Publications: Weapons Cleanup Monitor

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 1/16/2015 After the U.K. government’s decision this week to terminate Nuclear Management Partners’ contract to manage Sellafield, the site will now seek a “strategic partner” in industry for a long-term agreement to aid cleanup work. Under the new plan announced this week, ownership of site license company Sellafield Ltd. will revert […]

Martin Schneider WC Monitor 1/16/2015 SALT LAKE CITY—With comments on the draft Request for Proposals for the new Idaho Cleanup Project Core contract due this week,  DOE Office of Environmental Management Deputy Assistant Secretary for Acquisition and Project Management Jack Surash pushed back in remarks here against continuing concern from bidders about the terms and […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 1/16/2015 The Department of Energy is pushing back against a total of $54.3 million in fines New Mexico has levied for violations at the Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, denying many of the alleged violations and calling the penalties “grossly disproportionate” in official responses filed late […]

Mine Recovery Continues Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 1/16/2014 The investigation into last year’s radiological release at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant that has shut down the facility took a step forward last week with the inauguration of Project Reach, the specialized camera system designed to take photos and video of underground waste drums that haven’t […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 1/16/2015 With no resolution yet in its dispute with the Department of Energy over Savannah River tank waste milestones, the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control this week asked to elevate the issue to the Dispute Resolution Committee. “We acknowledge that the discussions between representatives of the Department of […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 1/16/2015 The South Carolina Board of Health and Environmental Control has tapped Eleanor Kitzman, a former state official in South Carolina and in Texas, to serve as the next director of the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control following the resignation of Catherine Templeton that took effect Jan. 12. […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 1/16/2015 Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.), the freshman lawmaker now representing Hanford, this week was named Vice-Chairman of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology’s Energy Subcommittee. The subcommittee covers federal R&D programs, including Department of Energy laboratories. “I am honored by this exciting opportunity to serve as Vice-Chairman of the […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 1/16/2015 In response to recent financial challenges, CH2M Hill is asking employee shareholders to approve a proposal that would allow the company to seek minority investment from outside investors. Last week, CH2M Hill issued a preliminary proxy statement outlining proposals the company said would “provide … greater flexibility in raising additional […]

DOE IG Finds Issues With WRPS’ Management of Materials Inventory WC Monitor 1/16/2015 Hanford tank farms contractor Washington River Protection Solutions is implementing corrective actions after a Department of Energy Office of Inspector General report highlighted management issues with its materials system inventory. The tank farm material services system is used to manage inventory for […]

WC Monitor 1/16/2015 IN CONGRESS Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-Wash.) has been appointed to the House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee. She represents a district downstream from Hanford that stretches along the Columbia River from the western boundary of Benton County, which includes much of Hanford, to the Pacific Ocean. She was named to the […]

WC Monitor 1/9/2014 IN THE WHITE HOUSE The Obama Administration will release its Fiscal Year 2016 budget request on time on Feb. 2, the Associated Press reported this week. The first Monday in February is the deadline for the annual budget release, a date the Obama Administration has missed frequently in the past. IN CONGRESS […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 1/9/2015 For the six-month period marking the second half of Fiscal Year 2014, Oak Ridge cleanup contractor URS-CH2M Oak Ridge, LLC, earned $3.67 million in award fee out of a total of $3.83 million available, about 96 percent. That is on par for UCOR’s fee in the first half of FY’14, […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 1/9/2015 As the Department of Energy gets ready to release the final Request for Proposals for the new Idaho Cleanup Project (ICP) Core contract, it appears that—at most—two teams are set to compete for the job, WC Monitor has learned. Fluor has assembled a team and has been actively preparing to […]

Still Unclear When Treatment Facility Will Begin Processing Material Mike Nartker WC Monitor 1/9/2015 Idaho environmental regulators have begun penalizing the Department of Energy thousands of dollars per day for failing to empty underground tanks at the Idaho site of liquid radioactive waste, and it remains uncertain when the facility intended to process the waste […]

Todd Jacobson WC Monitor 1/9/2015 In an unprecedented move, the National Nuclear Security Administration has drastically reduced the Fiscal Year 2014 fee for Los Alamos National Laboratory contractor Los Alamos National Security (LANS) because of “performance failures” associated with the February 2014 radiological incident at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant while stripping the contractor of […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 1/9/2015 South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control Director Catherine Templeton, known for fighting missed milestones by the Department of Energy at the Savannah River Site, announced this week that she will resign effective Jan. 12. Templeton was appointed by South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) to the Secretary of […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 1/9/2015 The Department of Energy and the state of Nevada have formalized a working group process that began after controversy over proposed shipments of uranium-233 to the Nevada National Security Site for disposal, and is including a focus on issues including waste acceptance criteria and low-level waste classification, Nevada Department of […]

Final Determination Pending Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 1/9/2015 Nuclear Waste Partnership, the managing contractor for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, has so far only been paid $21,576 out of about $8.2 million in total available fee for Fiscal Year 2014, according to contractor fee information recently posted by the Department of Energy. The fee chart […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 1/9/2015 The recovery plan in place for the resumption of operations at Waste Isolation Pilot Plant “is not fully sufficient to ensure safe conditions underground,” with chief concerns involving ventilation rates for workers while diesel equipment is being operated, according to a recently released Department of Energy review. DOE’s Office of […]

NDA Says It’s Close to Issuing Conclusion on Alternatives for Sellafield  Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 1/9/2015 The U.K.’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority said this week that it is in the final stages of reaching a conclusion on potential alternatives for an approach to cleanup work at Sellafield. The British Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee has questioned the […]

Charges Dismissed Against Final Defendant in Time Card Fraud Case WC Monitor 1/9/2015 Criminal charges related to Hanford timecard fraud were dismissed Dec. 29 against the final defendant who had pleaded not guilty. The federal government reached a civil settlement with Patrick Brannan, the base operations radiological control manager for former Hanford tank farms contractor […]

DOE to Replace Ventilation System at WESF as Part of Shutdown WC Monitor 1/9/2015 The Department of Energy is making plans to replace the hot cell ventilation system at Hanford’s Waste Encapsulation and Storage Facility, a necessary step to shut down the building. Earlier this year, DOE’s Office of Inspector General said that 1,936 capsules […]

New TRU Milestones In The Works WC Monitor 1/9/2015 The state of Tennessee is on the verge of approving a set of extended milestones for processing and disposing of the Department of Energy’s transuranic waste in Oak Ridge because of the inability to ship the material to the troubled Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New […]

2013 Data Falsification Incident Costs FBP Approx. $50,000 WC Monitor 1/9/2015 An incident in 2013 where workers at the Portsmouth D&D project were found to have falsified records has ended up costing contractor Fluor-B&W Portsmouth, LLC, approximately $50,000 so far, according to information recently obtained by WC Monitor. Last summer, DOE determined that $46,538.03 in […]

Security Contractor Earns About 90 Percent of Available FY 14 Award Fee WC Monitor 1/9/2014 Savannah River Site security contractor, Centerra Group, earned about 90 percent of its available award fee for Fiscal Year 2014, according to a scorecard released by the Department of Energy late last month. Centerra, which was known as G4S-Government Solutions, […]

WC Monitor 1/9/2015 An article in the Dec. 19, 2014, edition of WC Monitor incorrectly stated that the Reduction-Oxidation Plant at Hanford was the last processing plant built at the Hanford site. The REDOX plant was the fourth of five canyons built at the site and the last canyon built at the Central Plateau’s 200 […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 12/19/2014 In a new effort to further improve project management, the Department of Energy is moving forward with plans to conduct additional reviews of major projects to better identify and resolve potential problems before they have significant impacts. DOE’s new approach, unveiled late this week, involves what Department officials have described […]

Congress Adjourns Without Voting on Choice to Head Cleanup Program Mike Nartker WC Monitor 12/19/2014 Monica Regalbuto’s nomination to serve as the next Assistant Secretary of Energy for Environmental Management has been returned to the White House after Congress adjourned this week without the Senate holding a vote. Regalbuto was one of three pending DOE […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 12/19/2014 The Department of Energy is still assessing  potential impacts to Savannah River Site projects and workers after cleanup funds were cut about $29 million below the DOE request in the Fiscal Year 2015 spending bill recently passed by Congress. While most cleanup sites in the DOE complex saw a funding […]