Publications: Weapons Cleanup Monitor

The Hanford Waste Treatment Plant, already one of the Department of Energy’s most expensive projects, is at risk of another cost increase of almost half-a-billion dollars, according to a report DOE released late this week. 

Although Fluor-B&W Portsmouth, LLC, saw a drop in fee for its work at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Fiscal Year 2013, the contractor is currently on track for “excellent performance” this fiscal year, according to FBP Site Project Director Dennis Carr. 

Though operations at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant have been halted indefinitely following a fire underground this week, officials are optimistic that it will not put the Los Alamos National Laboratory transuranic waste campaign milestone at risk. 

Republicans and Democrats on the House Armed Services Committee, who previously have sparred over legislative language about the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, both expressed concern this week about increasing tension and flagging employee morale at the Board that was revealed by WC Monitor last week. 

A group of 12 lawmakers this week expressed concern about the impact on the uranium mining industry of the Department of Energy’s Excess Uranium Inventory Management Plan.

B&W Conversion Services, LLC, the managing contractor for the Department of Energy’s two depleted uranium hexafluoride conversion plants, earned approximately 66 percent of the total fee available for Fiscal Year 2013—$2.93 million out of $4.44 million, according to information DOE released this week. 

UNION SUES WRPS OVER TERMINATED EMPLOYEES The Hanford Atomic Metal Trades Council is suing Hanford tank farms contractor Washington River Protection Solutions over what the union alleges is the unfair termination of four employees last year. In its lawsuit, filed Jan. 27 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington, HAMTC accuses […]

TRU SHIPMENTS TO WIPP COULD RESUME NEXT MONTH

DOE LOOKS TO TRUCK CONTAMINATED GROUNDWATER The Department of Energy is proposing pumping up and trucking the “perched” underground contaminated water at Hanford’s 200-DV-1 Operable Unit  to the new 200 West Pump and Treat Facility in central Hanford. Some of the contaminated water already has been cleaned in a successful test at Hanford’s Effluent Treatment […]

A working group between the Department of Energy and the state of Nevada met a second time last week to discuss a  controversial batch of uranium-233 that DOE hopes to dispose of at the Nevada National Security Site. 

The Department of Energy plans to make a decision within the next 60 days on whether it will combine the infrastructure support services contracts at the Portsmouth and Paducah sites into one new contract, DOE spokesman Bill Taylor said this week. 

Portage earned 96 percent of its available award fee in Fiscal Year 2013—approximately $1.1 million out of $1.14 million—for its work on the Moab uranium mill tailings remediation project in Utah, according to information the Department of Energy released this week.

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 2/7/2014 IN THE INDUSTRY Marking the first time a nonfamily member has been selected to lead Bechtel, Bill Dudley has been named the company’s new President and CEO, effective immediately. Dudley, who previously held the position of president and chief operating officer, replaces Riley Bechtel, who is “stepping down for health […]