Publications: Weapons Cleanup Monitor

Could Deactivation Contract be Awarded Soon? Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 6/27/2014   The Department of Energy and USEC have set an Oct. 1 date for completing the turnover of the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant back to the Department. That schedule would require DOE to award the new Paducah deactivation contract by next week to have […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 6/27/2014 As the Department of Energy begins moving forward with a procurement for a new contract to operate the Oak Ridge Transuranic Waste Processing Center, incumbent Wastren Advantage Inc. won’t be able to lead a bid to maintain the work due to the company’s size. WAI, which has managed the facility […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 6/27/2014 After nearly a month with no entries into the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant underground, filter replacement activities at the facility were completed this week. No teams have entered WIPP since May 30, when contractor Nuclear Waste Partnership began efforts to change out filters that exchange air between the aboveground and […]

Todd Jacobson WC Monitor 6/27/2014   House lawmakers are expected to take up the Fiscal Year 2015 Energy and Water Appropriations Act after taking a break for the Independence Day recess, though the prospects for completing the bill have been thrown into turmoil with the Senate version of the bill stalled. The bill, which funds […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 6/27/2014 After months of planning, the Department of Energy officially announced this week that it will compete four new contracts for cleanup activities at the Idaho site post-Fiscal Year 2015. The new contracts—two of which will be competed on an unrestricted basis and two that will be set-aside for small businesses—are […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 6/27/2014 North Wind late this week won the Department of Energy’s new $25.6 million task order for environmental monitoring and D&D work at the Energy Technology Engineering Center (ETEC) site in California. The fixed price task order is set to run for up to five years, consisting of a three-year base […]

Despite Years of Effort to Improve Safety Culture, New Assessment Finds Little Progress Made Mike Nartker WC Monitor 6/27/2014 Employees at the Department of Energy’s Office of River Protection do not appear to be fully on board with Manager Kevin Smith’s new, more collaborative approach to managing Bechtel National at the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant, […]

Situation Could be Made Worse Over Pending Legal Action Over Uranium Transfers Mike Nartker and Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 6/27/2014 D&D efforts at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant are facing the threat of significant layoffs in Fiscal Year 2015 that could see the project’s workforce cut by approximately one-third. The situation at Portsmouth could be […]

WC Monitor 6/27/2014 IN CONGRESS Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio), the former chairman of the House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee and an advocate of National Nuclear Security Administration reform efforts, announced late last week that he will seek to become chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. The current chairman, Rep. Darrell Issa […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 6/20/2014 Both House and Senate appropriators plan to provide more than $100 million in extra funds to help reopen the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant following incidents earlier this year, though the two chambers disagree on where the funds will come from. The Department of Energy is expected to need significant funding […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 6/19/2014 While both the House and Senate versions of the Fiscal Year 2015 Energy and Water Appropriations bills would boost funding overall for the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management above DOE’s budget request, House appropriators are looking to provide less than what DOE is seeking for liquid waste cleanup […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 6/20/2014 As the Department of Energy plans procurements in the coming years for another round of major prime cleanup contracts, a significant question for small businesses is how the Department will consider promoting meaningful small business subcontracting. Small businesses have expressed concern in recent years as a number of prime contractors […]

The following interview with Deputy Energy Secretary Dan Poneman, who announced this week plans to leave DOE in the fall, was conducted by ExchangeMonitor Publications Editor-in-Chief Mike Nartker. WC Monitor 6/20/2014 To start things off, I think one of the things you’ll be remembered for during your time at DOE is the Department’s efforts to […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 6/20/2014 The Obama Administration’s next choice to head the Department of Energy’s cleanup program, Monica Regalbuto, breezed through a hearing the Senate Armed Services Committee held on her nomination this week, and she has so far not indicated any big changes are in store for the structure of the DOE Office […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 6/20/2014 After five years, Daniel Poneman is stepping down as Deputy Energy Secretary this fall. Poneman’s departure plans were announced in a message Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz sent to employees late this week. “It has been my pleasure to work with Dan in many settings over a couple of decades—from […]

This is an idea whose time has come at last: The Department of Energy needs to break out cleanup work at Los Alamos National Laboratory and other National Nuclear Security Administration sites under separate contracts managed by the Office of Environmental Management. The Department’s national transuranic waste program has been brought to its knees in […]

Will Department be Able to Make Award Before Current Contract Expires? Mike Nartker WC Monitor 6/20/2014 The Department of Energy is moving forward with plans to compete a new contract to manage the Oak Ridge Transuranic Waste Processing Center, announcing late this week that a draft Request for Proposals is set to be issued for […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 6/20/2014 House appropriators are once again expressing concern over how the Department of Energy manages major projects in the Office of Environmental Management and the National Nuclear Security Administration. While DOE has made some improvement in its ability to “deliver small projects on schedule and within budget,” the Department “continues to […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 6/20/2014 After years of trying, the Department of Energy may be moving closer to realizing a goal of getting new funding for the federal Uranium Enrichment D&D Fund, which helps cover cleanup costs at the Paducah, Portsmouth and Oak Ridge sites. The Senate version of the Fiscal Year 2015 Energy and […]

Some Employees Say More Significant Changes Needed Mike Nartker WC Monitor 6/20/2014 Fluor-B&W Portsmouth, LLC, the D&D contractor for the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant, is working to make improvements to its non-destructive assay program in the wake of a recent assessment that identified concerns, and expects to be able to resume by the end of […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 6/20/2014  The Department of Energy’s Office of Independent Enterprise Assessments is launching an investigation into the February incidents at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, according to a notification sent to WIPP contractor Nuclear Waste Partnership this week. The Office of Enforcement will look into “the facts and circumstances associated with potential […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 6/20/2014 South Carolina is continuing to push against the Department of Energy’s latest plan for the closure of high-level waste tanks at the Savannah River Site, warning this week of hundreds of millions of dollars in penalties if the Department does not request enough funding for Savannah River cleanup. DOE recently […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 6/20/2014 Uranium conversion company Converdyn has filed a lawsuit against the Department of Energy in an effort to stop the Department’s uranium transfers, which the company claims will cost it $40.5 million in lost revenue over the next two years. In May, a DOE Secretarial Determination declared that its ongoing uranium […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor  6/20/2014 URS moved this week to shuffle the top leadership at two of its major cleanup contracts. Ken Reuter, president of Savannah River Remediation, LLC, the liquid waste contractor at Savannah River, is moving back to URS-CH2M Oak Ridge, LLC, to take over for outgoing President Leo Sain. At SRR, Chief […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor  6/20/2014 Parsons last week rejected the Department of Energy’s “best and final” offer for a new agreement for commissioning and startup of the Salt Waste Processing Facility, leaving uncertainty in the path forward for startup, WC Monitor has learned. SWPF startup talks have been ongoing since last summer, when a new […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 6/20/2014 EnergySolutions Not Seeking to Overturn Magnox Decision, But Is Claiming Damages From the NDA  Incumbent contractor EnergySolutions is not looking to overturn  the U.K. Nuclear Decommissioning Authority’s decision to award the Cavendish Fluor Partnership the new contract to manage and decommission the U.K.’s set of nuclear power stations in its […]

Group Calls on State to Order Protections for Tank Farm Workers WC Monitor 6/20/2014 As concerns continue to grow over workers at the Hanford tank farms being exposed to hazardous vapors, the watchdog group Hanford Challenge is calling on the Washington state Attorney General’s Office to use the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act to order […]

John Ciucci to Serve as New Head of CHPRC  WC Monitor 6/20/2014 John Ciucci has been picked to be president of CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co. at Hanford effective Oct. 1. He will replace John Fulton, who last week announced his retirement from the position effective Sept. 30. Ciucci came to Hanford in 2011 as […]