Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant
The Paducah site in western Kentucky enriched uranium by gaseous diffusion and is now under decontamination and decommissioning. Coverage tracks facility deactivation and demolition, depleted uranium hexafluoride conversion, groundwater remediation, waste disposal, and cleanup contracts.
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Cleanup & Remediation
Paducah advances plans for taking down, remediating C-400 building
By the end of the year, the Department of Energy expects to file final reports with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Kentucky for taking down the C-400 building at the Paducah Site in Kentucky, officials said last week at the Waste Management Symposia in Phoenix. The Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study Report for the C-400 Complex […]
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Contracts & Procurement
Paducah landlord contract ‘unique,’ DOE manager says, stay tuned for final decision
PHOENIX – DOE is still deciding the longer-term fate of a landlord services contract for the Paducah Site in Kentucky after a federal appeals court ruled in December that incumbent Swift & Staley exceeded the size limits for the small-business set aside award, an agency official said here Tuesday. “We are working through a decision-making […]
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Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile
Wrap Up: No injuries from Y-12 fire; $50M tech support biz awarded; Pro2Serve appoints new board member; Paducah crews make deactivation headway
Hundreds of employees evacuated the National Nuclear Security Administration’s main factory for nuclear-weapon secondary stages in Tennessee this week after a fire there, a spokesperson said. “There was a fire at approximately 9:15 involving uranium in Building 9212, a production facility onsite,” a spokesperson for the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn., wrote […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
Swift & Staley era as Paducah landlord could last into 2024
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 […]
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Uranium Enrichment & Fuel Cycle
DOE wants to see more rigor in DUF6 safety culture
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 […]
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Uranium Enrichment & Fuel Cycle
DOE wants to see more rigor in DUF6 safety culture
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 […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
Swift & Staley era as Paducah landlord could last into 2024
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 […]
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Transuranic Waste
Exit of Carlsbad boss for No. 2 elsewhere seen as surprise, but not shock
This week’s news that Reinhard Knerr will leave his job as manager of the Department of Energy’s Carlsbad Field Office to take a deputy manager post at the Portsmouth-Paducah Project Office was unusual but not shocking, industry sources said Thursday. Knerr is the second permanent Carlsbad Field Office manager since the spring of 2019. Deputy […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
Cleanup office shuffles leadership at WIPP, Portsmouth-Paducah
By the end of this month, the manager of the Department of Energy’s Carlsbad Field Office in New Mexico will leave to become deputy manager of the Portsmouth-Paducah Project Office in Lexington, Ky., an agency executive said Tuesday. Carlsbad manager Reinhard Knerr, responsible for overseeing the agency’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant since July 2020, is […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
Cleanup office shuffles leadership at WIPP, Portsmouth-Paducah
By the end of this month, the manager of the Department of Energy’s Carlsbad Field Office in New Mexico will leave to become deputy manager of the Portsmouth-Paducah Project Office in Lexington, Ky., an agency executive said Tuesday. Carlsbad manager Reinhard Knerr, responsible for overseeing the agency’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant since July 2020, is […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
Feds highlight construction of Paducah emergency ops center
Work crews at the Department of Energy’s Paducah Site in Kentucky are making progress in building a new 3,500-square-foot emergency operations center at the former gaseous diffusion plant complex, DOE said Tuesday. The new, more modern center to house emergency management staff and monitor environmental conditions will replace the one set up in 1990 within […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
DOE scorecard cites safety improvement at Four Rivers
Jacobs-led Four Rivers Nuclear Partnership won 69% of its discretionary fee for cleanup work at the Department of Energy’s Paducah Site in Kentucky during fiscal 2022, an improvement from its performance in fiscal 2021. Overall the contractor claimed 80% of its total potential award fee for 2022, according to an agency scorecard dated Dec. 28. […]
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Uranium Enrichment & Fuel Cycle
Mid-America wins more than 90% of overall fee for DUF6 work at Portsmouth and Paducah
Atkins-led Mid-America Conversion Services earned 93% of its overall fee and roughly three-quarters of its subjective fee during fiscal 2022 under its depleted uranium hexafluoride contract at gaseous diffusion plants in Ohio and Kentucky, the Department of Energy said. The contractor won $1.7 million out of a potential $2.3 million or 74% of its subjective […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
DOE scorecard cites safety improvement at Four Rivers
Jacobs-led Four Rivers Nuclear Partnership won 69% of its discretionary fee for cleanup work at the Department of Energy’s Paducah Site in Kentucky during fiscal 2022, an improvement from its performance in fiscal 2021. Overall the contractor claimed 80% of its total potential award fee for 2022, according to an agency scorecard dated Dec. 28. […]
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Uranium Enrichment & Fuel Cycle
Mid-America wins more than 90% of overall fee for DUF6 work at Portsmouth and Paducah
Atkins-led Mid-America Conversion Services earned 93% of its overall fee and roughly three-quarters of its subjective fee during fiscal 2022 under its depleted uranium hexafluoride contract at gaseous diffusion plants in Ohio and Kentucky, the Department of Energy said. The contractor won $1.7 million out of a potential $2.3 million or 74% of its subjective […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
Four Rivers makes headway on legacy Freon removal at Paducah
The Department of Energy last week issued a task order for Jacobs-led Four Rivers Nuclear Partnership to continue with shipment and destruction of legacy R-114 refrigerant, better known under the brand name Freon, from the Paducah Site in Kentucky. Four Rivers, which also has Fluor and BWX Technologies on its team, received its $16 million […]
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Contracts & Procurement
Quick decision: Swift & Staley loses appeal on Paducah set-aside contract
Department of Energy contractor Swift & Staley is ineligible for the $160-million landlord contract awarded at the Paducah Site in Kentucky two years ago, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said Monday, only days after oral arguments in the protracted case. The “per curiam” or unanimous decision, was issued in a one-page […]
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Contracts & Procurement
Quick decision: Swift & Staley loses appeal on Paducah set-aside contract
Department of Energy contractor Swift & Staley is ineligible for the $160-million landlord contract awarded at the Paducah Site in Kentucky two years ago, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said Monday, only days after oral arguments in the protracted case. The “per curiam” or unanimous decision, was issued in a one-page […]
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Contracts & Procurement
Appeals court to hear Swift & Staley case
A two-year legal fight comes to a head Thursday with a federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., set to consider if incumbent Swift & Staley was too large to qualify for a $160-million small business contract it won in December 2020 at the Department of Energy’s Paducah Site in Kentucky. Sometime after 10 a.m. Eastern […]
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Transuranic Waste
WIPP off the table heading into holidays; other EM awards remain
Barring some legal reversal, a Bechtel affiliate and subcontractor Los Alamos Technical Associates should take the reins at the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico around Feb. 9. Also, as of the day before Thanksgiving, three major opportunities for new business remained across the old weapons complex and three contractors awaited […]
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Uranium Enrichment & Fuel Cycle
History of plant problems, rising costs bedevil DUF6 program, Inspector General says
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 […]
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Contracts & Procurement
BWXT reports better Q3 earnings; casts eye on prize at Hanford
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 […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
Reliability of dosimetry readings, chemical hazards concern many Portsmouth workers, graduate study finds
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 […]
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Contracts & Procurement
Paducah Site contract oral arguments set Dec. 8
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 […]
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Uranium Enrichment & Fuel Cycle
DOE touts backup hydrogen supply at DUF6 conversion plants
The depleted uranium hexafluoride conversion plants at the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio and the Paducah Site in Kentucky, both back in service after extended outages, are benefiting from backup sources of hydrogen, the federal agency said Tuesday. The Paducah facility in western Kentucky was the first to restart conversion of depleted uranium […]
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Uranium Enrichment & Fuel Cycle
DOE touts backup hydrogen supply at DUF6 conversion plants
The depleted uranium hexafluoride conversion plants at the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio and the Paducah Site in Kentucky, both back in service after extended outages, are benefiting from backup sources of hydrogen, the federal agency said Tuesday. The Paducah facility in western Kentucky was the first to restart conversion of depleted uranium […]
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Contracts & Procurement
Paducah Site contract oral arguments set Dec. 8
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 […]
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Commercial Decommissioning
BWXT leading own team for Portsmouth decommissioning contract
The two partners in Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth, the incumbent cleanup team at the Department of Energy Portsmouth Site in Ohio, are rivals in pursuit of the new Decontamination & Decommissioning Contract, industry sources said this week. BWX Technologies is leading a team along with Jacobs and APTIM that is vying for the follow-on Portsmouth decommissioning contract, […]
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Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile
Appeals court briefing complete, December arguments loom in Swift & Staley case
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit this week gave litigators for contractor Swift & Staley as well as the Department of Justice seven days to specify dates in December they won’t be available for oral arguments. “Briefing is completed in this case,” the appeals court said in a Monday order, instructing litigators […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
Appeals court briefing complete, December arguments loom in Swift & Staley case
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit this week gave litigators for contractor Swift & Staley as well as the Department of Justice seven days to specify dates in December they won’t be available for oral arguments. “Briefing is completed in this case,” the appeals court said in a Monday order, instructing litigators […]





