Publications: Weapons Cleanup Monitor

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 […]

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 […]