Publications: Weapons Cleanup Monitor

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 2/14/2014 Questioning the U.K. Nuclear Decommissioning Authority’s decision last fall to extend for five years URS-led Nuclear Management Partners’ contract at Sellafield, the British Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee released a report this week calling for termination of the contract if NMP does not improve performance. The PAC was highly critical of […]

DOE GETS MORE TIME FOR TANK AY-102 PLAN WC Monitor 2/14/2014 The Washington State Department of Ecology has extended its deadline for the Department of Energy to provide a plan to empty Hanford’s Tank AY-102. The tank, which is Hanford’s oldest double-shell tank, is leaking waste between its inner and outer shell. The state demanded […]

WORK UNDERWAY TO REMOVE MASSIVE VAULT WC Monitor 2/14/2014 The Hanford 340 Vault, weighing about 1,100 tons, is expected to be rolled out of the ground in the 300 Area at the end of this week, weather permitting. It’s one of just two complex radioactive facilities that still need to be demolished or removed at […]

SRR CLEANS UP FREEZE-RELATED SALTSTONE SPILL WC Monitor 2/14/2014 After a spill of contaminated flush water at the Savannah River Site’s Saltstone Facilities during last month’s freeze, liquid waste contractor Savannah River Remediation has remediated soil and implemented controls. The event occurred on Jan. 9 during a spell of unusually cold weather that shut down […]

WC Monitor 2/14/2014 IN CONGRESS Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) was formally approved late this week as the new Chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Landrieu replaces Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) who has moved to head up the Senate Finance Committee following the confirmation of Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mon.) to serve as the new U.S. […]

Todd Jacobson and Mike Nartker WC Monitor  1/31/2014 Tensions are running high at the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board amidst personnel changes in a set of key management positions and a sharp drop in employee satisfaction over the last year, as well as a more recent Inspector General’s investigation in response to a complaint about […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 1/31/2014 With the recent approval of nearly $100 million in contract modifications, site officials say West Valley Demonstration Project cleanup contractor CH2M Hill B&W West Valley, LLC, is on the right track. After experiencing numerous struggles in its first year after taking over the contract in August 2011, last year the […]

Jeremy L. Dillon WC Monitor 1/31/2014 Kurion has acquired Vista Engineering Services, tripling the size of the company. Vista Engineering Services, based in Richland, Wash., offers a variety of engineering services including environmental remediation capabilities, and its base work at the Department of Energy’s Hanford site offers Kurion a larger influence within the DOE cleanup […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 1/31/2014 Portage this week once again won the Department of Energy’s new $250 million contract to provide support services for the Office of Legacy Management, though it remains to be seen whether the lengthy procurement will now finally come to an end or if unsuccessful bidders will continue to challenge. Portage […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 1/31/2014 The National Nuclear Security Administration this week released its final request for proposals for the follow-on environmental characterization and remediation contract for the Nevada National Security Site. The final RFP includes few major changes from the latest draft version, though unlike earlier versions it makes transition costs a firm-fixed price […]

Board Warns Unresolved Safety Issues Still Exist Mike Nartker WC Monitor 1/31/2014 The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board this week officially closed a formal recommendation from 2010 concerning the pulse jet mixing systems to be used at the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant, but also warned that there are still related safety issues that need to […]

Three Years After Incident, Still No Sign of Final Cost for D&D Mike Nartker WC Monitor 1/31/2014 URS is wrapping up a project to address the remaining liquid waste at the Separations Process Research Unit (SPRU), but more than three years after a contamination incident brought work at SPRU largely to a halt, the final […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 1/31/2014 The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board this week closed a 2009 recommendation on policies and standards related to quantitative risk assessment methodologies in the Department of Energy complex. In December, the Department told the DNFSB of numerous steps it had taken to resolve issues in the recommendation “Risk Assessment Methodologies […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 1/31/2014 A new set of documents made public this week provide insight into the U.K. Nuclear Decommissioning Authority’s concerns over the performance of Sellafield contractor Nuclear Management Partners prior to the NDA deciding to grant NMP a five-year contract extension while pushing for improvements in the second term. The NDA decided […]

TROPHY ELK ILLEGALLY SHOT ON HANFORD LAND WC Monitor 1/31/2014 Washington State Fish and Wildlife officials are looking for the antlers of a trophy bull elk illegally shot after hunters trespassed on Hanford land. Three men have been sentenced in a poaching case that involved two trophy bull elk shot on Hanford land closed to […]

DOE PROVIDE MORE DETAILS ON WRPS FY13 AWARD FEE WC Monitor 1/31/2014 A variety of performance concerns were behind the Department of Energy’s decision to withhold approximately $1.5 million in award fee from Hanford tank farms contractor Washington River Protection Solutions in Fiscal Year 2013, a DOE official said this week. According to documents DOE […]

WC Monitor 1/31/2014 IN CONGRESS Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), ranking member on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, is retiring from Congress at the end of this year. Waxman, who was first elected to Congress in 1974, announced late this week that he would not seek re-election. “The reason for my decision is simple. After […]

Kenneth Fletcher and Todd Jacobson WC Monitor 1/24/2014 Some small businesses are concerned about the potential impacts of a provision passed by Congress last week that allows some subcontracts to be counted toward the Department of Energy’s small business prime contracting goal. The omnibus appropriations bill signed into law last week includes language that would […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 1/24/2014 While West Valley Demonstration Project cleanup contractor CH2M Hill B&W West Valley, LLC, earned about 46 percent of total award fee available in Fiscal Year 2013, it has made notable improvements since its first year on the job, Department of Energy West Valley Director Bryan Bower told WC Monitor this […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 1/24/2014 The University of Arkansas is hoping cleanup funds will soon be provided for its Southwest Experimental Fast Oxide Reactor (SEFOR) after Congress last week directed the Department of Energy to develop a plan for finishing cleanup of the facility. In the spending bill approved last week, lawmakers directed DOE to […]

Staff Reports WC Monitor 1/24/2014 The 309 Reactor has been lifted out of the ground in what Washington Closure Hanford and the Department of Energy are calling one the most hazardous and complex cleanup projects in the Hanford River Corridor. The reactor, also called the Plutonium Recycle Test Reactor, is the largest and last remaining […]

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 […]