Archive

Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant

The Portsmouth site near Piketon, Ohio, enriched uranium by gaseous diffusion and is now undergoing decontamination and decommissioning. Coverage tracks process building demolition, the on-site waste disposal facility, groundwater remediation, cleanup contracts, and the site’s reindustrialization for future missions.

  • NNSA Considering Small Biz for Oversight of Planned DUF4 Line

    The National Nuclear Security Administration, which requires a regular supply of depleted uranium tetrafluoride for future nuclear-weapon refurbishments, may let a small business coordinate production and delivery of that material to the agency, according to a request for information released last week. The nuclear-weapons agency plans to acquire the uranium tetrafluoride by converting stocks of […]

  • Portsmouth Decomm Meetings Lure Bunch of Prospective Bidders

    More than two-dozen firms sent multiple representatives to attend virtual meetings last week on the Department of Energy’s potentially $5.87-billion Decontamination and Decommissioning Contract at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio, according to a list published this week.  Parties sending people to virtual sessions on a follow-on contract to clean up the former gaseous diffusion uranium […]

  • DOE Also Weighing Changes to Evaluation of Portsmouth Decomm Bidders

    The Department of Energy is tinkering with the way it will judge proposals for a potentially $5.87-billion Decontamination and Decommissioning Contract at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio, according to a notice released Friday. The agency is considering the changes after last week’s virtual one-on-one meetings with potential bidders who responded to the draft solicitation, which […]

  • North Wind Dynamics Set to Take Over Landlord Services at Portsmouth

    North Wind Dynamics is poised to start a $135-million contract in charge of Infrastructure Services at the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio. North Wind is “currently in transition” and will officially become the services contractor on Feb. 18, a company spokesperson said via email Wednesday. A DOE contract chart updated last week shows […]

  • Cleanup Site Locals Want PILT Included in DOE’s Fiscal 2023 Fiscal Plan

    Local governments and school boards are working with a Washington, D.C.-based interest group to ensure the two highly-contaminated nuclear sites in their areas receive Payments in Lieu of Taxes in the fiscal 2023 budget request the Joe Biden administration sends to Congress in several weeks. The locals, with support of the Energy Communities Alliance (ECA), […]

  • Management and Technical Approach Will Count More on Feds’ DUF6 Selection

    At industry’s recommendation, the Department of Energy now says a bidder’s technical and management approach will count more than past performance in a competition for the next depleted uranium hexafluoride and site support contract at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio and the Paducah Site in Kentucky. But the bidder’s key personnel remain the most important […]

  • Small Biz Would Receive Big Chunks of Portsmouth, DUF6 Contract Values

    Eventual winners of new multibillion-dollar contracts at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio and the Paducah Site in Kentucky are expected to use small businesses to perform work worth 15% to 20% of contract value, not counting the 120-day transition period. That is according to a detailed presentation on the $ 5.87-billion Portsmouth Decontamination and Decommissioning […]

  • Small Biz Would Receive Big Chunks of Portsmouth, DUF6 Contracts

    Eventual winners of new multibillion-dollar contracts at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio and the Paducah Site in Kentucky are expected to use small businesses to perform work worth 15% to 20% of contract value, not counting the 120-day transition period. That is according to a detailed presentation on the $ 5.87-billion Portsmouth Decontamination and Decommissioning […]

  • Draft Solicitation Out for Contract With NNSA DUF4 Line

    The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management published draft solicitations this week for a potentially 10-year, $2-billion contract that includes processing depleted uranium tetrafluoride for National Nuclear Security Administration nuclear weapon programs. The work would be part of the cleanup branch’s Portsmouth Paducah Project Office Operations and Site Mission Support Contract, the meat of […]

  • Draft RFPs Unveiled for Portsmouth Cleanup, DUF6 Contracts

    The Department of Energy’s Environmental Management published draft solicitations Tuesday for two contracts potentially worth more than $7.7 billion combined at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio and the Paducah Site in Kentucky. The larger draft request for proposals (RFP) is for the potential $5.87-billion Portsmouth Decontamination and Decommissioning Contract, DOE said in a press release. […]

  • Draft RFPs Unveiled for Portsmouth Cleanup, DUF6 Contracts

    The Department of Energy’s Environmental Management published draft solicitations Tuesday for two contracts potentially worth more than $7.7 billion combined at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio and the Paducah Site in Kentucky. The larger draft request for proposals (RFP) is for the potential $5.87-billion Portsmouth Decontamination and Decommissioning Contract, DOE said in a press release. […]

  • Mercury Storage Solicitation Could be Out in Weeks, DOE says in RFP Update

    The Department of Energy could solicit bids for long-term management and storage of elemental mercury in January, the Office of Environmental Management said in a procurement update after Christmas. After court action by gold mining companies forced DOE to drop earlier plans to designate Waste Control Specialists in West Texas as its preferred long-term storage […]

  • ‘Acting’ Deleted From Title for Portsmouth-Paducah Boss Bradburne

    The Department of Energy’s cleanup branch announced this week that Joel Bradburne is the new field office manager at the Portsmouth-Paducah Project Office, after acting as the top boss for operations in Ohio and Kentucky since Robert Edwards retired at the end of July. “In this role he will oversee the deactivation and demolition of […]

  • ‘Acting’ Deleted From Title for Portsmouth-Paducah Boss Bradburne

    The Department of Energy’s cleanup branch announced Monday that Joel Bradburne is the new field office manager at the Portsmouth-Paducah Project Office, after acting as the top boss for operations in Ohio and Kentucky since Robert Edwards retired at the end of July. “In this role he will oversee the deactivation and demolition of the […]

  • DOE Cancels Plans for Centrus to Operate New Uranium Enrichment Cascade at Portsmouth

    Citing COVID-19-related supply chain disruptions on the agency’s end, the Department of Energy has cancelled plans for Centrus Energy Corp., Bethesda, Md., to operate a new uranium enrichment centrifuge at the Portsmouth Site in Piketon, Ohio, next year, the company disclosed Friday. Under a DOE contract awarded in 2019, Centrus subsidiary American Centrifuge Operating was […]

  • X-326 Process Building Should Be Down in Summer 2022

    ALEXANDRIA, VA. — The demolition of the massive X-326 Process Building, which began in the spring, is underway and should be finished in summer 2022, an executive with the decommissioning contractor at the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio said at a conference here this week. “We are off to a very good start […]

  • X-326 Process Building Should Be Down in Summer 2022

    ALEXANDRIA, VA. — The demolition of the massive X-326 Process Building, which began in the spring, is underway and should be finished in summer 2022, an executive with the decommissioning contractor at the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio said at a conference here Wednesday. “We are off to a very good start of […]

  • Akima Withdraws Protest of Portsmouth Services Award to North Wind

    Virginia-based Akima Intra-Data withdrew its protest of the Department of Energy’s September award of a five-year, $135-million Infrastructure Support Services contract at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio to North Wind Dynamics. Akima dropped the protest Nov. 16, according to a notice on the Government Accountability Office (GAO) website. The company protested the award on Oct. […]

  • Wrap Up: WIPP Hits 13K Shipments, Firm Lands Biz, No Deer Hunt, IG Cites Concerns

    The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant has received 13,000 shipments of defense-related transuranic waste at the underground disposal site near Carlsbad, N.M., since it opened in 1999, the agency said Nov. 23. The shipment arrived at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) Nov. 11 from the Idaho National Laboratory, which had produced more […]

  • Fewer Than 20 USW Members Losing Jobs at Portsmouth Over Vax Mandate

    Out of perhaps 950-to-1,000 United Steelworkers members employed by various companies at the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site in Piketon, Ohio between 10 and 15 are expected to be fired as a result of the COVID-19 vaccination mandate for federal contractors, a union official said Tuesday. It is always possible a couple of those heretofore […]

  • Consulting Firm Receives 5-Year Contract for Continued Advisory Board Work

    A Lexington, Ky.-based small business, EHI Consultants, on Tuesday was issued a 5-year, $4.5-million contract to continue providing support services for certain advisory boards to the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management. The firm-fixed contract renewal for EHI to continue providing staff support for the citizen advisory boards at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio […]

  • Fewer Than 20 USW Members Losing Jobs at Portsmouth Over Vax Mandate

    Out of perhaps 950-to-1,000 United Steelworkers members employed by various companies at the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site in Piketon, Ohio between 10 and 15 are expected to be fired as a result of the COVID-19 vaccination mandate for federal contractors, a union official said Tuesday. It is always possible a couple of those heretofore […]

  • Akima Withdraws Protest of Portsmouth Services Award to North Wind

    Virginia-based Akima Intra-Data withdrew its protest of the Department of Energy’s September award of a five-year, $135-million Infrastructure Support Services contract at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio to North Wind Dynamics. Akima dropped the protest Nov. 16, according to a notice on the Government Accountability Office (GAO) website. The company protested the award on Oct. […]

  • Union Says Dozens of Portsmouth Hands Being Told to Go Home for Vaccine Refusal

    Two contractors at the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio are expected to send home dozens of union employees this week with plans to fire them for refusing to be vaccinated against COVID-19, a local United Steelworkers president at the site said Tuesday in a press release. To this, a spokesperson for remediation contractor […]

  • SBA Again Finds Swift & Staley too Big for Paducah Pact; Updated Briefs Ordered

    The Small Business Administration again ruled that incumbent Swift and Staley is too large to be the next landlord services provider at the Department of Energy’s Paducah site, kicking the matter back to a federal court and keeping the company on site at least through February 2022. That’s according to filings in recent days with […]

  • Ex-Security Guards, Others Voluntarily Withdraw Portsmouth Suit

    Former security guards and others at the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site have withdrawn their federal lawsuit against current and former DOE contractors at the site, ending for now the plaintiffs’ complaint about serious misconduct such as “racketeering” at the former uranium enrichment plant. Plaintiffs filed a two-page notice of voluntary dismissal with the U.S. […]

  • Union Says Dozens of Portsmouth Hands Being Told to Go Home for Vaccine Refusal

    Two contractors at the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio were expected to send home dozens of union employees this week with plans to fire them for refusing to be vaccinated against COVID-19, a local United Steelworkers president at the site said in a press release. Potentially, 50 United Steelworkers (USW) Local 1-689 members […]

  • Wrap Up: Centrus Earnings Up; Amentum Fills Post: Ex-DOE Secretary Chided

    Centrus Energy, Bethesda, Md., on Wednesday posted net income of about $41.5 million, or $2.95 a share for the 2021 third quarter, up from a loss of $7 million or 83 cents a share, in the year-ago period.  Quarterly revenue was about $91 million, up from more than $57.5 million a year ago, mostly due […]

  • Unvaxed Portsmouth Contractor Staff Could be Sent Home in Coming Week, USW Says

    A United Steelworkers local president at the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio expects about 100 of his members employed by cleanup contractor Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth will be sent home in the coming week, with firings coming a few weeks afterward, for refusal to be vaccinated against COVID-19. The workers who for various reasons don’t […]

  • Draft RFP for Portsmouth Cleanup Coming Soon, DOE Says

    As soon as next week, the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management should issue a draft solicitation for a Decontamination and Decommissioning Contract at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio, the agency said recently. The draft request for proposals (RFP) should show up sometime between Nov. 17 and Dec. 17, the agency’s nuclear-weapons cleanup office […]