Publications: Weapons Cleanup Monitor

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 […]

Firms Have Received More Than $3M in Reimbursed Legal Costs Over Hanford Whistleblowers Mike Nartker and staff reports WC Monitor 7/3/2014 URS appears to be considering seeking reimbursement from the Department of Energy of more than half-a-million dollars for having one of its executives testify before Congress on whistleblowers at Hanford, according to a letter […]

Should Only Small Businesses Have Fixed-Price Work? Mike Nartker WC Monitor 7/3/2014 Some industry officials are questioning the Department of Energy’s recently announced plans to compete new contracts at the Idaho site, including the decision to set aside only fixed-price scope for small businesses. DOE’s new acquisition plan for post-Fiscal Year 2015 cleanup work at […]

Todd Jacobson WC Monitor 7/3/2014 Nine Department of Energy nominees remain in a sort of limbo with the Senate confirmation process gridlocked, and with Republicans still smarting over Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s use of the nuclear option last year and the mid-term elections looming, there’s likely no relief in sight. The list of unconfirmed […]

Industry Day Scheduled For July 15 Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 7/3/2014 The Department of Energy this week released a draft Request for Proposals for the new Portsmouth infrastructure support services contract, which has an estimated value of more than $100 million. The new contract, which is being set aside for small businesses, is set to […]

Todd Jacobson WC Monitor 7/3/2014 More than six months after an investigation into operations at the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board began and then had to be curtailed, it’s unclear whether that investigation has picked up again. The Postal Service Inspector General began an investigation in December into concerns about whether DNFSB Chairman Peter Winokur […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 7/3/2014 Entries are scheduled to resume at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant to begin some initial cleanup work as the second phase of recovery is launched, the Department of Energy said this week. No teams have entered the mine since May 30, when it was shut down for filter replacement and […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 7/3/2014 A second deadline came and went late last week without resolution for the Department of Energy and the state of Washington on how to modify a court-enforced consent decree that helps govern the cleanup of Hanford’s tank waste. The two sides have proposed differing approaches for modifying the consent decree […]

Move Comes After Lab Misses ‘3,706 Campaign’ Deadline Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 7/3/2014 The New Mexico Environment Department is denying requests to extend 21 legally enforceable cleanup deadlines at Los Alamos National Laboratory after the Department of Energy failed to meet a high-profile transuranic waste disposition target. “NMED has granted extensions based on the Permittees’ […]

Questions Persist Over DOE’s New Plans to Award Follow-On Contract Mike Nartker WC Monitor 7/3/2014 S.M. Stoller (now a wholly owned subsidiary of Huntington Ingalls Industries) has received yet another extension to its contract to provide support services for the Department of Energy’s Office of Legacy Management as the Department continues to work to award […]

Department Issues Draft RFP for Follow-On Contract Mike Nartker WC Monitor 7/3/2014 While Wastren Advantage Inc.’s current contract to operate the Oak Ridge Transuranic Waste Processing Center is set to expire in early 2015, the Department of Energy appears to be planning for at least a multi-month extension, according to the draft Request for Proposals […]