Publications: Weapons Cleanup Monitor

‘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 […]

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 […]