Publications: Weapons Cleanup Monitor

Schedules Set in Consent Decree Lawsuit WC Monitor 10/24/2014 The schedule for hearings on amending the Hanford consent decree has been set, with arguments by the state of Washington and the Department of Justice to be heard Feb. 19 in Eastern Washington District U.S. Court in Richland, Wash. If the state of Oregon intervenes in […]

Rep. Hastings Seeking Answers on Hanford’s K Basin Project WC Monitor 10/24/2014 After the Department of Energy missed a Sept. 30 milestone to begin removing sludge out of Hanford’s K-Basin, Rep. Doc Hastings (R-Wash.) this week asked DOE for a detailed plan on the project. This month, the Environmental Protection Agency denied DOE’s extension request […]

WC Monitor 10/24/2014 IN DOE The Department of Energy plans to issue in the next 15-30 days a draft Request for Proposals for the new Carlsbad technical and administrative support services contract, according to a notice released Oct. 22. The new contract is anticipated to be set aside for small businesses that meet a size […]

WC Monitor 10/17/2014 An article in the Oct. 10 edition of WC Monitor incorrectly reported that the Department of Energy failed to empty waste from 13 of the 16 C Farm single-shell tanks at Hanford by the end of Fiscal Year 2014. DOE did empty the waste from the 13 tanks by the end of […]

Board to Undergo Safety Culture Assessment of Itself Mike Nartker WC Monitor 10/17/2014 Employee dissatisfaction at the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board has hit a four-year low, according to the results of the 2014 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey, which the DNFSB posted on its website this week. The survey found a drop in positive responses […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 10/17/2014 With transition set to wrap up next week on the Paducah deactivation services contract to a Fluor-led team, the local United Steelworkers union is raising concerns about a lack of transparency on worker hiring for the new contractor. The Department of Energy awarded the work to Fluor in July under […]

More than 90 percent of the Department of Energy’s $26 billion budget is contracted out to a host of firms, large and small. DOE has been working hard over the past several years to improve how it reports, records and tracks contractor performance—a laudable goal, considering how much money is on the line. But there’s […]

Company Also Has Pending Size Standard Challenge Mike Nartker WC Monitor 10/17/2014 INTERA intends to file a protest with the Government Accountability Office next week over Navarro Research and Engineering’s win of the new contract to perform environmental program services at the Nevada National Security Site. INTERA President and CEO Marsh Lavenue confirmed the company’s […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 10/17/2014 With no time frame yet as to when uranium-233 from Oak Ridge may be sent to the Nevada National Security Site for disposal, the Department of Energy still has not submitted a Congressionally-mandated analysis that was due in April on options for the material. Concerns from Nevada officials led DOE […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 10/17/14 Infrastructure modernization and deferred maintenance are a “special concern” in the Department of Energy Inspector General’s latest annual report on DOE management challenges, released late last week. Infrastructure modernization was not listed as a management challenge, but instead on a lower level watch list. However, the topic is a “special […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 10/17/14 The Department of Energy this week released a final Request for Proposals for the follow-on contract to operate the Oak Ridge Transuranic Waste Processing Center. The new contract is being set aside for small businesses that meet $38.5 million size standard, and is expected to be worth $100 million to […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 10/17/14 With the Department of Energy and South Carolina in dispute over extensions for tank closure milestones at the Savannah River Site, the state Department of Health and Environmental Control is urging DOE to take steps to increase waste processing rates. DOE has requested an extension to the 2015 closure milestone […]

Penalty As Much As $10,000 Per Week Staff Reports WC Monitor 10/17/2014 The Environmental Protection Agency has begun to fine the Department of Energy up to $10,000 for each week it fails to start moving radioactive sludge away from the Columbia River at Hanford. The Tri-Party Agreement required DOE to begin removing sludge from the […]

New Judge Named in Consent Decree Suit WC Monitor 10/17/2014 U.S. Judge Fred Van Sickle has recused himself from continuing to hear the Hanford consent decree case and Judge Rosanna Malouf Peterson has been assigned. Van Sickle, who was the judge in the case when it was filed by the state in 2008, notified Eastern […]

Wash. Closure Works to Backfull Excavated Areas WC Monitor 10/17/2014 Washington Closure Hanford is in the midst of a major backfill campaign as much of the Hanford river corridor cleanup nears completion. In the last 20 months, workers under a DelHur Industries subcontract have placed 3 million tons of backfill. That’s enough to fill an […]

UCOR Says It’s Saved $90 Million to Date WC Monitor 10/17/2014 URS-CH2M Oak Ridge (UCOR), the Department of Energy’s cleanup manager in Oak Ridge, says efficiencies and accelerated missions have saved the federal government about $90 million over the past three years. UCOR President Ken Rueter, who assumed the top position a few months ago, […]

Staff Reports WC Monitor 10/10/2014 The state of Washington and the Department of Energy  have each filed motions asking the federal court to intervene in the 2010 Hanford consent decree and set new milestones  after they failed to reach agreement by an Oct. 5 deadline. “While the department and the State of Washington share the […]

K-31 Demolition Moving Forward WC Monitor 10/10/2014 URS-CH2M Oak Ridge, LLC, the cleanup contractor at the Oak Ridge site, reached a new demolition milestone this week as the contractor began taking down the skeleton of the former K-31 uranium enrichment facility. The equipment inside the 750,000-square-foot building was removed a decade ago, along with most […]

DOE Agrees to Pay Boeing $4.5 Million in Rocky Flats Legal Fees WC Monitor 10/10/2014 After nearly 10 years of dispute on the matter, the Department of Energy last week agreed to pay Boeing $4.5 million for legal fees the company paid fighting claims related to the Rocky Flats Nuclear Plant. In 1996 Boeing merged […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 10/10/14 The Department of Energy is still spending more than necessary on software maintenance licenses, according to a DOE Inspector General report released this week that follows up on a previous investigation finding issues with the acquisition and management of desktop software. “Although the Department had made progress in addressing our […]

Todd Jacobson WC Monitor 10/10/2014 Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board Chairman Peter Winokur announced to staff late this week that he will not seek re-nomination as the agency’s top official. Winokur said in an Oct. 9 meeting with staffers that he planned to serve until Daniel Santos (nominated to replace Joseph Bader) is confirmed as […]

Acting DOE Cleanup Chief Says Yes, DNFSB Appears Skeptical Mike Nartker WC Monitor 10/10/2014 In the face of at times tough questions from the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, acting Assistant Energy Secretary for Environmental Management Mark Whitney said this week that he believes DOE’s cleanup program is a “leader” when it comes to ensuring […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 10/10/2014 As the Department of Energy seeks milestone extensions for Savannah River high level waste tanks, liquid waste contractor Savannah River Remediation is “optimistic” that it can close the next tank by its milestone date. The Department is entering dispute resolution with South Carolina on its request to extend the closure […]

Contractor Earned 63 Percent of Total Available Fee Mike Nartker WC Monitor 10/10/2014 Bechtel National achieved a significant boost in fee for its performance at the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant in the first half of this year, according to information the Department of Energy released late this week. The contractor earned 63 percent of the […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 10/10/2014 AECOM expects to wrap up its purchase of URS next week with votes by shareholders of both companies, according to a message sent to URS employees. The two companies have received all necessary regulatory approvals to complete the transaction, and both AECOM and URS have scheduled voted with their respective […]

FBP Warns Worse Layoffs Could Come if Needed Funding Isn’t Obtained Mike Nartker WC Monitor 10/10/2014 Hundreds of workers at the Portsmouth D&D project can breathe a sigh of relief, at least for now, with contractor Fluor-B&W Portsmouth announcing late this week that it is suspending planned layoffs that could have cut the project’s total […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 10/10/2014 B&W Conversion Services fell just short of achieving its Fiscal Year 2014 production goals at the Department of Energy’s two depleted uranium hexafluoride (DUF6) conversion plants. BWCS reported a total production of 22,596 metric tons, compared to a goal of 22,700 metric tons, according to the DOE Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office. […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 10/10/2014 While new technologies could potentially reduce the Department of Energy’s cleanup costs by billions, given flat budgets and pressing milestone commitments, securing enough technology development funding is a major challenge, officials said this week at a Secretary of Energy Advisory Board task force meeting. The panel convened to discuss technology […]