EM Update | Vol. 8, Issue 6 | March 31, 2016

DOE Office of Environmental Management sent this bulletin at 03/31/2016 09:44 AM EDT

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EM Assistant Secretary Highlights Cleanup Workers at Annual Conference
Shoshone-Bannock Tribes Describe Ancestry on Tour with Department Officials
Waste Management Conference Highlights Oak Ridge’s Progress and Partnerships
EM’s Safety Chief Talks Safety Culture Improvements With EM Update
EM Cares About Small Businesses, Acquisition Chief Says at Conference
Women of Waste Management
Officials Establish Training Institute, Creating Enterprise Solution for Worker Safety
EM's Office of River Protection on ‘Quickest Path to Glass’ for Hanford's Tank Waste
Demolition Progresses at Berkeley Laboratory
Hanford Site Lays Out New Vision for Next Decade of Cleanup Progress
EM Makes Progress Preparing Old Enrichment Plants for Demolition
EM Goes Beyond DOE Goals Again to Reduce Carbon Footprint
Idaho Crews Use Waste Treatment Expertise to Land Additional Work
EM’s DOE Fellows Participate in Waste Management Conference
Science Fair Participants Years Ahead of Their Time, Say Judges from ORP
Fluor Paducah Deactivation Project Marks 2 Million Safe Work Hours
EM's Office of River Protection Workers Teach Engineering to Local Students

EM Assistant Secretary Highlights Cleanup Workers at Annual Conference

EM Assistant Secretary Dr. Monica Regalbuto speaks during the Waste Management Conference plenary session earlier this month.

PHOENIX – EM Assistant Secretary Dr. Monica Regalbuto praised the workers across the DOE complex who are helping EM make significant progress on its cleanup goals in her remarks at the annual Waste Management Conference held here earlier this month.

In her first appearance at the conference as EM Assistant Secretary, Regalbuto highlighted workers helping EM wrap up work on significant near-term accomplishments, including:

Preparing to initiate waste emplacement activities at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in 2016;
Completing in 2016 the demolition of Building K-27, the last of the gaseous diffusion enrichment process buildings at Oak Ridge;
Finishing in 2016 construction of the Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF) at Savannah River Site (SRS), which, when in operation, will significantly increase EM’s ability to treat tank waste there;
Achieving in 2016 closure of the eighth high-level waste tank at SRS; and
Demolishing the Hanford Site’s Plutonium Finishing Plant (PFP) — once the most dangerous building in the complex — to slab-on-grade in fiscal year 2017.

“It’s an exciting time for the EM mission,” Regalbuto said in her remarks at the plenary session.

“I strongly believe that my role is to enable success in the field, where the bulk of our work is performed,” she said. “It’s the men and women at work at our sites each day that make this progress possible, turning cleanup plans into reality and getting the job done — safely and efficiently.”

Among the workers Regalbuto highlighted in her remarks was Frank Hammitt, who has worked at Hanford for 17 years, the last four of which he has worked at the PFP. “It’s because of the highly skilled workers we have at PFP, and across the complex, working as a team, that we will be able to meet our demolition goal for the PFP,” she said.

Regalbuto also noted Jay McCrary, an engineer with Savannah River Remediation (SRR), the SRS liquid waste contractor. McCrary is a participant in SRR’s Reaching Engineers at the Development Years (READY) program, a two-year development program for newly hired college engineering graduates.

“It is programs like this that help us include new people in the EM program to provide new views and thoughts on how we can perform our work,” she said.

Watch the following videos to learn more about the cleanup workers:

Click here for "Waste Isolation Pilot Plant: Working Toward Restart"
Click here for "SRS Salt Waste Processing Facility Construction: The People Behind the Project"
Click here for “The Faces of K-27 Deactivation”

To view more videos on the cleanup across the complex, access EM’s playlist here.

Shoshone-Bannock Tribes Describe Ancestry on Tour with Department Officials

INL cultural historian Hollie Gilbert, center, shows artifacts to EM Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Mark Whitney.

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho – Leaders of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, whose ancestral homelands include the 890 square miles containing the DOE's Idaho Site, shared the spiritual and historical importance of the site to the Tribes in a recent cultural resources tour with EM Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Mark Whitney.

Whitney took the tour with the Tribal leaders, INL cultural resource experts, and employees from the Idaho Site and DOE headquarters.

“The tribal leaders were very passionate in talking about their connection to this land,” Whitney said. “I fully understand why they feel it is important that we do a good job in cleanup, and continue to protect their ancestral homeland, as well as the Snake River Plain Aquifer.”

EM Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Mark Whitney, center, background, views a cut bank at the Big Lost River on the Idaho Site. Other members of the tour are pictured in the foreground. The sand bags, which will eventually deteriorate on their own, were placed into the cut bank to stabilize it. This is the site of an excavation by archeologists from Texas A&M University.

Whitney viewed the archeological evidence of the Tribes’ historical presence in the area. Native Americans used the land for hunting and gathering of medicinal plants and herbs. Many of the plants on the site have spiritual importance to the Tribes.

The group walked through the high sagebrush desert where they saw shards of obsidian, which were used as tools and weapons hundreds or thousands of years ago, along the trail. As INL Historical Archaeologist Hollie Gilbert sifted through the site of a hearth once used for cooking, she found a trading bead that could date back to the 1700s. Later, Gilbert pointed out a cross section of a river bank that had been excavated by Texas A&M University archaeologists, who found evidence of over 6,000 years of occupation in the area.

Whitney traveled to the Fort Hall Reservation to meet with the Fort Hall Business Council following the tour.

Top EM officials have committed to visiting Indian Reservations and continuing to foster a dialogue with the Tribes.

Waste Management Conference Highlights Oak Ridge’s Progress and Partnerships

Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management Manager Sue Cange, center, listens to Atomic Trades and Labor Council President Mike Thompson Mike Thompson speak at the Waste Management Conference. Betsy Child, chief of staff and regulatory officer for URS|CH2M Oak Ridge, is at left.

PHOENIX – The Waste Management Conference this month dedicated a day to highlighting the work of DOE’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM) with the theme, “Purpose. Progress. Partnership.”

Oak Ridge federal and contractor leadership hosted four sessions that explored how each part of that theme assists in the site’s cleanup efforts. OREM Manager Sue Cange, who credits partnerships for the site’s success, was joined onstage by representatives from organizations that serve as the site’s partners — community organizations, prime contractors, labor unions, regulators, and the local advisory board.

“I’m a firm believer in the power of partnerships. We will always accomplish more with strong partnerships, and Oak Ridge has some of the best in the complex.” Cange said. “With our contractors, we have great communication, a shared vision, and a commitment to completing work in a timely and fiscally-responsible manner. And with the community, we have advocates that understand the value of what we are trying to accomplish.”

OREM leaders explained how the organization strives to make progress despite obstacles at the 33,000-acre Oak Ridge Reservation.

For example, OREM found a way to continue processing and storing higher-level radioactive transuranic waste until normal waste disposal operations resume at EM’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico. OREM and its contractors designed new containers to encase the normal inner vessel and outer cask packaging for processed waste. These overpacks add more protection and enable safe and secure long-term storage until shipments resume, allowing OREM to maintain progress towards meeting its cleanup schedule.

Discussions also focused on OREM’s effort to address risks and hazards in facilities not scheduled for near-term demolition. In fiscal year 2016, OREM and the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) received funding to reduce risks and stabilize the Manhattan Project and Cold War structures onsite until they can be removed. In part, this was made possible by the site’s proactive approach years earlier to evaluate future needs and have a plan in place if funding was made available.

OREM, NNSA, and DOE’s Office of Science are developing an integrated approach to address the immediate needs in and around the high-risk facilities. This year, OREM is using its portion of the funding to characterize and abate hazards and stabilize the condition of seven excess, contaminated facilities at the Y-12 National Security Complex and Oak Ridge National Laboratory while they await demolition. These actions will improve worker safety and reduce the cost and complexity of future cleanup by reducing risk and helping prevent further migration of contaminants.

Oak Ridge Day ended with a panel discussion about reindustrialization, a prominent Oak Ridge success. With this year’s launch of the Building K-27 demolition at the East Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP), the site continues to remove unneeded facilities and make clean land available for future use as a private sector industrial park. Oak Ridge’s Vision 2016, which involves removing all gaseous diffusion plants by the end of this year, is within reach. Now, federal and contractor staff are looking forward to Vision 2020: complete cleanup and transfer the entire ETTP site.

ETTP’s reindustrialization reveals the importance of OREM’s work — not just in safety but also economically. Through OREM’s cleanup and land and facility transfers to the Community Reuse Organization of East Tennessee and the City of Oak Ridge, the site is home to numerous companies and new, sustainable energy projects.

With cleanup advancing at the site, the future holds even more opportunity. Since OREM completed demolition of K-33 and K-31, a 200-acre parcel of flat land will be available, allowing the program to attract new industry to the site.

Whether through developing partnerships, effectively planning future work, or preparing land for reuse to accomplish a regional impact, OREM is driven by three principals to enhance Oak Ridge — purpose, progress, and partnership.

EM’s Safety Chief Talks Safety Culture Improvements With EM Update

WASHINGTON, D.C. – EM Safety, Security, and Quality Programs Deputy Assistant Secretary James Hutton recently spoke with EM Update about the EM program’s improvements in safety culture.

1. It's now almost five years since the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board raised the visibility of the topic of safety culture by issuing DOE a formal Recommendation calling for improvements. What actions has DOE taken since then to make improvements?

The Department has taken significant actions to strengthen the Department’s overall safety culture because it’s the right thing to do. First, the Department described just what it expects in terms of senior leader behavior by issuing the Integrated Safety Management System Guide, attachment 10. The Department took on an unprecedented training effort based on this leader behavioral guidance, starting at the top. Well over 2,000 DOE and contractor senior leaders have attended a course in Leadership for a Safety Conscious Work Environment (SCWE).

To provide endurable and sustainable changes, the Department has strategically imbedded the expectations for safety culture and SCWE within the existing Integrated Safety Management System (ISM). The Secretary and Deputy Secretary have also made a personal commitment to health and safety.

The Department’s Safety Culture Improvement Panel (SCIP) was established in May 2015. The panel, made up of representatives from across the Department, has been tasked with strengthening contractual language associated with safety culture; working with the National Training Center in developing training for federal and contractor first-line supervisors and employees; establishing of performance metrics and methods; and evaluating Departmental trends that may have an impact on safety culture and SCWE.

As cited by the Secretary in one of the recent all-hands meetings, significant improvements in safety culture have been made across the Department. However, this is about continuous improvement, and the Departmental and EM efforts will continue to remain a focus area to strengthen and improve safety culture and the concept of a safety conscious work environment.

2. What steps has EM taken to improve safety culture at its sites and at headquarters? Going forward, what other actions, if any, are seen as needed?

A total of 11 EM sites and 21 contractor organizations have developed comprehensive Safety Culture Sustainment Plans that identify improvements in the organizational culture and safety culture areas, as well as SCWE in the areas of leadership, employee engagement, and organizational learning. Each site will be required to update their plans as part of their periodic ISM Declaration — about every 18 to 24 months — meaning this continuous improvement effort will endure over time.

EM has played an integral role in these improvements in headquarters, as well as in the field. EM has recently incorporated safety culture in our oversight activities. In addition, EM leadership has sponsored activities to improve organization and safety culture, as well as SCWE.

EM is leading and supporting the DOE National Training Center’s delivery of senior leadership training and development of the frontline leadership training on safety culture. In addition, EM, in coordination with DOE’s Office of Environment, Health, Safety and Security, has developed a two-hour Safety Culture Fundamentals Workshop for employees, which has been piloted for over 1,100 federal and contractor employees at Oak Ridge, Carlsbad, and Idaho, and is being presented this week at Hanford’s Office of River Protection.

EM will be presenting the two-hour Safety Culture Fundamentals Workshop for all EM headquarters employees, which will provide tools and resources for each employee to positively influence their day-to-day organizational culture.

EM Safety, Security, and Quality Programs Deputy Assistant Secretary James Hutton

3. Are there factors at EM headquarters that make it more, or less, difficult to sustain a strong safety culture than in the field?

There are not necessarily factors that make it more or less difficult to sustain a strong safety culture at headquarters or the field. The goal is to implement safety culture and SCWE concepts consistently across EM, while providing the flexibility to tailor the sustainable actions to those that a specific organization needs.

The Department’s definition of safety culture is “an organization’s values and behaviors, modeled by its leaders and internalized by its members, that serve to make safe performance of work the overriding priority to protect workers, the environment, and the public.”

There is a misperception that “safety” culture is only about industrial safety and that the concept of safety culture applies only to the field elements and contractors. The term “safety” is not narrowly defined; rather, the ISM requirements emphasize that the definition of “safety” is broad and is applicable to every individual in every capacity within EM.

EM recognizes that in order to be successful in positively influencing the safety culture, efforts must also be focused on improving the organizational culture and SCWE. It is really not possible for the concept of SCWE to be implemented in the organization if the overall organizational culture is weak. And it is really not possible to have a strong safety culture if the concept of SCWE is not implemented in the organization. Thus, EM headquarters is focusing continuous improvement efforts in all three areas — organizational culture, safety culture, and SCWE, with special emphasis on the Safety Culture Focus Areas of leadership, employee engagement, and organizational learning.

4. How does EM know that it is making improvements in safety culture? How can these improvements be sustained over the long term?

We know we are making improvements in safety culture because we are seeing leadership behaviors that demonstrate a strong safety culture. We see senior leaders that do not hesitate to stop work to address safety issues. We’ve seen that at all our sites — Savannah River, Idaho, Hanford, the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, Oak Ridge, the Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office, the Separations Process Research Unit site, and Moab. When performance issues occur, these leaders take action to take control of the situation, prevent additional events, and take the time necessary to investigate, identify causes, formulate corrective actions, and effectively implement those corrective actions.

That is what a strong safety culture looks like. These work pauses are a sign of a strong safety culture, just like an individual worker stopping to question a step in a work plan.

Questioning, acknowledging performance deficiencies, taking effective corrective actions, stopping when uncertain — these are signposts of strong safety culture — and leading indicators of strong future performance. Paradoxically, when we slow down and take time to do what it takes to achieve operational excellence, we find that we get done sooner, and with much less complication and rework.

We’ve also seen improvements across the Department in terms of participation in the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey, which is administered to federal personnel only. In 2015, DOE achieved a 68 percent response rate, or an increase of 18 percent over the previous year. In 2015, EM achieved a response rate of 70 percent. Within EM, there was a statistically significant increase in the positive responses to the statement, “I can disclose a suspected violation of any law, rule or regulation without fear of reprisal,” with 70 percent of participants having responded positively.

Improvements are also being seen in the federal workplaces at the sites, with substantial improvements being seen within the Hanford Office of River Protection, as well as the other federal site offices.

5. Lastly, what is EM's message to its workforce — both federal and contractor — when it comes to safety culture?

To sustain long-term improvement in safety culture is hard work, every single day. It is work that will never be “done.” It takes concerted, deliberate, and continued efforts by each individual within the EM organization. It is up to each one of us to positively influence the culture to support an open and collaborative work environment.

In the end, the same behaviors and habits of excellence that improve safety culture affect all aspects of our performance and lead to overall operational excellence.

EM Cares About Small Businesses, Acquisition Chief Says at Conference

PHOENIX – EM is realizing success in setting aside and awarding significant work to small businesses, EM’s acquisition chief said here earlier this month.

“EM cares a lot about small businesses,” EM Deputy Assistant Secretary for Acquisition and Project Management Jack Surash said at the annual Waste Management Conference. “We’re after sustainable opportunities for small businesses.”

EM has seen a steady increase in recent years in the monetary amount of contracts awarded to small businesses. In fiscal year 2015, more than $500 million worth of contracts were awarded to small businesses, directly as prime contracts or as first-tier subcontracts to EM’s management-and-operating contractors, Surash said. This fiscal year, a total of approximately $400 million to $600 million worth of contracts are expected to be awarded to small businesses.

EM is meeting, and often exceeding, its contracting goals for the various socioeconomic types of small businesses, Surash said. These categories include women-owned, service-disabled veteran-owned, 8(a), and Hubzone small businesses.

Over the last several years, EM has awarded substantial small business prime contracts ranging in value from $25 million to more than $175 million, Surash said. These contracts include infrastructure services at EM’s Paducah and Portsmouth sites; occupational medical services at the Hanford Site; operation of the Oak Ridge Transuranic Waste Processing Center (TWPC); operation of the 222-S Laboratory at the Hanford Site; and management of Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)-licensed facilities at the Idaho Site.

EM Deputy Assistant Secretary for Acquisition and Project Management Jack Surash at the Waste Management Conference earlier this month.

Surash noted that EM has seen significant levels of competition for its small business prime contracts. For example, five bids were submitted for the Paducah infrastructure services contract, and seven bids were submitted for the Portsmouth infrastructure services contract. EM also received six proposals for the Idaho NRC-licensed facilities contract, and seven proposals for the Oak Ridge TWPC contract, Surash said.

EM is currently considering proposals for what Surash described as a “pretty darn big” contract for a small business to provide IT services at EM headquarters. The contract is expected to be worth between $50 million and $70 million over five years, and EM hopes to make an award decision before the end of this year, he said.

DOE is scheduled to hold two events in May to aid small businesses in doing work for the Department:

The 2016 Small Business Forum, to be held May 19-20 in South Carolina by the DOE Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization, Savannah River Site, and Savannah River National Laboratory.
The 2016 Annual DOE Small Business Forum and Expo, to be held May 23-25 in Atlanta, Ga.

Women of Waste Management

Panelists say inspired leadership is shaping nuclear industry careers

Left to right, Carol Johnson, Savannah River Nuclear Solutions president and CEO; Ann McCall, director of Waste Management, for Radioactive Waste Management Ltd, a subsidiary of the United Kingdom’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority; Dyan Foss, global managing director, CH2M Nuclear Sector; and Joyce Connery, chairwoman of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board.

PHOENIX - For the seventh year at the Waste Management Conference, EM contractor Fluor hosted a discussion on the expanding role of women in environmental management this month in a panel session attended by more than 250 people.

The session was led by Carol Johnson, president and CEO of Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, the EM Savannah River Site management and operations contractor. Panelists Joyce Connery, chairwoman of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB); Ann McCall, director of Waste Management, for Radioactive Waste Management Ltd, a subsidiary of the United Kingdom’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority; and Dyan Foss, global managing director, CH2M Nuclear Sector, engaged in a candid dialogue about inspired leadership.

“For me, there is a difference between a transactional manager and an inspirational leader,” McCall said. “An inspirational leader has the ability to communicate a clear vision, motivate their teams, and empower them to contribute to its realization. They also have the ability to communicate expectations so that the people around them have clarity on where they fit in.”

Newcomers look for more than a paycheck

The panelists talked about how they create opportunities for young people interested in nuclear careers.

“It’s a fact that we have more people retiring than we do choosing environmental and nuclear fields as their profession,” Foss said. “I see more and more recent college grads who want to make a difference, and the work we do allows us to do that, not just for our generation, but for generations to come. As an industry, our recruiting messaging needs to reflect that.”

As the first woman and youngest chair of the DNFSB, Connery was asked if she considers herself a trailblazer.

“The first step on the road to success is being honest with yourself about what you’re good at,” she said. “Know your strengths and put yourself in situations that allow you to contribute in a meaningful way. That’s the best approach to opening doors, even doors that haven’t been opened before. Being a trailblazer is a combination of hard work, some luck, and a positive attitude, and you also have to be passionate about what you do.”

Giving back on the job and in the community

A Fluor official noted the company's charitable contributions to organizations focused on medical research and quality care access.

“Community involvement is a touchstone for Fluor and something that our entire team feels strongly about,” said Greg Meyer, Fluor senior vice president and Waste Management Symposia board member. “I always look forward to this event because of the spirited conversations that it generates, and because it highlights some truly phenomenal leaders. These topics will have a lasting effect and we’re hopeful that the donations we make on behalf of the attendees will have an equally significant impact.”

Meyer announced that Fluor will donate $7,500 to the American Cancer Society and $7,500 to the Avon Breast Cancer Crusade.

Connery, a cancer survivor, recalled her initial diagnosis, and the importance of having a solid support network.

“When you hear that you have cancer, it’s terrifying,” she said. “But because of organizations like the Avon Foundation and the American Cancer Society, there’s help available when you need it. The Women of Waste Management event was a reminder on several different levels that we’re not in this alone.”

Officials Establish Training Institute, Creating Enterprise Solution for Worker Safety

Pictured, front row, left to right, EM Assistant Secretary Monica Regalbuto and DOE Independent Enterprise Assessments Director Glenn Podonsky; back row, left to right: Evan Dunne, National Training Center, Special Projects; Ted Giltz, HAMMER/Mission Support Alliance, DOE Training Institute Manager; Ashley Morris, Richland Operations Office, Senior Advisor for HAMMER; Karen McGinnis, HAMMER/Mission Support Alliance, HAMMER Director; Stacy Charboneau, Richland Operations Office, Manager; and Karen Boardman, National Training Center, Director.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Department officials this month agreed to establish a new institute to strengthen worker safety that employs the capabilities of the existing offices of Environmental Management (EM) and Enterprise Assessments (EA) training facilities to benefit the DOE complex.

EA Director Glenn Podonsky, who is responsible for safety assessments and enforcement within the Department, and EM Assistant Secretary Monica Regalbuto this month approved the framework for the DOE Training Institute (DTI). DTI represents a partnership between the DOE National Training Center (NTC) and the EM Richland Operations Office’s (RL) Volpentest Hazardous Materials Management and Emergency Response (HAMMER) Federal Training Center at the Hanford Site in Washington state. Existing training expertise, course materials, and support are now available nationally to DOE and its contractors as a part of the DTI.

Podonsky said the institute is a stellar example of DOE program and site offices, labor, and others working together for the same goal of worker health and safety.

“What we’re seeing with this relationship…is people working together for the betterment of worker safety, and that’s under Secretary Moniz’s leadership,” he said.

Regalbuto highlighted HAMMER’s value to EM and emphasized the importance of a shared goal everyone is part of under the institute: a focus on worker safety.

“Our missions may be different, our day-to-day jobs may be different, but what is not different is the commonality that worker safety is our No. 1 priority,” she said, adding that the Department doesn’t put schedules ahead of safety, period. “That’s the way it is.”

DOE officials established the new DOE Training Institute.

The DTI is a continuation and formalization of the highly successful partnership established between RL/HAMMER and the NTC over the last several years. Core competencies and services of each training organization are maintained while a broader enterprise-wide training focus is pursued to reduce training redundancies, improve training quality, and work to improve core training systems. The institute will focus on:

Reciprocity for training courses, which reduces redundant training and improves training quality over time;
Common core training, which is a collection of DOE courses that apply the best fundamental training available to promote excellence while reducing duplicative training development and maintenance costs. Site- and contractor-specific gap training can be added to course content;
A national instructor certification program with complex-wide access to NTC, HAMMER, and the Energy Facility Contractors Group-sponsored DTI course materials; and
Training tools and techniques that are best practices and improve existing systems across the complex.

Stacy Charboneau, RL’s manager, applauded DOE for its vision and commitment to safety that led to the creation of the institute.

“I’m very excited that under the DTI we’re going to be able to strengthen the workforce through that effective training, building upon the highly successful models of HAMMER and NTC and really building upon that labor-management partnership that has grown and grown since the advent of HAMMER 24 years ago,” Charboneau said. HAMMER is owned by RL and operated by the Mission Support Alliance, LLC.

The institute is the result of a four-year team effort that will aid the entire Department, according to Karen Boardman, NTC director.

“I believe what is being established here with the DTI with HAMMER and NTC will benefit all of DOE,” she said. “It is meant to be an enterprise solution with endless possibilities.”

Institute officials said collaboration among federal staff, HAMMER, NTC, contractors, and labor will continue as the group implements the DTI Strategic Plan and expands support to the DOE enterprise. For additional information, contact the NTC’s Karen Boardman at (505) 845-6444 or RL’s Ashley Morris at (509) 376-3201.

U.S. Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), visited HAMMER on March 23. Pictured, left to right, are Bill Johnson, MSA president; Ashley Morris, RL Senior Advisor for HAMMER; Stacy Charboneau, RL Manager; Randy Coleman, Hanford Atomic Metal Trades Training Director; Murray; Karen McGinnis, HAMMER/MSA, HAMMER Director; and Bob Legard, Central Washington Building & Construction Trades Training Director/Labor Liaison.

EM's Office of River Protection on ‘Quickest Path to Glass’ for Hanford's Tank Waste

EM Office of River Protection Manager Kevin Smith, far left, provides an update on the Direct-Feed Low-Activity Waste Initiative during a panel session at the Waste Management Conference.

PHOENIX – EM is working to implement the “quickest path to glass” for tank waste at the Hanford Site, senior EM and contractor officials said here earlier this month.

During a panel session at the annual Waste Management Conference, EM Office of River Protection officials provided an update on the Direct-Feed Low-Activity Waste (DFLAW) Initiative. DFLAW is intended to allow EM to begin vitrifying Hanford tank waste as soon as 2022. Vitrification involves combining the tank waste with glass-forming materials and then heating the mixture to 2,100 degrees Fahrenheit. The material is then poured into stainless steel containers, where it cools to a solid glass form facilitating long-term storage.

“Our team sees DFLAW and the target of 2022 in sight,” ORP Manager Kevin Smith said. “This is a big challenge, and we have forged an effective team.”

DFLAW will use the Hanford Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant’s (WTP) Low-Activity Waste (LAW) Facility, Analytical Laboratory, and other ancillary support facilities. These sections of WTP are closer to completion than the two other main sections of WTP — the High-Level Waste and Pretreatment facilities.

DFLAW is expected to have several other benefits, officials said. It will allow EM to maximize its investment in WTP’s ancillary support facilities until the entire WTP begins operation. DFLAW is also expected to provide valuable lessons learned to aid in the startup and commissioning of other sections of WTP.

Construction work on the sections of the WTP that will support DFLAW is nearest to completion, said Peggy McCullough, project director for Bechtel National, Inc., the contractor responsible for WTP. She noted that 2015 was the safest year in the history of the WTP Project, and stressed that Bechtel is working to make 2016 another record-breaking year when it comes to safety.

Along with sections of WTP, DFLAW will require the construction of two new facilities. One is the LAW Pretreatment System (LAWPS), which will separate the low-activity portion of Hanford’s tank waste for processing at the WTP LAW Facility. Design work on LAWPS is currently more than 30 percent complete, and ORP Tank Farms Project Assistant Manager Tom Fletcher said he expects the project to reach 60 percent design completion later this year.

LAWPS “is a hallmark of value engineering,” Smith said, adding that the project is intended to be “a model” for the entire DOE.

The other new facility to be established is the Effluent Management Facility (EMF). EM broke ground for EMF in mid-December, and design of the new capability is approximately 30 percent complete. EMF will provide several functions to aid DFLAW, including concentrating fluids containing low levels of radioactive material from the LAW Facility’s off-gas treatment system via an evaporator, and recycling the evaporator concentrate into the LAW vitrification process, among others.

ORP WTP Assistant Manager and Federal Project Director Bill Hamel said EMF will be key to reducing the volume of material returned to Hanford’s tanks as part of DFLAW and helping maximize available tank space.

To help establish an integrated approach for delivering DFLAW, EM and its contractors at Hanford are moving forward with what’s been dubbed the “One System” program. As outlined by Bill Condon, manager for One System at Hanford tank farms’ contractor Washington River Protection Solutions LLC (WRPS), the program supports DFLAW by providing integrated management tools, innovative thinking, collaboration with DOE’s national laboratories, risk identification, program-wide reviews, and program element evaluations.

“There are a lot of moving parts on this. We are committed to ensuring all these parts come together at the right time and in the right order to provide a smooth transition into DFLAW operations," WRPS President and Project Manager Mark Lindholm said.

Demolition Progresses at Berkeley Laboratory

BERKELEY, Calif. – EM recently demolished three structures at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory as it remediates an area of the Northern California campus that played an active role in groundbreaking science following World War II. The cleanup objective is to demolish seven buildings remaining in the “Old Town” section of the laboratory, remove floor slabs from four buildings demolished in 2011, remove contaminated soil under and adjacent to the buildings, and restore the area for future use. The buildings dating from the 1940s were declared seismically deficient. In their heyday they supported pioneering physics research using the lab’s cyclotron particle accelerator. Against the backdrop of San Francisco Bay, a worker seen here sprays water to suppress dust and debris during demolition of Building 5 at the site that was completed on Feb. 16. The building was constructed as a chemistry annex and radiation laboratory and was used for a variety of other purposes over the years.

Hanford Site Lays Out New Vision for Next Decade of Cleanup Progress

Much work remains to be done in the center of the Hanford Site, an area known as the Central Plateau, shown here in an aerial view from the east.

PHOENIX – EM’s Richland Operations Office (RL) has developed a new vision to help guide the Hanford Site cleanup in the next decade as the focus of work increasingly shifts to the site’s Central Plateau, federal and contractor officials said here earlier this month.

In a panel session at the annual Waste Management Conference, RL Manager Stacy Charboneau outlined the planned work scope through 2028, including:

Completing the transfer of more than 1,900 cesium and strontium capsules from wet storage to dry storage;
Expanding groundwater remediation;
Retrieving and treating contact- and remote-handled transuranic waste for eventual off-site shipment;
Initiating disposition of Hanford’s former “canyons,” the facilities where plutonium was removed from spent nuclear fuel for processing at the Plutonium Finishing Plant (PFP); and
Completing upgrades to infrastructure to allow continued safe and effective operations.

EM is nearing completion of a significant cleanup project at Hanford’s Central Plateau —demolition of the PFP to slab-on-grade. Site cleanup contractor CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co. (CHPRC) has removed more than half of the facility’s 7,100 feet of process vacuum piping, more than 70 percent of filter boxes, almost 90 percent of the plant’s asbestos, all of the 196 pencil tank units, and almost all of the 238 gloveboxes, according to CHPRC President and CEO John Ciucci.

PFP demolition is set to begin later this year, Charboneau said. According to Ciucci, the first section of the PFP to be addressed will be the Plutonium Reclamation Facility, followed by the “McCluskey Room,” named after worker Harold McCluskey, who was involved in an accident there in 1976. Demolition is then expected to move to the bulk of the PFP, with the last section to be addressed to be the plant’s Fan House and Stack, Ciucci said. He added that the PFP demolition to slab-on-grade will free up resources for use elsewhere.

The work to be accomplished over the next 10 to 12 years at the Central Plateau will build on EM’s significant success in cleanup along the Columbia River corridor at Hanford, Charboneau said. That river corridor work included placing six out of nine former production reactors in interim safe storage in a process called “cocooning;” preserving the B Reactor for historical purposes; remediating more than 1,200 waste sites; removing more than 500 facilities; and consolidating more than 25 cubic meters of radioactive sludge in containers in Hanford’s K West Basin.

Going forward, a few projects will remain to be completed along the river corridor, according to Charboneau. That includes remediation of the waste site under Building 324 and demolition of the building; remediation of the 618-10 and 618-11 burial grounds; and transport of sludge from the K West Basin to the Central Plateau for eventual treatment.

“We recognize that the Columbia River is a gem, not just for the state of Washington but for the whole country,” EM Deputy Assistant Secretary for Site Restoration Mark Gilbertson said.

EM Makes Progress Preparing Old Enrichment Plants for Demolition

Workers from Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth lower the last converter removed from the cell floor of Building X-326 at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant. All process gas equipment components have been removed from the building.

PHOENIX – EM is preparing old uranium enrichment facilities in Ohio and Kentucky for eventual demolition, Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office (PPPO) officials said here earlier this month.

They provided an update on deactivation work underway at the Portsmouth and Paducah gaseous diffusion plants during a panel session at the annual Waste Management Conference.

At the Portsmouth plant in Ohio, EM expects to have Building X-326, one of the site’s three former process buildings, in a “cold and dark” and “criticality incredible” state by September 2017, according to PPPO Portsmouth Site Lead Joel Bradburne. “We’re keeping our shoulder to it,” he said.

EM and Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth, the site’s Decontamination and Decommissioning (D&D) contractor, are scheduled to finish removing old process equipment from X-326 by June 2016, Bradburne said. Deactivation activities are also underway at Buildings X-330 and X-333, the site’s other two former process buildings. “We picked the hardest one first,” he said.

EM is applying lessons learned from the successful D&D work underway at the Oak Ridge, Tennessee site to work being done at the Portsmouth site, according to Bradburne. Those lessons include the need to maintain the structural integrity of roofs and critical systems; use of enhanced chemical treatment on process gas systems to reduce highly enriched uranium holdup material; development of quality criteria for the non-destructive assay process to ensure the quality of data used for criticality incredible determinations; and creation of a characterization database for process component and deactivation data.

Ten in-situ chemical treatment carts are staged in Paducah's C-337 process building. The treatment carts will be used to remove uranium deposits from the enrichment system at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant.

At the Paducah plant, EM and Fluor Federal Services, the site’s deactivation contractor, have developed new portable treatment carts to aid in removing uranium deposits from old piping and equipment in the plant’s former process buildings, according to PPPO Paducah Site Lead Jennifer Woodard. Ten carts have been built and delivered, and will be initially used at the C-337 process building to determine their effectiveness, Woodard said. Prior to beginning operations, the contractor and EM will perform operational readiness reviews, she said.

EM is also removing other types of materials from the former process buildings at the Paducah plant, according to Woodard. More than 350,000 gallons of lube oil have been drained from process equipment to help reduce potential fire hazards. Approximately 200,000 gallons of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) oil and rinse solvent have been drained from transformers located in the process buildings to help lower the fire load for the buildings and prepare the transformers for eventual disposition. Approximately 100,000 gallons of the lube oil were recycled as a rinsing agent for the transformers, resulting in significant cost savings.

In addition, 10 tons of fissile waste have been removed from the C-720 building, packaged, and disposed, Woodard said, adding that EM expects to complete the removal of fissile contaminated equipment in the C-409 building this year. By removing fissile material, EM is able to support future footprint reduction and reduce maintenance costs, she said. EM has also begun removing millions of pounds of refrigerant located in the Paducah plant’s process buildings, Woodard said, adding that EM is looking for ways to potentially reuse the material.

In addition to several completed utility optimization projects, repair and maintenance of facilities — including the recent resurfacing of more than 74 acres of process building roofs — will reduce future hotel costs and allow more dollars to be committed to cleanup activities.

EM Goes Beyond DOE Goals Again to Reduce Carbon Footprint

WASHINGTON, D.C. – EM reduced its carbon footprint by 34 percent in fiscal year 2015, exceeding the Department’s target of 19 percent, and moved past other sustainability goals DOE set in its initiative to cut greenhouse gas emissions and lower energy use intensity.

“EM’s sustainability efforts are a viable means to accomplish the mission in a sustainable and cost-effective manner, thereby driving EM to make optimum use of its limited resources, operate in a more highly efficient manner, and reduce its carbon footprint,” said Andrew Szilagyi, director for EM’s Office of Deactivation and Decommissioning/Facility Engineering.

Szilagyi is responsible for promoting sustainability within EM and ensuring the goals are met. EM is aligned with a government wide-effort to ensure federal agencies are leading by example in fulfilling their missions sustainably.

EM’s overall carbon footprint reductions were driven primarily by decreased emissions associated with purchased coal and electricity, due in large part to the Savannah River Site (SRS) biomass cogeneration plants, which replaced coal with biomass. EM’s reductions can be compared to the greenhouse gas emissions from 62,000 passenger vehicles driven for a year, or the carbon dioxide emissions from 33 million gallons of gasoline consumed.

In fiscal year 2015, EM lowered its energy use intensity by 29 percent, water use intensity by 28 percent, increased its renewable energy use by 24 percent, and ensured that 100 percent of its computers, laptops and monitors have power management software enabled to minimize energy use.

The Department’s Sustainability Performance Office develops the sustainability goals, which are laid out in the annual Strategic Sustainability Performance Plan as required by executive order. The plan focuses on 10 fiscal year 2015 goals, including greenhouse gas emissions and energy intensity reductions.

A snapshot of EM’s sustainability achieves in fiscal year 2015.

Idaho Crews Use Waste Treatment Expertise to Land Additional Work

Ron Holm, a RWMC foreman, remotely monitors activities inside an enclosed area where a debris repackaging project is underway.

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho – Crews with EM’s main cleanup contractor at the Idaho Site have begun processing additional waste drums and repackaging large debris from another DOE facility to help the program make progress in meeting cleanup milestones.

The new project by CH2M-WG Idaho, LLC (CWI) takes place at the Radioactive Waste Management Complex (RWMC), where workers have been exhuming and repackaging buried transuranic waste for more than a decade.

RWMC crews recently completed a sludge-drum repackaging project, which treated over 7,100 55-gallon drums of sludge from the Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project (AMWTP) for final disposition. That repackaging project was completed within the soft-sided waste exhumation enclosure over Pit 9, the site of a buried waste exhumation mission completed four years ago.

A large structural steel pan was one of several pans specially fabricated by CWI for a debris repackaging project at RWMC.

Crews are now processing and decontaminating debris within that enclosure, repurposing the facility because buried waste exhumation activities are finished there. RWMC employees are repackaging debris for AMWTP and separating large items that cannot be processed at AMWTP, such as metal beams, concrete, and gloveboxes. After these large items are decontaminated, they will be returned to AMWTP for disposition.

CWI hired additional skilled trade workers, foremen, and radiological control technicians for the additional work within the enclosure. CWI’s fabrication shop is fabricating the treatment unit and other components needed to complete the complex task.

“I applaud RWMC employees for tackling another difficult task and, once again, demonstrating their creative, can-do attitudes,” CWI Vice President Hoss Brown said.

The site’s cleanup milestones are outlined in a host of regulatory agreements, including the 1995 Idaho Settlement Agreement between DOE and state of Idaho.

EM’s DOE Fellows Participate in Waste Management Conference

PHOENIX – Twenty Florida International University (FIU) students who serve as DOE Fellows in the EM program presented technical posters at the annual Waste Management Conference in Phoenix earlier this month. Here, the fellows gather with, front row, left to right, FIU Applied Research Center (ARC) Research Director Dr. Leonel Lagos, who serves as FIU’s DOE Fellows program director; ARC Executive Director Dr. Inés Triay; and EM Assistant Secretary Dr. Monica Regalbuto. The fellows are, front row, Meilyn Planas, second from right, and Gene Yllanes, far right; second row, left to right, Awmna Rana, Hansel Gonzalez, and Alejandro Fernandez; third row, Silvina Di Pietro, Maximiliano Edrei, Sebastian Zanlongo, Robert Larriere, and John Conley; fourth row, Christine Wipfli and Ryan Sheffield; and back row, Yoel Rotterman, Jorge Deshon, Erim Gokce, Anthony Fernandez, Jesse Viera, Natalia Duque, Christopher Strand, and Janesler Gonzalez. The fellows presented posters on high-level waste, subsurface and groundwater remediation, deactivation and decommissioning, and applications in knowledge management. They also presented in two professional sessions and participated in a conference panel. The 2016 Roy G. Post Foundation Scholarship at the Graduate Student Level was awarded to Di Pietro.

In related news, Hannah Paterson, who is serving a five-month assignment in EM as a member of the UK nucleargraduate program, also received a 2016 Roy G. Post Foundation Scholarship. It allowed Paterson to attend the conference, where she won the student poster competition for her technical presentation on waste vitrification at the UK's Sellafield, Ltd. Paterson is working in EM's International Programs and the Office of Tank Waste and Nuclear Material. Read more about her experience at the conference here.

Science Fair Participants Years Ahead of Their Time, Say Judges from ORP

Ebert, left, listens to seventh grader Zoe as she explains her experiment, “Penguins and Chocolate Mousse Don’t Mix,” which tested how the salinity of water affects a mixture of crude oil and seawater, modeled using cooking oil.

KENNEWICK, Wash. – Three of EM’s Office of River Protection (ORP) staff members served as judges for the 61st annual Mid-Columbia Science and Engineering Fair this month.

The fair, according to its website, is the oldest science fair in Washington state. Up to 400 students between sixth and 12th grades took part.

Don Alexander, Vic Callahan, and Kelly Ebert were part of the judging teams.

“I love working with kids,” explained Alexander, who has been judging science fairs for more than 30 years. “I like to see the spark of excitement that comes from discovery.”

Alexander is a technical advisor and staff scientist with ORP and helped judge the senior division, which covers projects for the ninth to 12th grades.

Both grand prize winners from Hanford High School had presentations dealing with energy. Naveena Bontha, an 11th grader, took top honors for her presentation, “Improving Energy Efficiency and Reducing our Carbon Footprint: A Novel Approach to Preparing Electrochromic Coatings for Smart Windows.”

Bontha further researched and expanded an idea she used last year.

Using Prussian Blue, a dark synthetic pigment, Bontha tested the idea that she could change the pigment’s color, either lightening or darkening it to allow more or less light, and in the long run cut the amount of energy needed to heat or cool a building.

Anneka Walton, a 10th grader, was selected for her presentation, “Solar Thermal Electric Generator Using Common Metals.”

Alexander and Naveena Bontha, an 11th grader, stand in front of her presentation, “Improving Energy Efficiency and Reducing our Carbon Footprint: A Novel Approach to Preparing Electrochromic Coatings for Smart Windows.”

Callahan listens as sixth grader Sofia explains a graph in her experiment, “Energy Content of Biofuels.”

Walton used wires made from readily available material, such as copper, to create a small electric generator that releases electricity by having heat introduced to it. She said she came up with the idea after reading about solar panel usage in third-world countries and, because of their relatively high cost and low availability, wanted something more easily available, or easily able to be created, that could be used to generate electricity.

Walton said that an efficient generator could even generate small amounts of electricity from body heat.

“These are often good enough to be at a senior level of college or even better,” Alexander said about the presentations he’s seen throughout his judging experience. “Some would be worthy of a graduate-level dissertation.”

Bontha and Walton were presented separate certificates of achievement from ORP for their work in the field of energy.

Ebert, who covered the seventh-grade physical sciences presentations in her second year as a judge, said that she, too, is sometimes surprised by the complexity of the displays.

“I think we see the full gamut,” she said. “I was really impressed with some of these kids’ presentation skills, their oral presentation skills. It’s pretty exciting to see the enthusiasm coming from these kids.”

Alexander said science fairs like this one benefit DOE.

“It’s an opportunity, a valuable opportunity, to steer kids into STEM [science, technology, engineering and mathematics],” he said.

Fluor Paducah Deactivation Project Marks 2 Million Safe Work Hours

Fluor maintenance mechanic Robert Fulton lifts equipment at the C-337 former uranium enrichment process building at EM’s Paducah Site.

PADUCAH, Ky. – Workers performing the remediation, deactivation, and decommissioning at the former Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant site recently reached 2 million hours without a lost-time injury on the job.

“DOE’s greatest satisfaction comes from sending workers home each day in the same condition as they arrived at the Paducah Site,” said Jennifer Woodard, Paducah Site lead for EM’s Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office.

In October 2014, Fluor Federal Services Paducah Deactivation Project (FPDP) assumed responsibilities as EM’s contractor to maintain the plant facilities while preparing them for future decontamination and decommissioning. Workers have completed several key projects, including: removing 100,000 gallons of PCB oil from 69 transformers, consolidating four electrical switchyards into one, and installing five natural-gas package boilers to replace the coal-fired steam plant. The project has also demolished several inactive facilities.

“Accomplishing 2 million safe work hours in less than two years requires a team’s attention to detail and commitment to the site’s Integrated Safety Management (ISM) system,” said Bob Nichols, FPDP director of operations.

Dale Bristoe and Kelly Robinson prepare a vacuum truck to ship PCB oil and rinsing oil for disposal.

Those elements, along with employee communication and a recognition that each team member is equally responsible and empowered to take the actions necessary for safety, are critical components of ISM, he added. The ISM system is a five-step method for performing work safely. It calls for defining the work, identifying and analyzing hazards, developing and implementing hazard controls, performing the work within those controls, and providing feedback for continued improvement.

“A safe workplace provides an environment for healthy workers whose jobs make a better life — not just to earn a living,” Nichols said. “It’s worth the time and investment to properly practice safety through the ISM system. An injury-free workplace increases productivity, morale, and our service to DOE-EM.”

EM's Office of River Protection Workers Teach Engineering to Local Students

WRPS engineers Bryce Eaton and Ashley Ansolabehere pose for a photo with third graders at Maya Angelou Elementary in Pasco, Wash.

RICHLAND, Wash. – Giving young students a taste of what it’s like to be an engineer is the focus of Engineers, or E, Week.

Each year, employees from Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS), the EM Office of River Protection Tank Farms contractor at the Hanford Site, visit local classrooms as part of a national outreach program designed to encourage young people to pursue an education in engineering.

This year, the event was bigger than ever, with nearly 100 WRPS employees visiting 26 area schools in the Tri-Cities, Wash., region to help stir interest in more than 5,000 students.

Over the course of the week-long outreach, WRPS employees teach the students about engineering and its impact on the world. They also lead fun, interactive games in which they build hoop gliders, bridges, and wind meters.

“It’s always been a great opportunity for us to make a difference,” said Kerri Lukins, the event’s lead organizer. “The teachers and students are so supportive, and coworkers jump at the opportunity to visit the schools. It’s only a few hours of our time, but it’s amazing to see the difference it makes to these kids.”

The program has grown significantly over the past four years. When WRPS began participating in E Week in 2013, presenters engaged 1,060 students. This year, nearly five times that number of students participated.

“It’s been great. This program has definitely grown in a big way,” Lukins said. “We’ve received so many thank yous from teachers and from students who make and send us cards. To hear the positive feedback and see all the pictures after the events are over with — that’s what makes everything worth the effort.”

Lukins hopes to see the program expand, with the goal of reaching at least 6,000 students next year.

Contributors

Kevin Bazzell, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Brad Bugger, Idaho Site

Steve Christmas, Paducah Site

Jason Chudy, Hanford Site

John DeGregory, EM Headquarters

Julie Doering, Fluor

Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth, Portsmouth Site

Albes Gaona, EM Headquarters

Destry Henderson, Hanford Site

Danielle Miller, Idaho Site

Michael Nartker, EM Headquarters

Dylan Nichols, Paducah Site

Rob Roxburgh, Hanford Site

David Sheeley, EM Headquarters

Erik Simpson, Idaho Site

Michelle Teeters, Portsmouth Site

Stephan Tetreault, EM Headquarters

Ben Williams, Oak Ridge Site