Publications: Weapons Cleanup Monitor

New Task Force To Look at Ways to Improve EM Tech. Development Mike Nartker WC Monitor 7/18/2014 Efforts to develop new cleanup-related technologies could be aided through the creation of a program similar to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Savannah River National Laboratory Director Terry Michalske said this week. Michalske outlined what he […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 7/18/2014 In a move that could have a significant impact for the Department of Energy marketplace, AECOM Technology Corp. is looking to purchase URS in a deal worth approximately $6 billion. The purchase, announced early this week, would involve AECOM acquiring all outstanding URS shares for $4 billion and assuming about […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 7/18/2014 URS appears set to seek reimbursement for more than $650,000 in costs for having one of its executives testify before Congress on whistleblowers at Hanford, according to information the Department of Energy sent a Senate subcommittee last week. The question of whether or not URS would seek reimbursement for the […]

DOE Opens Enforcement Investigation Into Asbestos Concerns Mike Nartker WC Monitor 7/18/2014 Fluor-B&W Portsmouth, LLC, the D&D contractor for the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant, recently terminated an employee over a new instance of data falsification. The move marks the second time in slightly over a year where FBP has fired employees for falsifying information on […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 7/18/2014 The Department of Energy imposed the maximum possible fee reduction when it chose to cut the amount of fee Nuclear Waste Partnership can earn this fiscal year by 25 percent in response to the fire that occurred in early February at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, according to information DOE […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 7/18/2014 The Department of Energy and Washington state agreed this week to a new round of talks on how to modify a 2010 Consent Decree that governs the cleanup of Hanford’s tank waste. The two sides will now continue negotiations until Sept. 5, after two previous deadlines in June for coming […]

Todd Jacobson WC Monitor 7/18/2014 The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board has closed a 2004 recommendation that called on the Department of Energy to strengthen active confinement ventilation systems at National Nuclear Security Administration and Office of Environmental Management sites. When it first drafted the recommendation, the Board was concerned that DOE was relying on […]

Sellafield Making Headway on Sludge Plants Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 7/18/2014 After decades of having radioactive sludge sitting in unlined open air ponds at Sellafield, the site is commissioning two new plants aimed at removing and processing the material.  Site license company Sellafield Ltd. recently completed construction of the £240 million ($412 million) Sludge Packaging […]

DOE Faces Skepticism Over Hanford Tank Vapor Concerns WC Monitor 7/18/2014 Current and former workers at a meeting the watchdog group Hanford Challenge hosted this week on chemical vapors were skeptical that the Department of Energy really knows what workers are exposed to at the Hanford tank farms. Hanford officials have said sampling has found […]

PNNL Director Kluse to Retire Next Spring WC Monitor 7/18/2014 Mike Kluse, the director of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, has announced plans to retire March 31, 2015, after leading the lab since being named interim director in January 2007 and permanent director in May 2008. Battelle will begin a national search for a new director […]

Maintenance Backlog Concerns Persist at Site WC Monitor 7/18/2014 As the Department of Energy places an increased emphasis on maintenance activities following the incidents earlier this year that have shut down the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, corrective maintenance backlogs continue to be an issue of concern at the Savannah River Site. Layoffs, furloughs and funding […]

WC Monitor 7/18/2014 IN DOE Dennis Deziel is stepping down as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Program Planning and Budget in the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management, effective at the end of this month, an EM spokeswoman said this week. Deziel is reportedly leaving DOE to take a position with Dow Chemical. “Dennis Deziel […]

WC Monitor 7/18/2014 An editorial in the July 11 issue of Weapons Complex Monitor incorrectly stated that when asked who in the Department of Energy is in charge of recovery activities at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, New Mexico Environment Department Secretary Ryan Flynn named DOE Office of Environmental Management Deputy Assistant Secretary for Waste […]

Monday, July 14, will mark five months since the radiation release at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant underground that has resulted in the repository—and the Department of Energy’s transuranic waste program—being shut down for the foreseeable future.  While a host of internal and external investigations—at least five, at last count—remain ongoing, the Department of Energy […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 7/11/2014 In the first financial penalty levied in relation to the February events at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, the Department of Energy has reduced the available fee for contractor Nuclear Waste Partnership by $2 million in connection with the salt truck fire in the WIPP underground, WC Monitor has learned. […]

Department ‘Not Satisfied’ With Performance of URS Mike Nartker WC Monitor 7/11/2014 Unhappy with the current performance of URS at the Separations Process Research Unit (SPRU) D&D project, the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management acknowledged this week that it may not be able to meet its latest goal of completing work at SPRU […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 7/11/2014 In the face of a veto threat from the Obama Administration, the House of Representatives late this week approved its version of the Fiscal Year 2015 Energy and Water Appropriations bill, which funds the Department of Energy’s cleanup program. During floor debate, two lawmakers successfully amended the bill to add […]

Administration Pulls Nominee for New DOE Under Secretary for Management Post Mike Nartker WC Monitor 7/11/2014 The White House announced this week plans to nominate Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall from the National Security Council to serve as the next Deputy Secretary of Energy. At the same time, though, the Obama Administration announced with no explanation the withdrawal […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 7/11/2014 Pushing back against an effort by ConverDyn to stop the Department of Energy’s uranium transfers, DOE this week told a court that suspending the transfers would force it to halt the highly enriched uranium downblend program and cleanup work at Portsmouth. Last month, uranium conversion company ConverDyn filed in federal […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 7/11/2014 The Department of Energy has begun soliciting information to see if the planned follow-on technical and administrative support services contract for the Carlsbad Field Office can be set-aside for small businesses. Late this week, DOE issued a request for information notice seeking capability statements from interested companies. Support services to […]

Efforts Continue to Startup Idaho Facility Mike Nartker WC Monitor 7/11/2014 As the Department of Energy continues to work to get the Idaho Integrated Waste Treatment Unit up and operating to address liquid waste at the Idaho site, the Department also appears to be already considering future uses for the facility, which could include the […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 7/11/2014 In yet another issue linked to the incidents at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, Los Alamos National Laboratory last week reported noncompliances in how it processed waste in a batch of drums suspected of contributing to the WIPP release. The Department of Energy and contractor Los Alamos National Security reported […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 7/11/2014 Opposition is growing in South Carolina to the Department of Energy’s proposal to bring 900 kilograms of highly enriched uranium from Germany to the Savannah River Site for processing. This month local media in the Savannah River area ran editorials against the plan, and the proposal has become a campaign […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 7/11/2014 Fluor-B&W Portsmouth, LLC, the D&D contractor at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant, and two of its subcontractors won’t face fines from the Department of Energy for a set of safety incidents that occurred in 2012. This week, the DOE Office of Enforcement issued FBP a preliminary notice of violation, citing […]

Wash. Closure Completes Demolition of Last Reactor Support Facility WC Monitor 7/11/2014 Washington Closure Hanford has demolished the last obsolete reactor support facility around the seven reactors under its contract as it works to finish most Columbia River Corridor cleanup in 2015. It recently completed demolition of the final facility, the 183-B Clearwell, one of […]

DOE to Seek to Renegotiate TRU Waste Milestones WC Monitor 7/11/2014 Sue Cange, the Department of Energy’s acting environmental manager in Oak Ridge, confirmed this week that DOE plans to enter into formal discussions with Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation in hopes of changing milestones associated with the deliveries of transuranic waste to the […]

SRR Seeking Interested Companies for Glass Waste Storage, Operations Support WC Monitor 7/11/2014 Liquid waste contractor Savannah River Remediation is seeking companies able to propose improvements or alternatives for plans involving future storage of vitrified waste, and in a separate effort is looking for support in other areas of work. Savannah River’s Defense Waste Processing […]

WC Monitor 7/11/2014 IN DOE Moses Madera has been named manager of diversity programs and employee concerns at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge office. Before coming to Oak Ridge, Madera was deputy equal employment opportunity officer at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center. He holds a master’s degree in aeronautical science from Embry Riddle Aeronautical […]