Publications: Weapons Cleanup Monitor

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 […]

DOE Exercises UCOR Contract Options Worth Approx. $104 Million WC Monitor 5/1/2015 The Department of Energy this week exercised a set of options worth $104 million in URS-CH2M Oak Ridge’s (UCOR) cleanup contract at Oak Ridge. The options cover work including D&D activities at a number of facilities at the East Tennessee Technology Park, such […]

WC Monitor 5/1/2015 IN THE INDUSTRY Sellafield Limited has won eight awards in this year’s Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) Occupational Health and Safety Awards, the Sellafield site license company announced this week. The five gold and three silver awards will be presented in a June ceremony. “It makes me very proud […]

Bechtel National Earns ‘Good’ Ratings for WTP Work in Second Half of 2014 WC Monitor 4/24/2015 Bechtel National received ratings of “good” for its work at the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant in the second half of 2014, according to an award fee scorecard the Department of Energy issued late last week. The scorecard provides a more […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 4/24/2015 A new pilot project to decommission the Southwest Experimental Fast Oxide Reactor (SEFOR) in Arkansas would be launched in Fiscal Year 2016 under the House Appropriations Committee’s version of the FY 2016 Energy and Water spending bill, according to report language released this week. The bill would provide $9.5 million […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 4/24/2015 Review and design work for a long-term storage facility for elemental mercury would move ahead with $1.3 million in funding included in the House version of the Fiscal Year 2016 Energy and Water spending bill that cleared the Appropriations Committee this week.  In September 2013, DOE released a final Environmental […]

Two Workers ‘Splashed’ With Dangerous Chemical Mike Nartker WC Monitor 4/24/2015 Operations at the Portsmouth depleted uranium hexafluoride (DUF6) conversion plant remain suspended in the wake of an accident that occurred at the plant late last month, and it remains unclear when work will resume. The accident involved two workers being exposed to potassium hydroxide […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 4/24/2015 Local officials in Carlsbad, N.M., are backing the choice of Phil Breidenbach as the next head of Nuclear Waste Partnership, the managing contractor for the nearby Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, but have also raised concern about the recent spate of management  turnover at WIPP. Breidenbach will take over in the […]

Bill Proposes Less Funding for ORP, But Would Boost Richland Funding Mike Nartker WC Monitor 4/24/2015 House appropriators may be putting at risk the Department of Energy’s current goal to begin processing liquid radioactive waste at Hanford by the end of 2022 with their version of the Fiscal Year 2016 Energy and Water Appropriations bill, […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 4/24/2015 Most Department of Energy cleanup sites, including Portsmouth and the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, would see funding increases in the Fiscal Year 2016 House Energy and Water Appropriations bill when compared to DOE’s budget request, according to legislation that cleared the full committee this week. In order to support recovery […]