Publications: Weapons Cleanup Monitor

Suit Filed Against Battelle Over 2011 Contamination Incident at INL WC Monitor 6/27/2014 The family of a worker contaminated by a 2011 incident at the Idaho National Laboratory is suing INL managing contractor Battelle Energy Alliance for damages related to the event. The suit centers on a Nov. 8 , 2011, event in which 16 […]

DOE Sees Reduction of Mercury into Local Creek WC Monitor 6/27/2014 It looks like the Recovery Act-funded cleanup of the old storm-sewer system at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant is finally starting to pay off with a reduction of mercury entering the East Fork Poplar Creek in Oak Ridge. “It looks like it’s getting better,” […]

DOE to Launch Safety Investigation at Pacific Northwest National Lab WC Monitor 6/27/2014 The Department of Energy’s Office of Enforcement is gearing up to launch an investigation into potential violations of DOE regulations at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. The investigation could lead to financial penalties for the lab’s managing contractor, Battelle Memorial Institute. The […]

DNFSB Raises Issues With Hanford Evaporator Safety Basis WC Monitor 6/27/2014   The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board last week raised issues with the safety basis for an evaporator at Hanford’s tank farms. In a March review, the DNFSB found several concerns with the safety basis for the 242-A Evaporator, which is used to concentrate […]

NDA Tells Lawmakers Sellafield Lifecycle Cost to Increase by £6 Billion Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 6/27/2014 Lifecycle cleanup costs at the U.K.’s Sellafield site have risen by more than £6 billion ($10.2 billion) from last year’s estimate, according to an annual financial report the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority submitted to Parliament this week. The current undiscounted […]

Todd Jacobson WC Monitor 6/27/2014 Raising questions about how much the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management supports National Nuclear Security Administration missions, the House Appropriations Committee last week directed $21.3 million in funding for nonproliferation work in Russia to go toward spent foreign fuel work at the Savannah River Site and the Idaho […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 6/27/2014   CH2M-WG Idaho is continuing to push to receive more fee for work performed under the initial Idaho Cleanup Project contract, taking its case to the General Services Administration’s Civilian Board of Contract Appeals. John Corsi, a spokesman for CH2M Hill, the lead company in CWI, declined to comment this […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 6/27/2014   The team of CTI-URS has been eliminated from the competition underway for the new Nevada National Security Site environmental characterization and remediation services contract, WC Monitor has learned. The National Nuclear Security Administration rejected the team’s bid because it was found to be technically unacceptable, according to officials. The […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 6/27/2014   The Department of Energy has decided to conduct a third evaluation of all of the bids submitted for the new Office of Legacy Management support services contract in response to a recent Government Accountability Office decision to sustain a protest filed over DOE’s award of the new contract to […]

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 […]