Publications: Weapons Cleanup Monitor

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 1/24/2014 Overall Oak Ridge TRU Waste Processing Facility contractor Wastren Advantage, Inc., has done a good job implementing fire protection programs at the facility, though some improvements could be made, according to a recently posted Department of Energy review. As part of an assessment of fire protection programs (FPP) at nuclear […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 1/24/2014 U.K. cleanup contractor Sellafield Limited last week lost an appeal to a £700,000 ($1.1 million) fine levied against the company for sending contaminated waste to a regular landfill. The company pleaded guilty in January to sending four bags of mixed waste from normal operations in controlled areas to a regular […]

MOST HANFORD LAYOFFS CANCELLED AFTER BUDGET PASSED WC Monitor 1/24/2014 Hanford contractors laid off just 12 workers this week, far fewer than the 289 they were authorized to let go before Congress last week approved the Fiscal Year 2014 spending bill. The Department of Energy had approved three Hanford contractors to lay off a total […]

USEC LAYS OFF 40 WORKERS WC Monitor 1/24/2014 USEC undertook another round of layoffs this week at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant, impacting less than 40 employees who were given 60-day notices in November. Additional layoffs totaling about 110 workers are set to occur in February, according to USEC spokesman Paul Jacobson. The company has […]

WC Monitor 1/24/2014 IN CONGRESS Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) announced this week that he will be running for governor of Louisiana in the 2015 election. Vitter made waves in the Department of Energy last October when he placed a hold on Elizabeth Robinson’s nomination to serve as the new Under Secretary for Management and Performance, […]

NEW SALTSTONE DISPOSAL UNITS COMPLETED WC Monitor 1/24/2014 The construction of two new Saltstone Disposal Units at the Savannah River site has been completed ahead of schedule and under budget, the Department of Energy and liquid waste contractor Savannah River Remediation announced this week. Saltstone units 3 and 5 have a new circular design, and […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 1/17/2014 The Department of Energy is considering creating a new Departmental organization that would be responsible for DOE’s major line-item construction projects across various programs, WC Monitor has learned. The proposal appears to be in its early stages, and its scope remains unclear, though it likely would entail those major construction […]

FY14 Omnibus Would Boost EM Funding Mike Nartker WC Monitor 1/17/2014 In a move that could have significant implications for how the Department of Energy plans and funds future cleanup activities, lawmakers are directing DOE to bring in an outside group of experts to determine the relative risks of the Department’s remaining work across the […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 1/17/2014 Taking the time pressure off talks with the state of Nevada over disposal of a controversial batch of uranium-233, the Department of Energy has unloaded material from shipping casks it had planned to send to the Nevada National Security Site for disposal. The shipping containers were due for recertification this […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 1/17/2014 Federal law enforcement officials late this week raided the office of Transportation, Operations and Professional Services, Inc. (TOPS), a protégé firm of Oak Ridge cleanup contractor URS-CH2M Oak Ridge, LLC, though the subject of the their investigation remains unclear. The Jan. 16 raid reportedly involved agents from the FBI and […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 1/17/2014 CH2M-WG Idaho, the cleanup contractor for the Department of Energy’s Idaho site, is beginning the hot startup process for the Idaho Sodium-Bearing Waste Treatment Facility, and hopes to begin full operations this spring after DOE completes a readiness assessment. CWI has finished a “management self assessment” launched last fall to […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 1/17/2014 The Department of Energy and Parsons began formal negotiations on commissioning and startup of the Savannah River Site’s Salt Waste Processing Facility just before the holidays, but it is uncertain when they may wrap up talks, a DOE official said this week. While DOE and Parsons reached an agreement-in-principle last […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 1/17/2014 Hanford tank farms contractor Washington River Protection Solutions received an overall grade of “very good” for its performance in FY 2013, according to information the Department of Energy’s Office of River Protection released late this week. Overall, WRPS earned approximately $19.1 million out of an available $20.6 million (92 percent) […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 1/17/2014 URS officially announced this week a set of top-level management changes in its Global Management & Operations Services Business Group, which is responsible for URS’ work in the Department of Energy and U.K. Nuclear Decommissioning Authority marketplaces. As WC Monitor first reported, James Taylor has been named as GMOS General […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 1/17/2014 The Department of Energy is in negotiations with former DOE official Dan Lehman on a new sole-source contract to help improve project management at the Department’s Office of Science. The contract is estimated to be worth approximately $185,000 and would run from Feb. 7 to Dec. 31, according to a […]

New Under Sec. For Mgmt. Among Those Approved Mike Nartker WC Monitor 1/17/2014 Elizabeth Robinson’s nomination to fill the Department of Energy’s new position of Under Secretary for Management and Performance took another step forward this week, though it still remains to be seen when she will be approved by the full Senate and ultimately […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 1/17/2014 After the recent discovery of a new crack in one of the Savannah River Site’s high-level waste tanks, officials are pointing to the potential leak site as another reason more funding is needed at the site. The crack is well above the waste level in the tank and is not […]

WASH. REGULATORS WANT ACTION ON DAMAGED DST WC MONITOR  1/17/2014 The state of Washington is growing impatient after no waste has been emptied from Hanford’s double-shell Tank AY-102 more than a year after the Department of Energy discovered a leak between the tank’s shells. The Washington State Department of Ecology told DOE in a strongly […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 1/17/2014 A group of state environmental regulators called on the Obama Administration this week for action on a number of initiatives to address issues related to mercury pollution, including the Department of Energy’s establishment of a national storage facility for excess mercury. DOE released in September a final Environmental Impact Statement […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 1/17/2014 The Department of Energy late last week began conducting market research to help determine whether a new planned contract for design of the Oak Ridge Sludge Processing Facility Buildouts should be set-aside for small businesses. The sludge buildouts at the site’s Transuranic Waste Processing Center are designed to process about […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 1/17/2014 The Savannah River Site is conducting a “site-wide integrated assessment” after an unusual cold snap last week shut down the site’s biomass plant and associated steam lines, resulting in the shutdown of numerous facilities across the site. While the Ameresco Biomass Cogeneration Facility is back up and running, the site […]

WC Monitor 5/23/2014 In Congress House Energy and Water Development Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) handily won this week the Republican primary for the Idaho House 2nd District. Pundits had declared the race “ground zero” for the ideological battle between the establishment of the Republican party and the more conservative-leaning Tea Party, but Simpson was […]

SRNS Officially Names New President WC Monitor 5/23/2014 Fluor officially announced this week that Carol Johnson will be the next president and CEO of Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, the managing contractor for the Savannah River Site. WC Monitor first reported earlier this month that Johnson was set to replace Dwayne Wilson, who is expected to leave SRNS […]

Pro2Serve Drops Suit Against FBP WC Monitor 5/23/2014 Professional Project Services (Pro2Serve) has dropped a lawsuit filed against Fluor-B&W Portsmouth, LLC, the D&D contractor for the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant, though the terms of the suit’s resolution remain unclear. Pro2Serve had accused FBP in a suit filed in late March of improperly trying to take […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 5/23/2014 GMB Union May Take Action Against Sellafield after Worker Upgrading The union GMB is considering taking action against Sellafield Limited after 400 health physics were upgraded to management, which took them out of GMB’s collective bargaining agreements. “The company has now decided that our members should be upgraded, but they […]

Staff reports WC Monitor 5/23/2014 The Department of Energy needs to get to the bottom of why cost and schedule projections on its large projects are so often underestimated, David Huizenga, senior adviser for DOE’s Office of Environmental Management, said this week. “It bothers me to think that collectively we cannot do a better job […]