Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant

The Energy Department on Tuesday issued a request for information (RFI)/sources-sought notice for companies interested in the next decontamination and decommissioning contract at the Portsmouth Site in Piketon, Ohio. The current remediation work is being done by Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth under a $3.8 billion award that started in March 2011 and is currently slated to run […]

Fluor Corp. said Tuesday it has discovered more errors in past financial statements filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition, the Texas-based Energy Department contractor reported in an SEC filing that a major creditor and trustee, Wells Fargo Bank National Association, last month asserted a “notice of default” against Fluor for failing to […]

The COVID-19 pandemic helped sell the top brass at the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management on the value of telecommuting, the No. 2 official there said Wednesday. When the DOE office was forced to roll back on-site work at nuclear remediation operations starting in mid-March, “a lot of people had their doubts” on the […]

Another federal lawsuit has been filed against current and former contractors that have performed either uranium enrichment or environmental operations at the Energy Department’s Portsmouth Site in Pike County, Ohio. The class action complaint filed Sept. 3 in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio seeks almost $10 million in damages for an […]

The Energy Department on Tuesday issued a request for information (RFI)/sources-sought notice for companies interested in the next decontamination and decommissioning contract at the Portsmouth Site in Piketon, Ohio. The current remediation work is being done by Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth under a $3.8 billion award that started in March 2011 and is currently slated to run […]

Another federal lawsuit has been filed against current and former contractors that have performed either uranium enrichment or environmental operations at the Energy Department’s Portsmouth Site in Pike County Ohio. The class action complaint filed Thursday in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio seeks almost $10 million in damages for an alleged […]

The superintendent for the Scioto Valley Local School District in Pike County, Ohio, is asking the U.S. Department of Energy to help underwrite the cost of a new building to replace a middle school adjacent to the Portsmouth Site. Zahn’s Corner Middle School has been closed since May 2019, after Northern Arizona University researchers concluded […]

The superintendent for the Scioto Valley Local School District in Pike County, Ohio, is asking the U.S. Department of Energy to help underwrite the cost of a new building to replace a middle school adjacent to the Portsmouth Site. Zahn’s Corner Middle School has been closed since May 2019, after Northern Arizona University researchers concluded […]

Employees for the Energy Department’s remediation contractor at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio were advised recently that they would face a 14-day self-quarantine following travel to a handful of states hit particularly hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. In a July 29 memo to employees, Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth said anyone who visits states listed in Ohio’s travel […]

Starting Monday, the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state will enter Phase 2 of remobilization toward full-scale operations following the March drawdown forced by the COVID-19 pandemic. Hanford Site Manager Brian Vance announced the change in a Thursday message to the 11,000 federal and contract workers at the former plutonium production complex. Phase 2 […]

Employees for the Energy Department’s remediation contractor at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio were advised recently that they would face a 14-day self-quarantine following travel to a handful of states hit particularly hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. In a July 29 memo to employees, Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth said anyone who visits states listed in Ohio’s travel […]

The Energy Department Office of Environmental Management expects to stay busy with procurements during the remainder of 2020. The nuclear cleanup office intends to roll out up to six final requests for proposals (RFP) between now and December, according to a quarterly update posted Monday by the Cincinnati-based Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center. The Energy Department […]

Potential radiation dose in 2018 to individuals from the Portsmouth Site in Ohio was well under limits set by the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Agency, according to new figures. The Energy Department last week issued the latest version of its annual site environmental report for the former uranium enrichment complex in Pike County. […]

Potential radiation dose in 2018 to individuals from the Portsmouth Site in Ohio was well under limits set by the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Agency, according to new figures. The Energy Department last week issued the latest version of its annual site environmental report for the former uranium enrichment complex in Pike County. […]

The number of active cases of COVID-19 among Energy Department nuclear cleanup personnel rose substantially this week, and some industry sources suspect this is slowing a return to normal operations at former Cold War and Manhattan Project sites. There were 94 active cases as of Thursday within the DOE Office of Environmental Management (EM) complex, […]

Contractor Fluor-BWXT has promoted J.D. Dowell to become the new project director for remediation operations at the Energy Department’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio. Dowell, who has worked in nuclear management jobs for the military, DOE, and industry, has been at Portsmouth since 2018 as Fluor-BWXT’s deputy site director. In the new role, he will lead […]

There are 66 cases of active coronavirus infection among personnel for nuclear cleanup operations overseen by the Energy Department Office of Environmental Management, an agency representative said Thursday. That is more than double the 31 active cases of COVID-19 disclosed a week ago for the Environmental Management complex. The agency did not offer any theory […]

The House Appropriations Committee on Monday approved its fiscal 2021 energy and water development bill, clearing the way for a vote by the full House later this month on the spending plan that would provide at least $7.5 billion for Energy Department nuclear cleanup. The Democrat-majority panel approved the spending package in a 31-20 vote […]

The House Appropriations Committee’s energy and water development spending plan for fiscal 2021 sustains the prohibition on Energy Department sales or barter of government-controlled uranium to help pay for remediation at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio. “The Committee continues to reject any attempt to barter, transfer, or sell uranium to pay for Portsmouth cleanup costs,” […]

Three nuclear cleanup sites have received approval from the Energy Department to bring back more staff who have been at home for months during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Energy Department announced the status change for the Portsmouth Site in Ohio, the Paducah Site in Kentucky, and the West Valley Demonstration Project in New York in […]

The Portsmouth Site in Ohio and the Paducah Site in Kentucky have received approval from the Energy Department to bring back additional personnel who have largely been off-site for months during the COVID-19 pandemic. “Your commitment to enhanced safety and deliberate restart of planned project activities has paved the way for moving to Phase 2 […]

Reinhard Knerr, a director at the Energy Department’s Portsmouth-Paducah Project Office (PPPO), will in mid-July become the new permanent manager for the agency’s Carlsbad Field Office in New Mexico. The appointment is part of a flurry of new assignments unveiled this week by the DOE Office of Environmental Management. Knerr is currently federal project director […]

EnergySolutions hopes this year to receive a state license to finally begin accepting large amounts of depleted uranium at its radioactive waste disposal facility near Clive, Utah. That would mark the end of a regulatory process that has stretched for more than a decade. State legislation enacted in March 2018 set three requirements for the […]

Reinhard Knerr, a director at the Energy Department’s Portsmouth-Paducah Project Office (PPPO), will in mid-July become the new permanent manager for the agency’s Carlsbad Field Office in New Mexico. Knerr is currently federal project director for conversion of depleted uranium hexafluoride (DUF6) at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio and the Paducah Site in Kentucky. His […]

The Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management will cut contractors some slack when it comes to work deadlines missed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a policy that became official last week. The nuclear cleanup office “will continue to evaluate COVID-19 impacts on the ability of contractors to perform required work,” according to the […]

Many employees of the facilities overseen by the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth-Paducah Project Office (PPPO) are receiving notices this week to report back to their worksites after months away due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The first wave of homebound federal and contract personnel on June 15 will begin reporting back to the three locations overseen […]

Waste disposal sites in up to three states could be the final destination for the Energy Department’s depleted uranium oxide from retired gaseous diffusion plants in Piketon, Ohio, and Paducah, Ky. The DOE Office of Environmental Management said Friday it has published the record of decision (ROD) for disposal of material generated from conversion of […]

Starting Monday, more than half of the Energy Department’s nuclear cleanup sites will be in Phase 1 of a gradual return to normal operations that have been effectively suspended since March during the COVID-19 pandemic. Environmental remediation operations at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio, the Paducah Site in Kentucky, and the Los Alamos National Laboratory […]

The Energy Department has yet to issue a notice to proceed to the new services contractor selected late last year for the Hanford Site in Washington state, Leidos-led Hanford Mission Integration Solutions (HMIS). Typically, most new vendors receive the notice to start transition shortly after either winning the award or prevailing in any protest against […]

The Energy Department expects to issue a final request for proposals this month for the Idaho Cleanup Contract, according to a procurement update made public Thursday. The potential 15-year, $6.4 billion agreement will replace Fluor Idaho’s nearly $2 billion, five-year deal that runs through May 2021. It would also replace Spectra Tech’s roughly five-year, $45 […]