Publications: Weapons Cleanup Monitor

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 […]

Hearing First in Congress Since WIPP Events Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 6/19/2015 Members of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations called for Department of Energy oversight reform late last week after issues came to light following the February 2014 radiological release at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. The hearing marks the […]

Alissa Tabirian WC Monitor 6/19/2015 The Department of Energy and National Nuclear Security Administration have agreed to perform a joint review requested by the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board on safety issues at DOE nuclear facilities, according to a letter sent to the DNFSB last week by NNSA Administrator Frank Klotz. The DNFSB proposed in […]

Alissa Tabirian WC Monitor 6/19/2015 Following the Babcock & Wilcox Company spin-off that will separate the power generation business unit from the rest of the company as of July 1, the newly renamed BWX Technologies shared the procurements and contract extensions it is focusing on in a presentation given during Investor and Analyst Day this […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 6/19/2015 The Department of Energy this week awarded the contract for infrastructure support services at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant to incumbent Swift & Staley. The largely firm-fixed-price contract has a three month base period with a 22-month option period. The follow-on contract was set-aside for small businesses, with a size […]

Jeremy L. Dillon WC Monitor 6/19/2015 Studsvik and AECOM have separated their partnership in the THOR Treatment Technologies joint venture, the company announced this week. The two companies had worked together for 13 years, but Studsvik President Howard Stevens said it believes the technology and the company can stand on its own. “There are several […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 6/19/2015 The Department of Energy late last week awarded a nearly $4 million firm fixed price contract to CTI and Associates for demolition services at Oak Ridge’s K-732 switchyard in the East Tennessee Technology Park. The contract for the minority owned business falls under the 8(a) program. The contract also includes […]

Hanford ORP Tank Farm Work Slows WC Monitor 6/19/2015 The gear that is protecting Hanford tank farm workers from chemical vapors also is significantly slowing work, according to documents filed in Eastern Washington District Federal Court. A Department of Energy analysis found that the reduction in efficiency ranges from 30 to 70 percent, with an […]

Hanford Advisory Board Concerned About Future Budgets for Richland WC Monitor 6/19/2015 The Hanford Advisory Board is concerned that the Department of Energy is planning to significantly underfund Hanford cleanup in budgets currently under development, the Board said in advice to DOE and Hanford regulators. The board acknowledged that after years of budgets that failed […]

Sewage Treatment Plant Cleanup Progressing WC Monitor 6/19/2015 The Department of Energy-funded cleanup of an Oak Ridge sewage treatment plant is continuing, with no immediate end in sight. The Rarity Ridge facility became contaminated early last year – and possibly even earlier – when radioactive technetium seeped from the K-25 demolition project and ultimately infiltrated […]

IN DOE The Department of Energy has named retired Air Force Col. Barton Barnhart as the Office of Environmental Management’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for Program Planning and Budget, effective this week. The position was previously held in an acting capacity by Connie Flohr. “His previous positions included serving as Director of Installations at the U.S. […]