Publications: Weapons Cleanup Monitor

K-31 Demolition Set to Get Underway This Fall WC Monitor 6/20/2014 URS-CH2M Oak Ridge, LLC, the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge cleanup manager, said this week it is ahead of schedule in getting the K-31 Building ready for demolition, which should begin sometimes this fall. K-31 is potentially a bridge between the demolition of K-25, […]

WC Monitor 6/20/2014 IN DOE Mildred López-Ferré has been named deputy assistant manager for safety and technical services at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge office. She began her DOE career in 1991 as a program manager in the former Environmental Restoration Division at the Oak Ridge office. Most recently, she was special projects assistant […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 6/13/2014 As the Department of Energy pushes for more firm-fixed price contracts and aims to better define which efforts fall under regulations for capital asset projects, the move has led to some concern within the Department. DOE Office of Acquisition and Project Management Director Paul Bosco is working on new contracting […]

DOE Earns Failing Score From SBA In FY’13 Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 6/13/2014 It may once again be hard for the Department of Energy to earn a passing grade from the Small Business Administration this fiscal year, as DOE and the SBA continue to work out details on a new law allowing some subcontracts to […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 6/13/2014 Responding to criticism from South Carolina regulators of a new Savannah River Site liquid waste plan with lengthy delays, the site’s top official emphasized this week that the site is still committed to closing tanks. The Department recently released the latest revision of the site’s liquid waste system plan, which […]

GAO Releases Protest Decision Details Mike Nartker WC Monitor 6/13/2014   Almost a month after the Government Accountability Office called on the Department of Energy to re-evaluate two bids submitted for the new Office of Legacy Management support services contract in response to a successful protest, the Department’s plans for making a new award decision […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 6/13/2014   House appropriators are looking to spend less next year than what the Department of Energy is seeking for work at its set of major cleanup sites. The House version of the Fiscal Year 2015 energy appropriations bill, reported out of subcommittee this week, would provide a total of approximately […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 6/13/2014 As investigations continue into the breached drum at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, the Department of Energy is scrutinizing five additional Los Alamos waste drums  from the same acidic waste stream currently stored at Waste Control Specialists.  A leading theory has been that nitrate salts and organic kitty litter in […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 6/13/2014 As the Department of Energy and contractor CH2M-WG Idaho continue to move forward with startup testing at the Idaho Integrated Waste Treatment Unit, Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board Technical Director Steve Stokes said this week that it’s too early to say whether the facility will be able to begin processing […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 6/13/2014 John Woolery has been named the new President and General Manager of B&W Conversion Services, LLC, the contractor responsible for the Department of Energy’s two depleted uranium hexafluoride conversion plants, effective July 1. That’s the same day that B&W Pantex, which Woolery currently heads, is set to be replaced by […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 6/13/2014   Work underway to set up the Department of Energy’s new Office of Independent Enterprise Assessment (IEA) is slowing down ongoing DOE enforcement investigations, IEA Director Glenn Podonsky said late this week. The new office, which was created as part of a reorganization of DOE’s safety and security functions, contains […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 6/13/2014   The Department of Energy is moving forward with procurements for new infrastructure support services contracts at the Paducah and Portsmouth sites. This week, DOE issued a draft Request for Proposals for the new Paducah contract, with industry comments due by July 3. The new contract is being set-aside for […]

Staff reports WC Monitor 6/13/2014   Washington state and federal officials will continue to discuss changes to the Hanford court-enforced consent decree, rather than taking the matter back to court, they announced this week. The initial 40-day dispute resolution period expired June 2, which allowed either the state or the Department of Energy to ask […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 6/13/2014   The four recent Department of Energy uranium transfers that supported USEC totaling in the hundreds of millions of dollars may have been done illegally, according to a Government Accountability Office report released this week that sparked strong disagreement from DOE. The Department undertook the transfers in 2012 and 2013 […]

Lawmaker Calls for Quick Action on New DOE Manager WC Monitor 6/13/2014 Rep. Doc Hastings (R-Wash.) is calling on the Department of Energy to move quickly to name a new Manager for the Richland Operations Office at Hanford, following the retirement of Matt McCormick last week. “I believe the Richland Operations Office needs a Manager […]

WC Monitor 6/13/2014 IN CONGRESS The Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee is looking to mark up its version of the Fiscal Year 2015 energy spending bill next week. The panel has scheduled a hearing June 17 beginning at 10 a.m. to consider the measure. The full Senate Appropriations Committee is expected to take up […]

WC Monitor 3/07/2014 IN DOE The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management has launched a new interactive timeline tracing the history of DOE’s cleanup efforts. The timeline, available on the EM website, stretches from the beginning of the Manhattan Project in the 1940s to the closure of underground waste tanks at the Savannah River Site […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 4/04/2014 Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz said this week that DOE is looking to award the new contract for deactivation services at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant in September. During a joint House subcommittee hearing this week, Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.) questioned plans for the contract given USEC’s upcoming return of […]

New Approach Would Use Increased Number of Smaller Plant Vessels Mike Nartker WC Monitor 4/04/2014 In a new effort to finally resolve the long-standing technical concerns that have significantly delayed the completion of the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant’s Pretreatment Facility, the Department of Energy is considering a simplified design approach that would employ smaller-sized plant vessels […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 4/04/2014 After reentering the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant underground for the first time since February’s incidents and establishing a clean base of operations this week, the Department of Energy is planning to send workers deeper into the mine next week. The manned reentries are the first to take place since the […]

Pro2Serve Accusing FBP of Improperly Trying to Take Away Work, Employees Mike Nartker WC Monitor 4/04/2014 Professional Project Services (Pro2Serve) is accusing Fluor-B&W Portsmouth, LLC, of improperly trying to take away its work at the Portsmouth D&D project—a move Pro2Serve alleges could put its “ongoing viability” at risk. Last week, Pro2Serve filed a lawsuit against FBP […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 4/04/2014 The Department of Energy and Fluor-B&W Portsmouth, LLC, the D&D contractor for the Portsmouth site, are in an apparent dispute over what costs, if any, FBP will be responsible for from an incident that occurred last year involving falsified records. DOE has warned FBP that costs related to the incident […]

State Calls for More Milestones Tied to WTP; Creation of New Double-Shell Tank Capacity Mike Nartker WC Monitor 4/04/2014 With the schedule for completion of the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant still unclear, how should the cleanup of Hanford’s underground waste tanks be governed going forward? It’s a question to which the Department of Energy and Washington […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 4/04/2014 The first shipment of Los Alamos transuranic waste arrived at the Waste Control Specialists facility in Texas this week for temporary storage during the ongoing shutdown of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. The storage will take place under a one-year, $8.8 million contract between WCS and WIPP contractor Nuclear Waste […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 4/04/2014 The Department of Energy is proposing a new regulation that would allow it to withhold payments if a contractor’s business systems have “significant deficiencies.” That includes the accounting system, estimating system, purchasing system, earned value management system and property management system. “DOE proposes to implement compliance enforcement mechanisms in the […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 4/04/2014 While Parsons submitted a “best and final offer” in late March for an agreement on commissioning and startup of the Savannah River Site’s Salt Waste Processing Facility, the Department of Energy is preparing to counter the offer, WC Monitor has learned. It is unclear whether Parsons will consider the counteroffer, […]

Change DOE’s Latest MoveTo Restructure Lab Fees Mike Nartker WC Monitor 4/04/2014 Battelle Energy Alliance is now set to earn less annual fee for managing the Idaho National Laboratory under a five-year contract extension announced late last week. While BEA was able to earn a maximum of $18.7 million in fee annually during its first […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 4/04/2014 The Department of Energy is looking to make changes to its human capital and IT services that could result in a greater consolidation from the field to DOE headquarters. Among the proposals under consideration, according to officials familiar with the discussions, is the shift of some human capital functions from […]

Positions Created as Part of Reorg. Of Safety, Security Functions Mike Nartker WC Monitor 4/04/2014 The Department of Energy has moved to fill a set of new Chief Security Officer positions created as part of reorganization of the Department’s health, safety and security functions, according to a message sent to employees late last week. Michael Lempke […]