Publications: Weapons Cleanup Monitor

The winner of a decade-long, $45-billion liquid-waste cleanup contract at the Hanford Site on Tuesday appealed a court order that blocked work on the deal at the behest of a losing bidder. Hanford Tank Waste Operations and Closure asked the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit to overturn a June decision by the Court […]

Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm this week traveled to Missouri where she visited with the congresswoman whose district includes Jana Elementary School, which was closed and vacated due to radioactive contaminants from the Manhattan Project discovered in Coldwater Creek, just outside the school. The school is near the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program cleanup […]

The Department of Energy on Friday released a little more than $3.5 million in funding for Four Rivers Nuclear Partnership to demolish facilities at the shuttered Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Kentucky. The task order calls for demolition of the C-727 and C-146-A facilities. Parts of each formerly housed hazardous waste, so the Kentucky Energy & […]

Revenue and earnings rose in the second quarter at Parsons Corp., Centreville, Va., buoyed year-over-year by the start of some federal contract work and the 2022 acquisition of cyber firm Xator. Net earnings for the second quarter ended were roughly $43 million, or $0.38 a share, up from about $18 million or $0.17 a share […]

The Department of Labor will host an informational session next week in Ohio for current and former nuclear weapons workers who may qualify for federal financial compensation for on-the-job illnesses, the agency said Tuesday. Labor will host the seven-hour session about the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act on Aug. 16 at a hotel […]

Earnings fell at Fluor, Irving, Texas, in the second quarter, which the Department of Energy contractor attributed partly to a $34 million charge cost and schedule issues in its Energy Solutions sector. Net earnings for the second quarter ended June 30 were $61 million, or $0.35 a share, down from $66 million, or $0.38 a […]

After acting as the lone deputy manager for 17 months at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state, Brian Stickney is now officially the agency’s sitewide second-in-command, DOE said Monday. In 2019, DOE made Brian Vance the sole site manager for the former plutonium production complex, overseeing both Hanford’s Richland Operations Office and […]

A three-person military bomb squad blew up a segment of an anti-aircraft shell after midnight Tuesday at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state, a U.S. Army spokesperson confirmed Wednesday. The artillery fuse did appear to pose an explosion risk, but was blown up as a precautionary move in keeping with standard procedures […]

News of a Department of Energy plan to use weapons complex land to host carbon-free electricity projects is being met with a mix of excitement, skepticism and curiosity about how the process might work. A smattering of stakeholders contacted by Exchange Monitor Tuesday said they have many questions about the initiative announced last Friday in […]

While the Department of Energy and the occupational medical services provider for the Hanford Site in Washington state are at odds over how much data should be shared during an audit, DOE’s refusal to mediate the dispute is no sign of bad faith, a federal contracting board ruled. A DOE contracting officer told HPM Corp. […]

The Fluor-led operations contractor at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina promoted Dennis Carr to CEO following Stuart MacVean’s retirement on Thursday July 27, a company spokesperson said via email. Carr becomes president and CEO of Savannah River Nuclear Solutions after serving as an executive vice president and chief operating officer […]

Huntington Ingalls Industries, Newport News, Va., reported lower earnings in the quarter ended June 30 but called out revenue growth in shipbuilding and the Mission Technologies segment, which handles business with the Department of Energy. Net earnings for the quarter ended June 30 were $130 million, or $3.27 a share, down from $178 million or […]

The Department of Energy, contractor United Cleanup Oak Ridge and various state and local officials broke ground Wednesday on a new $550-million low-level radioactive waste landfill at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee, DOE said in a press release. The new Environmental Management Disposal Facility will provide onsite disposal of debris generated as DOE continues […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, which already has two vacant seats on the five-member panel, said recently it is happy the White House this month formally nominated Patricia Lee to serve. Lee is currently a manager at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River National Laboratory.  “Her expertise with defense nuclear facilities will be a […]

Earnings fell at BWX Technologies, Lynchburg, Va., in the second quarter, and the nuclear services company does not expect a quick resolution to a challenge of a $45-billion joint venture contract to manage the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state. “At this point, do not expect a contractor transition at the site until […]

The story “NNSA will acquire SRNS, Centerra contracts” [Weapons Complex Monitor, Volume 34, No. 30] should have reported that the National Nuclear Security Administration will take over the Savannah River Site Oct. 1, 2024.

After months of negotiation with four major Department of Energy contractors at the Hanford Site in Washington state, union members with the Hanford Atomic Metal Trades Council have voted to approve a new five-year contract, the president of the organization said Thursday. Because the new contract replaces one that expired in November 2022, the 2,500 […]

Aptim Federal Services of Baton Rouge, La., has been awarded a $68-million Department of Energy task order to take down the former Ion Beam Facility at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in New Mexico, DOE said in a Thursday press release. The task order, announced by the DOE Office of Environmental Management, is to […]

WASHINGTON —Department of Energy properties used for nuclear weapons work could soon be tapped for development of new carbon-free energy under an effort unveiled Friday in Washington by Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm. The program, dubbed DOE’s Cleanup to Clean Energy initiative, would repurpose parcels around the weapons complex for non-carbon-emitting electricity, potentially creating enough […]

Bechtel National’s $14.9-billion contract to build the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state was updated last month to keep the company on the job into September 2024, which is still before before the plant is expected to start solidifying low-level radioactive waste. An Aug. 31 contract […]

The first melter at the Department of Energy’s waste-solidification plant at the Hanford Site in Washington state has reached its operating temperature of 2,100 degrees Fahrenheit, the agency and contractor Bechtel National said this week. The milestone for the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) completed the heat up process that started June 24, DOE […]

On Oct. 1, 2024, the National Nuclear Security Administration will become the landlord, rather than a tenant, at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina and shoulder responsibility for operation and security of the site, a federal advisory panel heard Tuesday. When the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) takes over from DOE’s […]

At the request of the Government Accountability Office, the Department of Energy will start including costs for grouting some tank waste as part of its long-term planning for the Hanford Site in Washington state, according to a report released this week. In the report, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) recommends DOE consider, in consultation with […]

The Salt Waste Processing Facility at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina should treat 4.75 million gallons of salt waste in fiscal 2023, continuing to lag behind its 9-million-gallon annual target, a manager for the site’s cleanup contractor said Tuesday. But implementation of the next generation solvent in fiscal 2024, should […]

A public hearing is set Aug. 8 on the environmental assessment for an Oak Ridge City airport on land conveyed to the locality by the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee. The hearing under the National Environmental Policy Act is scheduled for 6 p.m. Eastern Time at the DoubleTree Hotel located at 215 […]

President Joe Biden’s (D) administration wants the U.S. Supreme Court to declare lower court injunctions blocking COVID-19 vaccinations for most federal employees moot because the executive order at the root of the case has ended. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar filed the petition for a writ of certiorari July 21 asking the high court, an independent […]

During June, Department of Energy contractor North Wind Portage relocated 89,656 tons of uranium tailings and mill debris from the Moab, Utah site near the Colorado River to a disposal site about 30 miles away, according to a report to the Grand County, Utah Commission. As a result, 13.6 million tons of the 16 million […]

Parties fighting over a $45-billion Department of Energy radioactive tank waste cleanup contract at the Hanford Site in Washington say there is a good chance of ending up back before the U.S. Court of Federal Claims and, with that in mind, want the judge to hang onto key records. The parties made the motion in […]