Publications: Weapons Cleanup Monitor

A federal district judge in Washington state agreed last month to grant a motion by the Hanford Guards Union directing the Department of Energy’s landlord contractor at the Hanford Site to engage in arbitration. U.S. District Judge Stanley Bastian in Eastern Washington ruled Oct. 17 that Leidos-led Hanford Mission Integration Solutions be compelled to arbitrate […]

The Washington Department of Ecology Nuclear Waste Program’s promoted Eddie Holbrook to be its new permanent deputy program manager, an agency spokesperson said Wednesday. Holbrook, acting in the No. 2 nuclear role for the state agency since February, introduced himself to the Hanford Advisory Board during a meeting Wednesday. “Holbrook has eight years of experience […]

The Department of Energy on Tuesday proposed excluding waste from new plutonium pits and some nuclear-weapons waste generated before 1970 from part of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. The restrictions, which would apply only to Panel 12 at the deep-underground facility, were part of DOE’s Legacy Transuranic Waste Disposal Plan for the Waste Isolation Pilot […]

Earnings rose at BWX Technologies, Lynchburg, Va., in the third quarter, which the company attributed on Monday to contract wins and higher production in naval nuclear components and microreactors. Net earnings for the third quarter ended Sept. 30 were $69.6 million, or $0.76 a share, up 15% from $60.4 million, or $0.66 a share, in […]

Led by former and now future President Donald Trump, the Republican Party won the White House and Senate in Tuesday’s elections, with control of the House of Representatives still too close to call at deadline for Weapons Complex Monitor. Trump won both the electoral college and the popular vote to defeat Vice President Kamala Harris. […]

Earnings fell more than 25% year-over-year at Fluor, Irving, Texas, in the third quarter, which the government contractor, active in the nuclear weapons complex, attributed to project delays and cancellations. Net earnings for the third quarter ended Sept. 30 were $54 million, or $$0.31 a share, down from $206 million, or $1.15 a share, in […]

The Department of Energy said Tuesday it has removed cesium and solids from about 2,000 gallons of radioactive tank waste at the Hanford Site in Washington state in preparation in connection with the Test Bed Initiative demonstration project. In a news release, DOE said Hanford tank contractor Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) has pretreated the […]

Centrus Energy Corp., Bethesda, Md., had a net loss in the third quarter, which the uranium broker and enrichment technology developer attributed in part to costs associated with a Department of Energy uranium contract. Centrus lost about $5 million, or $0.30 a share, in the third quarter, compared with earnings of about $8.2 million or […]

There would be no significant environmental impact from keeping long-stranded transuranic waste from the Los Alamos National Laboratory at Waste Control Specialists’ disposal facility in Texas for another two years, the There Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Tuesday. The commission published its formal finding of no significant impact in the Federal Register about five months after Waste Control Specialists […]

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Orano-USA has started the property transfer and licensing process for its planned uranium enrichment plant at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Site, the site’s top federal cleanup official said here Wednesday. Orano-USA announced in September that Oak Ridge was its “preferred site” for its uranium enrichment plant that it would build […]

The Department of Energy and its prime contractor for it transuranic waste disposal site near Carlsbad, N.M., will release a report soon to help define what constitutes legacy transuranic waste, site managers said last week at a public meeting. The legacy waste disposal plan for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) should be out around […]

The Department of Energy is on track to start operation of a major new underground ventilation system for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico in 2026, managers for DOE and the disposal site contractor said last week. Construction and integrated system testing is complete for the Safety Significant Confinement Ventilation System (SSCVS) at […]

A federal judge recently rejected a motion to reconsider a September ruling upholding the Department of Energy’s award of a liquid waste contract, potentially worth $45-billion, to a team led by BWX Technologies. Judge Marian Horn in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims rejected the motion for reconsideration by AtkinsRéalis Nuclear-led Hanford Tank Disposition Alliance […]

While the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in Eddy County, N.M., received 490 shipments during fiscal 2024, DOE envisions a more modest 425 shipments during fiscal 2025, top managers said during a public meeting last week. For the short term at least, the rate of defense-related transuranic waste shipments is “probably going to […]

The Department of Energy’s cleanup office has resumed its efforts to control a longstanding hexavalent chromium plume at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, local managers said last week. Partial resumption of what DOE calls its “interim measure” started Sept. 30 with up to to 3 injection wells and 3 extraction wells, Jessica […]

Vehicle mishaps at the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory complex continue to worry the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, according to a staff report dated Oct.4 and posted on the board’s website. There were four onsite wrecks during September, including one involving an overturned dump truck, although no one was injured, according to the […]

The Department of Energy Thursday awarded a potential $3-billion, 10-year cleanup contract to a BWX Technologies-led partnership for work at the West Valley Demonstration Program in western New York state. DOE’s Office of Environmental Management said in a press release the award goes to West Valley Cleanup Alliance, a newly-formed joint venture consisting of partners […]

The environmental cleanup contractor at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina told a federal nuclear safety panel recently it now has only 50% confidence of substantially finishing liquid radioactive waste cleanup at the site by 2037. That’s the bottom line of a Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) staff report dated […]

Third-quarter earnings fell slightly at Honeywell, Charlotte, N.C., the company, which is involved with management of several defense-nuclear sites, reported this week.  Net earnings for the third quarter, ended Sept. 30, were roughly $1.4 billion, or $2.16 a share, down from about $1.5 billion, or $2.27 a share, in the year-ago quarter. Quarterly revenue was […]

Ty Blackford, the president and project manager of the Department of Energy’s Amentum-led cleanup contractor at the Idaho National Laboratory, told an advisory board Wednesday that he is leaving. At a meeting of the Idaho Cleanup Project’s Citizens Advisory Board, Blackford said this would be his last time meeting with the panel. “I will be […]

Since it resumed operations in late August, the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit at the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory has treated more sodium-bearing waste than it did during its first year of operations, an advisory board heard Wednesday. Since exiting a long-running outage this summer the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit (IWTU) has solidified about […]

The Department of Energy said this week the Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action Project in Moab, Utah has successfully moved away from the Colorado River a total of 15 million tons of tailings. This time last year, a total of 14 million tons had been moved.  Contractor North Wind Portage still has about 1 million […]

Oak Ridge, Tenn.,-based AtkinsRéalis US Nuclear said Thursday it has selected a top legal officer, Jeff Kendall as its interim president replacing Joe McBrearty, who was chosen as acting president this summer. Kendall joined the AtkinsRéalis subsidiary in 2017 as general counsel and has also served as acting chief operating officer and vice president for […]

The Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday said it indefinitely reopened a public comment period on the Department of Energy’s July request to expand the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico. “A request for an extension to the comment period was received from several stakeholders, most recently at the Agency’s informal public meetings held in […]

The BWX Technologies-led team taking over the Hanford Site on Wednesday made public introductions of five senior leaders. After getting the go-ahead from the Department of Energy last week, Hanford Tank Waste Operations & Closure (H2C) began the four-month process of formally taking over management of Hanford’s liquid-waste programs from the Amentum-led incumbent, Washington River […]

Attorneys for a married couple employed at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory last week asked a federal appeals court to overturn a trial court’s unfavorable ruling in their lawsuit over COVID-19 vaccinations. A brief U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit was filed on behalf of Jeffrey Bilyeu and Jessica Bilyeu […]

A Department of Energy advisory board Wednesday endorsed DOE’s preferred cleanup plan for a naval prototype reactor at the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory. The DOE Idaho Cleanup Project Citizens Advisory Board endorsed the $70-million cleanup option in a public meeting.  The public comment period on remediation of the Submarine 5th Generation General Electric […]

A U.S. District Court judge in Washington state this week accepted a guilty plea from the owner/operator of a small contractor at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site and scheduled sentencing for March.  The U.S. attorney for Eastern Washington state asked a federal district judge to accept a plea agreement from a subcontractor at the […]