Publications: Weapons Cleanup Monitor

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 10/31/2014 West Valley Demonstration Project contractor CH2M Hill B&W West Valley has improved schedule planning and addressed issues with its water treatment system after receiving about 53 percent of available award fee from the Department of Energy in the latest available period, CHBWV President Dan Coyne told WC Monitor this week. […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 10/31/2014 In the latest hurdle to getting the Idaho Integrated Waste Treatment Unit up and running, startup testing has been on hold for most of this month because of an equipment issue, and it remains to be seen when the testing will resume. Since Oct. 3, the IWTU has been shut […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 10/31/2014 AMELIA ISLAND, Fla.–While the Department of Energy’s two depleted uranium hexafluoride (DUF6) conversion plants did not meet a goal to reach 100 percent operational design plate capacity by the end of Fiscal Year 2014, the facilities are seeing improvements  in production rates, DOE Portsmouth Paducah Project Office Manager Bill Murphie […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 10/31/2014 AMELIA ISLAND, Fla.–While the schedule for downblending some of Oak Ridge’s stockpile of uranium-233 remains uncertain due to delays in disposal of other portions of the material, the site is making progress on preparations for the processing, an Oak Ridge official said here last week. The Department of Energy and […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 10/31/2014 The Department of Energy late last week issued a 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 new contract, which is being set aside for small businesses, would cover the Fort St. Vrain facility; the […]

Two GAO Protests Still Pending Mike Nartker WC Monitor 10/31/2014 Navarro Research and Engineering has survived the first challenge filed over its win of the new Nevada National Security Site environmental programs services contract, with the Small Business Administration having determined that Navarro did meet the size standard used for the small business set-aside procurement. […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 10/31/2014 The Department of Energy should take more steps to strengthen its cybersecurity program, DOE’s Office of Inspector General said in a report released this week. Cybersecurity has been a growing area of concern for the Department, especially after a 2013 breach of personal information of over 104,000 individuals. The IG […]

Todd Jacobson WC Monitor 10/31/2014 Project Enhancement Corporation, the contractor protesting a Department of Energy technical and security support services contract for what was formally known as the Office of Health, Safety and Security, added several new complaints to its protest late last week, challenging DOE’s decision to quickly award the contract to Link Technologies […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 10/31/2014 The Department of Energy is paying the vast majority of surveillance and maintenance costs for former commercial uranium mill sites that are supposed to be covered by fees charged to the mill operators, the DOE Inspector General ‘s Office said in a report released this week. The “Title II” uranium […]

SRNL Panel Calls for Improvements Against Brief Tank Vapor Exposures WC Monitor 10/31/2014 Hanford tank farms contractor Washington River Protection Solutions can take steps to better protect workers from brief exposures to relatively high concentrations of chemicals that are difficult to measure and document, according to the Hanford Tank Vapor Assessment Report released late this week. […]

Yakama Nation Preparing Lawsuit Over 300 Area Cleanup ROD WC Monitor 10/31/2014 The Yakama Nation is preparing to sue the Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency over the final record of decision for the Hanford 300 Area just north of Richland, Wash. The Yakama Tribal Council has provided formal notice to the federal […]

Link Technologies Wins EM Support Contract WC Monitor 10/24/2014 Link Technologies has won a five-year contract worth approximately $20 million to provide support to the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management. Notably, while Link Technologies is a small business, the contract was competed on an unrestricted basis. Services to be provided under […]

Third Evaluation of Bids Underway Mike Nartker WC Monitor 10/24/2014 The Department of Energy’s search for a new support services contractor for the Office of Legacy Management continues to drag on, as DOE asked bidders this week to again extend their proposals’ expiration dates, this time by another six weeks to mid-December. DOE did not […]

Todd Jacobson WC Monitor 10/24/2014 The Department of Energy has stopped work on a recent support services contract award to Link Technologies after a team led by Project Enhancement Corporation filed a protest with the Government Accountability Office late last week. The protest represents the latest turn of events in a battle over the three-year, […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 10/24/2014 AMELIA ISLAND, Fla.—Senior executives from most major Department of Energy cleanup contractors gave a resounding thumbs down here this week to DOE’s new Idaho cleanup contract as currently planned in draft form, and it remains to be seen if, and to what degree, DOE makes changes when it issues a […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 10/24/2014 Two companies have filed protests with the Government Accountability Office over Navarro Research and Engineering’s win of the new Nevada National Security Site environmental program services contract. The GAO currently expects to resolve the protests, filed by Portage and INTERA, by late January, according to the agency’s website. Navarro and […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 10/24/2014 AMELIA ISLAND, Fla.—The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management is taking steps to overcome its challenges and become a “healthier” organization, acting Assistant Energy Secretary for EM Mark Whitney said here this week at the Weapons Complex Monitor Decisionmakers’ Forum. EM “needs to be a healthier organization than it […]

Todd Jacobson WC Monitor 10/24/2014 AMELIA ISLAND, Fla.—The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board has easily absorbed recent Congressionally mandated changes to its statute, but outgoing Board Chairman Peter Winokur said this week that he feared that more drastic proposals for the Board would be damaging to the Board’s mission. Led by House Republicans, Congress last […]

Martin Schneider WC Monitor 10/24/2014 AMELIA ISLAND, Fla.—The Department of Energy this week sought to clarify the steps it will be taking to mitigate the impact of the current shutdown of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant on sites across the complex, reiterating that DOE will not reclassify transuranic waste as a means to seek alternate […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 10/24/2014 AMELIA ISLAND, Fla.—A continued lack of a Senate-confirmed assistant secretary is one of several challenges facing the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management, Rep. Doc Hastings (R-Wash.) said here this week at the Weapons Complex Monitor Decisionmakers’ Forum. EM has not had a confirmed assistant secretary since the departure […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 10/24/2014 AMELIA ISLAND, Fla.—South Carolina is pushing for a $150 million investment in increasing tank waste processing at the Savannah River Site, but will seek a court order if conflict with the Department of Energy on tank closure milestones is not settled in the dispute resolution process, a state official said […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 10/24/2014 AMELIA ISLAND, Fla.—This week marked the official handoff of the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant to the Department of Energy and deactivation contractor Fluor, and the focus in the coming months will now be on deactivation work and integrating scope with outgoing cleanup contractor LATA Environmental Services of Kentucky, officials said […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 10/24/2014 Contrary to what some industry officials had hoped, the new contract to operate the Department of Energy’s depleted uranium hexafluoride conversion plants won’t be set aside for small businesses. Instead, DOE plans to compete the new contract on a full-and-open basis, according to a notice issued late this week. Prior […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 10/24/2014 AMELIA ISLAND, Fla.—A mission support-type contract for the Savannah River Site could be one of the options considered as the Department of Energy discusses future contracts at the site, DOE Savannah River Manager David Moody said here this week. “We are talking to our sister sites that have mission support […]

Todd Jacobson WC Monitor 10/24/2014 AMELIA ISLAND, Fla.—As the Department of Energy wrestles with revamping its contracting approaches, increasing an emphasis on nuclear safety while cutting back on fee, it doesn’t appear likely to continue the approach pursued in Bechtel’s contract for the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant. The WTP contract sought to incentivize safety culture […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 10/24/2014 The Department of Energy Inspector General’s Office was unable to determine if a former senior manager at the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant was terminated as an act of retaliation due to a lack of access to information from the main contractors involved on the project, according to a report released […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 10/24/2014 AECOM late last week wrapped up its acquisition of URS following approval of the deal by URS shareholders and approval of a stock issuance proposal by AECOM shareholders. “Today is an exciting and historic day–for our industry, for AECOM and URS, and for our nearly 100,000 people around the world […]

WC Monitor 10/24/2014 Rep. Doc Hastings (R-Wash.) was awarded this week with the first annual Leo Duffy Decisionmakers Award by ExchangeMonitor Publications and Forums. Hastings, who is not seeking re-election this fall after serving 20 years in Congress, was presented with the award at this year’s Weapons Complex Monitor Decisionmakers’ Forum. Hastings, who represents Hanford […]

WC Monitor 10/24/2014 Below is the full speech, as prepared for delivery, given by Rep. Doc Hastings (R-Wash.) at this year’s Weapons Complex Monitor Decisionmakers’ Forum, held this week in Amelia Island, Fla. Thank you for inviting me to speak with you this evening. As I complete my final months serving my last term it’s […]