ECA Update: September 23, 2011
Published: Fri, 09/23/11
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CARLSBAD -- More than 60 employees at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant will lose their jobs beginning in October, it was announced Wednesday. The layoffs come as the second part of a workforce restructuring plan by Washington TRU Solutions, which manages the plant for the U.S. Department of Energy.
Approximately 65 employees, including WTS personnel, temporary employees and subcontract personnel, will be impacted, according to a WTS news release.
"This is an extremely difficult time," Farok Sharif, WTS president and general manager, said in a press release. "We have implemented numerous cost-saving measures in FY11 and more are to come in FY12, but it isn't enough. With the end of the Recovery Act scope and funding and the outlook of the FY12 budget, we are faced with reducing our workforce further."
Given the success of WIPP and the dedication Carlsbad and Eddy County have shown to the Department of Energy and the nation's energy waste problems, it is irresponsible and unbelievable that we find ourselves having to lay off indispensable, well-trained employees. From our viewpoint, there is no realistic way that we can be expected to maintain the level of waste disposal necessary to achieve the clean up of sites such as Los Alamos National Laboratory and others around the nation. If the federal government/DOE were truly negotiating in good faith with the states that house TRU waste needing disposal, their consistent funding of WIPP would never be in question.
It is my hope that the governor of New Mexico, Senators Bingaman and Udall, Congressman Pearce and the congressional delegations from all states shipping or planning to ship waste to WIPP loudly communicate to the DOE that is is inacceptable and are aggressively exhausting all avenues to restore and maintain funding for DOE's only true success story - WIPP.
Two weeks before the end of the fiscal year at Hanford, hundreds of workers learned Monday that their names are on the list for previously announced layoffs.
Combined, the job cuts among Hanford cleanup contractors this fiscal year appear to total 1,825, most of them this month, which is slightly fewer than expected.
The year started with about 12,000 employees at Hanford. In addition, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is laying off 45 workers.
A Giant Nuclear Project Awaits Its Federal Loans
Matthew L. Wald, The Ney York Times Green BlogSeptember 22, 2011
Federal help for energy projects has taken it on the chin lately, with Solyndra, the California solar manufacturer championed by the Obama administration, declaring bankruptcy after taking $528 million in loans from the Treasury.
But a much larger federal loan guarantee for an energy project is expected soon: $8.3 billion in loan guarantees announced last year by President Obama for two nuclear reactors in Georgia. Yet the venture is fundamentally different from Solyndra's, according to the chairman and chief executive of the Southern Company, which owns 46 percent of the project.
Government Accountability Office to review Hanford vit plant management
Annette Cary, Tri-City Herald
September 21, 2011
The Government Accountability Office is beginning a review of the Department of Energy's management of Hanford's vitrification plant.
It received a request from Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., and Diana DeGette, D-Colo., both of whom serve on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, the GAO told the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board in a letter. The GAO expects the review to touch on issues of concern to the defense board.
The review's objectives are not final, but among the initial focuses will be the reliability of the projected cost and schedule for completing the plant, including how that compares to prior estimates.
Salazar pushes Hanford reactor as national park
September 19, 2011
The secretary of the interior took a look Sunday at Hanford's historic B Reactor, one of the property's he soon is expected to oversee within the national park system.
Sec. Ken Salazar toured the reactor at the invitation of Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., at the conclusion of a weekend visit to Washington. He also was accompanied by Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire and Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash.
"We have not yet done a good enough job of telling the story of World War II and the nuclear era born out of the war," he said as he stood beneath the towering front face of the reactor, where fuel once was loaded into its core.
Gov. Susana Martinez is pushing Los Alamos National Labs to be more aggressive in cleaning up its toxic waste.
The New Mexico Environment Department says it met with lab and Department of Energy officials on Monday and agreed to form a steering committee to identify the highest risk areas at the lab and implement a plan for getting them cleaned up.
Court urged to intervene in Yucca Mountain dispute
Steve Tetreault, Las Vegas Review-Journal
September 19, 2011
Plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the Nuclear Regulatory Commission have renewed their request for federal judges to order the agency to complete its license review of the Yucca Mountain Project.
The petition was filed Friday, a week after NRC commissioners directed the agency's Atomic Safety and Licensing Board to continue winding down its work on the proposed Nevada nuclear waste site with the goal to wrap up entirely by Sept. 30.
RICHLAND, Wash. -- After eight years, the Hanford Reach Interpretive Center is only weeks away from actual construction.
There were lots of barriers that stood in the way of the center becoming a reality.
One of them was money. According to reach officials, over $40 million dollars is needed for the project.
Currently, $25 million has been raised and another $15 million is still needed.
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