Publications: Weapons Cleanup Monitor

13 Workers Contaminated Following Leak Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 2/28/2014 With news getting worse at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant amidst test results this week that showed 13 workers experienced internal contamination following a radiation leak at the plant, several options have emerged for progressing with the Department of Energy’s transuranic waste campaign at Los […]

Senate Could Vote on State Department Arms Control Nominee, Rose Gottemoeller, Next Week Todd Jacobson WC Monitor 2/28/2014 An attempt to get two top Department of Energy nominees confirmed hit a roadblock this week when an anonymous hold was placed on the pair. Senate Republicans attempted to “hotline” the nominations of Frank Klotz, the Administration’s pick […]

Jeremy Dillon and Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 2/28/2014 It appears the specter of Yucca Mountain has entered the negotiations on a batch of uranium-233 the Department of Energy hopes to dispose of at the Nevada National Security Site as DOE undertakes a Congressionally-mandated examination of disposal alternatives, WC Monitor has learned. DOE received indications before, […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 2/28/2014 A senior Department of Energy official late this week confirmed DOE has been examining the possible creation of a new organization that would be responsible for major line-item construction projects, but stressed that the idea was one among many under consideration to help improve how DOE manages projects. “There are […]

Report Describes Apparent Tensions Between Technical Director, Staff Mike Nartker WC Monitor 6/28/2014 There appear to be significant tensions between the technical staff at the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board and the Board’s Office of the Technical Director (OTD), according to a report WC Monitor obtained this week. The report provides the full, unredacted version of […]

Mike Nartker and Todd Jacobson WC Monitor 2/28/2014 Labor union officials are so far taking a wait-and-see stance toward the Department of Energy’s recently announced plans for reorganizing its health, safety and security functions, though the anticipated role going forward of DOE’s current Chief Health, Safety and Security Officer, Glenn Podonsky, is giving organized labor […]

Staff Reports WC Monitor 2/28/2014 The Department of Energy has proposed a promising approach to treating Hanford’s low activity tank waste, Washington State Governor Jay Inslee (D) said during a press conference late this week. But he remains concerned about how DOE plans to treat the high-level radioactive tank waste, he said. He may know […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 2/28/2014 Hanford cleanup contractor CH2M HILL Plateau Remediation Co. is still holding fast to its 2016 milestone for the Plutonium Finishing Plant D&D project and is gaining more certainty in its schedule since a technical study last fall gave it a 50 percent probability for meeting that date. “PFP is continuing […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 2/28/2014 The Department of Energy has launched a new public search for candidates to fill on a permanent basis the long-vacant position of Site Lead for the Paducah site. Earlier this month, DOE posted the position for a second time on the USAJobs.gov website, and is accepting applications through March 4. […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 2/28/2014 The Department of Energy has made “significant progress” on commitments for improving work planning and control in response to concerns from the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, DOE told the DNFSB this month. In August 2012 the DNFSB sent a letter to DOE detailing issues with the implementation of work […]

Two Protests Now Filed Over DOE’s Decision to Again Award to Portage Mike Nartker WC Monitor 2/28/2014 Navarro Research and Engineering this week filed a new challenge  over  the  Department  of Energy’s  decision to once again award Portage the new support services contract for DOE’s Office of Legacy Management. Navarro filed its protest with the Government […]

HANFORD TOUR REGISTRATION OPENS NEXT WEEK WC Monitor 2/28/2014 Registration will open March 3 for all site-wide tours this year of Hanford, and a day later registration will open for tours just of Hanford’s historic B Reactor. Reservations are on a first-come, first-served basis, and seats for the tours, particularly of Hanford, go quickly. It […]

NNSA LOOKING TO ACCELERATE RLWTF UPGRADE WC Monitor 2/28/2014 The National Nuclear Security Administration is looking at options to potentially accelerate the schedule for a project to upgrade Los Alamos National Laboratory’s aging Radioactive Liquid Waste Treatment Facility. NNSA and the lab plan to replace the current facility with two new ones—one that would address […]

GLE TO SUBMIT LICENSE APPLICATION IN SEPTEMBER WC Monitor 2/28/2014 In a another step in a proposal to construct a new enrichment plant at the Paducah site, Global Laser Enrichment intends to submit a license application by September to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the company told the NRC last week. “GLE expects to submit the […]

URS COMPLETES SLUDGE REMOVAL WC Monitor 2/28/2014 URS late this week completed an effort to treat and remove the remaining radioactive sludge waste from the Separations Process Research Unit (SPRU)—a project the Department of Energy says eliminates the majority of the remaining radioactivity at the site. Since the work began last spring, URS has solidified […]

WC Monitor 2/28/2014 IN CONGRESS Rep. Ed Pastor (D-Ariz.) announced late this week that he will not seek re-election this November. Pastor is a member of the House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee, among other Congressional roles. “After 23 years in Congress serving the people of Arizona, I have decided that I will not seek […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 2/21/2014 In another Waste Isolation Pilot Plant event that may delay missions across the Department of Energy complex, WIPP remains shut down indefinitely following the detection of a likely radiation leak from a waste drum late last week. WIPP was already shut down as the result of an investigation into a […]

Is ‘War on Whistleblowers’ Underway at Hanford? Mike Nartker WC Monitor 2/21/2014 In a move that’s prompted new calls for investigations into how the Department of Energy protects whistleblowers, URS this week terminated a key nuclear safety manager at the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant who has alleged she has faced harassment and retaliation for raising […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 2/21/2014 CH2M-WG Idaho (CWI) appears to have a hit a new set of challenges in its efforts to get the Idaho Sodium-Bearing Waste Treatment Facility in operation, and it remains to be seen when the facility will actually begin processing waste. The facility has been projected to begin waste processing this […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 2/21/2014 Members of Kentucky’s Congressional delegation are calling on the Department of Energy to move “as quickly as possible” to award the new deactivation contract for the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant. DOE’s acquisition forecast currently projects making an award no later than the first quarter of Fiscal Year 2015, a schedule […]

Employee Committee Calls for Ombudsman Mike Nartker WC Monitor 2/21/2014 In another sign of apparent management turmoil within the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, a group of Board employees tasked with examining morale concerns has found what appears to be a significant divide between staff and senior management. “Overall, the staff feels they no longer […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 2/21/2014 Unusually cold weather slowed down shipments at the Moab uranium mill tailings remediation project in Utah this winter, the first in which work continued all season since last year’s winter work curtailment. Cleanup contractor Portage last year undertook a three-month outage during the winter due to budget constraints, but a […]

DOE CONSIDERING UNDERGROUND PRETREAT SYSTEM WC Monitor 2/21/2014 The Department of Energy is considering building an underground interim pretreatment system that would use the same technologies as the planned Pretreatment Facility at Hanford’s Waste Treatment Plant, but on a smaller scale. The possible interim pretreatment system is one of the solutions discussed in what DOE […]

REMAINING HANFORD CLEANUP COST NOW $113.6B WC Monitor 2/21/2014 An estimated $113.6 billion is the new price tag for completing the remaining Hanford cleanup, plus post-cleanup long term stewardship through fiscal 2090.The new estimate was included in the 2014 Hanford Lifecycle Scope, Schedule and Cost Report released this week. It’s the fourth such report released […]

ITG PROVISIONALLY LOSES $150,000 IN FEE WC Monitor 2/21/2014 Idaho Treatment Group, LLC, the managing contractor for the Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project, has provisionally lost $150,000 in fee for safety issues, though the contractor may be able to earn back a portion, a Department of Energy spokeswoman said late this week. The fee reduction, […]

USEC RAMPING DOWN SITE SECURITY WC Monitor 2/21/2014 In changes to its security approach at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant, USEC this week laid off security guards and de-manned a security checkpoint on an access road. USEC has been in the process of winding down its role at Paducah after it decided to end enrichment […]

WC Monitor 2/21/2014 IN THE INDUSTRY Former Nevada Site Office Manager Stephen Mellington has joined Longenecker & Associates as a senior associate. Mellington retired from a 35-year federal career in 2012, serving the last four years as the top federal official at the Nevada National Security Site. Mellington previously served as the site office’s Assistant […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 2/14/2014 Senior management at the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant has not established a culture “in which quality is a core value,” an internal review has found. The results of a “common cause analysis” into the long-stand quality assurance issues at the WTP, chartered by project contractor Bechtel National, were outlined in […]