Publications: Weapons Cleanup Monitor

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 1/10/2014 West Valley Demonstration Project cleanup contractor CH2M Hill B&W West Valley, LLC, earned about 60 percent of the total award fee available for the evaluation period that ran from March 1, 2013, through the end of August, according to an award fee determination scorecard recently posted by the Department of […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 1/10/2014 EnergySolutions is starting off the new year with a set of senior management changes. As part of a new “consolidation” of the company’s management team, Mark Morant and Alan Parker have been named to oversee Projects; and Products, Projects and Technology, according to EnergySolutions spokesman Mark Walker. “Mark Morant is […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 1/10/2014 The Department of Energy late last week released a final Request for Task Proposals for environmental monitoring and D&D work at the Energy Technology Engineering Center site in California. The procurement, which is being conducted under DOE’s nationwide small business set-aside indefinite quantity/indefinite delivery contracts, is open to contract holders […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 1/10/2014 The Department of Energy appears to be making progress on closing still-pending recommendations from the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, with the DNFSB recently agreeing to close one recommendation and the Department seeking to have another one also closed. Last month, the DNFSB closed a recommendation from 2000 called “Prioritization […]

WC Monitor 1/10/2014 IN THE DNFSB Kenneth Mossman, the newest member of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, passed away this week. In November, he was confirmed by the Senate to join the Board. Mossman previously served as a professor of health physics at Arizona State University and an Administrative Judge for the Nuclear Regulatory […]

UCOR EARNS 90 PERCENT OF AWARD FEE WC Monitor 1/10/2014 Oak Ridge cleanup contractor URS-CH2M Oak Ridge, LLC, earned about 90 percent of its available award fee in the period from April 1 through September 30, 2013, according to information recently released by the Department of Energy. UCOR received about $3.11 million out of a […]

TRIDEC LOOKING AT BRINGING SMR TO HANFORD WC Monitor  1/10/2014 The Tri-City Development Council has issued a request for proposals to analyze the pros and cons of a small modular nuclear reactor system at Hanford to provide power for Department of Energy projects. Proposals are due Jan. 17. State Sen. Sharon Brown ( R-Kennewick) made […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 1/10/2014 The U.K.’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority is set to launch next month a four-year research effort on waste treatment technologies with Sellafield Limited, the National Nuclear Laboratory, numerous U.K. universities and other partners, the NDA announced this week. The program is expected to cost £8-£9 million ($13.2 million to $14.8 million) […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 5/30/2014 A set of internal Los Alamos National Laboratory emails made public this week outline additional changes made in materials used to process transuranic waste at the lab as the Department of Energy continues to investigate how those changes were approved and if they were factors in the radiation release at […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 5/30/2014 Closure of old-style high-level waste tanks at the Savannah River Site is now set to be pushed out 10 years beyond regulatory commitments due to reduced funding and delays in getting the site’s Salt Waste Processing Facility in operation, according to the latest Department of Energy liquid waste cleanup plan, […]

Move Could Have Impact on Waste Shipments Mike Nartker WC Monitor 5/30/2014 Quality concerns could soon impact the ability of Fluor-B&W Portsmouth, LLC, the D&D contractor for the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant, to ship some waste off-site for disposal. Late last week, FBP halted its Non-Destructive Assay program after a “routine assessment” found “potential quality […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 5/30/2014 Jack Zimmerman, federal project director for the Department of Energy’s two depleted uranium hexafluoride conversion plants, has been selected as DOE’s next cleanup chief for the Idaho site. Zimmerman is set to begin his new role as the DOE Idaho Operations Office’s Deputy Manager for the Idaho Cleanup Project in […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 5/30/2014 Demolition of the West Valley Main Plant Process Building won’t be done by the current end of CH2M Hill B&W West Valley’s contract in 2019 as originally expected, and the contractor is working with the Department of Energy on an extension, CHBWV President Dan Coyne told WC Monitor this week. […]

Additional Assessment Needed Before Actual Waste is Introduced, Board Says Mike Nartker WC Monitor 5/30/2014 As the Department of Energy works to get the Idaho Integrated Waste Treatment Unit fully operational, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board is calling on DOE to consider performing additional assessments prior to the introduction of actual radioactive waste due […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 5/30/2014 Jennifer Woodard has been tapped to serve as the Department of Energy’s new Paducah Site Lead, responsible for overseeing all day-to-day activities at the site, effective June 15. Woodard has been a DOE employee at Paducah for the last six years, during which she has held roles such as Federal […]

Board Hears from Experts on How To Assess and Address Culture Issues Mike Nartker WC Monitor 5/30/2014 As the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board begins gearing up to take a new look at whether workers across the Department of Energy complex feel safe to raise concerns, one Board member warned this week that there is […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 5/30/2014 The Department of Energy said this week that it plans to prepare an environmental assessment for accepting German experimental spent fuel for processing at the Savannah River Site’s H-Canyon facility. The 900 kilograms of U.S.-origin highly enriched uranium comes in the form of graphite spheres from the pebble bed AVR […]

The following interview with Glenn Podonsky, Director of the Department of Energy’s new Office of Independent Enterprise Assessments; and Matthew Moury, acting Associate Under Secretary for Environment, Health, Safety and Security, was conducted by ExchangeMonitor Publications Editor-in-Chief Mike Nartker.  WC Monitor 5/30/2014 To start things off, what was the thinking behind the creation of this […]

More Workers Report Vapor Exposure Symptoms WC Monitor 5/30/2014 Five Hanford workers experienced symptoms consistent with exposure to chemical vapors from waste tanks late this week, and one was taken to the hospital in Richland, Wash. A sixth worker who did not have symptoms also requested an evaluation at the hospital. That brings the number […]

State Puts Together Priority List WC Monitor 5/30/2014 Washington state has compiled a list of the Hanford cleanup priorities it believes are urgent as Hanford officials lay out a plan for far more work than is likely to be funded. Department of Energy officials at Hanford have released a budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2016 […]

DOE Questions How TOPS Subcontract Was Transferred WC Monitor 5/30/2014 The Department of Energy appears to have some concerns over the recent transfer of a waste-hauling subcontract from Transportation, Operations and Professional Services (TOPS), which was raided by federal law enforcement agents earlier this year, to Oak Ridge, Tenn.-based TFE Inc. When asked if DOE […]

FBP Names New Director of Planning WC Monitor 5/30/2014 Fluor-B&W Portsmouth, LLC, the D&D contractor for the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant, has named Arnie Whipple to serve as Director of Planning & Site Wide Integration, effective May 30. Whipple will replace Dennis Nixon, who is taking “early retirement,” according to a message sent to employees […]

WC Monitor 5/30/2014 In the Industry The American Nuclear Society has honored the five-year, billion-dollar demolition of the World War II-era K-25 uranium-enrichment facility in Oak Ridge. According to information from the Department of Energy, the project has been selected for the Project Excellence Award from the society’s Decommissioning and Environmental Services Division. The award […]

State Working on Possible Consquences for DOE Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 5/23/2014 Though it is “highly unlikely” that Los Alamos will meet its June 30 deadline for transuranic waste removal, it is too early to tell what the consequences will be in efforts to renegotiate a consent order with the state of New Mexico concerning […]

Decision Opposed by Rep. Pearce Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 5/23/2014 After the recent discovery in the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant underground of a damaged waste drum that was cracked open, New Mexico has ordered the Department of Energy to develop plans to secure hundreds of similar drums  at Los Alamos and close open panels at […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 5/23/2014 More details emerged this week over URS’ ultimately unsuccessful attempt last summer to be terminated from the Separations Process Research Unit (SPRU) D&D project. At issue was a contract modification (M035) reached with the Department of Energy in the wake of a set of contamination incidents that disrupted work at […]

Request May be ‘Heavy Lift’ for Lawmakers Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 5/23/2014 As Congressional appropriators prepare to mark up funding bills for Fiscal Year 2015, the Department of Energy has told lawmakers that about an extra $140 million may be needed for recovery efforts at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant next year, WC Monitor has learned. The […]

Todd Jacobson WC Monitor 5/23/2014 Senate appropriators will have a little more breathing room to dole out money for the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management in Fiscal Year 2015, according to the subcommittee allocations the Senate Appropriations Committee approved this week. The panel’s Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee will have $34.208 billion to […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 5/23/2014 As talks on a new commissioning agreement for the Savannah River Site’s Salt Waste Processing Facility stretch past eight months, a DOE official this week emphasized that a new startup deal is not necessary to begin operations. DOE and SWPF construction contractor Parsons are in talks to improve upon an […]

GAO Upholds One of Two Protests Filed Against Portage’s Win Mike Nartker WC Monitor 5/23/2014 The Department of Energy’s long search for a new support services contractor for the Office of Legacy Management took another turn late this week, when the Government Accountability Office upheld one of two protests filed over DOE’s second decision to […]