Oak Ridge Reservation

A federal judge in Tennessee refused to throw out a lawsuit by a former employee for the Department of Energy’s environmental cleanup contractor at the Oak Ridge Site who was fired after refusing to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Plaintiff Yolonda Riggs, a former lead radiation technician for United Cleanup Oak Ridge (UCOR), was fired by […]

Three more plaintiffs have pulled out of the COVID-19-related lawsuit brought by some employees of the prime contractor at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, leaving only two. Plaintiffs Stephanie Bruffey, Gregory Sheets and William Webb have agreed to drop their legal claims against UT-Battelle, the joint venture between the University […]

The Mercury Treatment Facility at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee, which is about to become the responsibility of the site’s Amentum-led prime, is 50% complete, a DOE spokesperson said Friday. The DOE Office of Environmental Management spokesperson replied to an Exchange Monitor inquiry on the current status of the project. The […]

The Mercury Treatment Facility at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee, which is about to become the responsibility of the site’s Amentum-led prime, is 50% complete, a DOE spokesperson said Friday. The DOE Office of Environmental Management spokesperson replied to an Exchange Monitor inquiry on the current status of the project. The […]

The Amentum-led remediation prime at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee will finish construction of the Mercury Treatment Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex, DOE announced Friday.  Earlier in the week, DOE confirmed to Exchange Monitor the agency will not again extend a contract with a joint venture of APTIM and […]

During its quarterly earnings report next week, Dallas-based Jacobs could unveil a deal to sell its government contracting business to the owners of another major player in the Department of Energy’s weapons complex, according to Reuters. Jacobs, an international engineering, construction and procurement contractor, “is in advanced talks” with Virginia-based Amentum, according to “people familiar […]

The Department of Energy will not again extend a contract with a joint venture of APTIM and North Wind Group to finish building a mercury treatment facility at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee, an agency spokesperson confirmed Monday. The contract, which began in December 2018 and is now valued at $128-million, will not be […]

A federal district judge in East Tennessee ruled this week that employees fired after refusing COVID-19 vaccinations by the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Site cleanup prime, cannot pursue their litigation as a class action suit. “Given the number of individualized inquiries necessary to resolve each plaintiff’s claim, a class action would quickly devolve into […]

The Department of Energy’s $8-billion-plus nuclear cleanup branch is getting positive results from its early forays into artificial intelligence and machine learning, Jeff Avery told a National Academies panel Tuesday. New technology is playing a growing role at DOE’s Office of Environmental Management, Jeff Avery told the National Academies Nuclear and Radiation Studies Board. “We […]

A Fluor team has submitted a bid package to operate the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Pantex Plant in Texas, Chief Executive David Constable said Nov. 3.  The opportunity, available now that NNSA is splitting the maintenance and operations contracts for Pantex and Y-12 in Oak Ridge, Tenn., is valued at up to $30 billion over […]

An advocacy group has gone to federal court in Washington, D.C., seeking to force the Environmental Protection Agency to hand over documents that led to approval of a new low-level radioactive waste landfill at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee. Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) filed suit Oct. 19 in the […]

The last hydrogen fluoride cylinder was recently removed from the Y‑12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn., clearing the way for a new uranium-purification technology for nuclear weapons that could switch on in 2024. Hydrogen fluoride was used in an antiquated wet-chemistry conversion and purification process for making enriched uranium metal at the plant’s […]

The close brush with a federal government shutdown did spark the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management Friday to call off a meeting of nuclear cleanup advisory chairs previously scheduled to start this Wednesday in Oak Ridge, Tenn. The Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board Chairs meeting previously scheduled for this week was postponed last […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s Office of Enterprise Assessments is investigating an incident at the Y-12 National Security Complex in which a machine used to shape uranium was dismantled without proper criticality controls in place. In a letter dated Aug. 3, Anthony Pierpoint, director of the NNSA’s office of enforcement, notified Consolidated Nuclear Security’s (CNS) […]

A Department of Energy environmental remediation contractor has taken down the second nuclear reactor on the central campus of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, the agency said Tuesday. Amentum-led United Cleanup Oak Ridge (UCOR) has finished tearing down the Low Intensity Test Reactor, which is also known as building 3005. Demolition of the […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s Office of Enterprise Assessments is investigating an incident at the Y-12 National Security Complex in which a machine used to shape uranium was dismantled without proper criticality controls in place. In a letter dated Aug. 3, Anthony Pierpoint, director of the NNSA’s office of enforcement, notified Consolidated Nuclear Security’s (CNS) […]

Department of Energy contractor Bechtel National plans to open a new office in Knoxville, Tenn., next week for engineers and other staff, the company announced this month. The new Engineering Executive Center was set to open Oct. 2 in the Cedar Bluff neighborhood in Knoxville, Bechtel said in a press release. The company said it […]

The Department of Energy has $19 million in grant funding available for disadvantaged communities affected by decades of nuclear work, the agency said in a Tuesday press release. Comments on the draft funding opportunity announcement for DOE’s Community Capacity Building Grant Program are due by Oct. 10, the agency said in the press release.The program […]

The Department of Energy’s enforcement arm has told two contractors it will investigate a fatal tree clearing accident in August near the Central Training Facility at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee. In a pair of Sept. 8 letters, the Office of Enforcement within DOE’s Office of Enterprise Assessments informed East Tennessee Mechanical Contractors and […]

The Department of Energy’s enforcement arm has told two contractors it will investigate a fatal tree clearing accident in August near the Central Training Facility at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee. In a pair of Sept. 8 letters, the Office of Enforcement within DOE’s Office of Enterprise Assessments informed East Tennessee Mechanical Contractors and […]

The Department of Energy’s enforcement arm has told two contractors it will investigate a fatal tree clearing accident in August near the Central Training Facility at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee. In a pair of Sept. 8 letters, the Office of Enforcement within DOE’s Office of Enterprise Assessments informed East Tennessee Mechanical Contractors and […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission plans an Oct. 19 hearing on a proposal by Kairos Power to build a demonstration reactor in Oak Ridge, Tenn., on land once used for a Department of Energy gaseous diffusion plant. The hearing at Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) headquarters in Rockville, Md., marks the final phase of the agency’s review […]

ARLINGTON, VA —Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.) Tuesday prodded hundreds of people here for the National Cleanup Workshop to urge their congressional representatives to avoid a federal government shutdown but stopped short of predicting a stopgap agreement before fiscal 2023 ends Sept. 30. “Reach out to your member of congress,” said Fleischmann, who chairs the House […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission plans an Oct. 19 hearing on a proposal by Kairos Power to build a demonstration reactor in Oak Ridge, Tenn., on land once used for a Department of Energy gaseous diffusion plant. The hearing at Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) headquarters in Rockville, Md., marks the final phase of the agency’s review […]

Fluor Corp. will pay a civil penalty of $14.5 million as part of a settlement agreement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the company said Wednesday. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigated Fluor’s accounting errors on two lump sum engineering, procurement and construction contracts, the company said in a press release. Fluor neither […]

Oak Ridge, Tenn.-based Boston Government Services, has hired Doug Freund in the newly-created post of chief operating officer, the Department of Energy contractor said Tuesday. Freund was most recently senior vice president for Kiewit Nuclear Solutions, where he was responsible for markets and strategy, Boston Government Services said in a press release. In addition, Freund […]

The Department of Energy will buy a total of $164,000 in renewable energy credits from a Virginia-based company to help the Paducah Site in Kentucky and the Portsmouth Site in Ohio comply with a presidential executive order on clean energy. The renewable credits for Paducah and Portsmouth  are being purchased from WGL Energy Services in […]

A Department of Energy subcontractor who was injured while clearing trees on Aug. 11 at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee has died, an agency spokesperson confirmed Monday evening. The DOE “offers its condolences to the deceased’s family and colleagues,” the spokesperson for DOE’s Office of Science field site at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory […]

The Oak Ridge, Tenn., City Council has voted five-to-two to hire Randall Hemann, the current city manager of Mooresville, N.C., as its new city manager, according to a notice on the Oak Ridge municipal website. During an Aug. 18 special meeting, the council selected Hemann, over Aretha Ferrell-Benavides, a former city manager for Duncanville, Texas […]

The Oak Ridge, Tenn., City Council could select a new manager next week for the municipality, population 31,000, which hosts the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Site. The selection is expected during a special city council meeting on Aug.28, according to an update posted on the city’s website. The ultimate hiring could come after Oak […]