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.

  • 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 […]

  • USW Local at Portsmouth Approves New 2-Year Extension With Fluor-BWXT

    Members of United Steelworkers Local Union 1-689, working in deactivation and demolition at the Department of Energy’s former gaseous diffusion plant complex in Ohio, approved a two-year contract extension Monday with Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth. The local union’s president, Herman Potter, declined to provide a vote count. Turnout was light but those who did vote went “overwhelmingly […]

  • Steelworkers Local Prepares for Contract Extension Vote at Portsmouth

    Members of United Steelworkers Local Union 1-689, employed in deactivation and demolition by Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth, were scheduled to vote Nov. 1 on a two-year extension to their current collective bargaining contract at the Department of Energy’s former enrichment site in Ohio. Voting was set to start at 7:30 a.m. Eastern Time at the multi-purpose building […]

  • Small Biz Administration Gets Til Nov. to Reconsider Swift & Staley at Paducah

    The U.S. Court of Federal Claims has granted the Small Business Administration Office of Hearings and Appeals 24 more days, until Nov. 12, to revisit on remand the issue of whether Swift & Staley is too big to qualify for a $160-million set-aside contract to provide landlord services at the Department of Energy’s Paducah Site […]

  • Fluor Contractor Teams in Ohio, Idaho Face Vax Deadlines

    Employees of Department of Energy’s cleanup contractors at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio as well as the Idaho National Laboratory could be sacked if they fail to receive their final vaccination against COVID-19 by Dec. 1, as spelled out in recent documents. Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth workers who are not yet inoculated, or applied for a medical […]

  • Fluor Contractor Teams in Ohio, Idaho Face Vax Deadlines

    Employees of Department of Energy’s cleanup contractors at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio as well as the Idaho National Laboratory could be sacked if they fail to receive their final vaccination against COVID-19 by Dec. 1, as spelled out in recent documents. Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth workers who are not yet inoculated, or applied for a medical […]

  • Claims Court Awaits OHA Action on Swift & Staley Ruling

    A legal dispute over the Department of Energy’s issuance of a landlord services contract for the Paducah Site in Kentucky to Swift & Staley, is apparently still percolating at the Small Business Administration’s Office of Hearings & Appeals. Late last month, Judge Thompson Dietz of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims granted another party in […]

  • Claims Court Awaits OHA Action on Swift & Staley Ruling

    A legal dispute over the Department of Energy’s issuance of a landlord services contract for the Paducah Site in Kentucky to Swift & Staley, is apparently still percolating at the Small Business Administration’s Office of Hearings & Appeals. Late last month, Judge Thompson Dietz of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims granted another party in […]

  • DOE Guidance Calls for Inserting Vax Mandate into Site Contracts

    Department of Energy contractor officers should by Friday, and unilaterally, if necessary, modify the agency’s existing major site contracts to include a COVID-19 mandate, according to long-awaited guidance published Wednesday by DOE. The directive applies to “Management and Operating (M&O) contracts, major site/facility contracts and onsite support service contracts,” the agency wrote in the guidance. […]

  • Plaintiffs Suing Portsmouth Contractors Seek Too Much Data Too Soon, Judge Holds

    A federal judge nixed a fishing expedition for a big tranche of data sought by people who live near the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site and who are trying to organize a class action lawsuit against eight current and former DOE contractors at the rural Ohio site. In a mid-September court filing,U.S. Magistrate Judge Elizabeth […]

  • Portsmouth Advisory Board Scuttles October Meeting

    The Department of Energy’s advisory board for the Portsmouth Site in Ohio postponed a meeting scheduled this week in Piketon, Ohio and planned to reschedule it, according to a statement from the administrative contractor for the board. A Monday email from EHI Consultants, on behalf of the advisory board cited two factors. First, “the high […]

  • Akima Protests North Wind Site Services Award at Portsmouth

    Akima Intra-Data has protested the Department of Energy’s award of a potential five-year, $135-million contract last month to North Wind for Portsmouth Infrastructure Support Services in Ohio. The Akima bid protest filed with the Government Accountability Office (GAO) Monday is scheduled to be decided by Jan. 12, according to a notice on the GAO website. […]

  • Portsmouth Advisory Board Scuttles October Meeting

    The Department of Energy’s advisory board for the Portsmouth Site in Ohio has postponed its meeting set for Thursday in Piketon, Ohio and will reschedule it at a later date, according to a statement Monday from the administrative contractor for the board. An email from EHI Consultants, on behalf of the advisory board cited two […]

  • Plaintiffs Suing Portsmouth Contractors Seek Too Much Data Too Soon, Judge Holds

    A federal judge nixed a fishing expedition for a big tranche of data sought by people who live near the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site and who are trying to organize a class action lawsuit against eight current and former DOE contractors at the rural Ohio site. In a mid-September court filing,U.S. Magistrate Judge Elizabeth […]

  • Steelworker Locals Turn to Elected Reps Against Vax Orders

    United Steelworkers local unions at five Department of Energy sites are urging elected officials from their states to intercede on their behalf against President Joe Biden’s plans for mandatory vaccinations of federal contractor employees. The Sept. 17 letter was sent to the governors in all five states: Gov. Brad Little (R) of Idaho, Gov. Mike […]

  • Final Solicitation for SRS Site Ops in October, DOE Says; Portsmouth, Paducah Bids in January

    The Department of Energy missed its self-imposed target to issue a final request for proposals by Sept. 30 for the multibillion-dollar Savannah River Site Management and Operating Contract and now plans to put the deal on the street in October. The agency made the announcement in a procurement notice posted online Thursday. If the date […]

  • USW Locals Turn to Elected Reps Against Vax Orders

    United Steelworkers local unions at five Department of Energy sites are urging elected officials from their states to intercede on their behalf against President Joe Biden’s plans for mandatory vaccinations of federal contractor employees. “The government has not done a very good job of winning a large percentage of the public’s trust when it comes […]

  • Proposed House CR Would Prevent Uranium Cleanup Shortfall

    The House Appropriations Committee’s proposed two-month stopgap spending bill for 2022 that would keep the Department of Energy cleanup office at roughly fiscal 2021 levels, but also includes a provision to prevent a shortfall in uranium cleanup funds after Oct. 1. The plan released Tuesday by House Appropriations, and passed later the same day in […]

  • North Wind Unit Wins Award to Stay On as Portsmouth Landlord Services Provide

    A North Wind Group company will continue to carry out the Portsmouth Infrastructure Support Services Contract work at the Department of Energy cleanup site in Ohio under a potential five-year, $135-million award announced last week. Idaho-based North Wind Dynamics was chosen as the bidder that would provide the best value to the government, DOE said […]

  • Union Chief at Portsmouth Hopes Feds Will Negotiate Vax Plan With Workforce

    The head of the United Steelworkers Local 1-689 at the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio estimates more than half of his 939 union members at the uranium cleanup site have been vaccinated against COVID-19. The Steelworkers union local has asked DOE and its contractors at the former gaseous diffusion plant in Pike County, […]

  • North Wind Unit Wins Award to Stay On as Portsmouth Landlord Services Provider

    A North Wind Group company will continue to carry out the Portsmouth Infrastructure Support Services Contract work at the Department of Energy cleanup site in Ohio under a potential five-year, $135-million award announced late Friday. Idaho-based North Wind Dynamics was chosen as the bidder that would provide the best value to the government, DOE said […]

  • Centrus Signs Three-Year Lease Extension for Centrifuge Facilities in Ohio

    In a move necessary to produce hundreds of kilograms of energy-dense, U.S.-origin uranium fuel for DOE, Centrus Energy Corp. extended a lease on Department of Energy buildings at the Portsmouth Site in Piketon, Ohio for three years, through 2025. The buildings support the 16-machine cascade Centrus, Bethesda, Md., is building for DOE under a $115 […]

  • Biden Promises Federal-Contractor Vaccine Mandate

    Six weeks after telling unvaccinated feds and contractors to wear masks and be tested regularly for COVID-19, President Joe Biden Thursday took things a step further and said such workers must either take the vaccine or find another job.   “If you want to work with the federal government, do business with us, get vaccinated,” Biden […]

  • Stopgap Budget Should Protect Uranium Cleanup Fund, White House says

    Given the shrinking chances of Congress agreeing on fiscal year 2022 appropriations by the end of the month, the Joe Biden administration on Tuesday requested that any continuing resolution Congress passes to extend 2021 budgets protect the short-term operations of the Department of Energy’s uranium enrichment cleanups. As Weapons Complex Monitor has reported, the government […]

  • Stopgap Budget Should Protect Uranium Cleanup Fund, White House says

    Given the shrinking chances of Congress agreeing on fiscal year 2022 appropriations by the end of the month, the Joe Biden administration on Tuesday requested that any continuing resolution Congress passes to extend 2021 budgets protect the short-term operations of the Department of Energy’s uranium enrichment cleanups. As Weapons Complex Morning Briefing has reported, the […]

  • Portsmouth Cleanup Contractor Pockets 85% of Potential Fee

    Overall, Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth claimed $30 million, or 85% of a potential $35.3 million in total available fee, for its work at the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site for an 18-month period ending March 31. The Fluor-led contractor earned $7.4 million or 70% out a potential $10.6 million in subjective fee, according to the scorecard from […]

  • Judge Says SBA Erred in Finding Swift & Staley Too Big for Set-Aside

    An appeals panel within the Small Business Administration erred in May when it found Swift & Staley was too big to qualify for a $160-million Department of Energy set-aside contract for services at the Paducah Site in Kentucky, a U.S. Court of Federal Claims Judge ruled. The ruling turned on whether a Swift & Staley […]

  • Portsmouth Cleanup Contractor Pockets 85% of Potential Fee

    Overall, Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth claimed $30 million, or 85% of a potential $35.3 million in total available fee, for its work at the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site for an 18-month period ending March 31. The Fluor-led contractor earned $7.4 million or 70% out a potential $10.6 million in subjective fee, according to the scorecard from […]

  • Judge Says SBA Miscounted Size of Swift & Staley JV in Ruling Out Company for Small Biz Award

    An appeals panel within the Small Business Administration erred in May when it found Swift & Staley was too big to qualify for a $160-million Department of Energy set-aside contract for services at the Paducah Site in Kentucky, a U.S. Court of Federal Claims Judge ruled. The ruling turned on whether a Swift & Staley […]

  • Swift & Staley Gets Favorable Ruling in Paducah Small Biz Lawsuit

    Swift and Staley may yet keep a key small business support contract at the Paducah Site in Kentucky after the Court of Federal Claims last week granted motions sought by the contractor in a lawsuit.  A federal judge in Washington, D.C., on Friday issued a written opinion, not yet publicly available, in an appeal Swift […]