Publications: Weapons Cleanup Monitor

Staff Reports WC Monitor 5/29/2015 Washington Closure Hanford has received a one-year extension to its contract for the River Corridor Cleanup project at Hanford, stretching it through September 2016, the Department of Energy announced this week. The final year of the extended contract would focus mostly on two challenging projects, cleanup of the trenches at […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 5/29/2015 The Department of Energy has taken steps to improve controls and accountability of nuclear materials at the Portsmouth site after a DOE Office of Inspector General inspection found weaknesses there, according to an IG report released this week. The site uses the Portsmouth Materials Accountability System to track the location […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 5/29/2015 The Department of Energy and its contractors should improve the management of spare parts at sites across the complex, according to a DOE Office of Inspector General report released this week. Spare parts inventories are needed to maintain DOE facilities, but the IG encountered issues at the three sites covered […]

DOE, EPA Agree to Extend K Basin Sludge Cleanup Milestones WC Monitor 5/29/2015 The Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency have reached an agreement to extend Tri-Party Agreement milestones for getting sludge out of the K West Basin near the Columbia River. The agreement brings to an end a fine that had been […]

WC Monitor 5/29/2015 IN CONGRESS The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee has scheduled a hearing for June 16 to again consider the nomination of Monica Regalbuto to serve as Assistant Secretary of Energy for Environmental Management. The White House earlier this year nominated Regalbuto for a second time to head up the Department of […]

AREVA Wins Subcontract to Help Address Leaking ORNL Reactor Pool WC Monitor 5/22/2015 AREVA has received a $2.8 million subcontract from URS-CH2M Oak Ridge (UCOR) to support efforts to resolve a leaking reactor pool at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and retrieve and dispose of highly radioactive components stored in the pool at the old research […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 5/22/2015 Cleanup funding for the Department of Energy’s Richland Operations Office at Hanford as well as Oak Ridge would see the biggest increases from DOE’s FY 2016 budget request in the Senate version of the FY 2016 Energy and Water Appropriations bill that cleared the full committee this week. Overall, DOE’s […]

Final Hanford Time Card Fraud Defendant to Pay $7,500 Fine WC Monitor 5/22/2015 The final defendant in a multiyear investigation of timecard fraud at Hanford was sentenced in Eastern Washington District U.S. Court to pay a fine of $7,500. Like most of the other defendants in the related cases, Glenda Davis will not serve jail […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 5/22/2015 Senate appropriators this week matched the Department of Energy’s proposed funding cut for D&D activities at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant next year, raising concerns of major layoffs at the site. The Senate version of the Fiscal Year 2016 Energy and Water Appropriations bill, reported out of committee, would provide […]

‘Critical’ to Resolve ‘Bark’ Issue Before Waste Processing Can Begin Mike Nartker WC Monitor 5/22/2015 While several technical issues remain to be fully resolved, at least one of which has been dubbed “critical,” the Department of Energy is now looking to begin waste processing at the Idaho Integrated Waste Treatment Unit this fall, according to […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 5/22/2015 AECOM is now projecting completion of physical work at the Separations Process Research Unit (SPRU) D&D project by the end of next year—ahead of the Department of Energy’s previously stated schedule for the project. “Safe progress continues at the SPRU project,” AECOM spokesman Keith Wood said in a written response […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 5/22/2015 Following ongoing controversy about the Department of Energy’s excess uranium transfers, lawmakers in both the Senate and the House this week introduced legislation that would put a firm cap on the transfers and require them to go through the full rulemaking and public comment process. The bills would cap the […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 5/22/2015 Contractors at the Savannah River Site are making progress in reducing significant corrective maintenance backlogs that have raised concerns in recent years. M&O contractor Savannah River Nuclear Solutions reached a 40 percent reduction in its corrective maintenance backlog over the last year, while liquid waste contractor Savannah River Remediation reduced […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 5/22/2015 The Department of Energy will look to ramp up funding starting in fiscal year 2016 for developing new technologies to address cleanup challenges, according to DOE’s recently released response to recommendations by a Secretary of Energy Advisory Board task force. Advances in science and technology will be key to successfully […]

Magnox to See Up to 1,600 Layoffs Under New Organization Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 5/22/2016 Between 1,400 and 1,600 layoffs are now expected at the U.K.’s set of Magnox sites between now and September 2016, site license company Magnox Limited announced this week. The reductions are related to both changes in the work needed at […]

WC Monitor 5/22/2015 IN DOE Erik Olds has been named Chief of Staff of the Department of Energy’s Richland Operations Office, effective June 1. He last served as acting Chief of Staff for the DOE Office of Environmental Management, and previously served as Chief of Staff of the DOE Office of River Protection. Candice Trummell […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 5/15/2015 The Senate Armed Services Committee late this week completed its version of the Fiscal Year 2016 National Defense Authorization Act, which sets authorized funding levels for defense environmental cleanup. The bill authorizes $5.5 billion in funding for the Department of Energy’s defense environmental management programs, matching the administration’s FY’16 budget […]

Reductions Could Have $65 Million Impact in FY’16 Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 5/15/2015 Members of Ohio’s Congressional delegation expressed concern this week over the impact on Portsmouth cleanup of the Department of Energy’s recent decision to reduce its uranium transfers. D&D funding at Portsmouth comes in a large part from the sale of DOE-owned uranium […]

Staff Reports WC Monitor 5/15/2015 Hanford cleanup contractor CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co. has been awarded 98 percent of the possible fee it could earn from the Department of Energy for its performance in Fiscal Year 2014. That was slightly better than the 95 percent of possible fee it earned for work performed in FY’13. […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 5/15/2015 In the face of a White House veto threat over concerns including nuclear policy provisions, the House late this week passed its version of the Fiscal Year 2016 National Defense Authorization Act in a vote of 269 to 151. The bill sets authorized funding levels and policy for defense environmental […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 5/15/2015 A federal court is asking the uranium conversion services company ConverDyn to show cause as to why its lawsuit against the Department of Energy should continue given DOE’s recent announcement that it plans to reduce the amount of excess uranium it uses to pay for various projects. ConverDyn sued DOE […]

Staff Reports WC Monitor 5/15/2015 An Eastern Washington District U.S. Court judge has agreed to intervene in the Hanford consent decree signed in 2010 and consider proposals by all three litigants in the case to modify it. The Department of Energy, the state of Oregon and the state of Washington had asked the federal court […]

Sellafield Awards £50 Million Canister Contract to Metalcraft Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 5/15/2015 Sellafield Limited has awarded a contract worth up to £50 million ($78 million) to Metalcraft for providing high integrity stainless steel nuclear waste storage containers for material stored at the Pile Fuel Cladding Silo, the company announced this week. The contract covers […]

CHPRC Announces New Vice Presidents WC Monitor 5/15/2015 Hanford cleanup contractor CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation has named two new vice presidents, splitting up the work of Ty Blackford, the former vice president of decommissioning, waste and fuels, and remediation services. Blackford was named tank closure and regulatory director at Savannah River Remediation, the liquid waste […]

Site Breaks Ground on New Biomass Heating Plant WC Monitor 5/15/2015 Officials this week celebrated the groundbreaking of an expansion to the Savannah River Site’s Biomass Cogeneration Facility that will involve adding a new heating plant. The biomass plant, built and operated by Ameresco, began operation in 2012 and provides energy and steam for Savannah […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 5/8/2015 While Babcock and Wilcox’s Technical Services Group is still grappling with the loss of the Y-12 and Pantex managing contracts, B&W President and CEO James Ferland expressed optimism this week about the unit’s future, especially as B&W moves forward with a restructuring to spin-off its power generating unit. In a […]

GAO Questions DOE’s Planning for New Hanford Vit Plant Facilities Mike Nartker WC Monitor 5/8/2015 The price tag for key portions of the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant long seen as being less difficult to accomplish may be set to significantly increase, with contractor Bechtel National having estimated that the work could cost up to almost […]