Publications: Weapons Cleanup Monitor

SRS CAB: Lack of DOE Communication Could ‘Erode Public Trust’ WC Monitor 9/26/2014 The Savannah River Citizens Advisory Board is citing poor communication from the Department of Energy as threatening to “erode public trust,” and passed two recommendations this week that aim to improve lines of information from DOE. Instead of DOE sharing information with […]

WC Monitor 9/26/2014 IN DOE The Department of Energy plans to hold a pre-proposal conference briefing and site tour the week of Oct. 13 for the new Paducah infrastructure support services contract. DOE also said in a notice published late this week that it plans to issue a final Request for Proposals for the new […]

Mike Nartker and Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 9/19/2014 Contractors at several Department of Energy sites are facing growing maintenance needs that could disrupt cleanup efforts if not addressed, according to a set of assessments DOE recently provided to WC Monitor. The assessments were conducted as part of a complex-wide extent-of-condition review of deferred maintenance across […]

New Mexico Has Called for LANL Cleanup to be Taken Out of NNSA Kenneth Fletcher and Todd Jacobson WC Monitor 9/19/2014 Following a call from New Mexico’s environmental regulator to break out the cleanup work at Los Alamos National Laboratory, LANL Director Charlie McMillan this week emphasized the advantages of keeping cleanup in the current […]

Four-Year Project Now to Take More Than 10 Years to Finish Mike Nartker WC Monitor 9/19/2014 Efforts to complete the long-troubled Separations Process Research Unit (SPRU) D&D project appear to have hit a new hurdle, with the Department of Energy now projecting the need for an additional three years from previous estimates to complete the […]

South Carolina: ‘Treatment Delay Is Unacceptable’ Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 9/19/2014 The Department of Energy has approved a new baseline for the Savannah River Site’s Salt Waste Processing Facility that includes a nearly $1 billion cost increase from previous official estimates and pushes back plant startup by as much as five years. The baseline change […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 9/19/2014 Congress late this week completed work on a stop-gap measure intended to continue to fund the federal government at the start of Fiscal Year 2015 in the absence of completed individual spending bills. The Continuing Resolution will fund most Department of Energy and National Nuclear Security Administration programs at annualized […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 9/19/2014 The Senate late this week confirmed the Obama Administration’s choice of Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall to serve as the next Deputy Secretary of Energy. Sherwood-Randall last served as Special Assistant to the President and White House Coordinator for Defense Policy, Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction, and Arms Control. Among her previous positions, […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 9/19/2014 CH2M Hill is looking to reduce its workforce by approximately 1,200 people out of 26,000 employees as part of a new restructuring plan that the company said last week is intended to generate approximately $100 million in “operational efficiencies.” The restructuring will entail “a voluntary retirement program, workforce reductions and […]

DOE Silent on Potential Actions Against Contractor Mike Nartker WC Monitor 9/19/2014 Hanford tank farms contractor Washington River Protection Solutions is challenging a preliminary order from the Department of Labor to reinstate a former employee who has charged she was terminated for raising concerns. Late this week, close to the end of a 30-day deadline, […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 9/19/2014 Limited storage capacity is a major hurdle for Oak Ridge’s transuranic waste program during the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant’s current shutdown, and though the site is taking steps to continue progress, it is at risk of missing regulatory milestones. With storage nearing its limit at the site’s TRU Waste Processing […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 9/19/2014 A second transuranic waste drum in the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant underground contains a “unique combination” of materials, including a discarded glove, that is believed to have contributed to a reaction and radiation release at WIPP, a Los Alamos National Laboratory official said this week. Only two remediated drums have […]

Jeremy L. Dillon WC Monitor 9/19/2014 The Department of Energy announced this week that it plans to issue in the next 15-to-45 days a draft Request for Proposals for a new contract to manage Nuclear Regulatory Commission-licensed facilities at the Idaho site, as well as the Fort St. Vrain facility. The new contract would cover […]

Todd Jacobson WC Monitor 9/19/2014 With work on the Fiscal Year 2015 Defense Authorization Act pushed back until after the November Congressional elections, House and Senate Armed Services Committee members began meeting this week for “pre-conference” talks, but Senate authorizers were absent when House members of the Strategic Forces subcommittee gather for discussions. According to […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 9/19/2014 Uranium conversion services company ConverDyn late last week filed a motion for summary judgment in a case that aims to limit the Department of Energy’s ability to transfer stocks of excess uranium to help pay for activities such as D&D work at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant. ConverDyn has argued […]

DOE Submits Plan to DNFSB to Upgrade Tank Farm Ventilation WC Monitor 9/19/2014 The Department of Energy has submitted reports on upgrading ventilation for Hanford’s double-shell tanks and new examination technologies in response to a Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board recommendation on flammable gas safety at the tank farms. “This report proposes using portable exhausters […]

More Contractors Shift to Four-Day Work Week WC Monitor 9/19/2014 Two more of the major Hanford contractors switched to four-day work weeks starting this week. Employees are working 10 hours a day Monday through Thursday with Fridays off at Washington River Protection Solutions and Mission Support Alliance. Together they employ about 3,300 workers. CH2M Hill […]

Leak in ORNL Research Reactor Fuel Pool Still Under Investigation WC Monitor 9/19/2014 More than a week after a leak was discovered at an old research reactor at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the investigating team is still trying to pinpoint the location and come up with a plan to fix it. The Department of Energy’s […]

WC Monitor 9/19/2014 IN DOE The Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board will meet in late October in Augusta, Ga. to discuss the Department of Energy’s activities at the Savannah River Site. “Topics that will be discussed at the meeting include issues related to storage of DOE SNF at the L Basin at SRS, alternatives for […]

Leak Found at ORNL Research Reactor Pool WC Monitor 9/12/2014 A leak was discovered this week at the Oak Ridge Research Reactor, a nuclear research reactor at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The leak was found at the reactor pool, which is still used to store some irradiated reactor components and other tools and equipment, but […]

Workers Enter PFP’s McCluskey Room WC Monitor 9/12/2014 Workers entered the McCluskey Room, the site of one of Hanford’s worst radiological accidents, this week after a year of preparation. The room still contains the glovebox where a 1976 chemical explosion shattered the thick glass windows of the box. Radioactive concentrated nitric acid and shards of […]

Schedule Slips in DOE Plan for Flammable Gas Safety at Tank Farms WC Monitor 9/12/2014 The Department of Energy’s schedule has slipped for completion of several aspects of a plan responding to a Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board recommendation on flammable gas safety at the Hanford tank farms. The DNFSB’s 2012 recommendation, Hanford Tank Farms […]

Design Review Finds Vulnerabilities At a Number of Facility Systems Mike Nartker WC Monitor 9/12/2014 In a significant step forward toward completing one of the main portions of the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant, Bechtel National has received approval to resume “full production engineering” at the vit plant’s High-Level Waste Facility. As a result, Bechtel National […]

Deputy Energy Sec. Nominee Clears Senate Energy Panel Mike Nartker WC Monitor 9/12/2014 Monica Regalbuto’s nomination to serve as the next Assistant Energy Secretary for Environmental Management appears to have hit a roadblock in the Senate because of one lawmaker’s concerns over DOE’s uranium transfer policies. Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso (R) has placed a hold […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 9/12/2014 SUMMERLIN, Nev.—Though the shutdown of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant shook the national transuranic waste program, the Department of Energy, state regulators and industry are seeking ways to still make progress toward milestones, officials said here last week. The sole disposal site for transuranic waste, WIPP was shut down by […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 09/12/2014 As the Department of Energy pursues yet another new mission for H-Canyon involving Belgian material, questions remain on Savannah River tank space issues and whether a new dissolver will be funded for the facility. The Department of Energy is pursuing a host of international nonproliferation missions for the nuclear chemical […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 09/11/2014 SUMMERLIN, Nev.—Though operations at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant remain shut down for the foreseeable future, recovery work by contactor Nuclear Waste Partnership has picked up significantly in recent weeks, NWP WIPP Recovery Manager Jim Blankenhorn said at the RadWaste Summit last week. WIPP has been closed since a February […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 9/12/2014 The Department of Energy is moving forward with competing the first of four planned cleanup contracts for the Idaho site, announcing this week that a draft Request for Proposals for the new Idaho Cleanup Project (ICP) Core contract is set to be released within the next 15-to-45 days. The ICP […]