Publications: Weapons Cleanup Monitor

WC Monitor 12/19/2014 WINNERS Fluor: Fluor saw major contracting success this year, leading a team that won the Department of Energy’s new Paducah deactivation contract and being part of a team that won a new contract to manage the United Kingdom’s 10 Magnox nuclear power stations and two research reactor sites. Huntington Ingalls Industries: HII […]

Please note: the offices of EXCHANGEMONITOR PUBLICATIONS will be closed from Dec. 24 through Jan. 4. The Weapons Complex Morning Briefing will be published Dec. 22-23, and the next full issue of Weapons Complex Monitor will be on your desk Jan. 9. We will issue bulletins should any major news break in the interim. Happy […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 12/19/2014 After months of uncertainty regarding hundreds of potential layoffs for Portsmouth cleanup workers, contractor Fluor B&W Portsmouth, LLC, cancelled the workforce reduction planned for this week after the site received a $76.4 million funding boost in the spending bill recently approved by Congress. Contractor officials had warned that without $92.5 […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 12/19/2014 A federal fund used to help cover cleanup costs at the Oak Ridge, Paducah and Portsmouth sites remains on track to be empty by Fiscal Year 2020, at which point the Department of Energy will need to find other Congressional funding sources to pay for the work, according to a […]

Board Chairman Winokur to Retire Jan. 3 Mike Nartker WC Monitor 12/19/2014 In one of its last actions before adjourning for the year, the Senate this week approved the White House’s choice of Daniel Santos to serve on the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. The White House nominated Santos to the Board this summer to […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 12/19/2014 A new long-term campaign to downblend 1,200 bundles of spent fuel at Savannah River’s H-Canyon is well underway, site officials said this week. In September, the site’s managing contractor, Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, began initial processing in an eight-to-10-year campaign to downblend highly enriched uranium from research reactor fuel stored […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 12/19/2014 The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board has uncovered “significant flaws” in the hazard and accident analyses at Los Alamos National Laboratory’s facility for loading transuranic waste, according to a Dec. 9 DNFSB staff report. LANL’s Radioassay and Nondestructive Testing Shipping Facility is used to load the waste for shipment, and […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 12/19/2014 After delays and cost increases at Hanford’s Plutonium Finishing Plant were highlighted in a recent Department of Energy Office of Inspector General report, DOE has directed cleanup contractor CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Company to complete a corrective action plan due in mid-January. The IG report, released in September, found issues […]

Dounreay Site Completion Pushed Out Four Years Due to Addition of Scope Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 12/18/2014 The completion date for cleanup work at Scotland’s Dounreay site has been pushed out four years to 2029 due to added scope that includes the removal of all nuclear fuels, the U.K. Nuclear Decommissioning Authority announced this week. […]

Settlement Reached in Time Card Fraud Case WC Monitor 12/19/2014 Charges related to timecard fraud are expected to be dropped for two former high-level managers and a former supervisor of CH2M Hill Hanford Group after they agreed to pay civil fines, according to the Department of Justice. Ryan Dodd, who was vice president of the […]

Contractor Requests New Roof for REDOX Plant WC Monitor 12/19/2014 After a failing roof is leading to leaking and contamination migration in the Reduction-Oxidation Plant at Hanford, site cleanup contractor CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Company has requested funding for a new roof totaling about $7 million. Though the facility has not operated since the 1960s […]

DOE Should Increase Outreach on SRS Monitoring, Lab Report Finds WC Monitor 12/19/2014 Though existing environmental monitoring programs in South Carolina and Georgia are sufficient to protect the public from potential Savannah River radiological releases, an independent lab report found that the Department of Energy should increase outreach efforts on the topic. The Savannah River […]

WC Monitor 12/19/2014 IN CONGRESS Congress wrapped up work on the final version of the Fiscal Year 2015 defense authorization bill late last week, with the Senate approving the measure and sending it to President Obama for signature. Among the bill’s provisions is language that would create a national park comprised of sites tied to […]

NDA Plan Calls for £3.31 Billion in Spending Next Year Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 12/12/2014 The U.K.’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority is calling for a spending level of £3.31 billion ($5.18 billion) in the 2015/16 fiscal year, according to a draft business plan released this week covering cleanup sites across the United Kingdom from 2015 to […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 12/12/2014 Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board Chairman Peter Winokur said this week that he is disappointed the Board dropped to the bottom of this year’s list of best “small” federal agencies to work for, but reiterated steps the Board is taking to help improve employee morale and satisfaction. The Board was […]

There is a legendary story in the lore of ExchangeMonitor. In the early 1980s, as Ed was just a few years in to building what would become ExchangeMonitor Publications & Forums, one of Ed’s first reporters was just about at his wits end after only a few months on the job. After watching his story […]

ExchangeMonitor Founder and Publisher Edward Helminski Dies at 72 WC Monitor 12/12/2014 Edward Lawrence Helminski, the founder, publisher and president of ExchangeMonitor publications, died peacefully in his home in Washington, D.C, on Dec. 5. He was 72.  Helminski’s diverse career spanned from academia to energy policy work with states and the White House to newsletter […]

WIPP Recovery Funded, Savannah River Sees Cuts Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 12/12/2014 Most sites in the Department of Energy’s cleanup program would receive a funding boost in the Fiscal Year 2015 omnibus spending bill Congress released this week, with an increase that could stave off looming layoffs at Portsmouth, though in the meantime the Savannah […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 12/12/2014 In a move welcomed by potential bidders, the Department of Energy has dropped plans to include a cost cap in the new Idaho Cleanup Project (ICP) Core contract. The draft Request for Proposals for the new contract had included a provision that would have made contractors responsible for all costs […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 12/12/2014 Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) has dropped his hold on Monica Regalbuto’s nomination to serve as the next Assistant Secretary of Energy for Environmental Management, but it remains to be seen if she’ll be confirmed by the Senate before the current Congress goes out of session, expected next week. Barrasso chose […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 12/12/2014 After New Mexico levied $54.3 million in fines for violations this year at Los Alamos and the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant and warned of potentially even larger fines down the road, the Department of Energy is examining its path forward. The New Mexico Environment Department levied a $17.7 million fine […]

Still Uncertain, Though, When Facility Will Begin Operation Mike Nartker WC Monitor 12/12/2014 The Idaho Integrated Waste Treatment Unit reached a significant milestone in its startup process last week, but it could be well into 2015 before the facility begins processing actual radioactive waste. On Dec. 2, a waste simulant was introduced into the IWTU […]

Unsuccessful Bidder Has Challenged Winner’s Ability to Meet Size Standard Mike Nartker WC Monitor 12/12/2014 A lengthy dispute over a small Department of Energy support contract may now be over, with the Small Business Administration’s Office of Hearings and Appeals denying this week a second appeal filed by an unsuccessful bidder challenging the contract winner’s […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 12/12/2014 The Department of Energy is gearing up for the procurement for a new contract to operate DOE’s two depleted uranium hexafluoride conversion plants, announcing Dec. 8 that a draft Request for Proposals for the contract is expected to be released within 45 days. DOE also released this week a draft […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 12/12/2014 The Department of Energy this week released a sources sought notice for 8(a) small businesses interested in performing scope planning work for upcoming transition contracts for legacy cleanup work at Los Alamos National Laboratory. DOE is looking to transition administration of the cleanup work from National Nuclear Security Administration management […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 12/12/2014 The Department of Energy this week released a final Request for Proposals for a small business contract for infrastructure support services at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant. “A firm-fixed-price, labor hour, cost reimbursement, and indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract will be awarded from this Final RFP. The total estimated value of […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 12/12/2014 The Department of Energy is planning to develop a new secretarial determination regarding its uranium transfers to cover cleanup work at Portsmouth and the downblending of highly-enriched uranium, releasing last week a request for information from the public about potential impacts on the uranium markets. The move comes after industry […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 12/12/2012 The Department of Energy has suspended a small business procurement for a Natural Resources Damage Assessment and Restoration Plan for Los Alamos National Laboratory pending the outcome of a challenge to the size standard used. The firm Environment International Ltd. filed the appeal of the 500 person size standard to […]