Publications: Weapons Cleanup Monitor

Alpha Safety Group on Friday said it entered into an agreement to acquire Pajarito Scientific Corp., Santa Fe, N.M., and merge the nuclear-waste-analysis company with its Golden, Co.-based NucFil LLC subsidiary.  Alpha Safety shared the announcement with the Exchange Monitor in a statement. In the statement, the company did not disclose the financial terms of […]

Newport News Nuclear BWXT Los Alamos (N3B) vice president Joe Legare has left his post with the legacy cleanup contractor at the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico to return to corporate parent Huntington Ingalls Industries. N3B’s president and general manager, Kim Lebak, mentioned the change Thursday night during a public […]

The Department of Energy and its cleanup contractor at the Idaho National Laboratory are making “minor instrument repairs” this week at the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit, which is still “heating up to begin simulant treatment followed by radiological operations,” a DOE spokesperson said Monday. The spokesperson did not offer a projected date for startup of […]

Although a federal appeals court ruled Swift & Staley should not have been issued a new five-year Department of Energy contract to continue as landlord of the Paducah Site in Kentucky for five more years, it appears the contractor will stay in place there at least through July 2024. The DOE in a notice of […]

The Department of Energy now expects the full Occupational Medical Contract solicitation for the Hanford Site in Washington state to hit the streets by late next month, according to a procurement notice last week. In a notice dated Feb. 2, the DOE Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center in Cincinnati said to expect the request for […]

The Department of Energy’s legacy cleanup contractor at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico should finish its “readiness assessment” by the end of March for slicing up corrugated metal pipes, a spokesperson said Thursday. After that, a required federal readiness assessment will start, the spokesperson said in an email to Exchange Monitor. “Corrugated […]

Atlanta-based Perma-Fix Environmental Services anticipates playing a larger role in tank waste cleanup at the Hanford Site in Washington state, thanks to a decision last week by the Department of Energy. DOE’s amendment of a 2013 environmental decision clears the way for the agency to treat and dispose of certain secondary wastes from the agency’s […]

The Atkins-led contractor overseeing depleting uranium conversion at gaseous diffusion plants in Kentucky and Ohio needs a more focused and formal approach to “safety culture,” the Department of Energy’s auditing branch said in a recent assessment. The DOE Office of Enterprise Assessments report was released this month for Mid-America Conversion Services, the joint venture of […]

Effective Saturday Feb. 4, Bechtel’s Salado Isolation Mining Contractors took over operation of the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M. Salado Isolation Mining Contractors (SIMCO), which also includes New Mexico-based subcontractor Los Alamos Technical Associates, said in a Friday evening press release it was about to officially take over as prime […]

A long-term cleanup contract at the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory helped lift revenue for Jacobs in the first quarter of fiscal 2023, an executive with the Dallas-based company said this week in an earnings call. Critical Mission Solutions, the segment where Jacobs coordinates much of its government contracting work, took in roughly $1.08 […]

Feb. 15 is the new deadline for interested small businesses to bid on a construction contract for a viewing platform at the K-25 area of the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said in a Tuesday procurement notice. The previous due date for bid packages was Jan. […]

Two long standing government bosses, Jeffrey Allison and Randall Hendrickson, lead a joint team working out details of transferring responsibility for the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina to the agency’s nuclear weapons branch from the nuclear cleanup office, feds said last week in Aiken, S.C. The group led by Allison, deputy […]

President Joe Biden’s announced lifting of the national COVID-19 pandemic emergency status in May will likely result in little noticeable change in daily operations for the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management, a spokesperson said this week. The cleanup office has said for months that most employees are at their pre-pandemic workstations most of […]

Deputy Secretary of Energy David Turk told Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) Thursday during a hearing he is unsure if the Department of Energy can address radiological contamination around a St. Louis area school, where the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers appears to have jurisdiction. “We’ve had conversations including with the Army Corps … and I […]

As scheduled, Bob Pragada formally became the new big boss at Jacobs last week, as the former president and chief operating officer succeeded retiring CEO Steve Demetriou, the company announced in a press release. Also last week Jacobs announced the appointment of a new chief financial officer effective in August. The Dallas-based international engineering and […]

In a Federal Register notice Tuesday, the Department of Energy said that glass logs produced from low-level radioactive tank waste at the Hanford Site in Washington state can be treated as low-level waste. DOE published that conclusion after consulting with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, tribes and other local stakeholders in the final “Waste Incidental to […]

The chief operating officer for the Amentum-led cleanup contractor at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee, Tom Dieter, will retire March 31 and be succeeded by critical projects director Kent Fortenberry, the contractor said Thursday. “We are grateful for [Dieter’s] leadership in the company maintaining a strong safety performance in our first […]

The prime contractor for the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico has added a new attorney to its defense team in a racial discrimination case brought by an employee who claims he was unfairly passed over for promotion. With a new trial date and new federal magistrate judge in place, the […]

An entity called SRS Critical Infrastructure Security, which appeared to have the business in hand two years ago, filed a bid protest with the Government Accountability Office over the Department of Energy’s award of a new Savannah River Site security contract for incumbent Centerra. The award was announced earlier in January, and the bid protest […]

The Department of Energy’s Carlsbad Field Office in New Mexico is working with Carlsbad city officials to secure federal money for electric vehicle charging stations in the community, a spokesperson said in a Tuesday email. The local Carlsbad Current Argus newspaper reported last week the city and DOE’s Carlsbad field office management have agreed to […]

In a draft report presented this week to  a National Academies panel, a Department of Energy research team said grout represents the safest bet for treating half of the low-level radioactive waste at the Hanford Site in Washington state. “Only alternatives employing grout technology appear to be technically viable, low-to-moderate risk, and flexible enough to […]

Employees suing the Department of Energy’s prime for the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee over its COVID-19 vaccination policy continued settlement talks with the contractor and a mediator, according to a recent court filing.  Since the Dec. 28 joint status report, “the parties have continued to exchange offers and counter-offers,”  according to the update […]

The tank management prime at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state is shopping for a subcontractor to provide containers for immobilized low-activity radioactive waste produced by the new vitrification plant. Amentum-led Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) posted a request for proposals (RFP) notice Wednesday on the federal procurement website SAM.gov. A pre-proposal […]

A joint venture led by a Veolia affiliate has been tapped by Amentum-led Central Plateau Cleanup Co. to run two landfills at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state under a deal potentially worth $124 million over six years, Veolia said Wednesday. The Hanford cleanup prime has picked the joint venture between Veolia […]

A federal appeals court could hear oral arguments this May in Seattle in a legal challenge brought over COVID-19 vaccination policy at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Tuesday informed attorneys for the Justice Department and the Silent Majority Foundation, representing more […]

As expected, citizen groups in New Mexico have asked the state Environment Department to extend the comment period by 60 days on a 10-year permit renewal for the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. The draft permit is more than 1,200 pages long so granting the extension until April 19 is justified, according to […]

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot plant near Carlsbad, N.M., will carry out a three week maintenance outage from Feb. 27 through March 19, a spokesperson for the transuranic waste disposal site said in a Thursday email. Plans include upkeep and calibration of ventilation fans as well as testing and balancing underground ventilation, the […]