EM Update | Vol. 7, Issue 15 | Dec. 29, 2015

DOE Office of Environmental Management sent this bulletin at 12/29/2015 01:58 PM EST

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In This Issue:

EM’s Office of River Protection Completes Waste Retrieval in Another Hanford Tank
Oak Ridge’s K-27 Building Set for Demolition
Savannah River Site Manager Jack Craig Wins Highest Civil Service Award
Grand Challenge Winning Entry Proposes Efficiencies to Tank Waste Cleanup
Serving Hot Dogs and Half-Smokes in Support of People in Need
Officials Receive Training on Restoring Damaged Natural Resources
Participants in Quarterly Public Forum Learn Latest News on Doing Business with EM
UK Delegation Focuses on EM’s Reactor ‘Cocooning’ Expertise in Hanford Site Tour
EM Site Manager Talks Leadership Philosophy, Career Advice with Students
DOE Awards Nye County Grant for Community-Based Groundwater Monitoring
Information Pods Inform Public on Savannah River Site Missions
Veteran Cooperative Program Sees Successful First Year at Savannah River Site
Field Trip to EM’s Idaho Treatment Facility is Students’ High Point Class
Clearing Away Process Gas Equipment Moves Portsmouth D&D Forward
West Valley Demonstration Project Food Drive Delivers Food for 700 Families

EM’s Office of River Protection Completes Waste Retrieval in Another Hanford Tank

Cranes remove a sluicer from tank C-102 midway through retrieval to replace it with a new piece of equipment. The sluicer is wrapped in two layers of thick plastic to prevent contamination from entering the environment or harming workers.

RICHLAND, Wash. – The EM Office of River Protection (ORP) and its tank operations contractor Washington River Protection Solutions completed waste retrieval activities in tank C-102, marking the 14th single-shell tank retrieved at C tank farm at the Hanford Site.

Crews removed nearly 300,000 gallons of waste from the tank. Retrieval activities began in April 2014 using an enhanced-reach sluicer, a tool lowered into the underground tank that sprays liquid, mainly recycled waste, through a nozzle at the end of an extendable boom to break up hardened deposits of waste into a slurry. The resulting waste slurry is then pumped out of the top of the tank and sent through a series of pipes to a double-shell tank for storage.

Workers view the sluicer inside tank C-102 during retrieval on a video screen. Cameras are used to monitor the inside of the tanks, and during retrieval.

“The completion of waste retrieval from another tank is a reflection of the dedicated workforce at the tank farms,” said Chris Kemp, deputy federal project director for Tank Farms Retrieval and Closure at ORP. “There was substantial effort from the workers to plan, prepare and retrieve this radioactive waste. All of this was done safely while work activities continue at other tanks in the farm.”

The farm’s 16 tanks were built during World War II in Hanford’s 200 East Area. Retrieval activities continue in the farm’s two remaining tanks with tank C-105 nearly 45 percent complete and C-111 about 15 percent retrieved.

An internal camera shows the view of the tank after retrieval activities were completed.

ORP’s mission is to safeguard the nuclear waste stored in Hanford's 177 underground tanks and to manage the waste safely and responsibly until it can be treated in the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant for final disposition.

Oak Ridge’s K-27 Building Set for Demolition

Workers remove transite panels from the K-27 Building.

OAK RIDGE, Tenn. – The EM program in Oak Ridge is more than 96 percent complete with pre-demolition activities at the K-27 Building.

While building demolition gets a lot of attention, it is only a small piece of what it takes to reduce risk and eliminate buildings from the EM portfolio. A video highlights the activities of the K-27 deactivation team and its work.

As the East Tennessee Technology Park deactivation team prepares to hand off K-27 to demolition crews in early 2016, the critical work now focuses on verification walk downs. Similar to a construction project punch list, the verification walk down checklist confirms that all deactivation work has been completed, including the removal of hazardous and radioactive materials and components that exceed onsite waste disposal limits. When walk downs identify conditions outside of the deactivation plan, crews take actions to correct the inconsistencies and achieve compliance.

One of the final steps in the deactivation process will be declaring the building “criticality incredible,” scheduled for early January 2016. Criticality incredible means all materials that could cause a nuclear criticality have been removed.

K-27 is the last of five buildings in Oak Ridge used to enrich uranium for national defense and commercial nuclear fuel. The others, including the mile-long K-25 Building, have already been demolished.

The video features employees from URS | CH2M Oak Ridge LLC, EM’s cleanup contractor for the Oak Ridge Reservation, at work on various facets of the deactivation process.

Savannah River Site Manager Jack Craig Wins Highest Civil Service Award

WASHINGTON, D.C. – DOE Savannah River Operations Office Manager Jack Craig recently received the nation’s highest civil service recognition, the Presidential Rank of Distinguished Executive award.

The Office of Personnel Management honored Craig and 10 other DOE leaders with the 2015 Presidential Rank Awards for demonstrating extraordinary performance and outstanding accomplishments.

Over the past 27 years, Craig has held technical, managerial, and executive leadership positions associated with environmental cleanup activities at former nuclear weapons production facilities. Programs under Craig’s leadership have saved over $10 billion and accelerated cleanup activities by more than 20 years while eliminating risk to the environment and public. He is known for his outstanding executive leadership, implementation of innovative contract structures, and effective use of public-private partnerships, enabling EM to safely complete projects under budget, ahead of schedule, and in compliance with environmental regulations.

DOE Savannah River Operations Office Manager Jack Craig

Named the Savannah River Operations Office manager this year, Craig oversees the Savannah River Site’s EM cleanup and other missions, leading an 11,000 federal and contractor workforce. From 2004 to 2015, he served as EM’s Consolidated Business Center director. Under his leadership, the center significantly increased the Department’s use of small business contracts for cleanup.

Only 1 percent of employees in the Senior Executive Service (SES) and senior-level, scientific positions receive this recognition.

Executives selected as award winners must be strong leaders, professionals, or scientists who have made significant and lasting contributions to the agency’s effectiveness on a sustained basis, and have a demonstrated record of outstanding professional, technical, and scientific achievements at a national and international level.

In 2009, Craig won the Presidential Rank of Meritorious Executive award for sustained accomplishment. Up to 5 percent of employees in the SES and senior-level, scientific positions may receive that award.

Grand Challenge Winning Entry Proposes Efficiencies to Tank Waste Cleanup

From left, Elaine Diaz, Office of River Protection (ORP) acting chief engineer; John Vienna, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory scientist; Albert Kruger, ORP glass scientist; and Kevin Smith, ORP manager.

RICHLAND, Wash. – The third annual Grand Challenge, a competition designed to allow ideas to flourish in the service of EM’s Office of River Protection (ORP), named a winning team earlier this year.

A five-person team made up of John Vienna, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, which is part of the DOE network of national laboratories; Albert Kruger, ORP; Ian Pegg, Catholic University of America; Innocent Joseph, EnergySolutions, an ORP subcontractor; and W.G. Ramsey, Washington River Protection Solutions, ORP’s tank farm contractor, were named the winners of the 2015 Grand Challenge with their proposal titled, “High Level Waste Direct Vitrification.”

The screening team reviewed 41 submissions and selected 11 finalists, who presented their proposals.

Judges representing the four ORP assistant managers, two ORP prime contractors, and several national laboratories considered a variety of factors including technical viability and risks, whether proposals were achievable within a timeframe to meet mission needs, whether they were executable with existing safety basis requirements, cost avoidance, cost savings, and process efficiencies.

Several high-scoring proposals will move forward to be studied for potential implementation, according to ORP Acting Chief Engineer Elaine Diaz.

The “High Level Waste Direct Vitrification” proposal, if proven effective, could shave years off the tank waste vitrification mission and save billions of dollars.

“The value of Grand Challenge is it brings together members of the Department, the laboratories, academia, contractors, and this year for the first time, a representative from the Nez Perce nation,” according to Billie Mauss, a chemist with ORP Tank Farms and a Grand Challenge advisor. “It gives interested and involved parties an opportunity to present their good ideas and it gives us access to those suggestions and the ability to potentially improve how we are implementing our mission.”

This year six national laboratories, three universities, a stakeholder, and ORP teams submitted entries.

“One submission came from a university senior majoring in chemical engineering,” Diaz said. “Hannah Gallagher, at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, was an intern here and sent in a proposal regarding our lab sampling. Her idea has the potential to save us millions of dollars.”

Grand Challenge Winner

This year’s winners propose that through a direct-feed, high-level waste process, ORP could take advantage of a potential to increase waste loading of glass in both high-level and low-activity streams; simplify Pretreatment Facility design criteria; and speed tank waste risk reduction by treating sludge earlier. The proposal suggests directly treating solid and sludge tank waste through the High-Level Waste (HLW) Facility.

“We’ve outlined a concept where we can provide direct-feed of high level solids and sludges through the HLW facility,” explained Kruger, an ORP glass scientist. “We propose a high-level waste staging facility in the form of a 125,000-gallon tank that would accept tank waste and feed it to the HLW in 4,000-gallon batches. Taking advantage of glass work that we’ve done, we can realize far higher levels of aluminum and chromium salts in HLW glass.”

Kruger said the process will allow nearly a dozen tanks to be emptied of sludge waste within only a few years of starting operations, and that many obstacles related to the Pretreatment Facility and separating waste streams would effectively be eliminated.

Serving Hot Dogs and Half-Smokes in Support of People in Need

EM employees Carol Ward, right, and Marlenia Murray, center, serve hot dogs and half-smokes as part of the Combined Federal Campaign, a charitable giving drive, at DOE headquarters in Washington, D.C. Here, Energy Department employee Jeffrey Williams provides a donation. EM employees have held hot dog lunches, chili cook-offs, bake sales, and a mini golf event in support of the campaign, which runs through 2015.

EM, Tribal, and State Officials Receive Training on Restoring Damaged Natural Resources

NEW ORLEANS – Senior EM, Tribal, and state officials gathered for a training on the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) process for restoring resources damaged from oil spills or hazardous substance releases into the environment.

EM and the State and Tribal Government Working Group (STGWG) hosted the training, which was delivered by officials from the U.S. Department of Interior’s (DOI) Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) Restoration Program one day before the fall STGWG meeting.

In addition to the CERCLA NRD process, DOI presented an overview of the economic assumptions and devices typically employed in NRD cases. Brian Cleary of the Cleary Law Group held a session on Tribal governance and evaluation of on-reservation cultural losses. Participants also answered guided questions and took part in small group discussions as part of a hypothetical case study.

The training resulted from an EM senior leadership commitment to STGWG leaders earlier this year.

Willie Preacher was a member of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes of Fort Hall, Idaho.

The training participants acknowledged the recent death of Willie Preacher, the STGWG Tribal co-convener who died on Aug. 23, 2015. Preacher emphasized the importance of an expanded dialogue on the NRDA Restoration Program during his tenure.

Preacher was a member of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes of Fort Hall, Idaho. He was also a four-term Idaho National Laboratory Site Environmental Management Citizens Advisory Board member and served on the Environmental Management Advisory Board and Nuclear Energy Tribal Working Group.

He was an artist who worked in ink, pastels, oils, watercolor, pencils, and scratchboard. Much of his artwork depicted early Native American life prior to the European arrival.

Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz recognized Preacher at the 2015 National Tribal Energy Summit in Washington, D.C. in September.

“He was a proud and strong voice for his community,” Moniz said. “He was a really major player in our dialogue, and he will be missed.”

Participants in Quarterly Public Forum Learn Latest News on Doing Business with EM

EM Acquisition and Project Management Deputy Assistant Secretary Jack Surash provides an overview of EM to more than 50 people attending the Business Opportunity Forum this month at DOE headquarters in Washington, D.C. Additional participants joined the quarterly public outreach event via video teleconferencing. Organized by EM’s Office of Acquisition and Project Management, the forum provides insight into the federal procurement process and enables discussions on business opportunities in the legacy nuclear cleanup program. During the interactive event, Surash answered questions from attendees, emphasized EM’s transparency, reviewed the status of major EM procurements, and outlined opportunities for contractors to receive information about upcoming procurements and submit their capabilities for consideration.

UK Delegation Focuses on EM’s Reactor ‘Cocooning’ Expertise During Hanford Site Tour

The UK delegation gathers at the front of the H Reactor core. Left to right: Amanda Anderson, DOE Office of the Chief of Nuclear Safety; Paul Lonsdale, Magnox Ltd.; Steve Kirchhoff, DOE Office of Environment, Health, Safety and Security; Mina Golshan, Office for Nuclear Regulation; Tony Handley, Magnox Ltd.; Anna Clark, Nuclear Decommissioning Authority; and Laurie Judd, Longenecker & Associates.

RICHLAND, Wash. – A United Kingdom delegation recently toured Hanford Site cleanup projects, gaining insight into EM Richland Operations Office’s (RL) experience “cocooning” plutonium production reactors as the UK prepares for a similar interim safe storage for 10 commercial reactors.

The senior-level delegation, which also met with local stakeholders and environmental regulators, included officials from the UK’s Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR), Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), and Magnox Ltd., NDA’s management and operations contractor responsible for 12 UK nuclear sites. The group toured the H and N reactors, which are scheduled to remain in interim safe storage for up to 75 years to allow DOE, regulators and other stakeholders to determine the final disposal method and to allow the reactors’ contaminated graphite cores to decay to safer levels.

“It has been a very interesting and informative visit, seeing the cocooned reactors and the process that the site followed to decommission the reactors and place them in a quiescent state. Given the difference in environment, policy, and regulatory framework, some of the practices adopted at Hanford would not be possible in the UK, but there were numerous lessons learned from the journey the site went through” ONR Decommissioning, Fuel and Waste Programme Director Mina Golshan said.

In the UK, 10 gas-cooled commercial reactors will enter the Care and Maintenance (C&M) phase, which is expected to last more than 70 years and precede final decommissioning and site clearance. During that time, the sites are maintained safely and securely as radiation levels decay naturally.

The UK visitors sought to understand RL’s processes for evaluating and agreeing on how much of the internal equipment to remove prior to cocooning and how the inspection regimes were developed and implemented. They also learned about RL’s methods for waste treatment and disposal.

The delegation visited the Environmental Restoration Disposal Facility, the onsite landfill for the majority of Hanford cleanup waste; a K Reactor Area basin that once contained fuel rods from plutonium production; Building 324, a former chemical laboratory; U Canyon, a chemical processing facility; 618 10-11 Burial Ground, a major waste site; and the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant.

The delegation also traveled to Washington, D.C. to meet with staff from EM and Office of Environment, Health, Safety and Security, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

EM Site Manager Talks Leadership Philosophy, Career Advice with Students

EM Richland Operations Office Manager Stacy Charboneau joined other community leaders on a guest panel to discuss leadership, role models, and motivation at Washington State University Tri-Cities in Richland, Wash. this month. Students representing a variety of math and science disciplines attended the event sponsored by the university’s peer mentoring program. Charboneau shared her philosophy as a leader and provided professional and career advice to students.

DOE Awards Nye County Grant for Community-Based Groundwater Monitoring

Tour participants are briefed on the Nye County Community-Based Groundwater Monitoring Program before observing sampling at the Amargosa Valley RV Park.

LAS VEGAS – Residents recently learned firsthand how Nye County benefits from a $1.3 million DOE grant awarded for a community-based tritium groundwater monitoring program.

During a tour, the residents, some of whom are Nevada Site Specific Advisory Board members, observed county scientists collect water samples from wells in Amargosa Valley and Beatty.

Distributed over a five-year span, the grant funds groundwater sampling for tritium down gradient of the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS). Tritium is a radioactive form of hydrogen and the most common radionuclide found in groundwater at NNSS, the majority resulting from nuclear production and testing. The sampling activities supplement ongoing, decades-long monitoring activities by NNSS scientists. The grant also funds the county’s participation in technical reviews of NNSS groundwater characterization activities.

Nevada Site Specific Advisory Board members observe Nye County scientists document data on a groundwater sample from a well in Beatty.

The county selected some wells to sample from discussions with community members that support the Community Environmental Monitoring Program, which provides sampling assistance and other resources to the county. John Klenke, the county scientist leading activities performed under the grant, said 10 primary wells will be sampled each year. In years two through five of the grant, a total of 20 wells will be sampled each year. The samples will be sent to an independent, state-certified laboratory for a detailed tritium analysis.

The grant to the county provides the public additional assurances and opportunities for residents to become involved in the science that consistently verifies that the drinking water in their community is not contaminated by historic nuclear testing activities. The county sampling results will also be considered by DOE during periodic reviews of the NNSS sampling program and to enhance the knowledge base of the complex regional groundwater system.

“Decision-making on stewardship of the regional groundwater system will benefit by the additional coordination formalized by this grant. I applaud our community advisory board for recognizing and recommending DOE incorporate Nye County into the technical review process,” said Bill Wilborn, the DOE manager responsible for NNSS groundwater characterization.

Nye County scientists brief the tour group at a monitoring well just north of Beatty.

The county’s technical expert will offer an independent review of DOE’s scientific data and reports compiled to identify, characterize, and address impacts the historic underground nuclear testing may have on the regional groundwater system.

“This is a great grant,” Nye County Commissioner Dan Schinhofen said at the September commission meeting where the grant was accepted.

The collaboration with the county will continue to ensure the long-term protection of the public from contaminated groundwater.

For more information on the DOE Nevada Field Office monitoring programs, click here. For more information on groundwater characterization, click here.

Information Pods Inform Public on Savannah River Site Missions

SRNS Solid Waste Management Director John Gilmour presents on nuclear waste management at the information pods at ATC.

AIKEN, S.C. – Careers in Savannah River Site (SRS) missions topped the agenda of information pods, or sessions, held recently on the Aiken Technical College (ATC) campus.

Free of charge and co-sponsored by the University of South Carolina Aiken (USCA) and ATC, the information pods covered requirements for working at SRS, including industrial maintenance, radiation protection, electrical and instrumentation, information technology, and welding.

Designed for communities around SRS, the ATC event was the fifth installment in the information pods series, marking the second time the pods were held at a college. In February, SRS hosted them at Augusta University’s Summerville Campus.

“As a student of industrial maintenance at ATC, today was about getting a glimpse of why SRS is important and what options I could have for my career. During the waste management session, I learned about the equipment I could potentially work on if I worked at the Savannah River Site,” said ATC student Billy Slaton. “You think that you’re just going to school to get a job in one discipline, but the site is so large. There are so many different opportunities out there that you may start in one job and it leads to another.”

Exhibits featured workforce services from Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS), the site’s management and operations contractor; Savannah River Remediation, the liquid waste contractor; Centerra-SRS, the security contractor; CBI&I AREVA MOX, the contractor for the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility; SRS Community Reuse Organization; U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service-Savannah River; SRS Emergency Management; Savannah River Ecology Laboratory; and SRS Safety.

SRNS Workforce Services Senior Vice President Carol Barry discussed the site’s job application process and future workforce needs in an overview on SRS careers. She emphasized how higher education degrees can open doors, according to ATC President Susan Winsor.

“One of the things that we find as educators at the college is that most students really want to live and work within a 30-mile radius of where we are today because they want to be close to family. That’s part of the goal with partnerships we have with employers at the Savannah River Site — to prepare people for job opportunities in this community,” Winsor said.

SRNS Government and Community Relations Director Teresa Haas said SRNS relies on ATC and USCA students to fill jobs.

“Both institutions provide quality graduates that do well within our job classifications. Aiken Tech offers programs and certifications that give their students a leg up. These graduates are able to start their jobs immediately because they have already fulfilled our training requirements in their degree program," Haas said.

SRS representatives held breakout sessions on EM’s Savannah River National Laboratory, environmental monitoring and restoration, nuclear materials management, and waste management.

“The event overall was very professionally done, and the level of expertise and professionalism come across in all the people who work at SRS. I attended the pods on nuclear materials management and the Savannah River National Lab, and the presenters were able to delve into great detail about what they do and what the different missions are at the site,” USCA School of Business Administration Dean Dr. Mick Fekula said. “I didn’t realize the number of opportunities at SRS until I attended the workforce services session, and I am motivated to communicate what I have learned today to our students.”

DOE-Savannah River Waste Disposition Operations Division Director Phillip Giles expressed appreciation for the information pods.

“SRS has been traveling around the region with the information pods for about a year and a half now, and today’s sessions focused on how the technologies we use at the site are directly applicable to the types of classes the students are taking at ATC and USCA,” he said.

Veteran Cooperative Program Sees Successful First Year at Savannah River Site

U.S. Army veteran Ashley Dernberger is the most recent student to join Savannah River Remediation’s Veteran Cooperative Program. She works part time in public affairs while pursuing a marketing degree at Augusta University.

AIKEN, S.C. – A year, seven veterans, and several recognitions under its belt, the Savannah River Site liquid waste contractor’s Veteran Cooperative Program is still going strong.

Launched in October 2014, the program helps veterans transition into full-time employment with mentoring, training, and college credits while working for Savannah River Remediation (SRR).

SRR currently employs seven veterans part time, and their positions could become full time in the future. They work in science, math, engineering, and technology (STEM) and non-STEM fields related to their degrees. All of them are students, many of whom started as interns.

Scott Brown, the program’s manager and retired Army lieutenant colonel, said the program is an educational opportunity providing competitive pay and marketable job experience.

“The SRR Veteran Cooperative Program has been a unique opportunity for veterans in our area,” Brown said. “Participants are in school, earning a degree, building their workplace experience, and, most of all, gaining confidence in their skills outside of the military.”

The SRR program could serve as a blueprint for other sites across the DOE complex.

“SRR has communicated our program to other sites in the DOE complex and to our parent and partner companies as well,” he said.

Veterans are important, beneficial assets to the SRR workforce, SRR President and Project Manager Stuart MacVean said.

“Savannah River Remediation is working to give back to those veterans who have already given so much to our country,” MacVean said. “We hire veterans because of their motivation and the experience they bring into the workforce.”

SRR has a record of supporting veterans. In February 2014, the company was certified as a Palmetto Military Employer, recognized by Operation Palmetto Employment and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley. This recognition is given to employers that actively hire and retain veterans and active-duty service members. The program’s credentialing process provides data to build a sustainable program.

In June 2014, the Adjutant General for South Carolina, Maj. Gen. Robert E. Livingston Jr, recognized SRR for its support of hiring veterans.

Field Trip to EM’s Idaho Treatment Facility is Students’ High Point of Class

The Idaho State University class is briefed by Idaho Treatment Group Operations Support Manager Jeremy Hampton, far left, front row.

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho – For graduate students in Dr. Mary Lou Dunzik-Gougar’s Idaho State University (ISU) radioactive waste management class, waste treatment takes on a new meaning when watching the Supercompactor transform a 725-pound, 35-inch-tall, 55-gallon drum into what looks like a 7-inch-tall, 2-foot-diameter hockey puck.

“It’s one thing to read about treatment processes in a text, but quite another when you’re up close and personal watching what 4 million pounds of pressure can do to a drum,” Dunzik-Gougar said of the machine used to reduce the size of drums at the Advanced Mix Waste Treatment Project (AMWTP), a nuclear waste treatment facility managed by contractor Idaho Treatment Group for the EM program.

Her classes have toured the facility for seven consecutive years.

“Each year, without fail, when the students do their course evaluation, our trip to AMWTP is always rated the high point of the class,” Dunzik-Gougar says. “There are so many examples of waste types, characterization, and treatments at AMWTP that help students understand and appreciate the broad field of radioactive waste management.”

Class member Rob Steele watches activities from the retrieval contamination enclosure control room.

Andrew Maas is pursuing a master’s degree in nuclear science and engineering. He’s most interested in reactor design, but took the waste management class to better understand waste issues associated with nuclear energy.

“The AMWTP tour was eye-opening, seeing how tight and controlled everything was run. It suggests to me that waste management is a manageable issue if you have properly trained people following the permitted processes and controls,” he said.

Dunzik-Gougar appreciates ISU’s collaborative relationship with AMWTP. It helps her students to understand the work involved in retrieving, characterizing, treating, and shipping transuranic waste.

DOE Idaho Operations Office Deputy Manager Jack Zimmerman said hosting tours is also important to the Department.

"These interested and motivated students are our future employees and leaders who can help the country with its transuranic waste processing program. The Department appreciates its role in helping with their development,” he said.

Clearing Away Process Gas Equipment Moves Portsmouth D&D Forward

Crane operator Brian Lambert of Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth, EM decontamination and decommissioning (D&D) contractor, lowers the last compressor to the operations floor of the X-326 uranium enrichment process building at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant site in Piketon, Ohio. The equipment removal, which is nearing completion in the X-326, includes cutting and taking out more than 7,000 separate components for off-site disposal. Crews are analyzing more than 200,000 feet of piping and more than 1 million feet of tubing to determine remaining removal plans. The D&D project includes the site’s three iconic process buildings, each nearly a half-mile long and two levels high, and more than 300 other structures.

West Valley Demonstration Project Food Drive Delivers Food for 700 Families

Employees prepare to deliver food to pantries in the 2015 food drive.

WEST VALLEY, N.Y. – EM employees at West Valley Demonstration Project (WVDP) helped collect and deliver 114,843 pounds of food, including 360 turkeys, to nine food pantries in the West Valley area, just in time to benefit about 700 families in need during the holidays.

Having collected more than 1.6 million pounds of food since its inception 26 years ago, the food drive is supported by several WVDP organizations, including EM, prime contractor CH2M HILL BWXT West Valley (CHBWV), other companies, and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority.

The food drive works like this: The pantries provide lists of needed items. The food drive organizers maximize cash donations by teaming with local grocery stores to purchase food at or below wholesale price. Volunteers help load the food into trucks, bring it to the pantries, and stock the shelves.

“The support we receive for the WVDP food drive is overwhelming,” said CHBWV project engineer Lettie Chilson, a food drive organizer of 11 years. “Our employees and partners demonstrate their generosity and their willingness to help their neighbors year after year. They not only look forward to the drive, they are also thankful for the opportunity to help those in need.”

Pantry manager Kris Aldrow said the donations help spur the spirit of giving.

"We were very low until your donation,” Aldrow told WVDP employees of the pantry’s supply. “We will be able to make 50 holiday bags for families in West Valley. Most are working families that are low income. Many of them come and volunteer because they want to pay it forward."

Once the site of the first and only commercial nuclear fuel reprocessing plant in the U.S., WVDP is now an EM environmental cleanup and waste management project, located about 35 miles south of Buffalo.

Contributors

Rosaire Bushey, Office of River Protection

Rick Dale, Idaho Site

Cynthia Dayton, West Valley Demonstration Project

Mark Heeter, Hanford Site

Laurie Judd, EM Headquarters

Marc Klein, Nevada National Security Site

Dwayne McCloskey, Portsmouth Site

Wayne McKinney, Oak Ridge Site

Dona Merritt, Nevada National Security Site

Danielle Miller, Idaho Site

Caroline Reppert, Savannah River Site

Ben Rivera, EM Headquarters

David Sheeley, EM Headquarters

DT Townsend, Savannah River Site

Colleen Welch, Savannah River Site