Publications: Weapons Cleanup Monitor

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. […]

Groundwater Treatment Goals Met Early WC Monitor 8/22/2014 Pump and treat systems at Hanford have removed more than 680 pounds  of hexavalent chromium from groundwater near the Columbia River so far this fiscal year. The Department of Energy’s goal was to remove about 550 pounds by the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30, […]

CH2M-WG Idaho Completes Work on Radioactive Waste Exhumation Area WC Monitor 8/22/2014 Department of Energy Idaho Site cleanup contractor CH2M-WG Idaho has wrapped up work cleaning out a seventh radioactive and hazardous waste exhumation area, the contractor said earlier this month. CWI said it is currently exhuming and removing targeted buried waste in an eighth […]

DNFSB Raises Safety Concerns About LANL TRU Waste Facility Project WC Monitor 8/22/2014 With construction looming on a new Transuranic Waste Facility project at Los Alamos National Laboratory, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board is raising a handful of safety issues, including some that are old and some that are new. In an Aug. 7 […]

DOE Looking At Ways to Expand On Site Landfill WC Monitor 8/22/2014 With space running out at the Department of Energy’s on-site landfill and plans for a follow-on landfill still in the early, early stages, DOE’s Oak Ridge Environmental Management office is looking at ways to expand the existing capability and give additional time before […]

SRR Begins Process Vessel Ventilation System Project WC Monitor 8/22/2014 Savannah River Site liquid waste contractor Savannah River Remediation has kicked off a year-long project aimed at improving SRR salt disposition efforts and ready the site for the Salt Waste Processing Facility. SRR said it began installing a new process vessel ventilation system earlier this […]

WC Monitor 8/22/2014 IN THE INDUSTRY B&W Technical Services Senior Development Manager Chuck Bernhard is retiring from the company effective Sept. 15. “He has been a valuable member of our team and we wish him well,” B&W spokeswoman Aimee Mills said in a written response. Bernhard has been with the company since 2003. Mixed Oxide […]

DOE Proposes Natural Attenuation for Some Groundwater Contamination WC Monitor 8/1/2014 The Department of Energy is proposing leaving some groundwater contamination near the Columbia River at F Reactor to naturally attenuate over 35-to-150 years. The plan is not sitting well with some agencies, though, including the Hanford Advisory Board. “This is the first reactor area […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 8/1/2014 With no explanation, the Department of Energy abruptly changed the management of the DOE Berkley Site Office late last week. Paul Golan was named acting director, replacing Aundra Richards, who had headed up the Berkley Site Office since 2005. Golan also continues to serve as Director of the DOE SLAC […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 8/1/2014 Work at the Moab uranium mill tailings remediation project is almost halfway complete, the Department of Energy said this week. The project involves the removal of a total of approximately 16 million tons of uranium mill tailings from a former uranium-ore processing facility near Moab, Utah, on the west bank […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 8/1/2014 A federal judge this week denied a request from the uranium conversion services ConverDyn for a preliminary injunction to prevent the Department of Energy from moving forward with planned transfers of excess uranium while a lawsuit the company has filed against DOE is pending. ConverDyn was unable to show that […]

Mike Nartker and Todd Jacobson WC Monitor 8/1/2014 AIKEN, S.C.—South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley (R) this week questioned the Department of Energy’s plan to ship German nuclear material to the Savannah River Site for processing. During a visit to Savannah River, where she was accompanied by Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz and other DOE officials […]

Court Agrees CHPRC Improperly Solicited Babcock Services Employees Mike Nartker WC Monitor 8/1/2014 Babcock Services has scored a win in its legal battle with Hanford cleanup contractor CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co., though the company’s lawsuit has yet to be fully resolved. Last week, a Washington state judge granted Babcock Services’ motion for partial summary […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 8/1/2014 As the investigation into the radiological release that shut down the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant continues, investigators are looking at whether a fire event within the room where the release is believed to have occurred was a contributing factor, WC Monitor has learned, though the exact cause of the incident […]

As is our annual practice, Weapons Complex Monitor is taking a summer publication break and will not publish for the next two weeks. The next regular issue will be on your desk Aug. 22. Subscribers to the Weapons Complex Morning Briefing service will receive editions twice-a-week on a Tuesday/Thursday basis during the break. In addition, […]

NNSA Pushing Back Construction Start for RLWTF Upgrade Project WC Monitor 8/1/2014 The National Nuclear Security Administration is pushing back the planned start of construction of a new low-level liquid waste treatment facility at Los Alamos National Laboratory based on the results of a peer review that the NNSA is so far declining to discuss […]

SRNS to Assess Emergency Management Program After Drill WC Monitor 8/1/2014 Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, the managing contractor for the Savannah River Site, is conducting an assessment of its emergency management program after issues were identified in this year’s annual emergency preparedness exercise. Out of six objectives for the exercise, two were graded as “not […]

WC Monitor 8/1/2014 Defense Nuclear Facility Safety Board Member Joseph Bader passed away this week at the age of 75. Bader had served on the DNFSB since 2004, and previously held executive and senior management positions at several companies, including Hill International, Inc., Fluor Daniel, Inc., Urenco, Inc., Exxon Nuclear and Westinghouse Electric Corporation. In […]

WC Monitor 8/1/2014 IN THE INDUSTRY ARS Aleut Remediation, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of ARS International, LLC, has received certification to participate in the Small Business Administration’s 8(a) program, the company announced this week. The certification will allow AAR to purse contracting opportunities set-aside for 8(a) firms. “AAR looks forward to the opportunity to […]