wednesday ratified a new five-year labor contract, which includes pay raises in each of the years and a $1,000 signing bonus. Steve Jones, president of the Atomic Trades and Labor Council, confirmed approval of the contract with UT-Battelle, the […]

WC Monitor 10/9/2015 Bechtel Awards Quality Control Services Subcontract at Hanford Bechtel National has awarded NV5 Holdings an estimated $1.5 million contract to support nuclear cleanup at the Hanford Site, NV5 announced on Monday. The company provides professional and technical engineering and consulting services, and will perform quality control field and laboratory testing and construction […]