Publications: Weapons Cleanup Monitor

City Bringing in Consultants to Evaluate DOE’s Proposed Landfill  WC Monitor 9/5/2014 The city of Oak Ridge, Tenn. has hired a team of consultants to assess the potential impacts of a new proposed nuclear landfill at the government’s Oak Ridge reservation and help the city decide whether it should accept and support the disposal facility. […]

SRNS Expands Mentor-Protégé Program WC Monitor 9/5/2014 Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, the managing contractor for the Savannah River Site, is expanding its mentor-protégé program with the award of longer-term contracts to up to three small businesses, the company announced this week. The program aims to build relationships and experience working with small businesses. Previously the […]

WC Monitor 9/5/2014 IN DOE The chairs of the EM Site-Specific Advisory Boards are scheduled to hold a meeting later this month in Idaho Falls, Idaho. Topics to be discussed at the Sept. 17-18 meeting are set to include “News and Views” from DOE headquarters and updates on EM acquisition and procurement and waste disposition […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 8/29/2014 With the latest round of talks between the Department of Energy and Washington state on a new path forward for the cleanup of Hanford’s tank waste set to come to an end next week, DOE is believed to be leaning toward accepting—at least in some small part—the state’s call for […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 8/29/2014 As the Department of Energy continues to struggle to get into operation the Idaho Integrated Waste Treatment Unit, the Department appears to be planning for the facility to still be in operation in late 2015—almost a year beyond a current commitment to the state of Idaho to have all of […]

Site Facing Impending Layoffs Set to Reduce D&D Workforce by One-Third Mike Nartker WC Monitor 8/29/2014 As the clock ticks down on impending layoffs at the Portsmouth D&D project, Ohio Senator Rob Portman (R) held what he described as “frustrating” discussions with Department of Energy officials during a visit to the site late this week. […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 8/29/2014 The Department of Energy appears to be on track to meet a goal to have a final cost and schedule baseline for D&D efforts at the Separations Process Research Unit completed by the end of September, a DOE official told WC Monitor this week. The new baseline could help finally […]

Staff Reports WC Monitor 8/29/2014 After a two-and-a-half-month summer vacation, former acting National Nuclear Security Administration chief Bruce Held returned this week to the Department of Energy. Held’s title will apparently remain the same—associate deputy secretary—but his duties have not been fully defined. “Governance issues have long been my central concern so I hope to […]

DOE Pushes Back Planned Completion of EIS for Site Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 8/29/2014 California regulators are “concerned” about schedule delays in the Department of Energy’s completion of an environmental impact statement to allow cleanup work to be completed at the Energy Technology Engineering Center, officials said this week. The Department said earlier this month […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 8/29/2014 The Department of Energy expects budget constraints to restrict the amount of high-level waste that can be transferred from Savannah River’s H-Canyon to the site’s tank farms, potentially impacting future missions for the facility. DOE informed M&O contractor Savannah River Nuclear Solutions that it will be limited to transferring 50,000 […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 8/29/2014 The long-running search for a new support services contractor for the Department of Energy’s Office of Legacy Management now appears set to run on for at least a little while longer, with DOE asking bidders this week to extend their proposals’ expiration dates by another two months, to Oct. 31. […]

Sellafield Completes New Waste Storage Facility Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 8/29/2014 Sellafield Limited has completed construction of a new £100 million ($166 million) storage facility for intermediate- level waste generated through decommissioning and fuel reprocessing. The Encapsulated Product Store 3 is an aboveground storage building that can hold more than 29,000 waste drums. “The completion […]

Whistleblower Calls on Dept. of Labor to Enforce Order on Reinstatement WC Monitor 8/29/2014 A former employee at Hanford tank farms contractor Washington River Protection Solutions who was found to be improperly terminated from her job called on the Department of Labor this week to move to enforce an order directing her immediate reinstatement. Last […]

Assault Charge Dropped Against Co-Owner of Occupational Med. Contractor WC Monitor 8/29/2014 An assault charge against Grover Cleveland “Cleve” Mooers, a co-owner of HPM Corp., has been dismissed in Franklin County District Court in Washington state. Mooers was charged with assault in the fourth degree with sexual motivation, a gross misdemeanor, after a woman accused […]

IG Notes Idaho’s Improvements in Integrated Safety Management WC Monitor 8/29/2014 The Idaho National Laboratory is making progress in addressing weaknesses identified in its Integrated Safety Management system, according to a Department of Energy Inspector General’s Office report released late last week. In half of the 59 safety incidents analyzed by the report that occurred […]

State Names New DOE Oversight Chief WC Monitor 8/29/2014 The state of Tennessee is changing the leadership of its Department of Energy Oversight Office in Oak Ridge, with Chris Thompson succeeding long-time manager John Owsley in the top position. Kelly Brockman, spokeswoman for the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, confirmed this week that Thompson […]

Savannah River Remediation VP Heading to Los Alamos WC Monitor 8/29/2014 Bechtel executive Kim Cassara is joining Los Alamos National Laboratory as its associate director for Project Management starting Oct. 1, LANL Director Charlie McMillan said in a message to employees earlier this month. Cassara most recently served as the vice president for Projects, Design, […]

WC Monitor 8/29/2014 IN DOE The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management has scheduled a business opportunity forum Sept 4 at DOE headquarters in Washington. The outreach event, led by EM’s Office of Acquisition and Project Management, will focus on discussing upcoming EM business opportunities. “Topics will include discussion on how DOE is improving […]

Modifications Completed Faster than Expected Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 8/22/2014 After a months-long unexpected pause in operations at the Savannah River Site’s H-Canyon facility to make numerous upgrades, the facility is poised to start several new missions. That includes production of plutonium oxide and downblending of used fuel at the site’s L Basin, as well […]

Roger Snodgrass For WC Monitor 8/22/2014 CARLSBAD, N.M.—While officials here are pleased with the attention garnered by Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz’s recent visit to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, a host of questions remain unanswered about the radiological release at the facility in February. The Department of Energy may never know every detail of the […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 8/22/2014 After the recent successful completion of demolition of Oak Ridge’s enormous K-25 building, work is proceeding ahead of schedule at the site’s two other gaseous diffusion plants, URS-CH2M Oak Ridge, LLC, President Ken Rueter told WC Monitor this week. The contractor is on track to meet its “Vision 2016” goal: […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 8/22/2014 In response to a whistleblower complaint, the U.S. Labor Department has ordered Hanford tank farms contractor Washington River Protection Solutions to reinstate former employee Shelly Doss and provide back pay and compensatory damages. Doss filed the complaint after she was laid off in October 2011, claiming that her dismissal was […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 8/22/2014 The Department of Energy has updated the base and option periods for two separate draft Request for Proposals for infrastructure support services at the Paducah and Portsmouth sites. The Portsmouth draft now includes a three-year base period and a two year option period, rather than the originally planned two-year base […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 8/22/2014 The transition is underway for the Department of Energy’s award to Fluor of deactivation work at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant, as the protest period passed this week without a filing from rival bidder AECOM. DOE awarded the Task Order, set to total $420 million over three years, on July […]

Congress was out and Washington was empty, but that didn’t stop news from breaking during our annual publication break. As chronicled in the Weapons Complex Morning Briefing, here are a few stories that we’ve been following. AECOM Facing Legal Challenges to Planned Purchase of URS WC Monitor 8/22/2014 AECOM disclosed early this month that it […]

Worker Injured in February Fire Sues Contractors WC Monitor 8/22/2014 A Waste Isolation Pilot Plant worker is suing the facility’s current and former contractors for damages he suffered due to smoke inhalation after the Feb. 5 salt truck fire in the WIPP underground. The suit was filed by William Utter, who was one of 13 […]

WC Monitor 8/22/2014 The Department of Energy this week awarded a five-year $10.4 million cooperative agreement to the Southern States Energy Board to form a committee called the Transuranic Waste Transportation Working Group. The group plans to meet twice a year to discuss transuranic waste transportation issues. “Group members will work with the Southern States […]

Timecard Trial to Start Next Month WC Monitor 8/22/2014 Federal Judge Edward Shea plans to start the first trial for defendants accused of Hanford timecard fraud next month, but which of the defendants will be tried first remains unknown. Shea said in Eastern Washington District U.S. Court that he would decide after a hearing Sept. […]