The Integrated Waste Treatment Unit at DOE's Idaho Site.
IDAHO FALLS, Idaho – DOE recently convened a “Chemistry Summit” of scientific experts to aid its efforts to safely and effectively start up the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit (IWTU).
The summit’s team of chemists from the Idaho Cleanup Project, Idaho National Laboratory, and EM’s Savannah River National Laboratory in South Carolina, and industry experts, developed recommendations to address technical issues as IWTU undergoes startup testing with a waste simulant prior to beginning operations with actual radioactive material.
“We are finding and fixing the problems,” said Idaho EM Manager Jack Zimmerman. “The purpose of the testing and commissioning phase is to identify and fix problems without the hazardous and radioactive constituents. We have made a lot of progress, and have fixed most of the problems identified, but we still have some work to do. We continue to encourage the engineers and workers at the IWTU to propose and test new and innovative ways to operate the facility more safely and efficiently.”
IWTU is a first-of-a-kind facility built to treat 900,000 gallons of radioactive liquid waste at the DOE Idaho Site. The facility will use a steam reforming process to treat the liquid waste and convert it into a granular solid, which is transferred to stainless steel canisters for safe storage and eventual disposal. DOE is taking a deliberative approach to starting up the IWTU to ensure any technical issues that could negatively impact the facility are identified and resolved before beginning radioactive waste treatment operations.
To date, DOE has conducted three campaigns at the IWTU using a waste simulant to help identify potential issues and gain operating experience. The simulant closely models the chemical makeup — minus the radioactive constituents and mercury — of the liquid waste to be processed. Testing performed to date shows that the prime objective of the IWTU — safely converting a liquid into a solid waste form — can be successfully accomplished. As a result of the simulant campaigns, significant progress has been made in equipment and process reliability, and the IWTU is operating in a more stable fashion as the Department prepares to introduce radioactive waste.
The latest simulant campaign, conducted in late 2015, was intended to help DOE evaluate fixes put into place following the previous simulant campaigns, such as changes to the fluidized bed that is part of the treatment process; as well as demonstrate stable plant operations. The third simulant run provided IWTU operators with their longest opportunity to date to run the facility and learn more about it. Inspections performed after the simulant run found a bark-like material on the internal surface of the facility treatment vessel, as well as some equipment erosion issues. Notably, the bark-like material found in the treatment vessel after the third simulant run was not as extensive and was easier to remove than similar material found after an earlier simulant campaign.
“The plant is operating in a much more stable fashion than in earlier simulant runs,” said Zimmerman. “This complex, first-of-a-kind facility requires testing and modifications that normally happen during the commissioning phase of a project like this. We remain focused on meeting our commitment to the state of Idaho, and the measured, methodical, deliberative approach to starting up IWTU is necessary so that when we do begin treating radioactive waste, we are confident we are doing it safely and efficiently.”
At the summit held in Idaho Falls, the chemists and process experts discussed potential solutions to the bark-like formation and new erosion issue. The group identified potential equipment and process modifications to address the chemistry and fluidization issues. Some of these solutions can be implemented in the near term, while others will require additional testing.
The near-term path forward is to implement some of the team’s recommendations during the next planned simulant run, which is expected to get underway this spring. DOE is working to meet an agreement with the state of Idaho to begin actual waste processing at IWTU by Sept. 30, 2016.
Each year, EM releases information relating to contractor fee payments — earned by completing the work called for in the contracts — to further transparency in its cleanup program.
A rockslide in November 2014 caused significant delays and costs to the Moab project. The contractor worked expeditiously to respond to the rockslide and to progressively and safely return to full train shipments of uranium mill tailings for disposal. Although Portage faced numerous challenges and work adjustments due to the rockslide, the contractor safely shipped and disposed 600,725 tons of the tailings. Portage completed the award fee period with no Occupational Safety and Health Administration-recordable injuries or illnesses.
Portage implemented a new thermoluminescent dosimeter for its radiation workers that can detect radiation doses at lower values and with greater monitoring accuracy. This lower detection level allows the contractor to modify work locations for individuals, as needed, to reduce their doses.
Portage supported major assessments, surveillances, and safety walkthroughs, and generated 11 lessons-learned reports in this period. In particular, Portage led a full-scale, multi-agency emergency response drill at the Moab site that generated valuable emergency preparedness lessons learned for the participants and responders.
“In its fourth contract year, Portage has demonstrated the ability to manage its scope and operate safely despite challenges, like the major rockslide, that were posed during this award fee period,” Moab Federal Project Director Don Metzler said.
Portage’s award fee ratings were as follows:
project management 10 percent – good
tailings excavation, haul, and disposal 60 percent – excellent
health and safety 30 percent – very good
overall weighted result – very good
The award fee determination scorecard can be viewed here.
Work is more than halfway complete on grouting Tank 12, the eighth to be operationally closed at Savannah River Site.
AIKEN, S.C. – Savannah River Site (SRS) moved past the halfway mark recently on the path to closure of another high-level waste tank.
Filling Tank 12 with a cement-like grout began in January. Once complete, it will be the eighth high-level waste tank closed at SRS.
It takes about three months to fill the nearly 1 million-gallon tank with the specially formulated grout. To date, about 490,000 gallons of grout have been placed in Tank 12, bringing it to 54 percent complete.
DOE-Savannah River Manager Jack Craig said DOE continues to work to remediate waste tanks at SRS to protect the workers, the public, and the environment.
“Closing these waste tanks reduces the risk they once posed,” Craig said. “We couldn’t achieve these goals without the positive partnership with our regulators, stakeholders, and dedicated employees key to performing this work.”
Savannah River Remediation (SRR), the SRS liquid waste contractor, performs the work on Tank 12. SRR operates the site’s liquid waste facilities for SRS.
Acting SRR President and Project Manager Mark Schmitz said the contractor is mindful of the work that needs to be accomplished, adding that employees are focused on safely executing the mission.
“Our workers understand the significance of their work and the impact it has on their friends and families,” Schmitz said. “They live here, too.”
Constructed in the early 1950s, Tank 12 has a storage capacity of approximately 750,000 gallons and is 75 feet in diameter. It was placed into service in 1956 and provided critical containment for waste prior to processing and permanent disposal.
Over the past several years, workers have pumped waste material from Tank 12, cleaned it with specialized mechanical and chemical processes, and isolated the tank from all systems, such as electrical and waste lines.
Those activities were prerequisites leading to regulatory confirmation that the tank was cleaned to the maximum extent practical and ready for closure. Waste tank closure is accomplished through the placement of grout to fill the entire tank and all tank component voids.
Tank 12 is the second tank in the site’s H Area to be filled with grout. Tank 16, located near Tank 12, was closed in September 2015.
The Federal Facility Agreement between DOE, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control requires that Tank 12 be operationally closed by May 31, 2016.
New groundwater contamination treatment equipment sits outside the C-612 Northwest Pump-and-Treat facility.
PADUCAH, Ky. – EM recently completed upgrades to modernize a key facility that reduces off-site groundwater contamination at the former Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant site.
Equipment at the C-612 Northwest Pump-and-Treat Facility that had reached the end of its service life or no longer had available replacement parts was replaced with newer equipment to allow the facility’s continued operations.
“By modernizing the C-612 pump-and-treat operations, our goal is to reduce our maintenance cost and increase worker efficiency for this cleanup effort,” said EM Paducah Site Lead Jennifer Woodard with the Portsmouth Paducah Project Office.
A computer-modeled illustration shows the off-site movement and reduction of the northwest groundwater contamination plume in 2000 compared to 2014 (below).
This computer-modeled illustration shows a decrease in the size of the northwest groundwater contamination plume compared with 2000 (above).
In August 1995, operations began at the facility to reduce off-site groundwater contamination by pumping groundwater to treatment equipment in a process called air stripping. Air stripping traps the resulting contaminants, mostly trichloroethene (TCE), and separates them from water pumped into the facility. TCE was used to clean equipment used in the uranium enrichment process when the gaseous diffusion plant operated. The use of TCE was discontinued in the early 1990s.
More than 2 billion gallons of water have been treated since operations began at the northwest groundwater contamination plume. An additional 1.5 billion gallons of water have been treated from another part of the plume at a separate pump-and-treat facility at the northeast side of the plume. Overall, these operations have removed almost 4,200 gallons of TCE. Pump-and-treat operations, optimized in 2010 with the installation of additional withdrawal wells, and other efforts to remove contamination sources have reduced the plumes offsite by more than 20 percent.
An aerial view of the Salt Waste Processing Facility at the Savannah River Site.
AIKEN, S.C. – EM has turned to its United Kingdom counterparts for guidance to help ensure the successful startup and commissioning of the Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF) at the Savannah River Site (SRS) over the next two years.
SWPF Federal Project Director Pam Marks and others at SRS participated in two meetings with the UK Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) to learn about Evaporator D, a facility being constructed at NDA’s Sellafield site comparable to SWPF.
“The great opportunity here is that Evap D is a similar facility that has completed construction and is about 18 months ahead of SWPF on the startup and commissioning timeline,” Marks said. “With NDA’s help, we will be able to watch and learn from their project and apply any appropriate lessons learned at SWPF to ensure we get this vital facility in operation as soon as possible.”
SWPF contractor Parsons is set to finish constructing the liquid waste facility in the first half of 2016 before transitioning to testing and commissioning. Once complete, the facility will exponentially increase the rates for processing about 90 percent of the 37 million gallons of high-level, radioactive waste in the SRS underground tank farms.
EM and NDA have discussed challenges such as supply chain and vendor quality issues during construction. Evaporator D undergoes testing this year, and EM will watch for lessons learned to help with SWPF startup and commissioning.
“Working closely with DOE, our team has really put us in a position of high confidence as we finish construction and move into full commissioning mode,” said Parsons Vice President and SWPF Project Manager Frank Sheppard. “We are maintaining close connections with the UK through this process to ensure that we can learn anything and everything we can from their experience. Every day and every dollar we can save matters.”
EM provided lessons learned, too, by sharing several SWPF processes and procedures that helped ensure subcontractors were providing components at the high-quality level required for nuclear facilities.
“Startup and commissioning is really an area where we want to collaborate with the UK,” Marks said. “There is a lot of focus on SWPF as a key success for the Department of Energy in 2016 and we are doing everything we can to make sure we deliver.”
NDA Lead Programme Manager Graham Jonsson appreciated the project teams’ effort.
“It is important for all stakeholders to work collaboratively in order to improve performance; this is a great example of how this can be done and I look forward to continuing this important relationship going forward,” he said.
Workers survey an auger for contamination levels at Hanford’s 618-10 Burial Ground.
Project ahead of schedule and will continue augering beyond fiscal year 2016 goal
RICHLAND, Wash. – EM’s Richland Operations Office (RL) and cleanup contractor Washington Closure Hanford (WCH) are making tremendous progress cleaning up Hanford’s 618-10 Burial Ground, one of the most hazardous burial grounds in the EM complex.
From 1954 through 1963, workers disposed of highly radioactive and hazardous waste into 94 pipes buried vertically at the 7.5-acre burial ground.
To begin cleaning some of the pipes, workers drove steel over casings measuring 28 feet long and 4 feet in diameter into the ground around the pipes last spring. They began using an auger assembly to grind up the waste, piping material, and soil within the over casing in September. The next step will be to place the mixture in the over casing into a box, where it is mixed with grout and prepared for disposal. The WCH team is scheduled to begin retrieving the augered soil as soon as April.
Since beginning the augering process in September, the WCH team has completed augering 30 pipes as of Feb. 24, two more than were scheduled to be completed this fiscal year. Because of the efficient and safe operations, RL has directed WCH to continue the augering campaign.
The 618-10 Burial Ground covers more than seven acres and is one of the most hazardous cleanup sites in the EM complex.
Extensive preparations were needed before this work could begin. Workers mapped the locations of all 94 pipes and installed four steel tubes around the outside of each pipe for nonintrusive radiological characterization. By taking dose rates inside the tubes at incremental depths, workers could model the radiological composition of the highly contaminated waste in each pipe.
Meanwhile, WCH continues to clean the burial ground’s waste trenches. To date, workers have removed about 1,600 drums, some of which are concrete-lined and contain high dose rate items. Workers also have removed miscellaneous waste such as glove boxes and process equipment.
The burial ground contains waste generated primarily from Hanford’s 300 Area, where fuel metallurgical analysis was performed and new methods were developed to separate plutonium from nuclear fuel. These wastes consisted of metallurgical sample residues, samples from experiments, and other very high dose-rate, high-alpha contaminated wastes.
WCH will transfer the remaining work scope at 618-10 to another RL contractor before its contract ends Sept. 30. To date, WCH has demolished 324 buildings and cleaned up 574 waste sites, saving DOE more than $300 million through safe and efficient operations.
Workers lift a waste box from a TruPact II container at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant.
CARLSBAD, N.M. – In a new fact sheet, DOE’s Carlsbad Field Office (CBFO) chronicles the significant progress in recovery efforts at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in the two years since a truck fire and radiological release at the site.
CBFO and management and operations contractor Nuclear Waste Partnership (NWP) have made strides in mine stability and habitability and reduced radiological risk by installing continuous air monitors and fire suppression and ventilation systems, among other actions.
The site also made improvements to all safety management programs in response to the Accident Investigation Board, which completed an exhaustive investigation at WIPP and Los Alamos National Laboratory. The board examined the cause of the radiological release at WIPP and identified managerial controls and safety measures necessary to prevent or minimize the probability or severity of a recurrence of this type of accident.
DOE and NWP will complete readiness activities to ensure all equipment, people and procedures are thoroughly tested and ready to resume plant operations in 2016. Those activities culminate with operational readiness reviews before DOE and regulators authorize the start of WIPP’s waste emplacement.