Publications: Weapons Cleanup Monitor

NEW CONCERNS OVER TANK VAPORS WC Monitor 3/28/2014 Hanford officials have identified two potential sources of chemical vapor emissions after workers reported symptoms at the tank farms over four days this week and last week. At least 18 workers have reported symptoms linked to possible chemical vapors from tank waste, with the latest case on […]

DOE WANTS TO INCREASE ACCESS TO CLEANED LAND WC Monitor 3/28/2014 The Department of Energy wants to provide additional access to Hanford land as it is cleaned up, said David Huizenga of DOE’s Office of Environmental Management at a House Cleanup Caucus briefing this week. “The overall thrust is to try to turn some of […]

ITG SEEKS TO RECOVER WITHHELD FEE WC Monitor 3/28/2014 The Department of Energy is considering a request from Idaho Treatment Group, LLC, the managing contractor for the Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project, to recover $150,000 in fee withheld for safety concerns. ITG requested the fee in a letter sent in late February to DOE outlining […]

K-31 DEMOLITION TO GET UNDERWAY WC Monitor 3/28/2014 Cleanup contractor URS-CH2M Oak Ridge (UCOR) has received approval to proceed with demolition of the K-31 building at the East Tennessee Technology Park. The move is designed to keep the workforce that was assembled for the massive K-25 D&D project largely intact until the Department of Energy […]

WC Monitor 3/28/2014 IN CONGRESS The Congressional appropriations process may go faster this year than in previous years, according to House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Mike Simpson (R-Idaho). The Appropriations Committee is making an effort to hasten the pace of its effort to try and complete spending bills by the beginning of Fiscal […]

Martin Schneider Chief Executive Officer ExchangeMonitor Publications & Forums 3/21/2014 In the wake of the recent incidents at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, the Secretary of Energy should immediately order a comprehensive, Department-wide review of maintenance needs across the DOE complex, particularly work that has been deferred or underfunded in recent years. While details of […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 3/21/2014 Following an investigation that concluded that last month’s fire at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant was “preventable,” URS is bringing in another addition to WIPP’s management team to focus on the facility’s recovery, WC Monitor has learned. URS has hired Perma-Fix Environmental Services Chief Operating Officer Jim Blankenhorn to fill […]

Contractor Hits New Low in Fee Mike Nartker WC Monitor 3/21/2014 Bechtel National is moving forward with a management reorganization at the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant that the contractor said late this week is intended to help make “needed performance improvements” and “clarify roles, responsibilities and interfaces” between Bechtel National and its major subcontractor on […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 3/21/2014 While the Department of Energy this week announced that it plans to send transuranic waste from Los Alamos National Laboratory to Waste Control Specialists for temporary storage, there is a tight time frame for completing preparations for the shipments. DOE has committed to New Mexico to completing its campaign for […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 3/21/2014 The Department of Energy is now projecting to complete a final cost-and-schedule baseline for D&D efforts at the Separations Process Research Unit (SPRU) site by the end of this fiscal year, and to complete physical work at the site by the end of FY 2015, according to detailed budgetary documents […]

Project Receives a Boost in FY’15 Budget Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 3/21/2014 After protracted talks on a path forward for commissioning and startup of the Salt Waste Processing Facility, contractor Parsons has submitted to the Department of Energy a cost-share proposal that is believed to be the company’s ‘best and final offer’ for the startup […]

Staff Reports WC Monitor 3/21/2014 Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz failed to bring a detailed plan for meeting obligations to clean up tank waste at Hanford to a visit with the Washington state governor this week, according to the state. A draft cleanup plan shared by Moniz lacked the comprehensiveness and level of detail the state […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 3/21/2014 Shareholders have been able to convince two major contractors in the Department of Energy marketplace—URS and Babcock & Wilcox—to make changes to their boards of directors. This week, URS announced that it has reached an agreement with shareholder JANA Partners, LLC, which owns slightly less than 10 percent of the […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 3/21/2014 Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory posted a sources sought notice seeking companies interested in completing demolition work at the Old Town area of the lab. The University of California may set aside the contract for small businesses “if a sufficient number of small businesses are pre-qualified,” according to the notice. The […]

DOE ASKS STATE IF TANK HAS BEEN EMPTIED ENOUGH WC Monitor 3/21/2014 The Department of Energy is asking the state of Washington to consider whether a single-shell tank that must be emptied by this fall to meet a consent decree milestone is empty enough. DOE also has stopped work to empty a second single-shell tank […]

DOE TO SHUT DOWN WSCF LAB WC Monitor 3/21/2014 The Department of Energy plans to stop operating the Waste Sampling and Characterization Facility in central Hanford within a year, it told employees this week. About 80 people work at the laboratory, including 18 employees of Mission Support Alliance and about 60 employees of its subcontractor, […]

DOE SEEKS FIRMS FOR TRU SLUDGE BUILDOUTS PROJECT WC Monitor 3/21/2014 The Department of Energy issued a notice this week seeking qualifications from firms interested in providing architect and engineering services for design of the Sludge Processing Facility Buildouts Project at the Oak Ridge Transuranic Waste Processing Center. The procurement is being competed on an […]

WC Monitor 3/21/2014 IN DOE Terry Tyborowski, who currently serves as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Budget and Program Planning in the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management, is moving next month to take a job in the Department’s Chief Financial Officer’s office. Tyborowski will serve as Deputy Director for Budget Analysis, effective April 21. […]

URS Names New Head of WIPP Contractor in Response to Incidents Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 3/14/2014 Additional releases of radiation at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant are possible because the repository’s ventilation system is not a “credited safety system,” according to the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. When an underground monitor at WIPP detected a radiation […]

DOE IG Opens Investigation into Busche Termination Mike Nartker WC Monitor 3/14/2014 Lawmakers expressed skepticism this week that the Department of Energy is adequately ensuring workers at one of its largest projects—the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant—are free to raise concerns without fear of retaliation. The dismissal in recent months of two contractor managers who have […]

Only Three Bids Submitted for New ETEC Contract Mike Nartker WC Monitor 3/14/2014 Despite recent procurements that attracted limited interest, the top acquisition official in the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management said last week that he does not believe DOE’s efforts to better balance risk and reward with its contractors are so far […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 3/14/2014 Bechtel National is soon set to begin moving forward with additional work at the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant’s High-Level Waste Facility. In late February, the Department of Energy authorized Bechtel National to begin performing “limited production engineering” activities at the facility, and DOE and Bechtel National are working to a […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 3/14/2014 A National Nuclear Security Administration official last week outlined a host of concerns with the way NNSA and Department of Energy small business contracting is impacting industry, including in the list reverse auctions, restrictive size standards, acquisition strategies and underutilization of contract vehicles. One concern is the consequence of using […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 3/14/2014 Los Alamos National Laboratory will continue a short-term campaign approach based on risk with future cleanup efforts after the success so far of the aboveground transuranic waste campaign, officials said here last week. New Mexico Environment Department Secretary Ryan Flynn called for the continuation of such an approach in September […]

Unclear Who Will Head DUF6 Contractor BWCS Going Forward Mike Nartker WC Monitor 3/14/2014 George Dials, a senior executive at Babcock & Wilcox, is leaving the company at the end of this month. Dials first joined B&W in 2006, when he served as president and CEO of B&W Y-12, LLC, and since late 2010 he has […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 3/14/2014 Investigations are underway into three recent incidents at Sellafield—two contamination events and an issue that caused the shutdown of the Magnox Reprocessing Plant. “On the 23 February the Magnox Reprocessing Plant underwent a controlled shutdown as a result of an anomaly in the chemical process. Initial investigations suggest that this […]

STATE UNHAPPY WITH NEW DOE PUMPING PLAN WC Monitor 3/14/2014 A Department of Energy plan to wait at least two years to pump waste from a damaged double-shell tank at Hanford is unacceptable, according to the state of Washington. DOE’s plan “demonstrates the federal government’s lack of commitment to set a firm, near-term schedule for […]

DOE CHANGING WASTE HAULING PRACTICES WC Monitor 3/14/2014 The Department of Energy is making changes to improve the safety of how it moves mixed waste on 12.3 miles of roads open to the public on Hanford land and in north Richland, Wash. They include closing all lanes of those roads when waste shipments are moved […]