Publications: Weapons Cleanup Monitor

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 1/30/2015 The Department of Energy should better address the risk posed by the hundreds of excess contaminated facilities that have not yet been transferred to the Office of Environmental Management for cleanup, the DOE Office of Inspector General said in a report released this week. It notes DOE has not yet […]

WC Monitor 1/30/2015 IN CONGRESS There will be a major shakeup on the staff of the Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee with two of the top staffers on the panel leaving Capitol Hill for lobbying jobs. WC  Monitor has learned that Senate Majority Clerk Tom Craig and Senate Minority Staffer Leland Cogliani are leaving […]

Sue Cange Named DOE Oak Ridge Cleanup Manager WC Monitor 1/30/2015 Sue Cange was officially named this week as the full-time Manager of the Department of Energy Oak Ridge’s Office of Environmental Management.  Cange had served in the post on an acting basis since May 2014, when current EM Acting Assistant Secretary Mark Whitney moved […]

Construction Begins on RLWTF-Upgrade Project WC Monitor 1/30/2015 Construction work has begun on the first phase of a project to replace the aging Radioactive Liquid Waste Treatment Facility at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Late last week, Los Alamos National Security, LLC, the managing contractor at the lab, issued a notice to proceed with construction […]

DOE Agrees to Pay $44,000 Fine Over Waste Storage Violations WC Monitor 1/30/2015 The Department of Energy has agreed to pay a $44,722 penalty to resolve more violations of waste storage requirements at Hanford, as alleged by the Environmental Protection Agency. The two agencies signed a consent agreement this week, with DOE neither admitting nor […]

DNFSB Wants Info From DOE On Preventing Hydrogen Explosions at WTP WC Monitor 1/30/2015 The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board is questioning how the Department of Energy plans to prevent hydrogen explosions in some tanks holding high-level radioactive waste at the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant. The Board is asking for a written report in 90 […]

Staff Reports WC Monitor 1/23/2015 New Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.) asked President Barack Obama this week to include a responsible level of funding for Department of Energy environmental management work in his budget request to Congress for Fiscal Year 2016. If DOE cleanup budgets continue to dwindle, more cleanup work will be postponed, leading to […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 1/23/2015 The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board plans to hold a meeting this spring in Carlsbad, N.M., on last year’s incidents at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant that resulted in the ongoing shutdown of the facility. Operations at WIPP have been shut down since a Feb. 5, 2014, truck fire and […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 1/23/2015 The White House is set to renominate Monica Regalbuto to head the Department of Energy’s cleanup program, though the timing of the move remains unclear, WC Monitor has learned. Along with Regalbuto, the White House is also set to renominate Jonathan Elkind to serve as Assistant Secretary of Energy for […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 1/23/2015 A new Department of Energy fee plan for the final 18 months of Fluor-B&W Portsmouth’s base contract for the Portsmouth D&D project, a copy of which WC Monitor obtained this week, continues DOE’s efforts to shift more risk to its contractors. Under the plan, FBP is now at risk of […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 1/23/2015 Hanford tank farms contractor Washington River Protection Solutions, LLC, earned $10.5 million in Fiscal Year 2014 award fee, or about 83 percent of its total available award fee, according to information the Department of Energy released late this week. The contractor earned an overall grade of “very good” for its […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 1/23/2015 The Department of Energy’s Savannah River Operations Office is creating a new position of Associate Deputy Manager, which will be filled by Thomas Johnson, currently serving at DOE Office of Environmental Management headquarters. In his new role, announced this week, Johnson will report to DOE Savannah River Deputy Manager Terrel […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 1/23/2015 The Department of Energy is seeking best-and-final offers from bidders on the new contract to operate the Hanford 222-S Laboratory, a spokeswoman for the DOE Office of Environmental Management confirmed this week. DOE has established a competitive range for the procurement and is seeking revised offers “to maximize the government’s […]

Todd Jacobson WC Monitor 1/23/2015 National Nuclear Security Administration officials were highly critical of Los Alamos National Laboratory management in the lab’s recently released Fiscal Year 2014 Performance Evaluation Review, with the document stating that shortcomings during the year “reflect a negative trend in leadership performance.” The agency docked lab manager Los Alamos National Security […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 1/23/2015 Savannah River Site managing contractor Savannah River Nuclear Solutions earned 86 percent of its available award fee for Fiscal Year 2014, according to award fee information the Department of Energy released this week. SRNS earned 94 percent of its available fee for cleanup work, totaling $23.9 million, but did not […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 1/23/2015 The Department of Energy issued this week an updated draft Request for Proposals for the new contract to manage Nuclear Regulatory Commission-licensed facilities at the Department’s Idaho site and in Colorado. The updated draft includes a slight change on the planned evaluation criteria. The top factor, relevant past performance, now […]

DOE Evaluating Bids for Follow-Up Contract Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 1/23/2015 As the Department of Energy evaluates bids for a new contract to operate the Oak Ridge Transuranic Waste Processing Center, DOE late last week extended by six months the current contract held by incumbent Wastren Advantage. WAI’s contract to run the TWPC had been […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 1/23/2015 While a Savannah River National Laboratory study has concluded that processing a difficult batch of German highly enriched uranium at the Savannah River Site is feasible, no decision will be made on accepting the fuel until a final environmental assessment is issued this summer, a Department of Energy  spokesman said […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 1/23/2015 After a Department of Energy program assessment found three high-priority issues with the systems engineering program for Oak Ridge cleanup contractor URS-CH2M Oak Ridge, LLC, the contractor is working on a corrective action plan due early next month. The technical assessment, undertaken in 2014, looked at the systems engineering program, […]

Staff Reports WC Monitor 1/23/2015 The state of Washington is concerned that the Department of Energy may be planning to take longer to build the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant and scale back on retrieving waste from single-shell tanks at the site to lower annual spending, according to new documents filed in federal court. DOE said […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 1/23/2015 In another development in the investigation into the radiological release at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, waste processing workers at Los Alamos National Laboratory have identified a procedural change related to potentially volatile drums. The Lab’s waste processing methods have fallen under scrutiny since a LANL drum was found breached […]

NMP Hopes For Continued Role at Sellafield After Contract Termination Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 1/23/2015 In the wake of the U.K. Nuclear Decommissioning Authority’s decision to take back management of the Sellafield site, Nuclear Management Partners said this week that it hopes it or its parent companies will continue to play a role at the […]

Large Chunk of WIPP Ceiling Falls WC Monitor 1/23/2015 A large chunk of the ceiling in the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant underground fell last week in a restricted access area in the Panel 3 access drift, according to the Department of Energy. No workers were present when the Jan. 15 fall occurred, which was estimated […]

DOE Looking At Next Steps for Waste Retrieval After MARS Failure WC Monitor 1/23/2015 The Department of Energy is considering its next steps to empty waste from Tank C-105 after its most robust retrieval technology failed to work as expected when equipped with a vacuum attachment. Work was stopped in the tank after the Mobile […]

Security Contractor Receives Performance Score of 96 for FY 2014 NS&D Monitor 1/23/2015 National Strategic Protective Services, the Department of Energy’s security contractor at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, East Tennessee Technology Park and other Oak Ridge facilities, received a “very good” rating for Fiscal Year 2014 and an overall performance score of 96, according to […]

WC Monitor 1/23/2015 IN CONGRESS Senate Republicans this week officially named Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) as chairman of the Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee. Alexander had been expected to assume the top spot on the panel since Republicans took control of the Senate in November. He served as the ranking member of the subcommittee for […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 1/16/2015 While only two years remain for the Obama Administration, the White House appears to be moving forward with a second nomination for the sole remaining vacant Under Secretary position at the Department of Energy that would oversee the Office of Environmental Management. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz said late this […]

Commissioning Costs for Idaho Facility Double Previous Estimates Mike Nartker WC Monitor 1/16/2015 While the planned facility for addressing the remaining liquid waste at the Department of Energy’s Idaho site is anticipated to be in full operation before the end of this year, it won’t be until at least 2016 before treatment of the waste […]