Weapons Complex Vol. 27 No. 1
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Weapons Complex Monitor

Article 4 of 15

January 08, 2016

While We Were Out

By Chris Schneidmiller

Congress was out and Washington was empty, but that didn’t stop news from breaking during our annual holiday publication break. As chronicled in the Weapons Complex Morning Briefing, here are a few stories that we’ve been following.

DOE Formally Begins Nuclear Waste Storage Siting Process

The Department of Energy on Monday said it is formally taking steps to advance plans for determining locations for storage of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste under its “phased, adaptive, consent-based approach.”

The department on Wednesday plans to post a notice in the Federal Register that public input is being accepted on “important considerations in designing a fair and effective siting process,” according to a statement from Andrew Richards, chief of staff for the DOE Office of Nuclear Energy. In addition, “the Department plans to host a series of public meetings around the country in 2016 to hear from the public and stakeholders on important principles, values, and considerations that should guide our thinking as we begin designing a consent-based siting process,” Richards stated.

The new direction was initiated after the Obama administration in 2011 stopped development of the underground repository below Yucca Mountain in Nevada. That was followed by a study by the Blue Ribbon Commission for America’s Nuclear Future in 2012 that emphasized the consent-based strategy – essentially finding locations where the local stakeholders would accept the waste storage site. In 2013 the administration issued an official strategy for management and disposal of used nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste. Finally, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz in March of this year said the department would plan a facility for defense waste that would be separate from storage of spent nuclear fuel and high-level waste.

Waste management specialists have already expressed interest in establishing interim sites in New Mexico and Texas. First, though, will come a pilot interim site that would largely hold spent fuel from shuttered nuclear reactors, Lynn Orr, DOE undersecretary for science and energy, said in a blog post on the department website. That would be followed by the interim site with greater capabilities, potentially including packaging waste for long-term storage. The final step in the years-long process would be one or more permanent repositories.“

Full implementation of this strategy will take time,” Orr stated. “Today’s action brings us a step closer to that goal, and the Department of Energy is seeking the help of all Americans to develop a fair and effective approach to consent-based siting.”

Portsmouth D&D Workforce Safe for FY16: Project Director

The site director for the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant decontamination and decommissioning project in Ohio confirmed on Sunday that massive layoffs should not be necessary in the current fiscal year.

Project contractor Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth had prepared to lay off up to 500 workers this fall due to reduced funding from the Department of Energy and a restriction on its other funding source for cleanup of the former uranium enrichment site — authorized sales of uranium to vendors. Funding in a stopgap continuing resolution delayed that necessity, and the fiscal 2016 omnibus budget passed on Friday provides $203 million for the project through Sept. 30 of this year. That is over $70 million more than DOE requested and just $6 million less than the cleanup program received in the last budget.

That amount, “when combined with the forecasted barter proceeds at the current market pricing, will provide an adequate level of funding to sustain our project momentum and avoid any significant impacts to our workforce for the remainder of this FY,” Site Project Director Dennis Carr said in a memo to the D&D workforce.

“No one on this project should take this funding, and the confidence placed in us, for granted,” Carr added. “We must continue to earn the support we have garnered by safely delivering on our cleanup commitments, most importantly by completing the deactivation and achieving a ready-to-demolish state in the X-326 facility by June 2017.”

Carr noted that funding for the on-site waste disposal facility dropped from the $34 million requested by DOE for fiscal 2016 to $21.7 million in the omnibus. He said, though, that the funding will enable Fluor to finish designing the plant, remove trees from the area, and start putting in utilities, fences, and storm-water controls.

SRNS Award Fee Totals Nearly $40M

Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) received over $37 million for its annual award fee despite its self-induced safety pause and a long list of deficiencies documented by the Department of Energy. The Savannah River Site’s management and operations contractor conducts work for the DOE Office of Environmental Management and the National Nuclear Security Administration. SRNS for fiscal 2015 was awarded $24.1 million out of a possible $27.2 million for its environmental management work and $13.7 million out of a possible $18.5 million for NNSA work. Overall, the contractor received 82 percent of its possible award fee.

Contractors earn award fees each year either by completing work called for in the contract or devoting a specified level of effort for a stated time period, according to the department. The SRNS scorecard cites the September operational safety pause, which was initiated after four employees improperly stored a plutonium sample in a container not suitable for transport. After the incident, SRNS ceased all nonessential missions in order to review procedures. The pause has ended but many operations are in a reduced work phase and have still not returned to normal operations.

Other deficiencies noted by the Energy Department include radiological protection issues during training drills and fire department mishaps during other drills. Funds were also docked because SRNS and the Savannah River National Laboratory wrongfully authorized the packaging of foreign special nuclear materials. Shipping the materials would have violated a shipping package safety analysis report for packaging and the K-Area documented safety analysis, according to the scorecard. DOE also deemed SRNS’ coordination with the site’s tritium facilities inadequate, which resulted in additional costs and risks to the delivery schedule.

The department noted several positives as well, including SRNS’ recognizing the need for a safety pause after the container incident. "Implementation of the operational pause was a positive action, which led to a comprehensive review of site-wide procedures and an engagement with the SRNS workforce on the importance of effective Conduct of Operations in all site activities," the department wrote.

Meanwhile, Centerra-Savannah River Site, the SRS security contractor, received $5.28 million of a possible $5.74 million for its fiscal 2015 award fee. Overall, Centerra received 92 percent of its available award fee.

DOE said on Centerra’s scorecard that the contractor performed well in several areas including protective force operations and training, protective force management and support, and cost control. During the fiscal year, Centerra faced a number of real world security incidents requiring an armed, protective force (PF) response, according to DOE.

Omnibus Provides Funding Uptick for SRS Missions

The Savannah River Site’s liquid waste work received a slight increase in funding for fiscal 2016 in the federal omnibus budget passed last week. Liquid tank waste stabilization and disposition received nearly $555 million in appropriations, compared to the $547 million appropriated in the last fiscal year. The figure accounts for the largest single appropriation granted to SRS in its $1.21 billion budget, which is also an increase from last year’s $1.12 billion appropriation.

Congress apparently heard the outcry from SRS officials and stakeholders to up the funding levels for waste work and operations in other areas as well. Construction funding for the SRS Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF) increased to $194 million, nearly $60 million more than it received last year. SRS risk management operations received nearly $414 million, up from $398 million in fiscal 2015. Funding to construct the Saltstone Disposal Units also increased slightly, from $30 million in fiscal 2015 to $34.6 million in the current budget year that ends Sept. 30.

U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson (R–S.C.) said South Carolina families will benefit from the legislation. "The funding bill also provides key funding for the construction and operation of the MOX facility, gives stability to operations at the Savannah River Site, and supports the thousands of service members and their families at Fort Jackson." To Wilson’s point, the omnibus provides $340 million for construction of the SRS Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF). The facility is a critical component of the MOX method, the nation’s path for disposal of 34 metric tons of weapon-usable plutonium. The project is part of a longstanding agreement with Russia. Under the agreement, Russia is also obligated to dispose of the same amount of plutonium.

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RadWaste Vol. 9 No. 1
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RadWaste Monitor

Article 2 of 8

January 08, 2016

While We Were Out

By Chris Schneidmiller

Congress was out and Washington was empty, but that didn’t stop news from breaking during our annual publication break. As chronicled in the Weapons Complex Morning Briefing, here are a few stories that we’ve been following.

DOE Formally Begins Nuclear Waste Storage Siting Process

The department on Wednesday plans to post a notice in the Federal Register that public input is being accepted on “important considerations in designing a fair and effective siting process,” according to a statement from Andrew Richards, chief of staff for the DOE Office of Nuclear Energy. In addition, “the Department plans to host a series of public meetings around the country in 2016 to hear from the public and stakeholders on important principles, values, and considerations that should guide our thinking as we begin designing a consent-based siting process,” Richards stated.

AREVA TN Progressing With Storage System

AREVA TN is moving forward with the development of its NUHOMS EOS dry nuclear fuel storage system, with a check in before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission scheduled for Dec. 31 and an expected 2017 launch date.

According to a press release from the company, NRC approval is expected in mid-2016 for the system, which is scheduled for delivery to FirstEnergy Corporation’s Davis Besse nuclear power plant in 2018 in anticipation of a 2019 loading. AREVA TN is currently manufacturing a “mock-up” basket system in Canonsburg, Pa., and expects completion of the project in March.

The company boasts that the NUHOMS EOS features a non-welded design that utilizes high strength, low alloy material, while also claiming the industry’s highest 50-kilowatt heat rejection capability. Additional features listed in the press release include: an inspection port built into the EOS horizontal storage module, which makes for “an efficient long-term aging management program,” as well as the option for a duplex stainless steel shell, “providing a superior corrosion-proof solution.”

NRC Notifies Entergy of Pilgrim Inspections

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has notified Entergy that it will conduct the first of three inspections at the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station on Jan. 11.

According to a letter submitted to the facility operator on Friday, the first inspection, termed Phase A, will be conducted by three inspectors from the NRC’s Region I office. They will determine whether continued operation at the Massachusetts facility is acceptable and whether additional regulatory action is required to reverse any declining plant performance. The inspectors will review the station’s corrective action program, according to the letter.

The second inspection, Phase B, is set for April 4 and will look at overall corrective action program performance since the last problem identification and resolution inspection was completed in August. The second phase will focus in particular on progress of the site’s performance improvement plan. Results from the first two inspections will inform the scope of Phase C, which is yet to be scheduled.

Entergy in October said it would close the power plant no later than 2019. It then announced last month that it would shutter the James A. FitzPatrick Nuclear Power Plant in New York state. It also owns the Vermont Yankee nuclear power facility, which discontinued operations in December 2014.

Vermont Seeks Public Input on Nuclear Plant Groundwater

Vermont’s Nuclear Decommissioning Citizens Advisory Panel is seeking public comment for a draft advisory opinion on groundwater monitoring at the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant.

The panel believes plant operator Entergy should continue to fund the Vermont Department of Health in conducting independent environmental surveillance of the plant until the company’s Nuclear Regulatory Commission licenses at the facility expire. Entergy closed the plant at the end of 2014, and last week announced plans to transfer its spent nuclear fuel from wet to dry storage starting in 2017, two years earlier than expected.

In a document outlining its opinion, the panel suggested the best way to know whether toxic materials have leaked into the environment is through measurement of groundwater, soils, sediments, and other media. The panel noted the Health Department’s identification of tritium in local river water in 2010 and its identification of strontium-90 in groundwater in 2014.

“(Department of Health) laboratories are needed not only now while materials are in storage, but also when the structures, systems and components are decontaminated and dismantled in the future in what will be the largest industrial activity in Vermont’s history,” the document reads. “Maintaining the VY funded laboratory capabilities now and through that future work is more effective than attempting to restore those capabilities many years from now.”

Public comments on the advisory opinion draft can be emailed to the panel at [email protected]. The panel is expected to discuss the topic at a yet-to-be scheduled meeting in early 2016, according to the Public Service Department.

Swedes Move Forward on First Spent Fuel Repository

A Swedish company has completed the application to build the country’s first permanent repository for spent nuclear fuel, a facility at Forsmark that would have the capacity to store 171,000 cubic meters of short-lived waste (SFR).

World Nuclear News reported that the Land and Environment Court in Stockholm deemed the Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Co.’s (SKB) application complete last week. The country’s spent fuel is currently in temporary storage in Oskarshamn. SKB plans to encapsulate the fuel in copper canisters, which would be fed into a system of tunnels about 500 meters deep in bedrock of bentonite clay, the publication reported.

“We are now taking a step closer towards the aim of being able to deal with radioactive waste both from operations and from decommissioning of the Swedish nuclear power plants,” SKB CEO Christopher Eckerberg said in a statement.

AREVA Awarded Decontamination Contract for Krümmel Nuclear Power Plant

The utility Vattenfall Europe Nuclear Energy has selected AREVA NP to decontaminate the primary loop of the Krümmel nuclear power plant near Hamburg, Germany.

Starting in the first half of 2016, decontamination is expected to reduce radiation levels in the reactor pressure vessel, auxiliary systems, and piping, according to an AREVA press release. In implementing the decontamination, AREVA will use two techniques: CORD UV and AMDA.

“This decontamination technology has been used reliably in over 30 nuclear facilities worldwide, including boiling and pressurized water reactors,” said Michael Cerruti, sales executive vice president of AREVA Reactors & Services Business Group. “This new contract confirms customers’ confidence in our decontamination technology for all types of nuclear power plants.”

The reactor has not operated since 2009 and is to be decommissioned as Germany phases out use of nuclear power.

Centrus and Tenex Extend Supply Contract

Centrus Energy and Tenex announced Tuesday that they have agreed to extend a long-term supply contract for Russian low-enriched uranium through 2026.

Signed in 2011, the agreement includes Centrus’ commitment to purchase 17 million separative work units from Tenex between 2016 and 2022. According to a Centrus press release, the extension defers delivery on some quantities to between 2023 and 2026 while adding the option to purchase additional quantities in that same span.

The agreement to broker Russian uranium with Tenex currently represents Centrus’ main source of revenue.

“Completing this contract revision has been a central priority since the day I arrived at Centrus,” Centrus President and CEO Daniel Poneman said in a press release. “The updated agreement reflects the changing fuel market and extends our supply arrangement for a decade, further strengthening the partnership between our two companies – a partnership that has played an indispensable role in U.S.-Russia nuclear cooperation for more than two decades.”

“We highly value cooperation with our long-standing partner, Centrus, and have strengthened our long-term relations with this arrangement,” Tenex General Director Lyudmila Zalimskaya said.

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Nuclear Security & Deterrence Vol. 20 No. 1
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Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor

Article 7 of 8

January 08, 2016

While We Were Out

By Alissa Tabirian

LANS Contract Will Expire at Los Alamos

Los Alamos National Security LLC, the partnership that has operated and managed the Los Alamos National Laboratory since 2006, has failed to qualify for an additional year on its contract that expires at the end of fiscal 2017. After receiving the National Nuclear Security Administration’s performance assessment for fiscal 2015, LANL Director Charles McMillan informed the workforce that the lab’s ratings had not made the grade, which means the existing contract would end and a new procurement process would begin to select the best proposal for the next contract manager.

In an all-hands memo late last week, McMillan revealed the lab’s performance results in the six major categories of the assessment:

· Manage the Nuclear Weapons Mission—Very Good

· Reduce Global Nuclear Security Threats Mission—Very Good

· DOE and Strategic Partnership Project Mission—Excellent

· Science, Technology, and Engineering (ST&E)—Excellent

· Operations and Infrastructure—Satisfactory

· Leadership—Good

He said the laboratory needed to score higher than “Satisfactory” in all six categories. “We did not accomplish this,” McMillan said, and therefore the contract would not meet the requirements for renewal. “Nevertheless,” he added, the federal government in preliminary discussions has offered LANS “an extension to the contract to manage the Laboratory beyond FY17.” McMillan said he would have more details about these developments after the new year.

Los Alamos, which has an annual budget of about $2.2 billion, has suffered a number of difficulties in the recent years, culminating in its role in shipping a nuclear waste canister that erupted at the underground waste repository at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in southern New Mexico in early 2014. The site has yet to reopen. This performance assessment was LANS’ lowest rating to date, resulting in not only the loss of an extra year on the contract, but the loss of an award term from the previous year.

A major subcontractor for NNSA, who asked not to be identified, predicted the imminent probability of a low performance rating for LANL early last week. The source also predicted LANS might be given a one-year extension, to allow the new administration and newly formulated Congress to settle in after the national elections next year.

The LANS partnership consists of the University of California, Bechtel Corp., Babcock & Wilcox Co., URS Corp., and AECOM.

SRNS Award Fee Totals Nearly $40M

Y-12 Lithium Production Faces Additional Scrutiny

The future of lithium production at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant in Tennessee has again come under scrutiny with the release of an audit report by the Department of Energy Inspector General’s Office that cites many of the concerns raised earlier this year by the Government Accountability Office.

Y-12 is the sole source of purified lithium-6 for use in weapons components, but the growing demand for use in refurbishing weapons and the changes in production capabilities have elevated the discussion and put pressure on the National Nuclear Security Administration to take action.

In 2012, Y-12 shut down the lithium-purification processes that had been used for decades to meet the defense needs of the U.S. nuclear weapons program. That move at the time was viewed as part of the government’s efforts to improve efficiencies in the post-Cold War era, as Y-12 introduced a new Direct Material Manufacture program to take care of the lithium needs.

However, the IG report said the DMM could not meet the production projections because there wasn’t enough source material and because the DMM has some limiting requirements.

Y-12 reportedly intended to mesh the DMM program with defense needs by qualifying as many as 11 weapon systems, but that hasn’t worked as planned, according to the IG report. That is because each of those systems must be qualified individually by one of the designs labs – either Los Alamos or Lawrence Livermore. That’s not expected to be completed until at least 2017.

As of June 2015, only three of the weapon systems had been qualified for use in the Direct Material Manufacturing program, the report stated.

The situation is further clouded by the deteriorating condition of the 70-year-old home to lithium work at Y-12. The facility known as Beta-2 has housed both the traditional lithium work as well as the DMM. The IG auditor criticized Y-12 for not maintaining the facility, citing safety problems – such as chunks of concrete falling from the ceiling – and a large backlog in maintenance tasks, with 233 jobs reportedly waiting to be accomplished at a projected cost of $19.4 million.

Y-12 is reportedly pursuing two strategies to deal with the lithium uncertainties, one of which is tied to a proposed new facility for lithium production. It could cost as much as $646 million. The plant contractor is also looking at ways to address the potential lithium shortfall for the near term (before the new production facility comes online around 2025) by evaluating advanced technologies or possibly outsourcing some of the work to commercial entities.

Boeing, Lockheed: Air Force Choice Of Northrop Bomber A ‘Flawed’ Decision

Boeing and Lockheed Martin said late last month that the Air Force’s decision to have Northrop Grumman build the long-range strike bomber (LRS-B) was “fundamentally flawed.” The losing team on Dec. 17 filed a 133-page brief with the Government Accountability Office (GAO) detailing further its contention that Northrop was not the best and most economical choice to build the aircraft.

Boeing then announced that it and Lockheed would continue with the protest, on which the GAO must rule by Feb. 14. The brief was the team’s official response to a filing in early December by the Air Force in answer to the initial protest.

“Yesterday, The Boeing Company filed with the GAO its 133-page brief in response to the Air Force’s filing, in the company’s protest of the Air Force’s selection of the Nation’s next-generation Long Range Strike Bomber,” the company said in a Dec. 18 statement. “The Boeing and Lockheed Martin team believe that the Air Force’s selection process was irreparably flawed and therefore have decided to continue with their protest before the GAO.”

Northrop, meanwhile, has been ordered to halt all production work on its LRS-B design while the protest is decided. That has not dampened the company’s spirits. It has launched a series of self-congratulatory events at its installations nationwide, one of which was held Dec. 18 at the company’s campus in McLean, Va., outside Washington, D.C.

The contract awarded to Northrop has two parts: a fixed-price contract with incentives for reducing cost for 21 aircraft in five lots. The average unit flyaway cost for the contract is $511 million in 2010 dollars for a total of 100 bombers. That translates to $564 million per bomber in fiscal year 2016 dollars. The entire scope of work for the entire required fleet is estimated to be worth $80 billion.

Despite Protest, Northrop Grumman Continues Bomber Contract Victory Tour

Northrop Grumman cannot say much about its preparation for production of the Air Force’s Long-Range Strike Bomber (LRS-B) because of a pending protest and the highly classified nature of the program. But the company is not missing the chance to pat itself on the back for being chosen by the Air Force to take on the $80 billion contract.

The company has embarked on a series of celebratory events at various facilities across the nation to celebrate its achievement and congratulate employees associated with the program. One of the brief events was held Dec. 18 at Northrop Grumman’s relatively new campus in McLean, Va., with state and national legislators in attendance. CEO Wes Bush said the Air Force affirmed its commitment to technological superiority by choosing Northrop Grumman.

“It was an amazing decision because it sends a message–a huge message–that the Air Force is absolutely committed to technological superiority for the long term,” Bush said. “That’s what we’re talking about here: A very long-term program that is at the center of our national security.”

“We actually are the only company that has the experience necessary to do this job,” Bush said Friday. “No one else has 35 years of advanced stealth capability. That is Northrop Grumman.”

Losing competitors Lockheed Martin and Boeing disagree with that assessment, as evidenced by the protest the companies filed as a team with the Government Accountability Office (GAO) in early November.

In a joint statement at the time, the companies called the selection process “fundamentally flawed” and said the cost evaluation performed by the Air Force did not properly reward the contractors’ proposals to break the “upward-spiraling historical cost curves of defense acquisitions.” The two companies also said the Air Force did not properly value the relative or comparative risk of the competitors’ ability to perform, as required by the solicitation.

GAO’s decision is due Feb. 16, 100 days from the protest filing.

Los Alamos Develops New Nuke Blast Detection Method

The Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) said last month it has combined seismic and gas-flow models to create a new method to detect underground nuclear explosions. This method offers “a more complete picture of how an explosion’s evidence (radionuclide gases) seep to the surface,” LANL said. Radionuclide gases produced by underground nuclear testing may travel to the surface through the fractures created in rock by an explosion’s shock waves. A “hydrodynamic rock damage/gas transport model” therefore helps observe “atmospheric pumping of gas through explosion-fractured rock,” according to the lab.

Previous approaches involved gas flow models without the explosion rock fracture element, LANL said, but researchers found that “simplified fracture models … did not provide the directionally dependent information—that is, whether the gas moved horizontally or upwards through the rock.”

The lab’s new method helps identify “how much gas may be migrating horizontally away from the location of underground explosions using knowledge about atmospheric conditions … and seasonal variabilities in different regions.” The model, meant to be applied to nuclear explosion monitoring, features potential applications for “other geophysical systems that produce fractures with subsequent flow, such as hydraulic fracturing for fossil fuels, wastewater injection, mine explosions and damaged rock zones around excavations,” LANL said.

LANL Air Quality Permit Appeal Rejected

The Los Alamos National Laboratory’s renewed air quality permit last month withstood a challenge from several nongovernmental entities. The National Nuclear Security Administration facility and its state regulator, the New Mexico Environment Department, persuaded the state Environmental Improvement Board to deny the appeal to the NMED approval from February 2015.

The petitioners sought additional conditions in the permit, focusing on a category of contaminants that do not amount to a “significant” hazard under Title V of the federal Clean Air Act, having to do with air quality for site operations. While there are no regulations for “insignificant” sources in the statutes, the national program requires operating permits for major sources (such as carbon monoxide or asphalt dust), which are defined as those with the potential to emit more than 100 tons per year. Lower limits are allowed for minor sources and combinations of minor sources, and stricter requirements imposed for designated hazardous air pollutants.

The petitioners asked for additional monitoring for certain LANL sites that were not covered under the permit. Under the rules of the administrative hearing, the burden of proof for authorizing such requirements was on them.

“They fail to cite any case law or other legal authority which says the department has the authority to add these conditions to the permit,” said NMED co-counsel John Verheul in his opening statement. “So procedurally the petitioners have not made the case they are required to make by regulation. Procedure aside, the reason that no applicable law has been cited is that none exists.”

Nearly a year after NMED issued a new five-year permit governing air quality at LANL, the board unanimously denied the petition by Tewa Women United, an intertribal women’s group, represented by Kathy Sanchez of San Ildefonso pueblo; Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety, a Santa Fe nonprofit, represented by Joni Arends; and Dr. Maureen Merritt, a physician and occupational medicine practitioner.

Livermore Seeking Architectural Engineering Contractor

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is seeking a contractor for architectural engineering and construction management services, according to a solicitation posted last month. Services to be provided include “architectural-engineering, procurement and construction management services and skilled construction craft labor, supervisory and safety personnel, associated support services, materials, equipment and possible subcontracted work to execute replacement of heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems throughout the NNSA complex,” the notice says. The services are worth an estimated $10 million annually for five years and bids must be submitted by Jan. 15, 2016.

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Weapons Complex Vol. 26 No. 32
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Weapons Complex Monitor

Article 2 of 14

August 28, 2015

While We Were Out…

By Jeremy Dillon

AECOM Acknowledges Federal Investigations at Hanford

Government contractor AECOM has acknowledged several federal investigations of affiliate companies doing work in the cleanup of the Hanford Site in Washington state. According to the company’s 10-Q report filed last week with the Securities and Exchange Commission, “the federal government is conducting an investigation into our affiliate, URS Energy & Construction, a subcontractor on the Waste Treatment Plant, regarding contractual compliance and various technical issues in the design, development and construction of the Waste Treatment Plant.” The federal government is also probing “the circumstances surrounding the response of our joint venture, Washington River Protection Solutions LLC, to a leak within the tank farms of the Hanford nuclear reservation.”

URS Energy & Construction is further dealing with two whistleblower claims for restitution on the basis of “alleged retaliation and wrongful termination,” according to the 10-Q. “URS Energy and Construction, Washington River Protection Solutions LLC and Washington Closure Hanford LLC dispute these investigations and claims and intend to continue to defend these matters vigorously,” AECOM said. The document did not provide additional details of the investigations. AECOM and Washington River Protection Solutions had not responded to requests for comment by press time Monday. There was also no immediate statement from the Department of Energy, which is overseeing cleanup at Hanford, or the Environmental Protection Agency.

Millions of gallons of waste produced during former nuclear-weapon operations at Hanford are ultimately expected to be processed by the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP). The Tri-City Herald reported last week that radioactive waste is seeping out of a single-shell storage tank at the site, while waste is also leaking between shells of a separate double-shell storage container. AECOM last year bought URS, and is a joint owner with Energy Solutions of Washington River Protection Solutions. Through URS, it is a joint owner with Bechtel and CH2M Hill of Washington Closure Hanford. Last week, AECOM reached a $4.1 million settlement with whistleblower Walter Tamosaitis, who said he lost his job with URS after warning of safety issues with the WTP.

Savannah River Site Deals With Possible Security Threat

The Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site (SRS) on Monday was responding to a possible security threat after electronic and canine scans of a vendor delivery truck indicated a possibility of explosive residue on the truck. Law enforcement agencies from South Carolina and Georgia found no explosive residue or device on the truck after an investigation, and an all clear was given and the site returned to normal activities at 5:52 p.m., SRS said in a release. Last week, authorities filed DUI charges against a Georgia man who drove through two SRS security gates before his vehicle crashed into a tree and overturned, the Standard reported. The SRS is home to the Savannah River National Laboratory and a number of other facilities that work with nuclear material. H Area houses the H-Canyon Complex, which primarily processes excess highly enriched uranium and research reactor fuel for ultimate use as commercial reactor fuel.

DOE Stays Committed to New Schedule for SRS Salt Waste Processor

The Department of Energy said it is committed to meeting its new schedule for building and starting work at the Savannah River Site’s Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF). “The Department recognizes the past challenges with the construction of the Salt Waste Processing Facility and have worked with Parsons, the contractor on the project, to address the issues,” James Giusti, Savannah River Site spokesman, said in a written statement last week. “Under the new revised schedule, construction is expected to be completed by the December 2016 with startup of the facility targeted for December 2018. We continue to diligently oversee the construction activities to ensure that it meets the new schedule.” The statement followed the release of a DOE Inspector General’s Office report that found the facility has exceeded its original $900 million budget by $1.4 billion and should begin operations about 10 years later than initially planned. Roughly 37 million gallons of high-level radioactive waste produced during former nuclear-weapon manufacturing operations are stored at the Savannah River Site. The SWPF would be used to process crystallized salts that are created through conversion of the waste, which is a current means of providing a sufficient, safe amount of space in the underground storage tanks.

Savannah River Operator to Pay $235K for Wage Discrimination

The Savannah River Site’s contract manager has agreed to pay nearly $235,000 to 72 workers following claims that female and black employees received unfair pay levels, the Department of Labor announced last week. Savannah River Nuclear Solutions also intends to reassess its employee policies, according to a press release. The Labor Department’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs determined that SRNS “discriminated against women in some engineering, technical and administrative positions,” according to the release. “The review also determined that African Americans were underpaid in certain operation specialist positions.” The money covers back pay from 2009 to 2010 for 57 female workers who received lower pay than their male peers and 15 black workers who made less than their white peers. This would be a violation of Executive Order 11246, which prohibits federal contractors from any form of compensation discrimination based on gender or race.

SRNS has also agreed to “evaluate whether promotion decisions, performance evaluation ratings, procedures for assigning work, training opportunities, leave policies, assigning applicants to jobs, and limiting job transfers have a negative effect on compensation of women and African Americans,” the Labor Department said. “Savannah River will also develop new policies to eliminate practices that affect compensation of women and African Americans adversely. The company will conduct an annual compensation analysis during the term of the conciliation agreement. If the analysis shows systemic race- or gender-based pay disparities, Savannah will increase the salaries of women and African Americans.”

SRS Salt Waste Processing Facility $1.4B Over Original Budget

Construction of the Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF) at the Savannah River Site is expected to cost $1.4 billion more than originally planned and should open roughly a decade later than anticipated, the Department of Energy’s Inspector General’s Office said in a report released Wednesday. The South Carolina installation stores 37 million gallons of high-level radioactive waste produced during former nuclear-weapon manufacturing operations. As a means of ensuring that the underground storage tanks have a sufficient, safe amount of space, evaporation is used to convert the waste into crystallized salts that ultimately must be processed.

The SWPF was intended to serve that purpose, at a cost of $900 million, starting in 2009, according to an Aug. 6 memo from Rickey Hass, DOE deputy inspector general for audits and inspections. He reported that the estimated expense of the full project has risen to $2.3 billion. In addition, “construction is currently only 84 percent complete and the remaining 16 percent of construction activity is significantly more complex. The estimated construction completion date has been pushed back to April 2016, and the Department recently announced that operations would not commence until the first quarter of FY 2019, at the earliest,” according to Hass.

He noted a number of likely reasons for both the schedule delays and price hikes. Among them were defective welds that had to be repaired in SWPF drain line pipes and “significant initial delays in project construction” tied to adding a confinement barrier to prevent the escape of radioactive materials in the event of an earthquake or other natural event. In addition, budget issues have prevented an operational interim salt waste processing plant from operating at its base 3 million gallons annual capacity. Projections called for the facility to process 1.3 million gallons annually from fiscal 2014 to 2018, but the plant only reached 551,000 gallons last year.

The IG report urges the DOE Office of Environmental Management to ensure the interim processing plant has sufficient funding to continue operating in fiscal 2016, and to keep it on standby as needed to support the SWPF beginning in fiscal 2019. The office should also look in fiscal 2021 at finishing work on a suspended supplemental processing facility “to provide optionality if SWPF has operating issues,” Hass said.

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Nuclear Security & Deterrence Vol. 19 No. 32
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Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor

Article 2 of 18

August 28, 2015

While We Were Out…

By Brian Bradley

Red Team: MOX Plant Has Greater Cost Risk than Downblending

The Red Team ordered in June by Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz to recommend a best path forward for disposing of excess U.S. plutonium has found that the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility runs a greater risk of cost growth than the primary alternative— downblending, or the “dilute-and-dispose method.” While the report does not appear to explicitly recommend a best disposition path, it seems to favor downblending in many areas, outlining several prospective security- and cost-related benefits the method could provide. "The Red Team has issued its report, which DOE has received and is in the process of reviewing,” DOE spokesman Bart Jackson wrote in an email to NS&D Monitor on Aug. 21. “The Red Team states that even the best case scenario for the MOX approach would be significantly more expensive and riskier than the worst case scenario for the Dilute and Dispose approach.”

The nature of the risks associated with the two options puts the MOX approach at greater risk of cost growth throughout its life cycle, states the Aug. 13 final report, which has not been made public but was obtained by NS&D Monitor last week. “Since the technology for Dilute and Dispose is so much simpler, and the overall disposition process so much less complex, the most significant risks associated with this approach could be retired early, as issues associated with WIPP restart and potential expansion and the PMDA [Plutonium Management and Disposition Agreement] are strategized and addressed during a protracted planning phase[.]”

Sealed in 2000, the PMDA requires the U.S. and Russia to each dispose of 34 metric tons of excess weapon-usable plutonium by converting it into MOX fuel or any other method that the parties might agree to in the future in writing.

The report evaluates how both approaches would perform in the categories of technical viability, ability to meet international commitments, “regulatory and other issues,” and cost effectiveness. Scoring for each category ranges from three negative tallies to three positive tallies, and is based on favorable operational and cost scenarios for MOX and downblending. Chaired by Oak Ridge National Laboratory Director Thom Mason, the Red Team marked three negative tallies for MOX cost effectiveness, compared with two positive tallies for downblending. The 20-member team of nuclear experts concluded the plutonium could be processed into MOX nuclear reactor fuel within a “reasonable timeframe” if the government provides $700 million to $800 million in annual funding for construction of the MOX plant in South Carolina and concurrent development of feed production and fuel qualification systems—through approximately 2025—and if the funding continued for longer-term operational feed and fuel production activities, “perhaps into the mid 2040s.”

The report says downblending could be supported through $400 million in yearly funding—a roughly $55 million annual boost over current appropriated levels for MOX—over a time frame similar to the MOX option. Additionally, the report suggests that, contrary to the MOX approach, downblending would potentially offer more opportunities to “significantly reduce” the duration and life cycle cost of disposition. Savings from downblending could include an optimized feed production scenario matching the rate at which diluted material is expected to be produced, enhancing the plutonium load per shipped container, and “shifting from a dilution approach to a sterilization approach, providing it proves feasible,” the report notes. “However the latent $1B economic value of MOX fuel would not be realized under the Dilute and Dispose option,” the report states.

The House version of the fiscal 2016 Energy and Water Appropriations Act fully funds the President’s $345 million request for MOX. With construction and life-cycle costs rising, the administration tried to put the project in cold standby last year, but Congress blocked the move, requiring construction to continue. CB&I AREVA MOX estimates construction on the MOX plant is about 70 percent complete.

The Red Team added: “Given the relatively advanced state of design, equipment procurement, and construction achieved to date, the Red Team did not identify any [MOX] facility scope changes/reductions or process modifications that would appreciably decrease the project costs without introducing technical or regulatory risks as substantial offsets. There are no obvious ‘silver bullets’ for [life cycle cost] reduction[.]” However, the team noted that it did not substantially investigate the cost implications that removal of process-generated impurities in spent fuel would have on the MOX option, yet said elimination of such impurities could allow the facility to cease certain operations, potentially resulting in huge operational cost savings.

The report states that diluting the plutonium and disposing of it at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico would provide protection from material theft, diversion, or reuse in nuclear weapons, meeting the “Spent-Fuel Standard” (SFS) for plutonium disposition, established in a 1994 study by the National Academy of Sciences. The report also “recognizes that this assertion will ultimately be subject to agreement with the Russians, and that the decision will be as much political as technical.”

The report notes one positive tally for MOX’s ability to meet international commitments and one negative tally for downblending in this area. MOX would meet U.S. SFS commitments outlined in the PMDA but would not meet the rough, expected time frame for the agreement. The PMDA does not establish a firm deadline for plutonium disposition, but calls for the U.S. and Russia to “proceed in parallel to the extent practicable,” according to a State Department PMDA fact sheet. Russia has fabricated fuel on a limited basis and is constructing and modifying the necessary facilities to produce MOX fuel at levels required to meet the PMDA’s disposition rate. While the report says plutonium downblending “does not meet the letter of the PMDA,” because the agreement does not list the method as an acceptable option, it also states that method could be permitted through a new written agreement. “PMDA will need to renew negotiations anyway as the timeline will not be met,” the report states.

The report also scores the MOX project’s ability to meet international commitments as one positive tally, noting no significant issues with Nuclear Regulatory Commission licensing of the MOX facility, yet notes that the approach could face a dual regulation issue if the National Nuclear Security Administration adds requirements to NRC licensing mandates. The study scores the downblending approach’s ability to meet international commitments as one negative tally, because of persisting WIPP restart issues following a 2014 fire and subsequent radiation release, along with the fact that National Environmental Policy Act adjustments would be needed to allow the full PMDA-defined amount to be disposed at WIPP.

The report gives one positive tally for MOX’s technical viability and three positive tallies for downblending, describing several variables, including that both approaches would use proven technology. The NRC has put “very tight controls” on the MOX plant, which could threaten throughput, and the automation element of that approach brings operational and facility availability risks. On the other hand, downblending involves no complex equipment, allowing for “relatively easy” maintenance and replacement of tools and materials, according to the report. Additionally, plutonium downblending could begin at a low throughput within months of starting the project but would only count toward the 34 metric ton obligation after International Atomic Energy Agency inspection has been done, according to the report.

NNSA Working to Increase Funding to ‘Halt the Growth of Deferred Maintenance’

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is seeking greater funding to address its $3.6 billion backlog of deferred maintenance projects, spokeswoman Shelley Laver told NS&D Monitor in reference to two Government Accountability Office (GAO) reports released in the past several weeks on the Department of Energy (DOE) branch’s nuclear enterprise modernization budget estimates. A GAO report issued earlier this month found that NNSA’s deferred maintenance backlog will likely grow because the agency’s budgeting falls below DOE benchmarks dictating the NNSA’s annual maintenance budget to be “at least 2 percent” of the replacement plant value at each of the sites in the nuclear security enterprise “in order to keep facilities in good working order.” Laver said the GAO’s assessment “is correct,” but that due to a “constrained budget environment” NNSA “spends about 1.4 [percent] of [replacement plant value] for maintenance.”

“However, NNSA is working to increase funding to more closely align with DOE’s benchmark, halt the growth of deferred maintenance, and arrest the declining state of NNSA infrastructure,” Laver said by email. The August report notes that deferring maintenance at NNSA’s aging facilities “can reduce the overall life of federal facilities, lead to higher costs in the long term, and pose risks to safety and agencies’ missions.” The report says the NNSA’s 2015 25-year modernization budget estimate has increased by $17.6 billion, or 6.4 percent, since last year.

DOE: Aging Equipment Causing Fire-Related Vulnerabilities at National Labs

Aging fire suppression system equipment leaves the Department of Energy’s (DOE) national nuclear laboratories vulnerable to greater fire-related risks, according to a DOE Office of Enterprise Assessments review released earlier this month. DOE’s nuclear facilities “generally do not have enough inherent energy to release or disperse a significant amount of radiological material,” the report says, but “a fire can provide this energy,” placing at risk “workers, the public, and the environment.” The Aug. 14 review of fire protection programs in facilities at labs including the Los Alamos National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and Y-12 National Security Complex, found that “the most significant vulnerability” at some sites “is the impact of age related degradation on the reliability of equipment that supplies water to nuclear facility fire suppression systems.” Upgrades to the fire suppression water systems at many facilities “have not been comprehensive enough to fully address the vulnerabilities,” the report says, while “at some sites, upgrades have not been initiated or have been deferred.” The report also cites “occurrence data from DOE facilities” showing “many water supply line breaks and leaks within the past few years,” some of which “resulted in performance degradation of safety related fire protection systems and interruption of facility mission.”

The review also identified weaknesses in the interactions between DOE site offices and site contractors, including some cases in which “the site office did not require formal deliverables in response to issues identified by its assessments,” as well as “inadequacies in design, installation, maintenance, testing, or technical bases of fire protection systems for some nuclear facilities.” It recommends “conducting extent of condition assessments and tracking status of the reliability of the aging water supply infrastructures for fire protection systems” to address equipment vulnerabilities. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) spokeswoman Shelley Laver told NS&D Monitor by email, “It is true that some of the fire protection systems throughout the NNSA complex are old and obsolete; we continue to monitor the fire protection systems closely and take prompt action to put our activities into safe and stable configurations when we detect a problem, age-related or otherwise.” Laver added, “Within a constrained budget environment, NNSA is aggressively working to replace these systems and have several projects underway or completed in [fiscal] 2015.”

LANL Facility on Cold Standby Due to Roof Issues

The Los Alamos National Laboratory’s (LANL) Waste Characterization, Reduction, and Repackaging Facility (WCRRF), which is used to decontaminate and repackage transuranic waste, remains in “cold standby mode” following the discovery of between 8 and 10 inches of standing water on the roof of the structure, according to a Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) site representative report released earlier this month. After finding water on the roof, lab personnel “requested a priority maintenance response,” the July 17 report says. As a result of the incident, discussions at the facility highlighted the lack of “preventive maintenance routines” for the roof and previously uncompleted maintenance efforts, including “a work order for corrective maintenance to repair the leaking roof in October 2014” that was “never finalized,” and “a separate effort to replace the roof” that was “cancelled due to conflicting construction in the area,” the report says. It notes that management “is working to replace or repair the roof, initiating additional repairs for damage to the drywall ceiling, increase the frequency of rounds while in COLD STANDBY, and starting qualification processes to increase the number of operators for these rounds to more than one.”

DOE: LANL’s Plutonium Facility Ventilation and Confinement Systems Reliable, But Some Procedures Weak

The safety significant and safety class ventilation and confinement systems used at the Los Alamos National Laboratory’s (LANL) Technical Area 55 (TA-55) plutonium facility to mitigate the risk of accidental radioactive material release are generally reliable but exhibit some shortcomings in internal procedures and management, according to a Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Enterprise Assessments review released earlier this month. The Aug. 7 review found that the ventilation and confinement systems at the PF-4, the main plutonium processing facility (some operations of which are currently on hiatus), “have demonstrated a high level of reliability in recent years, despite the age of most of the equipment.” The confinement function, the report says, “is essential for mitigating accident consequences,” particularly in case of “accidental release of radioactive material.”

The report notes that TA-55 “has a mature and effective maintenance program” and the “PF-4 ventilation systems are well maintained,” but that “many of the PF-4 Safety [structures, systems and components] are beyond their design life expectancy.” Some of these components “in some cases are obsolete and replacement parts can no longer be obtained,” it says. The report says the lab is working “to upgrade and revitalize” these structures, systems, and components “through the multiple phases of the TA-55 Re-Investment Project,” which is meant to extend the life of the facility. The assessment also found that due to issues with technical safety requirement procedure implementation, “there is no assurance that the untested functions of the safety related ventilation system will perform as expected to mitigate the consequences of analyzed accidents.” It further cited issues “in the training and qualification of equipment operators, maintenance personnel, and key managers and supervisors.” LANL seeks to resume operations at PF-4 by the end of fiscal 2016 after criticality safety issues shut down some of its operations in 2013.

Tech Seller to Pay $5.9M to Settle Allegations of Sandia Computer Price Inflation

Technology Integration Group (TIG) will pay $5.9 million to the U.S. government in a civil settlement following claims “that the company inflated the price of computers sold through another company to the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) for use at Sandia National Laboratories,” the U.S. Department of Justice announced earlier this month. The claims against TIG were raised under False Claims Act whistleblower provisions, the announcement says.

The announcement says that over the course of a decade ending in 2013, “TIG sold Dell computers to Sandia Corporation for resale to the United States under Sandia’s contract with the NNSA” and “knowingly inflated the amounts it charged Sandia by failing to give credits for rebates and discounts it received from Dell as required by its contract and causing false claims to the government for the inflated prices.” The settlement comes on the heels of an April 2015 non-prosecution agreement between TIG and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Mexico after three TIG employees allegedly “engaged in a scheme to defraud the United States by inflating the amounts it charged Sandia for computers,” the announcement says. In this instance, TIG was required to “terminate the employment of the three employees in its Albuquerque branch office” and “retain and pay for an independent monitor selected by the U.S. Attorney’s Office” to monitor its compliance with the agreement, it adds.

Joyce Connery Appointed DNFSB Chair

President Barack Obama has appointed Department of Energy veteran Joyce Connery as chair of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB), the DNFSB announced earlier this month. Connery, who most recently served as director of nuclear energy policy in the National Security Council’s Office of International Economics, was confirmed by Congress as a DNFSB member earlier this month, the announcement says. She was appointed chair on Aug. 10 for a term lasting to Oct. 18, 2019.

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RadWaste Vol. 8 No. 32
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RadWaste Monitor

Article 9 of 10

August 28, 2015

While We Were Out…

By Jeremy Dillon

Jeremy L. Dillon
RW Monitor
8/28/2014

Protest Emerges in Luckey Contract

Navarro Research and Engineering on Aug. 17 filed a protest to Portage’s contract win for remediation work at the Army Corps of Engineers’ Luckey site. The contract for environmental remediation services and ancillary construction to support the cleanup at the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP) site in Ohio is worth up to $100 million over 10 years, with a five-year base period and one five-year option. The Corps set aside the new contract for small businesses, and the task order is identified as an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract with a single award task order contract, which will be issued on a cost-reimbursable and firm fixed price basis. A spokesperson from the Army Corps’ Buffalo District said last month that Portage secured the award because it “represented the best value to the government.” Navarro declined to comment on the basis of its protest.

Idaho May Be on Deadline For Research SNF Decision

Idaho has two months to make a decision on whether to allow the Department of Energy to ship additional spent nuclear fuel intended for research at the Idaho National Laboratory, according to a letter sent to Idaho Gov. Butch Otter by the Idaho Department of Commerce Director Jeff Sayer. According to the letter, current Acting Assistant Secretary for the Office of Nuclear Energy John Kotek recently visited the state and highlighted the importance of the research. “[Kotek] indicated the research projects proposed for Idaho are a high priority for his office – high enough priority that in the case of the shipment scheduled for 2016, if Idaho is unable to make a final determination he will be forced to send the research to another national lab,” the letter said. “In fact, Mr. Kotek was clear in stating Idaho has two more months to resolve our issues in order to secure the 2016 shipment of research fuel. Prior conversations with DOE regarding the research projects have always been overshadowed with the concern Idaho could lose the research if we were unable to resolve our concerns. Mr. Kotek’s comments remove ambiguity from this issue and clearly state that what was an earlier speculation is now a definitive reality.”

According to a senior DOE official, the Department has not issued any definitive decision deadlines on the state, but an internal clock within DOE is ticking on whether the Department needs to find a new location to conduct the research. Controversy erupted earlier this year when DOE sought a waiver that would allow research quantities of spent nuclear fuel into Idaho, but Idaho officials would only allow it if cleanup milestones at Idaho National Laboratory were met. The fuel shipments would be necessary to support Department’s high burnup fuel study, conducted by the Electric Power Research Institute. The research is aimed at better understanding the effects of high burn-up fuel aging on dry storage cask systems and to support DOE’s ongoing research and development to advance understanding of the long-term aging of spent fuel.

Idaho Senator Backs Research SNF Shipments

Idaho Sen. Jim Risch (R) voiced support for shipping spent nuclear fuel into the state for research at the Idaho National Laboratory, according to local reports. Risch’s endorsement comes as the state appears to be on deadline to decide whether it wants to host the material. “If this isn’t done here at the lab in Idaho, it is going to be done somewhere in America,” Risch said, according to the Idaho Falls Post Register. “And I guarantee you, there are several labs that would very much like to have this work, and hope it will lead to additional work. But we’re ready to do it here, and it needs to be done here.” He later added, “This is not rocket science. This isn’t even a very difficult executive branch problem. This can be done.”

Vermont Sues NRC for Vermont Yankee Trust Fund Exemption

The state of Vermont has filed a federal lawsuit against the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for authorizing Entergy to pull resources from its decommissioning trust fund for the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in order to pay for spent fuel management and other preliminary decommissioning costs. Vermont argued in its suit, filed in the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on Aug. 13, that the NRC did not give the state the opportunity to participate in the exemption approval process. “The Commission acted arbitrarily, abused its discretion, and violated the Atomic Energy Act, the Administrative Procedure Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act in approving the exemptions and failing to provide an opportunity for Petitioners to participate in the process,” the state’s petition for review said. “Petitioners respectfully request that this Court review the Commission’s decision, vacate that decision, and remand the matter to the Commission.”

Vermont has opposed any use of the decommissioning trust fund for spent fuel management costs due to its effect on the fund’s ability to accrue interest, thus delaying the start date of active decommissioning. Because Vermont Yankee closed prematurely in 2014, Entergy opted for the SAFSTOR method of decommissioning, which enables up to 60 years of inactivity before major decommissioning work begins, so as to allow the trust fund to accrue the necessary capital to cover the cost of the effort. Vermont and Entergy, though, reached an agreement in late 2013 that said the utility would start decommissioning activities as soon as the fund had enough money— a date that would be pushed further back should Entergy tap into the account. The NRC has granted similar decommissioning trust fund exemptions at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station in Southern California and the Kewaunee Power Station in Wisconsin.

Michigan Delegation Plans Legislation Against Canadian DGR

Members of Michigan’s congressional delegation are taking stronger steps to ensure an international organization charged with overseeing the Great Lakes intervenes in Ontario Power Generation’s proposed deep geologic repository. Sens. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and Gary Peters (D-Mich.), along with Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Mich.), announced legislation, entitled the “Stop Nuclear Waste by Our Lakes Act,” which would mandate that the International Joint Commission (IJC) study the risks to the Great Lakes posed by the OPG’s planned DGR. The bill would also require the State Department to undertake negotiations with the Government of Canada to wait for the study results before approving any waste site. “Our Great Lakes face many tough challenges,” Stabenow said in a statement. “This treaty provides an important mechanism for studying and resolving disputes with Canada over our shared waters. Given what is at stake, invoking this treaty to require a thorough review by the International Joint Commission and a process to resolve this critical issue is a reasonable solution.”

The proposed repository would be located beneath OPG’s Bruce nuclear facility in Kincardine, Ont. OPG plans on storing low and intermediate waste from its Bruce, Pickering, and Darlington power stations at the proposed repository, which would be located 680 meters (approximately 744 yards) below the surface in an isolated rock formation of shale and limestone. The project has drawn the ire of citizens on both sides of the border because of its proximity to the Great Lakes, one of the world’s largest sources of fresh water. The Michigan delegation has tried to intervene in the past through letters to the State Department and resolutions in Congress, but so far, their efforts have not proved successful.

WCS Suffers Operating Loss in 2Q Amid Shipping Problems

Waste Control Specialists suffered an $8.1 million operating loss in the second quarter of 2015, WCS’ parent company, Valhi Inc., announced. Valhi attributed the operating loss to the shortage of available hazardous waste shipping containers in the second half of the second quarter. “Disposal volumes for the second quarter of 2015 were negatively impacted by availability of certain classifications of hazardous waste shipping containers to us during the latter part of the second quarter,” Valhi said in an earnings release. The lack of shipping containers also affected already- delayed shipments from generator sites that were adversely impacted by severe winter weather in the first quarter of 2015, which had been scheduled for the second quarter, the company said. As a result, WCS recorded an operating loss of $11 million for the first six months of the year— better, though, than the $13.5 million operating loss in the same period last year.

In an effort to solve the shipping container shortage, the radioactive waste and disposal specialist contracted to obtain two additional shipping containers. “In July 2015 we entered into an exclusive leasing arrangement to secure a dedicated access to two such containers and we continue to seek alternative suppliers to increase availability,” Valhi said in its earnings report. WCS thought it had solved its shipping container troubles last year after it obtained three shipping containers from Robatel Technologies capable of shipping waste up to Class C. In its first-quarter earnings report, Valhi had predicted a profitable year for WCS, but these shipping problems most likely have derailed that prediction.

Centrus Reports Net Loss in Second Quarter

Centrus Energy Corp. reported a net loss of $15.1 million for the second quarter of 2015, an improvement from the $28 million net loss the company suffered during the same period in 2014. Gross profit increased by $800,000 year over year during the second quarter and by $28.6 million in the first half of 2015, the company said. The enriched uranium supplier attributed those changes to the winding down of the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant. “While we are in the early stages of our fresh start following reorganization and still have a lot of work to do, we believe the company is on the right trajectory,” Centrus President and CEO Daniel Poneman said in a statement. “Our second quarter results reflect our declining costs, improving margins, and actions to manage our order book effectively.”

For the full-year 2015 outlook, Centrus predicted in its earnings announcement a cash balance in the range of $175 million to $200 million. Centrus also reiterated its plans to “deliver significantly less separative work units (SWU) to customers than the approximately 8 million SWU delivered in 2013.”: “During 2014, we delivered approximately 3 million SWU, and we expect to deliver approximately 2 million SWU in 2015. We will also continue to execute our contract with ORNL to conduct research, development and demonstration of the American Centrifuge technology under the terms of the ACTDO Agreement.” Centrus has scheduled an Aug. 26 conference call to discuss the second-quarter results with investors.

International Isotopes Reports Another Net Loss

International Isotopes posted another quarterly net loss for the second quarter of 2015, although its performance improved from the same period of last year, the company announced. International Isotopes reported a net loss of $447,492 in the second quarter, compared to $528,298 for second-quarter 2014. Revenue for the three months ended June 30, 2015, was $1,580,376, a 13 percent drop from $1,808,581 for the same period in 2014, according to the cobalt-60 product and radiological field services specialist.

According to International Isotopes President and CEO Steve Laflin, the quarter results were greatly affected by an interruption in cobalt production and field service activity fluctuations. “I believe we are continuing on a good path towards profitability,” Laflin said in a statement. “The interruption in cobalt production from 2012 continues to impact our cobalt segment’s revenue performance. However, with a new production contract in place with the Department of Energy and several new commercial sales contracts in place with our customers, we believe that we are on track for improved revenue performance in future years.” He added, “While the rate of field service activities has caused fluctuations in the period comparisons within the radiological services segment, I remain optimistic that a growing number of significant, contract opportunities still exist.”

Perma-Fix Awarded Decommissioning Contract

Perma-Fix Environmental Services announced the awarding of a $1 million decommissioning contract to wholly owned subsidiary Safety and Ecology Corp. The contract calls for demolition and decommissioning services at a technology development laboratory in Knoxville, Tenn., that served as an analytical and engineering laboratory for the government. Duties will include: supporting closure of the existing facility, removing any radiological materials and equipment, asbestos abatement and other universal and hazardous waste removal, demolishing the facilities, and performing site restoration activities. “This project is an excellent opportunity for us to utilize our local resources in support of closure of the facility,” Perma-Fix CEO Lou Centofanti said in a statement. “We are uniquely qualified to perform this project, and will provide our client with the advantage of a local waste management and technical services based company that facilitates the revitalization of prime real estate.”

North Dakota Agency Approves New TENORM Disposal Rules

North Dakota’s Health Council on Aug. 11 approved final rule changes that would allow for more disposal of Technologically Enhanced Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material (TENORM) in the state’s landfills. The move would increase the radiation level allowed per year from five picocuries per gram of material to 50 picocuries, which would allow for more in-state disposal compared to producers transporting the waste out of-state at high costs. The changes also require TENORM producers to register with the state’s Department of Health and mandate the waste be tracked from production to disposal. Landfills could accept up to 25,000 tons of waste per year. Before taking effect, the rules must be approved by the state attorney general and the Administrative Rules Committee of the Legislative Council, a release from the Health Council said. The proposed rules were first introduced last December, and a public comment period ended in March.

Increased oil and gas exploration in recent years, particularly in the Marcellus Shale and Bakkan Shale formations, has increased volumes of TENORM in states where that type of waste did not regularly occur. Radioactive contaminants such as uranium, thorium, and radium naturally occur within the Earth; the fracking process exposes that material to drill tailings and water, among other things, and brings it to the surface. North Dakota commissioned a study by the Argonne National Laboratory regarding the disposal of TENORM waste in the state, and researchers determined a 50 picocuries/gram disposal limit was protective of human health.

NRC Names New Executive Director of Operations

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced on Aug. 12 that Victor McCree will serve as the body’s next executive director for operations, the top career position in the agency. Current Executive Director Mark Satorius plans to retire at the end of 2015, and McCree is expected to begin his new job on Sept. 27, 2015, the NRC said. “Victor McCree is the right choice to help the agency as it addresses the challenges of a changing regulatory environment and the need to more effectively apply limited resources while still ensuring the health and safety of the public,” NRC Chairman Stephen Burns said in a statement. “His leadership experience in heading the NRC’s largest regional office (Region II) will be a tremendous asset.” McCree has been with the NRC since 1988, and since 2010 has served as regional administrator in the commission’s Atlanta office.

Nuclear Waste Strategy Coalition Appoints New Chair

The Nuclear Waste Strategy Coalition announced Sarah Hofmann, a Vermont Public Service Board member, as its new chair. Hofmann, a former director of a New England association of state utility commissioners and now a Vermont utility regulator, replaces Greg White, who has retired from the Michigan Public Service Commission. “I am excited to lead the Coalition as we push the federal government to step up and take responsibility for removing used nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste from shutdown and operating nuclear power facilities in Vermont, Maine, Minnesota, Washington, Texas, Florida, and many, many states in between,” Hofmann said in a statement. “We urge both houses of Congress to fund the Yucca Mountain license review and to authorize and fund additional actions supporting the timely removal and ultimate disposal of nuclear waste.” The NWSC also announced on Tuesday that Florida Public Service Commissioner Julie Brown would join its executive committee in a position dedicated to expanding membership.

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Weapons Complex Vol. 25 No. 32
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Weapons Complex Monitor

Article 7 of 16

August 22, 2014

While We Were Out…

By Kenny Fletcher

AECOM Facing Legal Challenges to Planned Purchase of URS

WC Monitor
8/22/2014

AECOM disclosed early this month that it is facing several legal challenges to its planned purchase of URS. The complaints allege, among other things, that some or all members of the URS board of directors breached their fiduciary duties by approving the merger, and that the other defendants aided and abetted those alleged breaches. “The complaints seek, among other relief, class certification, preliminary and permanent injunctive relief, and damages. URS and AECOM believe the lawsuits are without merit and intend to defend vigorously against them,” AECOM said in an Aug. 1 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Beginning on July 21, “five putative class action lawsuits were filed in the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware by purported URS stockholders: Falato v. URS Corp., et al., Case No. 9921; City of Atlanta Firefighters’ Pension Fund v. Creel, et al., Case No. 9924; Petroutson v. URS Corp., et al., Case No. 9938; Miller v. URS Corp., et al., Case No. 9939; and Oklahoma Police Pension & Retirement System v. Creel, et al., Case No. 9975,” according to the filing. AECOM is looking to purchase URS in a deal worth approximately $6 billion. The purchase involves AECOM acquiring all outstanding URS shares for $4 billion and assuming about $2 billion in URS debt. AECOM plans to pay $56.31 per share of URS stock, 19 percent higher than URS’ 30-day average closing price. AECOM and URS expect to complete the deal in October, and this month AECOM announced that it is moving forward in obtaining financing for the deal and that it has passed required U.S. antitrust reviews.

In a call with investors this month, AECOM President and CEO Michael Burke said the reaction to the planned acquisition of URS has been “overwhelmingly positive” from investors and clients, among others. “Some AECOM clients are telling us that they like the expanded capabilities we will be bringing to them, and URS clients are telling us that they’re excited about the expanded geographic footprint. This feedback is entirely consistent with what our strategy has always been,” Burke said. “With the highly complementary nature of our businesses, we anticipate a successful integration process. AECOM has a proven track record of acquiring companies, with a core expertise that can be delivered through our global platform.”

In its Aug. 1 SEC filing, though, AECOM noted the challenges it could face integrating URS if the purchase goes forward. “AECOM will be required to devote significant management attention and resources to integrating the business practices and operations of URS with AECOM. Due to legal restrictions, AECOM and URS have been able to conduct limited planning regarding the integration of URS into AECOM after completion of the merger and have not yet determined the exact nature of how the businesses and operations of URS will be run following the merger,” the filing says. It goes on to state, “Following the merger, the size of the business of AECOM will increase significantly beyond the current size of either AECOM’s or URS’s existing business. AECOM’s future success depends, in part, upon its ability to manage this expanded business, which will pose substantial challenges for management, including challenges related to the management and monitoring of new global operations and associated increased costs and complexity. There can be no assurances that AECOM will be successful after completion of the merger or that it will realize the expected benefits currently anticipated from the merger.”

The SEC filing also outlines the history of AECOM’s offer to purchase URS, noting that several other companies had explored either purchasing parts of URS or the entire company. Among the other companies that had expressed some interest were several private equity firms; a “publicly-listed engineering and construction company”; and a “privately held environmental services company” with a “private equity owner,” according to the filing.

Flohr Named Acting EM Budget DAS

WC Monitor
8/22/2014

Connie Flohr has been named the acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Program Planning and Budget in the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management and Barry Gaffney has been named Associate Deputy Assistant Secretary for Program Planning and Budget, acting DOE cleanup chief Mark Whitney said in a message to employees late last week. Flohr most recently served as EM’s budget director, having previously worked on EM’s Office of Strategic Planning and Analysis outyear planning team. She also has worked in DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy, as a program analyst on the Oak Ridge Site Team in the Office of Site Closure, and in the office of DOE’s Chief Financial Officer. Gaffney, a longtime veteran of DOE’s cleanup program, has served as the director of EM’s Strategic Planning and Analysis Office since November of 2011.

Moury Tapped to Formally Head up DOE Environment, Health, Safety and Security Org.

WC Monitor
8/22/2014

Department of Energy cleanup official Matt Moury will serve as DOE’s permanent Associate Under Secretary for Environment, Health, Safety and Security after heading up the newly created office in an acting capacity for the last six months, Deputy Under Secretary for Management and Performance David Klaus said in an Aug. 7 message to employees. Steve Kirchhoff will serve as Moury’s deputy, Klaus said.

The Office of Environment, Health, Safety and Security was created when the Office of Health, Safety and Security was reorganized, and Moury was brought in from DOE’s Office of Environmental Management to aid the transition. He previously served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Safety, Security and Quality Programs in EM. Kirchhoff came from within the former HSS organization, having previously served as its Director of the Office of Resource Management. “Matt and Steve have provided excellent leadership in establishing the Office of Environment, Health, Safety and Security, and guiding the organization through the transition,” Klaus said. “We look forward to their continued strong leadership now that they are no longer acting in these positions.”

Perma-Fix Continues String of Poor Financial Results

WC Monitor
8/22/2014

Perma-Fix Environmental Services reported an operating loss of $2.1 million for the second quarter of 2014, the company announced earlier this month. The company had high hopes in the beginning of the year for a profitable year, but the results of the last two quarters has hurt the companies chances of reaching profitability this year, Perma-Fix Chief Financial Officer Ben Naccarato said during the company’s earnings call. “We anticipate positive EBITA [for the rest of the year],” Naccarato said. “It might be a little bit light because of the significant losses of the first two quarters, but we think we will get pretty close to breaking even for the year. The second half of the year will be positive.” Revenue for the second quarter of 2014 was $12.7 million, compared to $22.8 million for the same period in 2013, and gross profit for the second quarter was $1.6 million, compared to $4 million for the second quarter of 2013.

The company anticipated that the second quarter would be the start of the rise to profitability after a worse-than-expected operating loss in the first quarter, but it appears delays in shipments have affected the results for the quarter. “Our second quarter results were affected, in part, by timing as certain large shipments expected before the end of June arrived in the first few weeks of July,” Perma-Fix Chairman and CEO Lou Centofanti said in a statement. “Although it has been a challenging fiscal environment in 2013 and the first half of 2014, we have seen a significant improvement heading into the third quarter of 2014, both within the Services and Treatment Segments.” He later added, “Within our Treatment Segment, we have seen a noticeable improvement heading into the third quarter of 2014 and our waste treatment backlog is improving. We are also receiving more complex waste streams, which should improve our margins in the second half of the year.”

Perma-Fix also announced the completion of the sale of its Series E Common Stock to non-U.S. persons in an offshore private placement for its subsidiary, Perma-Fix Medical S.A. Perma-Fix would receive $1.6 million in the deal while still maintaining 64 percent of the outstanding shares of the subsidiary. The company has been trying to raise capital for the subsidiary’s technology to produce Technetium-99m (Tc-99m) from Molybdenum-99 (Mo-99) so it can finance its path through the proper European regulatory bodies. “We are pleased that our Polish subsidiary, Perma-Fix Medical S.A., has closed on an initial equity raise and is listed on the NewConnect Market of the Warsaw Stock Exchange,” Centofanti said. “The initial offering will provide us with required capital to continue the development of our isotope technology. We appreciate the strong support from European investors that participated in the transaction. As a result of this financing, we look forward to accelerating our plans to commercialize the medical isotope (Tc-99m) technology.”

B&W Earnings Take a Dip

WC Monitor
8/22/2014

Babcock & Wilcox reported a significant dip in net income for the second quarter of 2014 and scaled back its forecast for the rest of the year as it released its quarterly earnings earlier this month. B&W reported net income of $26.44 million, a significant decrease from the $72.87 million it reported during the second quarter of 2013. Revenue for the quarter was $686.0 million, down $200.1 million from the second quarter of 2013, the company said. B&W said that it was expecting adjusted earnings per share to be between $1.70 and $1.85, down from $2.00 to $2.20, and it projected revenues of $2.9 to $3.0 billion, a change from its previous projection of $2.9 to $3.1 billion.

Income for B&W’s Technical Services Group, which includes all of its Department of Energy and National Nuclear Security Administration work, was $15.2 million, remaining relatively flat compared to $15.1 million in income it reported during the same period last year. Revenues for the Technical Services Group were $27.4 million, up slightly from $26.0 million a year ago, but those revenues are likely to fall in the future as the transition to a new contractor at Y-12 and Pantex has a significant effect on TSG. “The focus at TSG is now on rebuilding. The next sizable opportunity we’ll be bidding is the O&M contract for the Chalk River laboratory in Canada, which we expect will be awarded by the Canadian government in mid-2015,” B&W President and CEO Jim Ferland said in a conference call with investors. “We also plan to pursue a number of smaller contracts expected to be released for bid by the DOE, the DOD and NNSA over the next 12 to 18 months.”

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Nuclear Security & Deterrence Vol. 18 No. 32
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Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor

Article 12 of 15

August 22, 2014

While We Were Out …

By Martin Schneider

AECOM Facing Legal Challenges to Planned Purchase of URS

AECOM disclosed earlier this month that it is facing several legal challenges to its planned purchase of URS. “In connection with the merger, beginning on July 21, 2014, five putative class action lawsuits were filed in the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware by purported URS stockholders: Falato v. URS Corp., et al., Case No. 9921; City of Atlanta Firefighters’ Pension Fund v. Creel, et al., Case No. 9924; Petroutson v. URS Corp., et al., Case No. 9938; Miller v. URS Corp., et al., Case No. 9939; and Oklahoma Police Pension & Retirement System v. Creel, et al., Case No. 9975,” AECOM said in an Aug. 1 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. “The complaints allege, among other things, that some or all members of the URS board of directors breached their fiduciary duties by approving the merger, and that the other defendants aided and abetted those alleged breaches. The complaints seek, among other relief, class certification, preliminary and permanent injunctive relief, and damages. URS and AECOM believe the lawsuits are without merit and intend to defend vigorously against them,” the filing states.

AECOM is looking to purchase URS in a deal worth approximately $6 billion. The purchase involves AECOM acquiring all outstanding URS shares for $4 billion and assuming about $2 billion in URS debt. AECOM plans to pay $56.31 per share of URS stock, 19 percent higher than URS’ 30-day average closing price. AECOM and URS expect to complete the deal in October, and earlier this month AECOM announced that it is moving forward in obtaining financing for the deal and that it has passed required U.S. antitrust reviews. In an Aug. 5 call with investors, AECOM President and CEO Michael Burke said the reaction to the planned acquisition of URS has been “overwhelmingly positive” from investors and clients, among others. “Some AECOM clients are telling us that they like the expanded capabilities we will be bringing to them, and URS clients are telling us that they’re excited about the expanded geographic footprint. This feedback is entirely consistent with what our strategy has always been,” Burke said. “With the highly complementary nature of our businesses, we anticipate a successful integration process. AECOM has a proven track record of acquiring companies, with a core expertise that can be delivered through our global platform.”

Creedon Formally in as NNSA No. 2

Madelyn Creedon was sworn in earlier this month as the National Nuclear Security Administration’s principal deputy administrator today. Creedon’s swearing in took place in a small ceremony in the office of Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz Aug. 7. Creedon was confirmed by the Senate July 23 after a lengthy wait. She’ll make the move to NNSA headquarters from the Pentagon, where she has served as the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Global Strategic Affairs since 2011. She previously was a staffer on the Senate Armed Services Committee, and had stints as NNSA’s Deputy Administrator for Defense Programs from 2000 to 2001 and as the Associate Deputy Energy Secretary for National Security Programs from 1995 to 1997.

B&W Earnings Take a Dip

Babcock & Wilcox reported a significant dip in net income for the second quarter of 2014 and scaled back its forecast for the rest of the year as it released its quarterly earnings yesterday. B&W reported net income of $26.44 million, a significant decrease from the $72.87 million it reported during the second quarter of 2013. Revenue for the quarter was $686.0 million, down $200.1 million from the second quarter of 2013, the company said. B&W said that it was expecting adjusted earnings per share to be between $1.70 and $1.85, down from $2.00 to $2.20, and it projected revenues of $2.9 to $3.0 billion, a change from its previous projection of $2.9 to $3.1 billion.

NNSA Releases Long-Awaited Tritium Production SEIS

The National Nuclear Security Administration is proposing to consolidate its production of tritium to the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Watts Bar site, according to a draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement released earlier this month. The preferred alternative outlined in the long-awaited Aug. 1 SEIS outlines the NNSA’s interest in irradiating 2,500 tritium-producing burnable absorber rods at Watts Bar, more than triple the number of TPBARs that are currently allowed to be irradiated at the site. The plan would allow for up to 5,000 TPBARs to be irradiated if needed in an emergency. Watts Bar 1 is currently used for tritium production, but the plan would allow for the use of Watts Bar 2 once it begins operations.

The NNSA and TVA had curbed the number of TPBARs irradiated at Watts Bar because of higher-than-expected permeation of tritium, but the SEIS concludes that there would be little impact to the environment even with higher permeation levels. The 1999 EIS governing tritium production at TVA reactors assumed a permeation rate of 1 curie per year per TPBAR, but rates have been three or four times higher, and the SEIS assumed a permeation rate of 10 curies of tritium a year.

The 1999 EIS allowed up to 3,400 TPBARs to be irradiated in TVA’s Watts Bar and Sequoyah 1 and 2 reactors, but the Sequoyah reactors have never been used for tritium production and no more than 2,304 TPBARs were ever irradiated at Watts Bar before the permeation issue forced the NNSA to cut back on the number of TPBARs being irradiated. The NNSA said it currently needs to irradiate 2,500 TPBARs a year to meet production needs. “Both the 1999 EIS and this SEIS demonstrate that the potential environmental impacts from irradiation of TPBARs (whether 3,400, 2,500, or 5,000) in the Watts Bar and Sequoyah reactors would be small, regardless of whether the permeation rate is 1 curie or 10 curies of tritium per TPBAR per year,” the SEIS said, adding later: “This SEIS concludes that the potential proposed action, when considered along with other nearby current and reasonably foreseeable activities, would not have any cumulatively significant environmental impact.”

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RadWaste Vol. 7 No. 31
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RadWaste Monitor

Article 12 of 13

August 22, 2014

While We Were Out…

By Jeremy Dillon

Jeremy L. Dillon
RW Monitor
8/22/2014

Perma-Fix Sells Subsidiary

Perma-Fix Environmental Services sold its subsidiary Schreiber, Yonley & Associates, Inc., an engineering and environmental consulting service company, for $1.3 million to Trinity Consulting, a consulting firm that focuses on industrial air quality issues. According to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, the subsidiary had a net revenue of $2,564,736 and a net loss of $621,288 in 2013. The reason for the sale, Perma-Fix said, was an attempt to make the company more efficient. “Part of the Perma-Fix strategic plan included evaluating our business segments for efficiency,” Perma-Fix spokesperson Anne Smith said. “SYA was deemed a non-core asset since the divestiture of the industrial segment, and we were delighted to partner with Trinity Consulting, as they are an international consulting firm that specializes in industrial air quality issues, which complements SYA’s core business.”

As part of the deal, SYA President Robert Schreiber, Jr. will resign from Perma-Fix’s executive team and continue with SYA. “We are extremely pleased to complete this transaction to join with Trinity,” SYA President and Vice-President Bob Schreiber and Carrie Yonley said in a statement. “Trinity’s expertise and focus on air quality issues, reputation for excellent work, and strong management team make it a great match for SYA.” The deal also includes an estimated $60,000 working capital adjustment. “The purchaser paid approximately $1,300,000 and an estimated $60,000 working capital adjustment which is subject to adjustment within approximately 90 days of the closing date, in cash, to [Perma-Fix] at the closing, with $50,000 of such consideration being placed in escrow for a period of one year to cover any claims by the purchaser for indemnification for certain limited types of losses incurred by the purchaser following the closing,” Perma-Fix said in its SEC filing.

AREVA Recieves $34M Contract for LLRW Disposal Facility at INL

AREVA Federal Services, a subsidiary of AREVA, announced that it has received a $34 million contract for the engineering, construction and commissioning of a remote-handled low-level radioactive waste disposal facility at Idaho National Laboratory. The contract, awarded by INL manager Battelle Energy Alliance, would develop a replacement disposal facility for the remote-handled low level waste produced at INL, which historically was disposed of on site. According to AREVA, the facility will include administration and maintenance buildings, waste handling systems and environmental monitoring installations with 200 underground disposal vaults. “AREVA’s technology and more than 40 years of experience in nuclear waste management solutions have set us apart in addressing some of the most pressing issues facing the DOE,” said Tara Neider, president and CEO of AREVA Federal Services. “This is a tremendous opportunity for AREVA to demonstrate its experience in the development and deployment of safe, proven radioactive waste management solutions.”

As part of the ongoing cleanup at the site, INL plans on closing the existing disposal facility in 2017. DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy, in conjunction with the Office of Naval Reactors, received $36.5 million for Fiscal Year 2014 to move forward with construction on the new facility, and DOE has requested an additional $20 million for Fiscal Year 2015 to continue construction. In total, the facility is expected to begin operations in the fourth quarter of 2020 at a price tag of $95 million, a total that would eventually save taxpayer dollars, according to INL spokesperson Nicole Stricker. “The advantages for RH-LLW disposal capacity on-site include reliability, public safety and taxpayer cost savings,” Stricker said. “Offsite disposal facilities that could accept the waste would drastically increase transport distance compared with onsite disposal. Offsite disposal would result in more shipments at a higher cost on public highways.”

US Ecology Reports Drop in Income, Increase in Revenue for Q2

US Ecology reported a drop in net income for the second quarter of this year, but also reported a significant increase in revenue compared to the same period last year. For the second quarter of this year, US Ecology had a net income of $6.9 million, down from a net income of $7.2 million in the same quarter last year. Revenue for the second quarter of this year, though, was up 44 percent—$66 million compared to $45.8 million in the same quarter of 2013.

US Ecology’s financial results for the second quarter of this year include the operations of EQ Holdings, Inc., an integrated environmental services company, which US Ecology purchased for approximately $465.9 million. “We estimate that EQ’s operations contributed approximately $0.02 of earnings per diluted share in the second quarter of 2014,” a US Ecology release says. “Continued operational excellence across US Ecology’s facilities delivered strong quarterly financial results," US Ecology President and Chief Executive Officer Jeff Feeler said in the release. "Increased waste volumes and revenues were driven by strong project-based Event Business and continued growth in our recurring Base Business. With the addition of EQ, our portfolio of high quality treatment and disposal assets has been expanded geographically while new complementary front-end field and industrial services have been added. Together our management team is actively engaged in integrating and unlocking the potential of this unique combination of assets."

Perma-Fix Reports $2.1M Loss for Q2

Perma-Fix Environmental Services reported an operating loss of $2.1 million for the second quarter of 2014, the company announced. The company had high hopes in the beginning of the year for a profitable year, but the results of the last two quarters has hurt the companies chances of reaching profitability this year, Perma-Fix Chief Financial Officer Ben Naccarato said during the company’s earnings call. “We anticipate positive EBITA [for the rest of the year],” Naccarato said. “It might be a little bit light because of the significant losses of the first two quarters, but we think we will get pretty close to breaking even for the year. The second half of the year will be positive.” Revenue for the second quarter of 2014 was $12.7 million, compared to $22.8 million for the same period in 2013, and gross profit for the second quarter was $1.6 million, compared to $4 million for the second quarter of 2013.

WCS Reports $5M Operating Loss for Q2

Waste Control Specialists suffered an operating loss of $5 million for the second quarter of this year, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing by WCS’ parent company Valhi Inc. The operating loss combined with a loss last quarter totals an operating loss of $13.5 million for 2014, an increase of operating losses of $7.5 million compared to the same period of last year. Valhi sees the solution to the operating loss is to increase sales volumes. “While achieving increased sales volumes could result in operating profits, we currently do not believe we will report any significant levels of Waste Management operating profit until we have started to generate revenues sufficient to cover the high fixed costs of operating our disposal facilities,” Valhi said in its SEC filing. “We have regularly received small volumes of waste for disposal since the end of the second quarter of 2013 for the Federal LLRW disposal facility, but it may be difficult for us to generate positive operating results until we begin routinely receiving large Federal LLRW streams for disposal.”

Valhi also reiterated again its willingness to explore strategic alternatives for WCS. “We believe WCS can become a viable, profitable operation; however, we do not know if we will be successful in improving WCS’ cash flows,” the company said in the filing. “We have in the past, and we may in the future, consider strategic alternatives with respect to WCS. We could report a loss in any such strategic transaction.”

International Isotopes Reports Net Loss for Q2

International Isotopes reported another net loss for the second quarter. The company reported a net loss of $528,298 for the second quarter of 2014, an increase in loss of approximately 33 percent compared to the net loss of $399,210 in the same period of 2013. For the six-month period of 2014, International Isotopes has suffered a net loss of $980,503, a decrease in loss of approximately nine percent compared to the net loss of $1,068,102 for the same period in 2013.

The company, though, focused more on its ability to achieve a positive cash flow for the first six months. According to International Isotopes, the company had cash and cash equivalents of $810,309 as compared to $456,374 for the same period in 2013, an increase of approximately 77 percent. The company attributed the increased cash to stronger sales, reduced operating expense, and the reduction of outstanding accounts receivable. “Achieving positive cash flow for the Company during the first six months of the year is a very significant accomplishment and a sign we are putting appropriate cost control measures in place and continuing to move revenue in the right direction,” International Isotopes President and CEO Steve Laflin said in a statement. “While there can certainly be no guarantee of continued positive cash flow, this is nonetheless worth noting and is the first time we have achieved positive cash flow over a six month period independent of any financing activities.”

TEPCO Details Progress on Water Management Systems at Fukushima

The Tokyo Electric Power Company announced that two key systems to water management at the Fukushima site are ready for regulatory and stakeholder approval. The two systems, a seaside impermeable wall and a subdrain system, will help cut the amount of contaminated water by 200 tons a day while also controlling the amount of contamination released from the site. The seaside wall aims to prevent groundwater from flowing into the sea by constructing a steel pipe sheet pile wall on the east side of the site. The subdrain system will capture underground water and pump the water for treatment. Both systems are part of TEPCO’s three large water management strategies: Contaminant removal, contaminant isolation, and leakage prevention. “These two systems are important components of our larger strategy to improve water management at Fukushima,” said Naohiro Masuda, TEPCO’s Chief Decommissioning Officer. “Along with the other multi-layered measures which includes sophisticated water treatment systems (Contaminant removal), groundwater bypass system and development of the ‘ice wall’ around the perimeter of the four reactor units (Contaminant isolation), I believe the two systems will contribute to further improving water management at the site.”

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