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The Department of Energy plans to fine Bechtel National $385,000 over repeated quality problems at Hanford's vitrification plant. The contractor designing and constructing the plant has had numerous opportunities to correct problems in the ordering and manufacturing of piping to be used in black cells, Martha Thompson, acting director of the DOE Office of Health, Safety and Security's Office of Enforcement, wrote in a letter to Bechtel on Wednesday. The largest portion of the fine, $220,000, will be for failing to improve quality. The remainder of the fine will cover problems related to the piping, such as what DOE found to be inadequate work procedures and design problems.

The U.S. Department of Energy has decided to retain the contractor charged with running the Idaho National Laboratory nuclear and research complex near Arco. INL officials announced Monday that the DOE has determined it will allow Battelle Energy Alliance to complete the duration of its 10-year contract to run the federally owned complex through September 2014. The decision was made pursuant to a special assessment mandated by Battelle's 2004 contract. A clause in the contract required the DOE to review the contractor's performance by Sept. 30 and then decide whether to reduce the term of the contract.

Savannah River Site's new contractor, Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, has recruited six new senior managers who are coming from positions within Fluor Daniel, Northrop Grumman, Honeywell and the U.S. Department of Energy. Rich Slocum, the new vice president of site infrastructure and project support services, previously served as vice president of closure services and infrastructure for Fluor Hanford in Richland, Wash.

DENVER (AP) - Two companies that worked as contractors with the now-defunct Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant have been ordered to pay $925 million to residents who claimed that contamination blown from the facility endangered people's health and devalued their property. A federal judge on Monday ordered Dow Chemical Co. to pay $653 million and the former Rockwell International Corp. $508 million in compensatory damages, but capped the amount to be collected at $725 million.

Contractor KBR Inc. Accused Of Exposing Troops In Iraq And Afghanistan To Deadly Contaminants Senate Hearing To Examine How Government Can Take Precautions In Such Situations Larry Roberta's every breath is a painful reminder of his time in Iraq. He can't walk a block without gasping for air. His chest hurts, his migraines sometimes persist for days and he needs pills to help him sleep. James Gentry came home with rashes, ear troubles and a shortness of breath. Later, things got much worse: He developed lung cancer, which spread to his spine, ribs and one of his thighs; he must often use a cane, and no longer rides his beloved Harley.

Unlike most fish stories, this isn't about the one that got away. No fish were getting away Thursday. Department of Energy contractors began a project that will eliminate the entire fish population - tens of thousands of fish - in three ponds near the former K-25 uranium-enrichment plant. It's part of an overall plan to restore and "ecologically enhance" the ponds that were historically contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls and other pollutants.

Two Savannah River Site workers were discovered with traces of plutonium 238 on their clothing in November, but followup monitoring concluded they received no internal exposure. Sign up for breaking news alerts from The Chronicle "In this case, the two people had contamination on their clothing, but not on themselves," said Will Callicott, spokesman for Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, the site's primary contractor. "The contamination was detected through routine monitoring while exiting the work area, so the radiation detection system worked as designed." The incident occurred the week of Nov. 13 in the site's Solid Waste Management Facility, according to a report made public this month by the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board.

Two Savannah River Site workers were discovered with traces of plutonium 238 on their clothing in November, but followup monitoring concluded they received no internal exposure. Sign up for breaking news alerts from The Chronicle "In this case, the two people had contamination on their clothing, but not on themselves," said Will Callicott, spokesman for Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, the site's primary contractor. "The contamination was detected through routine monitoring while exiting the work area, so the radiation detection system worked as designed." The incident occurred the week of Nov. 13 in the site's Solid Waste Management Facility, according to a report made public this month by the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board.

Crews have taken the first bites out of the old uranium mill-tailings pile in Moab, Utah, beginning a yearslong process of transferring it far from the Colorado River. Abut 630,000 tons will have been moved from Moab to the disposal cell near Crescent Junction by year's end, said Wendee Ryan of the U.S. Department of Energy. The Energy Department and its contractor, Energy Solutions Corp., began moving the tailings pile this year. Moab residents and downstream water providers lobbied for years to have the 16-million-ton pile of mill tailings moved from its spot along the north bank of the Colorado River to a cell up against the Bookcliff Mountains at Crescent Junction that is deemed less likely to contaminate the river. The pile is being moved by train from Moab to the disposal cell 30 miles north.

Crews have taken the first bites out of the old uranium mill-tailings pile in Moab, Utah, beginning a yearslong process of transferring it far from the Colorado River. Abut 630,000 tons will have been moved from Moab to the disposal cell near Crescent Junction by year's end, said Wendee Ryan of the U.S. Department of Energy. The Energy Department and its contractor, Energy Solutions Corp., began moving the tailings pile this year. Moab residents and downstream water providers lobbied for years to have the 16-million-ton pile of mill tailings moved from its spot along the north bank of the Colorado River to a cell up against the Bookcliff Mountains at Crescent Junction that is deemed less likely to contaminate the river. The pile is being moved by train from Moab to the disposal cell 30 miles north.

An investigation into serious allegations of misconduct at the Savannah River Site found no specific wrongdoing, but did discover "unusual levels of distrust and acrimony" as well as failures by key officials. The investigative body that oversees the Department of Energy released its report, painting a picture of SRS with disorganized lines of leadership, discrimination, racism and many different stories about controversial incidents. Sparked by an anonymous complaint from an SRS employee, the Inspector General's office came to investigate five specific allegations "concerning improprieties by a senior official with the Office of Environmental Management." The 12-person investigative team interviewed 80 DOE and contractor employees and scoured through about 150,000 e-mails.

An investigation into serious allegations of misconduct at the Savannah River Site found no specific wrongdoing, but did discover "unusual levels of distrust and acrimony" as well as failures by key officials. The investigative body that oversees the Department of Energy released its report, painting a picture of SRS with disorganized lines of leadership, discrimination, racism and many different stories about controversial incidents. Sparked by an anonymous complaint from an SRS employee, the Inspector General's office came to investigate five specific allegations "concerning improprieties by a senior official with the Office of Environmental Management." The 12-person investigative team interviewed 80 DOE and contractor employees and scoured through about 150,000 e-mails.

Babcock & Wilcox today announced that its parent company, McDermott International, is planning to separate its operating subsidiaries -- B&W and J. Ray McDermott -- into "two independent, publicly traded companies." B&W has mutliple Oak Ridge interests, co-managing the Y-12 site in partnership with Bechtel National, and working a manufacturing contractor for USEC's American Centrifuge Project.

Babcock & Wilcox today announced that its parent company, McDermott International, is planning to separate its operating subsidiaries -- B&W and J. Ray McDermott -- into "two independent, publicly traded companies." B&W has mutliple Oak Ridge interests, co-managing the Y-12 site in partnership with Bechtel National, and working a manufacturing contractor for USEC's American Centrifuge Project.

Think your job has its share of headaches? Presiding over Savannah River Site's environmental and tritium programs was worth a $570,008 annual salary for one top executive-and he left after just two years. The figure was revealed in a government Web site that tracks American Recovery & Reinvestment Act spending and requires major recipients to divulge salaries of their top five officers. The federal database shows that Savannah River Nuclear Solutions-the primary management contractor for Savannah River Site-has been awarded $1,407,839,884 in stimulus dollars, in addition to its scheduled funding for regular operations at the site, for which the Fluor-led group received a five-year, $4 billion contract that took effect in 2008.

Think your job has its share of headaches? Presiding over Savannah River Site's environmental and tritium programs was worth a $570,008 annual salary for one top executive-and he left after just two years. The figure was revealed in a government Web site that tracks American Recovery & Reinvestment Act spending and requires major recipients to divulge salaries of their top five officers. The federal database shows that Savannah River Nuclear Solutions-the primary management contractor for Savannah River Site-has been awarded $1,407,839,884 in stimulus dollars, in addition to its scheduled funding for regular operations at the site, for which the Fluor-led group received a five-year, $4 billion contract that took effect in 2008.

Loading of the government's new storehouse for bomb-grade uranium is expected to begin in mid-February, according to the latest projections. Construction of the $549 million Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility was essentially completed in late 2008, and since then, workers have been installing equipment, applying finishing touches to the high-security structure and conducting test operations. B&W Technical Services, the managing contractor at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant, recently completed its "operational readiness review" and is resolving some of the issues that were identified during that review, B&W spokesman David Keim said.

Loading of the government's new storehouse for bomb-grade uranium is expected to begin in mid-February, according to the latest projections. Construction of the $549 million Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility was essentially completed in late 2008, and since then, workers have been installing equipment, applying finishing touches to the high-security structure and conducting test operations. B&W Technical Services, the managing contractor at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant, recently completed its "operational readiness review" and is resolving some of the issues that were identified during that review, B&W spokesman David Keim said.

The Department of Energy (DOE) is accusing its management and operations contractor of "poor management" and said that delays in removing certain legacy waste is undermining its confidence to meet contractual goals. In a letter from Savannah River Site Manager Jeff Allison, Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) was informed Dec. 1 that its seeming inabilities to meet deadlines for the removal of legacy transuranic waste (TRU) from SRS "undermine DOE's confidence in SRNS' ability to achieve DOE's performance expectations for the overall TRU project." Savannah River Operations Office (DOE-SR) Manager Allison sent the letter to SRNS President and CEO Garry Flowers, stating that 4,200 cubic meters of legacy TRU must successfully be disposed of by Sept. 30, 2012. "However, recent performance suggests this expectation may not be realized," Allison wrote. "I find this disconcerting, especially given the past history of success with this project."

The Department of Energy (DOE) is accusing its management and operations contractor of "poor management" and said that delays in removing certain legacy waste is undermining its confidence to meet contractual goals. In a letter from Savannah River Site Manager Jeff Allison, Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) was informed Dec. 1 that its seeming inabilities to meet deadlines for the removal of legacy transuranic waste (TRU) from SRS "undermine DOE's confidence in SRNS' ability to achieve DOE's performance expectations for the overall TRU project." Savannah River Operations Office (DOE-SR) Manager Allison sent the letter to SRNS President and CEO Garry Flowers, stating that 4,200 cubic meters of legacy TRU must successfully be disposed of by Sept. 30, 2012. "However, recent performance suggests this expectation may not be realized," Allison wrote. "I find this disconcerting, especially given the past history of success with this project."

The operator of Sellafield, Britain's biggest nuclear complex, was today handed a fine and legal costs totalling more than £100,000 following safety lapses which led to the radioactive contamination of staff. The successful prosecution of Sellafield Ltd by the Health and Safety Executive will tarnish the reputation of an industry trying to win public confidence for a new generation of power plants. The business, controlled by state-owned British Nuclear Group when the incident occurred in July 2007, has since been taken over by three private contractors, Amec, Areva and URS Washington, who work under the Nuclear Management Partners banner.

The operator of Sellafield, Britain's biggest nuclear complex, was today handed a fine and legal costs totalling more than £100,000 following safety lapses which led to the radioactive contamination of staff. The successful prosecution of Sellafield Ltd by the Health and Safety Executive will tarnish the reputation of an industry trying to win public confidence for a new generation of power plants. The business, controlled by state-owned British Nuclear Group when the incident occurred in July 2007, has since been taken over by three private contractors, Amec, Areva and URS Washington, who work under the Nuclear Management Partners banner.

If your kid accidentally blew apart a building, would you give them less supervision? This hands-off approach is exactly what the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is doing by giving the contractors who manage the nation's eight nuclear weapons sites (Los Alamos National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Nevada Test Site, Sandia National Laboratory, Savannah River Site, Pantex, Y-12, and the Kansas City Plant) a six-month break from many regularly scheduled oversight reviews.

If your kid accidentally blew apart a building, would you give them less supervision? This hands-off approach is exactly what the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is doing by giving the contractors who manage the nation's eight nuclear weapons sites (Los Alamos National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Nevada Test Site, Sandia National Laboratory, Savannah River Site, Pantex, Y-12, and the Kansas City Plant) a six-month break from many regularly scheduled oversight reviews.

"The Project On Government Oversight today is distributing copies of a March 16 memo from Deputy Secretary of Energy Daniel Poneman that outlines a safety and security reform plan that will be implemented in a hurry. The DOE plan is supposed to give more flexibility to contractors to carry out safety and security tasks without "low-value burdensome requirements" and bolster productivity. Critics have suggested the plan will raise the potential for problems. In a statement by e-mail, POGO Executive Director Danielle Brian said: "This confirms our worst fears. Without adult supervision, we can be sure the Labs will be even less serious about safety and security.""

"External oversight of program needed 'sooner rather than later,' advocates say Advocates for sick nuclear workers called for immediate oversight of the Department of Labor program that compensates them for work-related illnesses, in response to a Government Accountability Office report released last week which made the same recommendation. Ames Laboratory, a government-owned, contractor-operated research facility of the U.S. Department of Energy that is run by Iowa State University. The Alliance of Nuclear Workers Advocacy Groups (ANWAG) said it fully supports the GAO's recommendation to provide external oversight to the Energy Employee's Occupational Illness Compensation Act (EEOICPA). "The GAO's call for scientific oversight…is no small matter. It challenges the current program leadership's understanding of the complexity of the issues and highlights their unwillingness to assure the scientific integrity of the decision. GAO's recommendations support ANWAG's contention that program decisions are often arbitrary and capricious, and without scientific basis." said the group in a response statement last week."

Brown's Ferry nuclear reactor the subject of audit TVA was overbilled more than $1 million on work done to restart its Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant Unit 1 reactor, according to TVA's Office of Inspector General. Advertisement About $2.8 million in subcontractor costs billed to TVA by a contractor was audited and the preliminary review "caused us to have concerns that certain costs that were billed may have also been billed to TVA under other contracts," according to an emailed statement from the office. "In summary, we found TVA had been overbilled $1,075,020 including (1) $174,912 of unsupported and ineligible labor and per diem costs (2) $621,428 of unsupported and ineligible equipment costs (3) $199,180 of unsupported material costs. and (4) $79,500 of overstated task costs."

Brown's Ferry nuclear reactor the subject of audit TVA was overbilled more than $1 million on work done to restart its Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant Unit 1 reactor, according to TVA's Office of Inspector General. Advertisement About $2.8 million in subcontractor costs billed to TVA by a contractor was audited and the preliminary review "caused us to have concerns that certain costs that were billed may have also been billed to TVA under other contracts," according to an emailed statement from the office. "In summary, we found TVA had been overbilled $1,075,020 including (1) $174,912 of unsupported and ineligible labor and per diem costs (2) $621,428 of unsupported and ineligible equipment costs (3) $199,180 of unsupported material costs. and (4) $79,500 of overstated task costs."

In what is being called a rare victory for whistle blowers, a U.S. Department of Labor appeals panel has ruled that a Tennessee Valley Authority contractor violated the federal whistle-blower law when it fired a Tuscumbia man 2004. In a decision that was made public today, the Department of Labor's review board ruled that James Speegle was improperly dismissed from his job as a painting foreman for Louisiana-based Stone and Webster Construction Inc., while working at Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant near Athens after reporting safety concerns to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

In what is being called a rare victory for whistle blowers, a U.S. Department of Labor appeals panel has ruled that a Tennessee Valley Authority contractor violated the federal whistle-blower law when it fired a Tuscumbia man 2004. In a decision that was made public today, the Department of Labor's review board ruled that James Speegle was improperly dismissed from his job as a painting foreman for Louisiana-based Stone and Webster Construction Inc., while working at Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant near Athens after reporting safety concerns to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

The largest tax break given under city policies in effect for several years might have to be revised now that USEC Inc. and its partner and contractors have begun laying off employees, city officials said last week. The property tax break, valued at up to $5 million over a 10-year period, was approved about a year ago -- before USEC ran into trouble getting a big loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy. The $2 billion guarantee would have been used for work on USEC's American Centrifuge Program.

The largest tax break given under city policies in effect for several years might have to be revised now that USEC Inc. and its partner and contractors have begun laying off employees, city officials said last week. The property tax break, valued at up to $5 million over a 10-year period, was approved about a year ago -- before USEC ran into trouble getting a big loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy. The $2 billion guarantee would have been used for work on USEC's American Centrifuge Program.