Publications: Weapons Cleanup Monitor

Local residents must retain a voice in what goes on at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina after federal responsibility for the complex shifts  to the semi-autonomous National Nuclear Security Administration in 2025, the head of the Citizens Advisory Board said Monday. Last month, DOE confirmed its Office of Environmental Management […]

While the House of Representatives is reportedly swinging to red from blue, a Democrat and political newcomer has claimed the Republican-held seat in Washington state not far from the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site. Meanwhile, a narrow victory by incumbent Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) over state attorney general Adam Laxalt (R) gives Democrats a […]

Candice Robertson, a long-serving hand with the Department of Energy currently acting as the No. 2 boss at the Office of Environmental Management, is moving to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission effective Dec. 4. The news was shared by Office of Environmental Management senior adviser William (Ike) White in an “EM Colleagues” email Thursday. Candice Robertson, […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management is distributing $30 million in grant money to minority serving institutions to bolster math, science and technology education among non-white students in South Carolina, Tennessee and Washington state. The funds should help develop science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) proficiency among students at traditionally black, hispanic and […]

In congressional races in Washington state, incumbents who help control the purse strings for the Hanford Site, the Department of Energy’s largest and most expensive nuclear cleanup property, won re-election. Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.), whose 4th congressional district includes Hanford and who serves on the House Appropriations Committee, was declared the winner by the Associated […]

Depleted uranium hexafluoride conversion operations are going slower and costing more than the Department of Energy expected only a few years ago, according to an audit by the agency’s Office of Inspector General. When DOE brought its first depleted uranium hexafluoride (DUF6) conversion plant online in 2010, it still thought converting 800,000 metric tons of […]

A federal magistrate judge in Ohio Thursday declined to force a resident near the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site to turn over information she collected over time with her own private air monitors. That is according to an online notice of an order from U.S. Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Preston Deavers filed “without prejudice,” meaning it […]

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., started disposing of transuranic waste in the new Panel 8 this week, an agency spokesperson confirmed Thursday.  In recent weeks, the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) emplaced its final shipment of defense-related transuranic waste in Panel 7, according to DOE. Panel 7 was contaminated […]

Mediation was set to resume Dec. 9 between the Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s prime contractor and six lab employees who sued the company over its COVID-19 vaccination policy. Plaintiffs led by Jeffrey and Jessica Bilyeu were to sit down with the University of Tennessee-Battelle (UT-Battelle) contractor team and mediator Chadwick Hatmaker in an attempt to […]

Fluor executives said Nov. 4 they are pleased with progress being made on both the business and the regulatory front by small modular reactor developer NuScale, in which Texas-based Fluor remains a majority stakeholder. In September NuScale signed a deal to start development of the first small modular reactor (SMR) in Poland and next year […]

Earnings rose at BWX Technologies, Lynchburg, Va., in the third quarter, which the nuclear contractor attributed during a Monday earnings report to growth throughout its naval, weapons cleanup and commercial power lines. Net earnings for the 2022 third quarter were $61.6 million, or $0.67 a share, up from $60.2 million, or $0.63 a share, in […]

Key questions remain about the practicality of either immobilizing waste with grout or building of a second glass-making plant at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state, a National Academies of Science panel said Tuesday.  This includes examination of the timeline for building another vitrification plant at Hanford or, if DOE decides to […]

The Government Accountability Office on Tuesday rejected a challenge by a Westinghouse-led group to the Department of Energy’s July award of a potentially $3 billion management contract to manage the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico. In a statement, the Government Accountability Office said it has denied the bid protest filed by Carlsbad Operations […]

Sampling overseen by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers around the Jana Elementary School in Florissant, Mo., has not turned up evidence of radiation above background levels, the Corps’ St. Louis District Office said Wednesday. “From a radiological standpoint, the school is safe,” Col. Kevin Golinghorst, St. Louis District commander, said in a press release.  […]

The Department of Energy will indeed start later this month to heat up a facility to eventually convert 900,000 gallons of radioactive sodium-bearing liquid waste at the Idaho National Laboratory into a more stable form for disposal, an agency spokesperson said Thursday. Actual operation of the long-delayed Integrated Waste Treatment Unit (IWTU) will occur early […]

The New Mexico Environment Department could issue a 10-year draft permit for the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., before Christmas, a state spokesperson said recently. The draft permit for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) should be released for public comment by late November or early December, Matthew Maez of […]

The Washington state congressional delegation wrote to President Joe Biden last week, urging more federal funding for the Hanford Site in fiscal 2024 as the former plutonium production facility starts turning low-level radioactive tank waste into glass. The DOE and Bechtel are targeting the startup of the Direct-Feed-Low-Activity-Waste Facility at the Waste Treatment Plant by […]

A federal magistrate judge has ruled a scientist fired by a Honeywell-owned prime contractor for Sandia National Laboratories need not litigate his wrongful termination case in U.S. District Court. U.S. Magistrate Judge Stephan Vidmar ruled Oct. 20 that National Technology and Engineering Solutions of Sandia has not proven the lawsuit brought by Carlsbad, N.M., -based […]

Fluor chair and CEO David Constable is happy to see a joint venture led by his company remain as prime at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina for at least four more years, and said Fluor teams will aggressively pursue two big National Nuclear Security Administration contracts. In an earnings call […]

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers expects to issue a solicitation around Dec. 5 for a contractor to build a viewing platform at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee. In addition, the Nashville District of the U.S. Army Corps plans to hold a site visit Dec. 13 for prospective bidders on the […]

The Government Accountability Office on Thursday denied a challenge by a Huntington Ingalls Industries-led group to Bechtel’s potential $3 billion management contract for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico, which the Department of Energy awarded in July. Huntington-led National TRU Solutions of Newport News, Va. challenged the 10-year contract award to Bechtel’s Tularosa […]

Despite some concerns, a Department of Energy contractor at the Hanford Site in Washington state received good marks from an independent assessment of its pretreatment of radioactive wastes prior to vitrifying the waste into a more stable glass form.   The DOE’s Office of Enterprise Assessments conducted the review of Hanford’s Tank Side Cesium Removal (TSCR) […]

Earnings were mixed at Leidos, Reston, Va., in the third quarter, which the government defense and services company said Tuesday was affected by challenges to contract awards by business rivals. Net income for the quarter ended Sept. 30 was $164 million or $1.17 a share, down from $208 million, or $1.43 a share, in the […]

Earnings were mixed at Leidos, Reston, Va., in the third quarter, which the government defense and services company said Tuesday was affected by challenges to contract awards by business rivals. Net income for the quarter ended Sept. 30 was $164 million or $1.17 a share, down from $208 million, or $1.43 a share, in the […]

While most workers surveyed at the Department of Energy Portsmouth Site believe management is looking out for their safety most of the time, many lack confidence in radiation measurements and worry about chemical hazards at the former gaseous diffusion plant. Those are a couple of takeaways from a report done for the United Steelworkers Union […]

Government contractor Leidos started sampling both inside and outside Jana Elementary School in Florissant, Mo., on Monday for signs of radiological contamination, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said this week. “We are in the process of collecting samples throughout the entire property to ensure the health and safety of the students and staff at […]

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit planned to hear oral arguments at 10 a.m. Eastern Time on Dec. 8 in Washington to consider whether Swift & Staley is  ineligible for a small business contract it won in 2020 for infrastructure support services at the Department of Energy’s Paducah Site in Kentucky. The […]