Publications: Weapons Cleanup Monitor

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 6/12/2015 After delays and cost increases at Hanford’s Plutonium Finishing Plant were highlighted last fall in a report prepared by the Department of Energy’ Office of Inspector General, cleanup contractor CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Company aims to implement a host of corrective actions, according to a plan recently released by DOE. […]

WC Monitor 6/12/2015 IN DOE Following the revelation last week that the confidential personal information of millions was breached in a cyber-security event months ago, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz has advised that “Department of Energy employee data has potentially been compromised in this incident,” according to a June 4 message to employees. The U.S. Office […]

WC Monitor 6/12/2015 An article in the June 5 edition of WC Monitor incorrectly reported that more than 450 gallons of contaminated liquid was discharged into the soil in central Hanford during plutonium production activities at the site. The correct amount is more than 450 billion gallons. WC Monitor regrets the error. An article in […]

DOE Releases Updated Draft RFP Sections for Industry Comment Mike Nartker WC Monitor 6/5/2015 A provision in the draft Request for Proposals for the new contract to operate the Department of Energy’s two depleted uranium hexafluoride (DUF6) conversion plants that would give DOE wide discretion in how fee can be provided is prompting concern among […]

Jeremy L. Dillon WC Monitor 6/5/2015 The Department of Energy this week issued seven Basic Ordering Agreements for the treatment of Low-Level Waste and Mixed Low-Level Waste. Included among the seven BOAs are: Babcock Services, Environmental Dimensions, EnergySolutions, Omega Consultants, Perma-Fix Environmental Services, UniTech Services Group, and Waste Control Specialists. Each BOA covers a five […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 6/5/2015 The Department of Energy expects to complete within “the next several weeks” an evaluation of options for adding additional oversight capability at the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant, acting Assistant Secretary of Energy for Environmental Management Mark Whitney said late this week. In the wake of calls for DOE to enlist […]

Jeremy L. Dillon WC Monitor 6/5/2015 Kurion and AREVA announced this week a joint partnership to provide decommissioning and remediation services for the Department of Energy’s cleanup complex. The companies said that the alliance’s initial emphasis centers on cleanup and closure work at the Hanford site in Washington state, but they indicated that it could […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 6/5/2015 Portsmouth D&D contractor Fluor B&W Portsmouth, LLC, is placing a renewed focus on deactivation of the X-326 facility after pushing the project’s completion date from March 2016 to June 2017. The contractor this week instituted an organizational change for X-326 work, including a dedicated project team to focus on accelerated […]

Grouting Begins at Tank 16 Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 6/5/2015 The Savannah River Site is seeking an additional high-level waste tank treatment capability as part of a deal struck with regulators, this week releasing a draft request for proposals seeking companies able to remove cesium from tanks. The draft RFP and expression of interest comes […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 6/5/2015 As the Department of Energy continues to evaluate bids for the follow-on contract to operate Oak Ridge’s Transuranic Waste Processing Center, DOE this week again extended by six months the current contract held by incumbent Wastren Advantage. The contractor received its first extension in January that ran through mid-July, and […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 6/5/2015 The South Carolina Senate this week confirmed Catherine Heigel as the next director of the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control. Heigel, currently the General Counsel for accounting firm Elliot Davis Decosimo, LLC, was formerly the president of Duke Energy South Carolina. She takes over as director of DHEC […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 6/5/2015 Uranium conversion services company ConverDyn is still pushing a federal court to restrict the Department of Energy’s ability to transfer excess uranium to help pay for other work after DOE recently cut the level of those transfers, according to a court filing this week. ConverDyn sued DOE last year alleging […]

Will Long-Running Procurement Finally Come to an End? Mike Nartker WC Monitor 6/5/2015 In a move that could bring the Department of Energy’s multi-year search for a new support contractor for the Office of Legacy Management to an end, the Government Accountability Office late last week denied two protests filed against DOE’s most recent decision […]

First Phase of Breeder Rod Shipments from Dounreay to Sellafield Done  Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 6/5/2015 Scotland’s Dounreay site recently completed the last shipment of an 11-ton batch of breeder reactor rods to the Sellafield site for storage in an effort to consolidate U.K. used fuel, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority announced this week. While plans […]

WIPP Panels Containing Nitrate-Bearing Waste Closed WC Monitor 6/5/2015 Two previously open panels in the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant underground that had contained nitrate salt-bearing waste linked to last year’s radiological release have now been closed and sealed, officials announced this week. The actions come after the New Mexico Environment Department issued an Administrative Order […]

Lawmaker Wants DOE to Commit to Completing EIS for WTP Gas Pipeline WC Monitor 6/5/2015 Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.) is asking top Department of Energy officials for a written commitment to complete work on an environmental impact statement for a proposed natural gas pipeline to serve the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant. He wants the commitment […]

Work Underway to Upgrade Pump-and-Treat Plant to Address Uranium WC Monitor 6/5/2015 Equipment is being installed in what’s already the most sophisticated groundwater treatment plant at Hanford to expand its capabilities to address another contaminant. By the end of the calendar year, the new system is scheduled to be tested and starting to remove uranium […]

DOE Reaches Agreement With Regulators on Mercury Treatment Facility WC Monitor 6/5/2015 The Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Environmental Management Office has reached a resolution in the dispute with environmental regulators over the proposed mercury-treatment facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex. The dispute had reached formal dispute status after DOE filed paperwork regarding a […]

WC Monitor 6/5/2015 IN DOE Bruce Held retired from his position as Senior Advisor at the Department of Energy late last week. Held assumed the position of senior advisor last May, and before then, served as acting Under Secretary for Nuclear Security and acting National Nuclear Security Administration Administrator. “Bruce provided exceptional leadership over a […]

Saltstone Operations Shut Down After Elevated Mercury Levels Found WC Monitor 5/29/2015 Operations at Savannah River’s Saltstone facilities remain shut down after the site’s liquid waste contractor, Savannah River Remediation, found elevated mercury levels in tank waste salt streams. Saltstone receives lower activity waste from Savannah River’s tank farms, mixing it with grout and disposing […]

FBP Undergoes Safety ‘Stand-Down’ After String of Incidents WC Monitor 5/29/2015 After a series of minor recordable safety incidents this month at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant, the site undertook a “safety stand-down” this week to review and focus on safety tenets. The May 28 stand down came when, after two months without a recordable […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 5/29/2015 Bill Vantine has been named the next President and CEO of LATA, effective Aug. 1.  He will replace Bob Kingsbury, who is retiring after more than 35 years at LATA. “I’ve had a good long career here,” Kingsbury told WC Monitor late this week. “I think he [Vantine] will do […]

The following exit interview with Department of Energy Savannah River Operations Office Manager Dave Moody, who is retiring this week after nearly five years as site manager, was conducted May 27 by ExchangeMonitor Senior Editor Kenneth Fletcher. WC Monitor 5/29/2015 What would you like to be seen as Savannah River’s major achievements during your five-year […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 5/29/2015 Wastren Advantage won late this week the Department of Energy’s new $44.6 million contract for operation of Hanford’s 222-S Laboratory. The small business set-aside contract received four bids, and includes a two-year base period and three one-year option periods that would cover an estimated 15,000 to 25,000 laboratory analyses each […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 5/29/2015 To help provide better oversight at one of the Department of Energy’s largest and most complex projects, the Senate Armed Services Committee is looking to have DOE bring in an “owner’s agent” for the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant. The Senate version of the Fiscal Year 2016 National Defense Authorization Act, […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 5/29/2015 Senate authorizers are looking to require the Department of Energy to complete emergency preparedness assessments as part of award fee evaluations for the Department’s set of M&O contractors. The Senate version of the Fiscal Year 2016 National Defense Authorization Act, which was recently reported out of committee, would require DOE […]

Company Alleges FE&C Was Unable to Perform Work Mike Nartker WC Monitor 5/29/2015 Hanford cleanup contractor CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co. (CHPRC) had a strong response this week to a subcontractor that has filed a lawsuit seeking damages for work on the K West Basin Annex construction project, accusing Federal Engineers and Constructors (FE&C) of […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 5/29/2015 Members of Ohio’s Congressional delegation are asking the Department of Energy how it plans to avoid layoffs at the Portsmouth site in 2016 given planned funding levels and cuts in the uranium transfers used to help pay for cleanup at the site. DOE recently announced plans to reduce the uranium […]