Publications: Weapons Cleanup Monitor

Brian Bradley and Jeremy Dillon WC Monitor 10/2/2015 Congress this week passed a continuing resolution that will fund the federal government through Dec. 11 at fiscal 2015-enacted levels and avoids a government shutdown. The CR gives Congress an additional 10 weeks to work toward a budget solution, but with uncertainty in the House following Speaker […]

Staff Reports WC Monitor 10/2/2015 The Department of Energy this week transferred 1,641 acres of largely undeveloped land at the Hanford Site in Washington state to the Tri-City Development Council (TRIDEC), its community reuse organization. The acreage  is less than 0.5 percent of the total Hanford land and is in an area designated by the […]

Brian Bradley WC Monitor 10/2/2015 Workers at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site treated a record 2.1 billion gallons of groundwater in the last year, exceeding the last record of 1.9 billion gallons in fiscal 2014 during ongoing cleanup at the former plutonium production facility, DOE said yesterday in a press release. “We’re treating more […]

WC Monitor 10/2/2015   DOE Schedules Industry Day for SRS Liquid Waste Services Contract The Department of Energy on Tuesday said it had scheduled an industry day for its Savannah River Site liquid waste services contract for Wednesday, Oct. 14, at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Augusta in Augusta, Ga. The session is scheduled to […]

WC Monitor 10/2/2015   DOE Awards Support Services Contract to Small Business Sigma Science Inc., of Los Alamos, N.M., has received a $4 million indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract with a five-year ordering period to provide technical support services to the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management Los Alamos Field Office, DOE announced on Wednesday. […]

WC Monitor 10/2/2015 DOE Investigating Problems With Hanford Electronic Medical System The Department of Energy Office of Enforcement has notified Computer Sciences Corp. that it plans to investigate alleged problems with the electronic medical system being implemented at Hanford when CSC held the site’s occupational medicine contract. It also will consider taking enforcement action for […]

Staff Reports WC Monitor 9/25/2015 As with other Department of Energy sites impacted by the ongoing suspension of operations at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico, the shipments of transuranic waste at Oak Ridge have been placed on hold – although processing and certification of wastes continue. The situation in Tennessee is complicated […]

Brian Bradley WC Monitor 9/25/2015 Savannah River Nuclear Solutions President and CEO Carol Johnson on Tuesday said 400 grams of plutonium placed in a container not marked for transport forced the Sept. 3 shutdown of the company’s nonessential operations at the Savannah River Site. The amount of material involved was not previously released. According to […]

Brian Bradley WC Monitor 9/25/2015 A proposed three-month federal continuing resolution released this week could head off hundreds of layoffs among workers on the cleanup project at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant site in Piketon, Ohio. The Senate Appropriations Committee on Tuesday issued the federal funding plan to keep the federal government open when fiscal 2016 […]

Chris Schneidmiller WC Monitor 9/25/2015 The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) is striving to fit the right type of contract onto the right remediation projects, but that does not necessarily mean fixed-price agreements that are seen as a way of saving taxpayer money, senior DOE officiald said recently. “Fixed price is not […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 9/25/2015 Former Energy Secretary and New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson this week said he plans to ask political leaders from Idaho and Washington state to join him in pushing construction of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility in South Carolina. The MOX plant is to be used to process 34 metric […]

Brian Bradley WC Monitor 9/25/2015 The Energy Department Office of Environmental Management has awarded Los Alamos National Laboratory contractor Los Alamos National Security a one-year cost-plus-award fee “bridge” contract with a maximum value of $309.8 million and two six-month options for legacy cleanup activities at the New Mexico facility. Oversight of LANL legacy waste cleanup […]

Staff Reports WC Monitor 9/25/2015 The Department of Energy expects to have a new contractor operating the Hanford Site’s 222-S Laboratory by Nov. 21 after starting a 60-day transition period this week. The Government Accountability Office this week denied a protest against the May award of the $44.6 million contract to Wastren Advantage of Piketon, […]

Staff Reports WC Monitor 9/25/2015 The Hanford Advisory Board has sent a letter of congratulations to the Department of Energy on progress toward tearing down the Hanford Site’s Plutonium Finishing Plant. The project remains at risk of missing a Tri-Party Agreement milestone to reduce the plant to slab on grade by the end of fiscal 2016. But the state […]

Staff Reports WC Monitor 9/25/2015 A new epidemiological study has concluded that Hanford Site workers with the greatest exposure to the metal beryllium were most likely among personnel there to develop chronic beryllium disease. Those with the disease also were more likely to have worked at Hanford earlier, concluded the study, which was conducted by […]

WC Monitor 9/25/2015 DOE Issues Request for Information for SRS Liquid Waste Contract The Department of Energy on Tuesday released a request for information/sources sought for companies interested in taking over the contract to dispose of liquid waste stored at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. Savannah River Remediation’s contract for the work is […]

WC Monitor 9/25/2015 The Energy Department on Monday said it has named three new members to serve on its Oak Ridge Environmental Management advisory board for two-year terms. The new members of the Oak Ridge Site Specific Advisory Board (ORSSAB) are Martha Deaderick, a retired teacher from Kingston, Tenn., who worked for the Oak Ridge […]

Chris Schneidmiller WC Monitor 9/18/2015 Two more workers on remediation of the Hanford Site’s Plutonium Finishing Plant (PFP) underwent decontamination last month after coming into contact with radiological particles, according to the latest Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board site representative report. Both events occurred during the continuing effort to reduce the size of the HC-9B […]

Jeremy L. Dillon WC Monitor 9/18/2015 The Department of Energy will no longer provide funding for Centrus’ American Centrifuge project operations at its Piketon, Ohio facility, the company confirmed late last week. The announcement also noted a one-year extension funding for the American Centrifuge project’s research and development contract with the Oak Ridge National Laboratory […]

Staff Reports WC Monitor 9/18/2015 The Department of Energy and state of Washington’s proposed new Tri-Party Agreement milestones for cleanup of solid waste at the Hanford Site may not be realistic, say critics of the proposal. The state of Oregon has sent a letter to DOE and Washington saying deferring much of the work to […]

Staff Reports WC Monitor 9/18/2015 A renewed emphasis is being placed on technology development for Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management projects, Monica Regalbuto said during her first visit to Hanford after being confirmed as the new assistant DOE secretary for environmental management. The projects have reaped benefits from significant past investments in technology […]

Chris Schneidmiller WC Monitor 9/18/2015 The contract operator of the Savannah River Site (SRS) has instituted a company-wide suspension of nonessential nuclear and non-nuclear operations following a breach of safety protocols in management of plutonium used in the facility’s HB Line. The HB Line is a unique chemical processing system that works with plutonium in […]

Chris Schneidmiller WC Monitor 9/18/2015 The Department of Energy’s Environmental Management Field Office at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) is staffing up and taking other steps to ultimately assume full oversight of legacy waste cleanup operations at the New Mexico Facility, a senior DOE official said last week. The EM office was established last […]

Alissa Tabirian WC Monitor 9/18/2015 The Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) is taking steps to address materials-at-risk (MAR) concerns to resume transuranic (TRU) waste receipts at its Area G nuclear waste disposal site, according to a Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) site representative report released last week. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Environmental Management officials […]

Jeremy L. Dillon WC Monitor 9/18/2015 The Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board announced this week that it will more closely examine the technical and scientific issues associated with the Department of Energy’s planned use of deep boreholes to dispose of some radioactive wastes. The NWTRB will hold a workshop on Oct. 20 and 21 that […]

Chris Schneidmiller WC Monitor 9/18/2015 Switzerland has sent 2.2 kilograms of weapon-grade uranium reactor fuel to the United States for storage, the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration said on Wednesday. The shipment makes Switzerland the 27th country, plus Taiwan, to divest itself of all highly enriched uranium, according to an NNSA press release. […]

WC Monitor 9/18/2015 DOE Extends Paducah Site Support Services Contract  The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) on Tuesday announced a 2.5-month extension of Swift & Staley’s (SSI) contract for infrastructure support services at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Kentucky. The contract had previously been due to lapse on Sept. 15. "Today’s contract […]

WC Monitor 9/18/2015 WRPS President Announces Retirement Dave Olson, the president of Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS), announced his retirement Thursday and will be replaced by the Hanford Site contractor’s chief operating officer. Mark Lindholm will take over leadership Oct. 1, after having worked at WRPS, Hanford’s tank farm contractor, since January. As chief operating […]