Publications: Weapons Cleanup Monitor

September 2016 Milestone Still Uncertain Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 6/19/2015 Significant progress is being made in the demolition of Hanford’s Plutonium Finishing Plant, and though it is set to be one of the Department of Energy’s major cleanup achievements in 2016 it is not clear if it will meet its completion milestone, DOE Richland Operations […]

Staff Reports WC Monitor 7/17/2015 The schedule for cleanup of the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge reservation has been stretched many times over the past three decades, as the extent of environmental problems and decaying infrastructure were better understood, and now it appears another extension may be on the horizon. The completion date that’s set […]

Staff Reports WC Monitor 7/17/2015 URS-CH2M Oak Ridge earned almost $3.7 million in fees for the first six months of Fiscal Year 2015, according to a performance letter released by the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management in Oak Ridge. Sue Cange, DOE’s environmental manager in Oak Ridge, said UCOR “continued to do extremely […]

WC Monitor 7/17/2015 Plutonium Drums Do Not Pose Threat The Department of Energy says it has determined that a “small population” of drums containing plutonium do not pose a threat of detonation at a Oak Ridge National Laboratory storage site. The concern was first raised last year by URS-CH2M Oak Ridge, DOE’s environmental contractor in […]

WC Monitor 7/17/2015 IN DOE Department of Energy Inspector General Gregory Friedman this week announced his plans to retire after serving for 17 years as DOE’s internal investigative official. Friedman will step down effective Oct. 3, 2015, which would end his run as longest-serving federal inspector general at a cabinet-level agency. “While the mission is […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 7/10/2015 The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy have come to an agreement on the Record of Decision for the planned Portsmouth on-site disposal cell, the two agencies announced this week. The ROD paves the way for the disposal of more than two million cubic yards of […]

Jeremy L. Dillon WC Monitor 7/10/2015 The Government Accountability Office released this week its protest denial decision in the Department of Energy’s most recent decision to award the support services contract for the Office of Legacy Management to Navarro Research and Engineering. Portage and a team of Wastren Advantage-Stoller had each filed challenges over DOE’s […]

Staff Reports WC Monitor 7/10/2015 The Department of Energy estimates it will cost about $292 million to complete the demolition of K-27 – the last of five gaseous diffusion plants still standing at the Oak Ridge site that once was the world’s largest uranium-enrichment complex. Ben Williams, a spokesman for DOE’s Office of Environmental Management […]

Staff Reports WC Monitor 7/10/2015 Advanced Technologies and Laboratories has filed a protest with the Government Accountability Office after losing a contract to continue performing work at Hanford’s 222-S Laboratory. The contract, valued at $44.6 million, was awarded in late May to Wastren Advantage. It includes a two-year base period with options for three additional […]

Staff Reports WC Monitor 7/10/2015 Improvements have been made in the safety culture at the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant project, according to a follow up assessment conducted by the Department of Energy’s independent Office of Enterprise Assessments. Staff and management on the project said “things are better and going in a good direction,” although there […]

Jeremy L. Dillon WC Monitor 7/10/2015 Dana Bryson will take over as Acting Manager for the Department of Energy’s Carlsbad Field Office (CBFO), DOE announced yesterday. Bryson will replace Joe Franco, who moved to DOE’s Richland Operations Office earlier this year. Bryson has served as deputy manager at the CBFO since late 2013. “Dana has […]

Jeremy L. Dillon WC Monitor 7/10/2015 The German waste that the Department of Energy proposed sending to the Savannah River Site’s H-Canyon facility “is not of a proliferation concern” where it currently resides in Germany, according to a DOE internal memo from Aug. 1, 2013, obtained by Savannah River Site Watch under the Freedom of […]

WC Monitor 7/10/2015 DOE Extends Environmental Restoration Disposal Facility Management Contract Washington Closure Hanford has awarded a two-year contract extension for the daily operation of the Environmental Restoration Disposal Facility in central Hanford. The joint venture team of Stoller Newport News Nuclear and Wastren Advantage will continue to operate ERDF through September 2017. “Based on […]

WC Monitor 7/10/2015 A special exposure cohort that would cover some Hanford workers as recently as 1990 has been finalized under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Program. Previous special exposure cohorts cover most Hanford workers from Oct. 1, 1943, through 1983. The new special exposure cohort will ease compensation rules for the workers of construction […]

WC Monitor 7/10/2015 DOE Announces Paducah Cleanup Milestone The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) successfully completed further demolition of at least 32 inactive uranium enrichment sites associated with the Feed Plant and buildings complex of the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant (GDP). Demolition included removal of 2,600 panels of cement asbestos siding and […]

WC Monitor 7/10/2015 SRNL Selected to Lead National Analytical Management Program The Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) has assumed leadership of the National Analytical Management Program (NAMP) and will serve as head of the Department of Energy’s Environmental Response Laboratory Network Coordination Office. The office will act as a central point of contact for organizations […]

WC Monitor 7/10/2015 IN THE INDUSTRY AREVA plans to sell off its subsidiary Canberra as part of its restructuring plan, the company announced this week. AREVA suffered heavy losses last year, and in an attempt to right the ship, the company plans to refocus on nuclear fuel cycle activities, which would leave Canberra as disposable. […]

As is our annual practice, WC Monitor will not publish next week in observance of the July 4th holiday. The next regular issue will be in your inbox July 10. The Weapons Complex Morning Briefing will continue to be published Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and we will issue bulletins should any major news break in the interim.

Lance Moore WC Monitor 6/26/2015 Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson (D) denounced the Department of Energy for its recent attempt to delay cleanup of tank waste at the Hanford site by an additional year to 2022. Washington filed a motion late last week to strike further proposed delays by the DOE in the consent […]

The following interview with Ken Rueter, president and project manager of Oak Ridge cleanup contractor UCOR, was conducted by Weapons Complex Monitor Senior Editor Kenneth Fletcher on June 17. It came just before this week UCOR wrapped up demolition of the K-31 former gaseous diffusion plant, a milestone in the cleanup of the East Tennessee […]

Jeremy L. Dillon WC Monitor 6/26/2015 The Department of Energy plans to complete by the end of this year the Environmental Impact Statement on the preferred alternative for the disposal of Greater Than Class C waste and GTTC-like waste, DOE-EM’s Director of the Office of Disposal Operations Doug Tonkay said last week at the EPRI […]

Jeremy L. Dillon WC Monitor 6/26/2015 A defense-only repository would prove cost effective and time efficient compared to comingling it with commercial waste, Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz said in a May 15 letter to House Energy leaders, released this week. House lawmakers previously questioned the wisdom behind the decision to “de-comingle” the two waste […]

Lance Moore WC Monitor 6/26/2015 The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has submitted a request for information (RFI) on behalf of the Office of Environmental Management (EM) to aid in the acquisition of qualified contract support services. These support services will ultimately serve to provide Assistance Developing Policy and Guidance on Regulatory Compliance and Assistance […]

WC Monitor 6/26/2015 The transition of contractors at the Department of Energy’s Transuranic Waste Processing Center is scheduled to take place by September, according to a DOE spokeswoman. As reported earlier, DOE awarded the management contract, valued up to $123.9M, to North Wind Solutions LLC. Lynette Chafin of DOE’s Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center said […]

IN THE INDUSTRY Roger Petrie, a mainstay in the state of Tennessee’s oversight of Department of Energy cleanup programs for many years, has taken a job with UCOR — DOE’s cleanup manager in Oak Ridge. Petrie served as the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation’s project manager for the Federal Facility Agreement in Oak Ridge. […]

From Staff Reports WC Monitor 6/19/2015 The Department of Energy this week selected North Wind Solutions LLC from among seven bidders to manage and operate the agency’s Transuranic Waste Processing Center in Oak Ridge. The contract has a potential value up to $123.9 million if all options are chosen. The performance period has a three-year […]

Nominee Grilled on EM Issues at Senate Hearing Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 6/19/2015 Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) plans to block a Senate vote on the nomination of Monica Regulbuto to be the next Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management Assistant Secretary, he said at a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing to consider […]