Publications: Weapons Cleanup Monitor

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 5/8/2015 The Department of Energy’s Carlsbad Field Office is having a tough time filling 22 new full-time positions, many of them in safety and oversight, that were created in response to last year’s incidents at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, DOE officials said last week. “I have the highest incentive authority […]

The following interview with Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) was conducted April 29 by ExchangeMonitor Editor-in-Chief Mike Nartker. WC Monitor 5/8/2015 We’re right in the midst of appropriations season. As your subcommittee is working on its version of the FY 2016 energy and water bill, what are going to be […]

DOE Convenes Separate Accident Investigation Board Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 5/8/2015 The Department of Energy had already launched an investigation into the electrical systems at Los Alamos National Laboratory after several incidents occurred prior to this week’s electrical accident there that left one worker seriously injured and eight others seeking medical treatment. The May 3 […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 5/8/2015 Hanford cleanup contractor CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co. (CHPRC) is facing a lawsuit from one of its subcontractors alleging it has experienced more than $12 million in damages for work on the K West Basin Annex construction project. Federal Engineers and Constructors (FE&C) filed the suit on April 21 in […]

Contractor Still Conducting Analysis of Chemical Spill Accident Mike Nartker WC Monitor 5/8/2015 B&W Conversion Services, LLC, is so far holding off on setting a schedule for the resumption of full operations at the Portsmouth depleted uranium hexafluoride (DUF) conversion plant in the wake of a chemical spill accident, saying late this week that the […]

Uranium Mining Industry Gives Move ‘Mixed Reviews’  Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 5/8/2015 In a move that is expected to impact funding for cleanup work at the Portsmouth site, the Department of Energy is reducing the amount of excess uranium it will transfer to contractors to help pay for cleanup activities and downblending programs. Under the […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 5/8/2015 After nearly two years of talks with Nevada officials regarding disposal of a batch of uranium-233 from Oak Ridge at the Nevada National Security Site, the Department of Energy is moving ahead with the shipments by conducting a trial run this week.  DOE had originally hoped to complete in 2013 […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 5/8/2015 There is no evidence that former Deputy Energy Secretary Dan Poneman broke any ethics rules while at the Department of Energy regarding his future post as CEO of uranium enrichment firm Centrus Energy Corp., DOE Deputy General Counsel Eric Fygi said in an April 30 letter to Sen. John Barrasso […]

Wash. State University to Oversee Hanford Artifacts WC Monitor 5/8/2015 Mission Support Alliance has awarded a subcontract to Washington State University Tri-Cities for professional curatorial and archivist services, plus storage, of the Department of Energy’s collection of Hanford artifacts and archive materials. The university will make the items available for research, education and public exhibitions. […]

DOE Awards Contract for Los Alamos Scope Planning  WC Monitor 5/8/2015 The Department of Energy this week awarded a contract to IEI-PEC, JV, for scope planning at the Office of Environmental Management’s Los Alamos Field Office.  EM is currently standing up a new field office at Los Alamos and is the midst of planning a […]

DOE Holds ‘Productive’ Talks With Regulators on Mercury Facility WC Monitor 5/8/2015 A settlement to the dispute over a new mercury-treatment facility at Y-12 could be on the way following an April 21 meeting with environmental regulators that a Department of Energy spokesman termed “productive.” Representatives from the DOE’s Office of Environmental Management in Oak […]

WC Monitor 5/8/2015 IN DOE Melanie Kent has been named director of human resources at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office.  Kent began her federal career in 1979, and she has been chief of the Federal Human Resources Branch at the Oak Ridge Office for the past 14 years. She has a degree in […]

FY 2017 Budget Would Need to Double to Meet Requirements, Officials Say WC Monitor 5/1/2015 The Fiscal Year 2017 budget for the Richland Operations Office at Hanford would need to double to meet environmental cleanup requirements, according to the Department of Energy. DOE Hanford officials presented budget information for public comment this week in advance […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 5/1/2015 In a move that prompted mixed reaction from industry officials, the Department of Energy late last week inadvertently released the identities of companies that have submitted questions on the Request for Proposals for the new contract to manage Nuclear Regulatory Commission-licensed facilities at the Department’s Idaho site and in Colorado. […]

Industry Takes Issue With DOE Revisions to Market Report Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 5/1/2015 Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) is calling for more transparency and oversight by the Department of Energy on uranium transfers to the metal commodities firm Traxys that are used to fund cleanup work at the Portsmouth site after the recent appointment of […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 5/1/2015 Warning that the Department of Energy’s current contracting approaches are “increasingly insupportable,” local officials near DOE sites expressed concern this week over the Department’s procurement policies. “Our concern is that DOE is departing from the most successful contract mechanisms and past practices that cleaned up Rocky Flats, Fernald and the […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 5/1/2015 The Department of Energy and the New Mexico Environment Department this week reached a $73 million settlement in lieu of fines related to violations at Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. The settlement funds will go to a number of community and environmental projects near WIPP […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 5/1/2015 CARLSBAD, N.M.—In an effort to increase Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board oversight following the 2014 incidents at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, the Board approved a proposal here this week that would increase DNFSB staff reviews at several Department of Energy sites. The Board does not have on-site representatives at […]

White House Issues Veto Threat Mike Nartker WC Monitor 5/1/2015 In the face of a veto threat from the White House, House lawmakers late this week approved the Fiscal Year 2016 Energy and Water Appropriations bill, which funds the Department of Energy’s cleanup efforts. Rep. John Garamendi (D-Calif.) was unsuccessful in an attempt to amend […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 5/1/2015 The ongoing suspension of work at the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant’s Pretreatment Facility appears to be taking a toll on the project’s various suppliers of components and materials, which pose “significant risks” to the entire project, according to an internal report by WTP contractor Bechtel National made public this week. […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 5/1/2015 After months in the dispute resolution process, South Carolina, the Department of Energy and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have reached an agreement extending by eight months the closure date for a Savannah River Site high-level waste tank. Under the agreement, the parties agreed to prepare Tank 12H for grouting […]

Schedule Recovery Expected Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 5/1/2015 While remote-handled transuranic waste processing at the Department of Energy’s Idaho site ran into  delays late last year, including a worker contamination incident and a system blockage, site officials still hope to complete processing of the waste on schedule by the end of 2015. The contamination incident […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 5/1/2015 The Department of Energy issued late last week its implementation plan for last year’s Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board recommendation calling for strengthened emergency preparedness and response capabilities. The DNFSB recommendation was prompted in part by DOE’s response to the 2014 truck fire and radioactive material release at the Waste […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 5/1/2015 The Department of Energy this week exercised a two-year option in Savannah River Remediation, LLC’s contract to provide liquid waste services at the Savannah River Site, keeping the contractor in place from July 1 through June 30, 2017. The extension, which is valued at $797 million, comes as AECOM-led SRR […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 5/1/2015 Work on a new cleanup project to bring down structures at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s Old Town Section should soon begin once documentation preparation is completed, officials said in April. The Lab’s Old Town section covers seven buildings totaling approximately 56,000 gross square feet and four concrete slabs remaining from […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 5/1/2015 The House Armed Services Committee voted 60-2 late this week to approve its version of the Fiscal Year 2016 defense authorization bill, which sets authorized funding levels for defense environmental cleanup sites. During a lengthy markup hearing on the bill April 29, lawmakers rejected an amendment proposed by Rep. John […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 5/1/2015 The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control has appointed as its new director former president of Duke Energy South Carolina Catherine Heigel, currently the General Counsel for accounting firm Elliot Davis Decosimo, LLC. Before taking the post, Heigel must be cleared by South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) […]

Staff Reports WC Monitor 5/1/2015 The United States has an opportunity to start disposing of defense nuclear waste sooner and at less cost by abandoning a one-size-fits-all approach, said Mary Louise Wagner, senior adviser to the energy secretary, at a regional forum arranged by the Bipartisan Policy Center this week. But separate disposal of high-level […]

More Sentences Come Down in Hanford Time Card Fraud Case WC Monitor 5/1/2015 Four more defendants were sentenced on felony charges related to timecard fraud at Hanford late this week, receiving fines of up to $165,744 but no incarceration. All were paid hourly wages as radiological control technicians for CH2M Hill Hanford Group, the former […]