Publications: Weapons Cleanup Monitor

Bechtel National has made its second batch of test glass at the Department of Energy’s Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant at the Hanford Site in Washington state, the company said in various social media posts. “Our team poured molten clean test glass into a container from Melter 2 for the first time,” Bechtel said in […]

When pressed during a Senate hearing to say when the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state might be cleaned up, William (Ike) White, longtime DOE Environmental Management acting boss, said a “best-case” might be 2060. Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), who chairs the Senate Armed Forces Committee’s Strategic Forces subcommittee, appeared surprised by White’s […]

Louisiana-based Bernhard Capital Partners is adding another government contractor to its portfolio, announcing Tuesday it has purchased technology solutions provider Apogee Engineering for an undisclosed price. In a Tuesday press release, Bernhard said Apogee has a 20-year record of providing program management, cybersecurity and other technology needs to the U.S. government. “As the government seeks […]

After multiple incidents and two recordable injuries this spring, the prime contractor has tried a “safety stand-down” for both surface and underground work at the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico, according to a safety board report. Salado Isolation Mining Contractors, made up of Bechtel and subcontractor Los Alamos Technical Associates, […]

The Department of Energy is giving prospective providers of carbon-free power at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico an extra month, until June 27, to submit proposals. The revised deadline was included in an online notice in the federal government’s System for Award Management. The previous deadline was Wednesday May 29. This is […]

The story “DOE plans Paducah landlord presentation, site tour May 29” (Weapons Complex Monitor, Vol. 35, No. 20) should have said that federal courts ruled that Swift & Staley did not meet the size criteria for a small business set-aside contract.

Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho), who has used his seat on the House Appropriations Committee to support funding for the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory, has again won the GOP nomination to represent the state’s 2nd Congressional district. Simpson received over half the votes cast in Tuesday’s Republican primary, defeating two GOP challengers, the Idaho […]

A husband and wife employed at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory has turned to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit after failing to convince a federal judge in Tennessee they suffered discrimination from their refusal to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Jessica Bilyeu last month settled her remaining claim over […]

Parsons Government Services has won a round before a federal contract board in a case alleging the Department of Energy owes it a $6 million incentive fee after deployment of the Salt Waste Processing Facility at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. The Civilian Board of Contract Appeals on May 10 dismissed DOE’s contention […]

A federal judge in eastern Washington has scheduled a September 2025 jury trial in the Department of Justice’s case accusing a Leidos-led joint venture of false billing for fire prevention work at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site. Barring settlement or good cause for delay, U.S. District Judge Stanley Bastian plans to commence the trial […]

Dallas-based Jacobs is hiring Venk Nathamuni, to be its new chief financial officer starting June 3, the international engineering and services company said in a press release. Nathamuni, who has more than 15 years of senior financial and management experience, will replace interim chief financial officer (CFO) Kevin Berryman. Berryman, a special adviser to Jacobs […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board wants the Department of Energy to brief it by mid-July on the new underground ventilation system being installed at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico. Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) Chair Joyce Connery requested a briefing on the continuous air monitoring system for the Safety Significant […]

Final cleanup of the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina should occur by fiscal 2065, an agency representative told the Citizens Advisory Board for the 310-square mile Tuesday. The 2065 timeline for final remediation, which matches the date listed in the fiscal 2025 budget justification for DOE’s Office of Environmental Management, differs […]

A Department of Energy contractor at the West Valley Demonstration Project in western New York could send another shipment of legacy waste containers to Waste Control Specialists in Texas this summer, a DOE spokesperson said Monday. DOE announced in a press release last week that eight legacy waste containers, each weighing about 94,000 pounds, were […]

A group of plaintiffs who claim they were wrongly fired by the Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup contractor at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee after seeking religious exemptions from COVID-19 vaccination, are trying mediation to settle their lawsuit. The sides should know this week whether a settlement is in the cards, court papers show. […]

The Battelle-led prime of the Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory is shopping for a subcontractor to collect and ship sand contaminated with mercury to a Veolia waste facility in Gum Springs, Ark., from the Upton, N.Y., lab, according to a solicitation posted online Tuesday. Questions about the work are due by June 5 and […]

The Savannah River Site’s Salt Waste Processing Facility in South Carolina is still falling short of Department of Energy production goals but that’s partly due to downtime at another waste facility, an advisory board heard Monday. The Salt Waste Processing Facility has processed 1.3 million gallons so far in 2024 and a total of 8.7 […]

The current Amentum-led environmental prime, and its predecessor, deny violating the Americans with Disabilities Act, or government whistleblower protections, connected with the firing of a worker at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee. The nuclear cleanup contractor is the target of a wrongful termination and whistleblower case brought by Christopher Hicks. The […]

Some, not all, weapons complex watchers contacted Thursday were caught off guard by President Joe Biden’s announcement of the planned nomination of William (Ike) White, longtime acting Department of Energy cleanup boss, to join the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. Exchange Monitor queried seven observers of DOE Office of Environmental Management (EM) and the Defense […]

The Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup office on Thursday rolled out its draft solicitation for a new small business landlord contractor at the Paducah Site in Kentucky. The DOE Office of Environmental Management said in a Thursday press release it is issuing a draft request for proposals (RFP) for the Paducah Infrastructure Support Services contract. […]

President Joe Biden said Thursday afternoon he plans to nominate William Isaac (Ike) White, acting head of Department of Energy nuclear cleanup since mid-2019, to become a member of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. News of the planned nomination, in a White House press release, comes only three weeks prior to when White would […]

After reaching a new labor contract with Centrus Energy for dozens of employees involved in making enriched uranium at the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio, a United Steelworkers union local is in negotiations with the landlord contractor for the complex. Although the new Centrus contract, reached in March, only involves 40 people for […]

A U.S. District Court magistrate judge in Ohio issued an order last week coordinating pre-trial discovery in four federal lawsuits against present and former contractors at the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site. Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Preston Deavers issued the stipulation and order Friday in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio. “Overlapping discovery” […]

The Department of Energy Tuesday rolled out its second market information request for carbon-free electricity at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, with an eye toward bigger projects that might generate power for locals near the nuclear complex. A top DOE nuclear cleanup manager at Savannah River said recently the agency is evaluating solar […]

The Department of Energy in late May will hold an information session and site tour for potential bidders on a new Infrastructure Support Service contract at the Paducah Site in Kentucky. DOE’s Office of Environmental Management recently announced it would extend the incumbent landlord contractor Swift & Staley for up to 16 months, potentially through […]

Jessica Kunkle. a Los Alamos, N.M., native and longtime National Nuclear Security Administration executive, will lead the Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management field operation at the Los Alamos National Laboratory starting in June. Kunkle has been with the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) about 15 years and is a deputy administrator with NNSA’s […]

The Department of Energy’s Hanford Advisory Board for the nuclear cleanup site in Washington state, wants the feds to start looking for a second underground disposal site for defense-related transuranic waste —just in case. DOE’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), near Carlsbad, N.M., is permitted by the New Mexico Environment Department to continue disposing of […]

Earnings rose at AtkinsRéalis, Montreal, Canada, in the first quarter, which the company attributed in part Wednesday to surging international interest in new nuclear power. Net earnings for the first quarter ended were C$45.5 million (US$33.45 million) or C$0.26 (US$0.19) a share, up from C$28.4 million (US$20.88 million) or or C$0.16 a share (U.S. 0.12 […]