Publications: Weapons Cleanup Monitor

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 […]

DOE BEGINS IWTU READINESS ASSESSMENT WC Monitor 3/14/2014 Efforts to start up the Idaho Integrated Waste Treatment Unit took another step forward this week, with the Department of Energy launching a readiness assessment expected to take two weeks to complete. The purpose of the assessment is to help evaluate whether the facility is ready for […]

REMOVAL OF K-25 DEBRIS COMPLETE WC Monitor 3/14/2014 The Department of Energy’s unprecedented D&D effort at the Oak Ridge K-25 plant reached another milestone this week with the removal of all demolition debris from the site that once produced the majority of the nation’s enriched uranium. The demolition of the K-25 building—a U-shaped structure that […]

WC Monitor 3/14/2014 IN CONGRESS This year’s set of House Cleanup Caucus briefings on the Department of Energy’s cleanup program is scheduled to get underway March 27, with an overview presentation from DOE cleanup chief David Huizenga. The briefing is scheduled to be held in Room 1324 of the Longworth House Office Building in Washington […]

Wash. Closure Removes Chromium Source WC Monitor 6/6/2014 The largest source of chromium contamination near the Columbia River at Hanford has been removed after workers excavated contaminated soil down to groundwater 85 feet deep. Over the years Hanford officials had talked about finding the mother lode of chromium in the soil that was contaminating groundwater […]

Martin Schneider ExchangeMonitor Publications CEO 6/6/2014 Exactly 25 years ago today, the FBI raided the Rocky Flats site, symbolically kicking off what would become the largest environmental cleanup project in the world—the cleanup of the U.S. nuclear weapons complex run by the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management. The last two-and-a-half decades have seen […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 6/6/2014 Twenty-five years after federal agents conducted a raid on the Rocky Flats site in Colorado—widely seen as the symbolic start of the Department of Energy’s cleanup efforts—DOE has “come of age” when it comes to transparency, a former Department cleanup chief told WC Monitor this week. “I see a tremendous […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 6/6/2014 Monica Regalbuto, the White House’s choice for the next head of the Department of Energy’s cleanup program, is soon set to get an early start in the senior management of the Department’s Office of Environmental Management. Effective June 16, Regalbuto will serve as Associate Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, where she […]