Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant

For the second time in two years, many groups associated with the Energy Communities Alliance — as well as a labor union at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state — are pushing for more than $7-billion in additional cleanup spending around the weapons complex. “As the federal government looks to stimulate the […]

For the second year in a row, the Department of Energy plans to dip into an alternate source of revenue to shore up the Uranium Enrichment Decontamination and Decommissioning Fund used to remediate old gaseous diffusion plants. This is one of the highlights of a skinny version of the Joe Biden administration’s fiscal 2022 budget […]

The Department of Energy said Tuesday it is justified in extending the current Swift & Staley landlord services agreement at the Paducah Site in Kentucky for up to six months while the Small Business Administration decides whether the company is too big to receive a follow-on contract for the work. The Small Business Administration (SBA) […]

The Department of Energy plans to retain an Atkins-led joint venture that runs depleted uranium conversion at former gaseous diffusion plants in Ohio and Kentucky for 14 more months, until March 31, 2023, in part to help a defense project stay on track. The DOE announced its intention to extend the contract for Mid-America Conversion […]

The Department of Energy said Tuesday it is justified in extending the current Swift & Staley landlord services agreement at the Paducah Site in Kentucky for up to six months while the Small Business Administration decides whether the company is too big to receive a follow-on contract for the work. DOE awarded the extension, worth […]

The conversion of depleted uranium hexafluoride at the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio and Paducah Site in Kentucky came to a stop in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and had yet to restart as of last week, federal and contractor representatives said during an online conference. Neither Zachary Lafontaine, DOE’s program […]

Jim Bittner is taking over as vice president and general manager for BWX Technologies’ Nuclear Operations Groups’ Lynchburg, Va., manufacturing facility, which manufactures reactors for naval aircraft carriers and submarines, the company announced Monday. Bittner will be in charge of about 2,200 employees in Lynchburg, which is one of the two commercial facilities certified by the Nuclear […]

The conversion of depleted uranium hexafluoride at the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio and Paducah Site in Kentucky came to a stop in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and had yet to restart as of last week, federal and contractor representatives said during an online conference. Neither Zachary Lafontaine, DOE’s program […]

Dae Chung, the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management’s (EM) associate principal deputy assistant secretary for corporate services, defended his organization’s small business record during the online Waste Management Symposia this week. His comments come after a U.S. senator, among others, complained that new procedures seem to be hurting small contractors in Washington state […]

Dae Chung, the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management’s (EM) associate principal deputy assistant secretary for corporate services, defended his organization’s small business record during the online Waste Management Symposia Monday. His comments come after a U.S. senator, among others, complained that new procedures seem to be hurting small contractors in Washington state that […]

Due to a shortfall in the Uranium Enrichment Decontamination and Decommissioning Fund, the Department of Energy is drawing upon other money in fiscal 2021 to help pay for cleanup of the government’s shuttered uranium enrichment plants. The Uranium Enrichment Decontamination and Decommissioning (UED&D) Fund was budgeted by Congress during the current fiscal year at $841 […]

Due to a shortfall in the Uranium Enrichment Decontamination and Decommissioning Fund, the Department of Energy is drawing upon other money in fiscal 2021 to help pay for cleanup of the government’s shuttered uranium enrichment plants. The Uranium Enrichment Decontamination and Decommissioning (UED&D) Fund was budgeted by Congress during the current fiscal year at $841 […]

The Department of Energy plans to extend Swift & Staley’s infrastructure services contract at the Paducah Site in Kentucky for up to a year after a protest derailed plans to award the company a follow-on contract. The DOE’s Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office intends to issue a noncompetitive modification to the current contract that would potentially extend […]

The Department of Energy announced Thursday on a federal procurement website that it is beginning market research for the next cleanup contract at the Paducah Site in Kentucky. The DOE Office of Environmental Management rolled out a request for information (RFI) seeking potential sources for a new deactivation and remediation agreement for the former gaseous […]

The Department of Energy plans to extend Swift & Staley’s infrastructure services contract at the Paducah Site in Kentucky for up to a year after a protest derailed plans to award the company a follow-on contract for the work. The DOE’s Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office intends to issue a noncompetitive modification to the current contract that […]

Kentucky-based Swift & Staley has appealed a finding by the Small Business Administration deeming it too big to be awarded the new $160-million Paducah Infrastructure Support Services Contract from the Department of Energy. A Small Business Administration (SBA) spokesperson said Friday morning Swift & Staley has filed its action with the agency’s Office of Hearings […]

The Small Business Administration said Friday that Swift & Staley, the Department of Energy’s December winner of the new $160-million Paducah Infrastructure Support Services Contract, does not meet the size requirement for the set-aside contract.  “The SBA performed a Size Determination on Swift & Staley, LLC, and it determined the firm to be “other than […]

The Department of Energy’s December award of the new $160-million Paducah Infrastructure Support Services Contract to Swift & Staley could end up being withdrawn, sources told Weapons Complex Morning Briefing in the past week. Federal representatives are looking into whether the Paducah-based incumbent contractor exceeds the size limit for this particular small-business set-aside and the […]

Four Rivers Nuclear Partnership, the Jacobs-led cleanup contractor at the Paducah Site in Kentucky, earned 69% of its overall potential fee but less than half of its fee resulting from the Department of Energy’s subjective ratings during fiscal 2020. Meanwhile, Atkins-led Mid-America Conversion Services earned 87% of its potential fee for running the depleted uranium […]

Here’s some of the news Weapons Complex Monitor tracked over the last two weeks during the Exchange Monitor’s publishing break for the winter holidays. Navarro-led Hanford Laboratory Management and Integration this week began the process of taking over the Department of Energy’s 222-S Laboratory at the Hanford Site in Washington state. Located in the 200-West […]

As part of the omnibus spending package signed Dec. 27 by President Donald Trump, the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management will receive almost $7.6 billion for fiscal 2021, which is $131 million above its funding level for the 2020 budget year that ended Sept. 30, 2020. It is also about 22% more than […]

As of early Dec. 30, no companies have filed challenges with the Government Accountability Office to contest the Dec. 10 award of the new $160-million Paducah Infrastructure Support Services Contract to Kentucky-based Swift & Staley. The Department of Energy received four bids for the contract, an agency spokesperson said Dec. 17. The spokesperson did not […]

While the coronavirus pandemic affected nuclear cleanup at the Department of Energy in ways great and small, it did not slow down the acquisition process in 2020, when the Environmental Management Office awarded about $31 billion worth of new cleanup contracts. That includes $17 billion of contracts during the 2020 calendar year and some $14 […]

The Department of Energy said Thursday that Paducah, Ky.-based incumbent Swift & Staley has won the new $160-million Paducah Infrastructure Support Services Contract. The contract runs about five years with a 60-day transition period, a 34-month base period and 24-month option period, DOE said in the press release announcing the deal. The transition period presumably […]

As Friday deadline approached for Weapons Complex Monitor, the Associated Press had not declared a winner in the presidential election between President Donald Trump (R) and the former vice president, Joe Biden (D).  Biden was leading in electoral votes. Whomever is declared president-elect an intense legal challenge is expected, according to media outlets. While a […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Inspector General said there is not enough vetting of respirator maintenance for environmental cleanup workers at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio, which increases the chance of employees being exposed to radioactive contamination. Decontamination and decommissioning contractor Fluor-BWXT has over 1,300 employees who rely on respirators as part of the […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Inspector General said there is not enough vetting of respirator maintenance for environmental cleanup workers at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio, which increases the chance of employees being exposed to radioactive contamination. Decontamination and decommissioning contractor Fluor-BWXT has over 1,300 employees who rely on respirators as part of the […]

Future nuclear weapons programs will be delayed if the National Nuclear Security Administration is not able to produce depleted-uranium-niobium alloy ingots in Oak Ridge, Tenn., in the next three years, according to a report the Government Accountability Office published this week. “[A]ny delays beyond that will affect the current schedules of these programs,” Congress’ investigative […]

While some work at the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management is being delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, contract procurement has hardly missed a beat, officials told an online industry conference this week. Thus far in 2020 there have been “almost no drop offs [and] ironically enough, almost some acceleration” in contract solicitations and […]

The Department of Energy is giving potential bidders until Dec. 1 to respond to a final request for proposals for a new five-year infrastructure support services contract at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio. The DOE Office of Environmental Management (EM) issued the request for proposals (RFP) notice Tuesday. The DOE nuclear cleanup branch said in […]