EM Update | Vol. 8, Issue 8 | April 27, 2016

DOE Office of Environmental Management sent this bulletin at 04/27/2016 10:25 AM EDT

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EM Cleanup Chief Discusses Path Forward for DOE’s Excess Facilities
DOE Holds New Workshops to Aid Idaho Waste Treatment Facility Startup
WIPP's Mine Rescue Teams Win Big in Contest
Paducah and DUF6 Award Fees Determined for Three Prime Contracts
EM Site Manager Reflects on Field Office’s Formative Year, Looks to Future
New Idaho Cleanup Project Contractor Unveils Management Team
Oak Ridge Hosts EM Site Specific Advisory Board Spring Chairs Meeting
Savannah River Site Contractor Resumes Full Operations Following Pause
Waste Isolation Pilot Plant Contractor Receives 86 Percent of Available Fee
Forward Thinking of Employees at Hanford Site Helps in Accelerated Cleanup
Employees Achieve Certified Success at Idaho Site’s Waste Treatment Project
Innovative Mentoring Program Provides Positive Start to Rewarding Career
Engineers Society Awards EM Employee
Contributors

EM Cleanup Chief Discusses Path Forward for DOE’s Excess Facilities

Panel moderator Jenny Freeman, president of the Energy Technology and Environmental Business Association (second from left), talks as panelists (left to right) Ken Harrawood, senior director of Y-12 Legacy Facility Disposition, Mark Duff, director of Environmental Management, Fluor Paducah Deactivation Project, and EM Assistant Secretary Monica Regalbuto listen.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – EM Assistant Secretary Monica Regalbuto joined other Department officials, members of Congress, contractors, and other stakeholders at an event on Capitol Hill for the bipartisan House Nuclear Cleanup Caucus to discuss forging a path to clean up the more than 2,000 excess facilities in the Department’s inventory — a number expected to grow by 1,000 in the next 10 years.

During a panel discussion, Regalbuto told a packed room that a strategy to address the contaminated excess facilities needs to consider realistic funding; prioritizing, scheduling, and sequencing of work; and developing and applying cost-saving technologies.

“Many contractors here have championed this over the past years, and I’m sure we can successfully do this as we move forward,” she said. EM’s fiscal year 2017 budget request includes $887 million for facility deactivation and decommissioning — about 15 percent of the program’s annual budget.

The caucus serves to advocate for cleanup and provide updates on the EM program to members of Congress. Participants stressed there’s an urgent need to address high-hazard excess facilities across the complex to lower risks for safety and avoid escalating costs, such as the surveillance and maintenance budgets approaching $30 million for facilities at the Paducah Site, according to panelist Mark Duff, director of Environmental Management for the Fluor Paducah Deactivation Project.

Front-end investments prevent the structures from becoming “unstable or fundamentally dangerous, not only in their risk to the environment but most importantly to the people who are ultimately going to do the work to remedy these buildings or ultimately deactivate them and demolish them,” said panelist Ken Rueter, president and project manager of URS|CH2M Oak Ridge LLC, EM’s cleanup contractor for the Oak Ridge Reservation.

“The risk factor can’t even be measured with regard to how much it’s lowered,” he said of the investment.

Reps. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.), caucus chairman, Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), caucus co-chair, Mike Simpson (R-Id.), Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.), and Joe Wilson (R.-S.C.) spoke briefly prior to the panel discussion to weigh in on the excess facilities issue and voice support for their cleanup.

Caucus Chairman Rep. Chuck Fleischmann speaks during the caucus event.

Rep. Mike Simpson was one of several members of Congress who spoke during the caucus event.

Fleischmann thanked Regalbuto for her work with Congress, and her commitment to the cleanup caucus.

“It means a lot to the communities, it means a lot to the contractors, it means a lot to the DOE folks,” he said.

Luján said disposition of the excess facilities is important to workers in his district, home to DOE’s Los Alamos National Laboratory.

“We greatly increased our understanding and awareness of the environmental and health impacts and the decades of work at our national labs. But they continue to pose impacts as well to the health of the lab workers, the community and to the environment,” he said.

“We want to work with you,” Simpson told Regalbuto. “The real experts are the people in the Department of Energy and the contractors out there doing the job on the ground.”

Regalbuto noted that Secretary Ernest Moniz established a working group in 2015 to analyze and develop options for the excess facilities.

DOE has completed more than 3,000 deactivation and decommissioning projects that have removed facilities and closed several major sites, such as Rocky Flats in Colorado. The remaining excess facilities fall under EM as well as the Department’s offices of Nuclear Energy and Science, and the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA).

The Manhattan Project facilities at the Y-12 National Security Complex are a concern because they are in close proximity to operating facilities for NNSA, said panelist Ken Harrawood, senior director of Y-12 Legacy Facility Disposition.

“The work we do within NNSA is very vital to the national security,” he said. “We need to deal with it now, not later. The impacts are right in front of us.”

The panel discussion was sponsored by the Energy Technology and Environmental Business Association, Nuclear Energy Institute, and Energy Facility Contractors Group. Other 2016 caucus events are scheduled for June 8 and Sept. 14.

DOE Holds New Workshops to Aid Idaho Waste Treatment Facility Startup

The Integrated Waste Treatment Unit at DOE's Idaho Site.

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho – Technical experts from around the country recently converged in Idaho Falls to aid DOE’s efforts to safely and effectively start up the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit (IWTU), intended to treat the approximately 900,000 gallons of remaining radioactive liquid tank waste at DOE’s Idaho Site.

Scientists and engineers from DOE-Idaho, DOE-Headquarters, the Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho Cleanup Project, the National Engineering Technology Laboratory, and Hazen Research met at a Fluidized Bed Workshop in mid-April to discuss the mechanical processes that take place within the IWTU’s Denitration Mineralization Reformer (DMR), a key reaction vessel in the facility. The IWTU uses steam-reforming technology to convert the liquid sodium-bearing waste to a granular solid, which is transferred to stainless steel canisters for safe storage and eventual disposal.

The gathered experts discussed the conditions observed inside the DMR during three prior waste simulant runs. During these runs, which used a non-radioactive chemical mixture with similar properties as the actual liquid waste stored in three underground tanks, operators and engineers noticed the formation of a bark-like material inside the DMR vessel walls. Not only did the bark-like material alter the ideal treatment conditions inside the treatment vessel, it also impacted the performance of the IWTU’s auger-grinder (reduces the granular solid size suitable for transfer to the stainless steel canisters) when the material shed from the vessel walls. Notably, though, 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 workshop participants discussed what process operating conditions could be contributing to the bark-like formation inside the DMR vessel. At a second Fluidized Bed Workshop scheduled to be held this week in Idaho Falls, scientists and engineers will discuss what might be the ideal fluidized bed process conditions in terms of vessel temperature, ideal amount of alumina to keep inside the vessel, and the flow rate of the liquid waste into the alumina media. Proposed changes will likely be incorporated into the next waste simulant run.

During the winter, DOE convened a Chemistry Summit of scientific experts to examine the chemical processes that take place inside the DMR during simulant treatment. 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.

In the first three simulant runs, IWTU processed about 90,000 gallons, which is equivalent to about one-tenth the amount of sodium-bearing waste in the tank farm. The simulant runs have provided valuable plant operating data that will be evaluated as part of the DOE’s decision to proceed to hot operation of the facility. DOE is taking a deliberative approach to identify and resolve any technical issues that could negatively impact the facility and to ensure safe and reliable radioactive waste treatment operations at IWTU.

DOE is working to meet an agreement with the state of Idaho to begin actual waste processing at IWTU by Sept. 30, 2016. The Department will only begin operations at the IWTU, however, when it is safe to do so.

WIPP's Mine Rescue Teams Win Big in Contest

The WIPP Blue Mine Rescue Team moves through the course in the field competition of the Southwest Regional Mine Rescue Contest.

CARLSBAD, N.M. – The EM Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) Blue Mine Rescue Team was named the overall champion at the Southwest Regional Mine Rescue Contest held in Carlsbad in April. WIPP’s Red Mine Rescue Team took first place in the first aid competition.

At Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA)-sponsored challenges such as this, mine rescue teams are evaluated through a series of competitions, including field, technician and first aid, as well as a written test. The team with the best average score in all events is named overall champion.

“The outstanding performance of WIPP’s mine rescue teams demonstrates our continuing commitment to mine safety and emergency preparedness,” said EM Carlsbad Field Office (CBFO) Manager Todd Shrader. CBFO has responsibility for WIPP and the National Transuranic (TRU) Waste Management Program.

Mine rescue contests are designed to sharpen skills and test the knowledge of team members who would be called on to respond to a mine emergency. In the field competition, a course simulates conditions rescuers might encounter in the event of an underground emergency, such as gases, fires, and mine instability. Teams are timed and observed by MSHA judges as they move through the course to locate, treat, and move staged victims to the surface.

WIPP’s Red Mine Rescue Team took first place in the first aid competition.

Each mine rescue team consists of five working members and three support specialists:

Captain: Leads the team and makes final decisions with input from other members;
Co-captain: Maintains communications with fresh air base (where rescue teams can safely breathe without a breathing apparatus) and ensures team’s general well-being;
Gas person: Proficient in knowledge of mine gases that could be hazardous;
Map person: Documents conditions when team enters the mine;
First aid person: Assumes control in a medical emergency, directing team in caring for patients;
Fresh air base specialist: Monitors and controls activities at fresh air base, maintaining communications with team and command center;
Bench person: Responsible for maintaining and repairing self-contained breathing equipment; and
Alternate: Prepared to step in and replace any team member who is unable to perform.

WIPP’s mine rescue team members are volunteers. They are employees of Nuclear Waste Partnership (NWP), the WIPP management and operating contractor, with jobs ranging from hoisting supervisor to mining operator.

“We’re very proud of our skilled and dedicated mine rescue team members,” said NWP President and Project Manager Phil Breidenbach. “All of our employees know that they can depend on them for life-saving assistance in the event of an emergency.”

Over the years, WIPP’s mine rescue teams have earned special recognition, with three members inducted into the National Mine Rescue Hall of Fame.

Paducah and DUF6 Award Fees Determined for Three Prime Contracts

LEXINGTON, Ky. – EM has completed final performance evaluations of two prime contractors in support of deactivation and decommissioning of the former Paducah gaseous diffusion plant. In addition, the operations contractor for EM’s two plants that convert depleted uranium hexafluoride (DUF6) to a more stable form at the Paducah, Kentucky and Portsmouth, Ohio sites received its annual fee determination.

In determining the awards, EM considered overall performance along with the completion of specific EM mission objectives in accordance with annual plans. Scorecards summarizing these evaluations, along with the associated award fee plans, may be accessed here.

For the former Paducah Site remediation contractor, LATA Environmental Services of Kentucky LLC, this was the final evaluation under its contract that expired in July 2015. For the infrastructure support services contractor, Swift & Staley, Inc. (SSI), this was the final evaluation under its previous contract. SSI was awarded a new, firm-fixed-price contract in December 2015.

Since its contract commenced in July 2010, LATA executed the overall environmental remediation, waste management, decontamination and decommissioning of inactive facilities, and other work that had been largely planned and executed prior to the end of commercial uranium enrichment operations and return of the gaseous diffusion plant from the United States Enrichment Corporation (USEC) to DOE from its lease in October 2014.

For the final period of performance of Oct. 1, 2014 through July 25, 2015, LATA earned $2.42 million, amounting to 74 percent of the fee available. According to EM's evaluation, LATA’s performance was “excellent” in the areas of quality and effectiveness of documents and associated support as well as program and project management support. EM gave LATA “very good” marks for program and project management, and its environmental safety, health and quality assurance was rated “good.”

Although deficiencies in the company’s industrial hygiene program were identified and the contractor only met a third of its performance-based incentive goals, EM credited LATA for completing 3.3 million safe work hours and making progress on groundwater remediation and inactive facility demolition projects. These included removal and disposal of waste from an old, 29,000-square-foot warehouse, and demolition of the C-410/C-420 UF6 Feed Plant Complex. LATA was also credited for completing field work, including demobilization and waste disposal, for the C-400 Phase IIb groundwater contamination source treatability study. DOE praised LATA’s success at budgeting, quality assurance, interfacing with regulators and stakeholders, and public outreach.

SSI received “very good” marks for most areas of performance, earning $2.98 million, or 89.9 percent of the amount available. SSI earned “very good” ratings for site infrastructure services and support to EM, with numerous instances of uninterrupted and seamless provision of services despite challenging circumstances including site transition. SSI provided high-quality, efficient and effective engineering services as reflected in the power system reconfiguration, construction of an added parking lot, drainage improvements, plant road design, and repairs of road segments and a rail crossing. SSI also exceeded expectations in maintenance planning and execution, although some challenges arose in completing analyses for maintenance and repair of administrative facilities. SSI’s security performance was rated “good.”

A Swift & Staley heavy equipment operator loads a salt spreader at Paducah’s C-732 Salt Storage Facility.

In addition to meeting all of its performance-based incentive goals, SSI was credited with “very good” cost controls. Although some costs increased under the “cost-plus” contract, the overall fiscal year work was performed below expected cost value, and significant cost avoidance was achieved. For example, by reusing 11,100 feet of power cable and trays during switchyard reconfigurations, SSI helped EM avoid nearly $3 million in parts and labor costs.

The contractor converting DOE’s DUF6 inventory — BWXT Conversion Services LLC (BWCS) — earned $2.04 million in award fees. This was based on six overall categories of performance, in which the company earned $1.3 million of $2.2 million available (59 percent), plus a performance-based incentive fee of $744,102 for converting 10,608 metric tons of DUF6 at EM’s two plants.

While BWCS met some performance goals, the plants were shut down at both sites for prolonged periods due to significant safety issues. BWCS was given an overall “good” rating, with EM noting “very good” nuclear safety and quality culture, “good” cylinder management and technical problem-solving, and “satisfactory” safety, health, quality assurance, and project support and management. “Significant effort was expended by the contractor to correct deficiencies in key work control and hazard analysis procedures to satisfy integrated safety management system implementation contract requirements,” EM noted.

EM Site Manager Reflects on Field Office’s Formative Year, Looks to Future

LOS ALAMOS, N.M. – EM Los Alamos Field Office Manager Douglas E. Hintze recently spoke with EM Update about the launch of EM’s newest site office and its challenges and accomplishments.

1. It's now been just over one year since EM’s Los Alamos Field Office (EM-LA) was created. Where are you in standing up the office? What benefits has the creation of EM-LA brought to the legacy cleanup work at Los Alamos?

We’ve made significant progress since EM-LA was formed just over a year ago. Several key positions have been filled and we are in the process of bringing in more experts to better enable us to serve in our oversight role. Over the next year we will essentially double the size of the office from 21 to 41 personnel. Currently, we’ve reached capacity at our existing location and will soon move to a new location, the Pueblo Complex, where we’ll be co-located with our contractor, Los Alamos National Security.

Having an EM field office here at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) has enabled the Department to focus on environmental cleanup and waste management, bringing expert resources to bear on issues not always receiving adequate attention. We’ve significantly streamlined communication and collaboration across a variety of agencies and organizations, all of which directly impact the cleanup work being done in the field. Specifically, EM now has a bridge contract dedicated specifically to the cleanup of legacy waste, which helps us to best allocate resources and to better prioritize cleanup projects.

2. What have you learned since being named the first full-time manager of EM's newest field office? What challenges are unique to the legacy cleanup underway at Los Alamos?

There are a lot of talented people doing great work at Los Alamos National Laboratory. The workers here are committed to doing their job safely and to the best of their ability. There’s pride for LANL’s accomplishments and at the same time an understanding that there’s room for improvement and a desire to get things right. The Laboratory is in a fairly isolated location and brings substantial funding to northern New Mexico, which results in tremendous impact on the local economy. As a result, I spend a lot of time communicating with the numerous external organizations, from state and local governments, to economic development groups, to Native American Pueblos who interface with our field office.

In terms of the overall lab budget, EM’s budget is a relatively small portion. We need to maximize every dollar we spend to be as effective as we can be in everything we do, from hiring the right people to scheduling the cleanup in the most optimal way we can. Also, the location of cleanup and waste management on mesa tops and in canyons presents unique challenges not seen at other DOE sites.

3. How does your experience at the Savannah River Site (SRS) aid you in your new role?

Savannah River is a complex site with different dynamics than what you have at Los Alamos National Laboratory. For example, at Savannah River, EM is the site landlord, while the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is the tenant — it’s the reverse of what you have here at LANL. I served in nine different positions over the 22 years I spent at SRS, including Assistant Manager for Mission Support (Chief Business Officer), Chief Financial Officer, Chief Information Officer, Director of Waste Disposition Programs and Director of Nuclear Materials Operations, which gave me a broad technical knowledge of many specialties. I guess the most important lesson I learned was most of the difficulties we experienced were not in the highly complex technical areas as one would expect, but rather in the support areas such as infrastructure, which frequently don’t get the same degree of attention but can shut down operations throughout the site.

EM Los Alamos Field Office Manager Douglas E. Hintze

4. How is the coordination between EM-LA and your NNSA counterparts? How does your interaction with the communities around Los Alamos shape the cleanup work?

As NNSA is the landlord and EM is the tenant here at LANL, there is some overlap in terms of issues vital to both organizations. The success of our mission depends on our ability to work collaboratively with our colleagues at the NNSA Field Office. The current NNSA Field Office Manager, Kim Davis-Lebak, and I spent eight years together at SRS so we have a strong personal and working relationship which enables us to successfully work through tough issues. One unique responsibility is that the NNSA Field Office currently holds nuclear safety authorization authority for EM-LA, which requires us to work up through two chains of command at headquarters to implement the nuclear safety bases, dictating the two field offices work closely together on nuclear safety issues. Coordinating effectively will remain essential to the success of both organizations going forward.

Having a strong relationship with the communities around Los Alamos is central to EM’s mission at Los Alamos. We absolutely need and depend on feedback of the people who live and work around us — it drives the schedule and cost of cleanup work we’re doing. By sharing what matters most to them, the public helps us determine where to place our priorities.

We’re fortunate that people in northern New Mexico — and many parts of the state — have a strong vested interest in what we do and how we do it. It makes our job easier, as that knowledge helps shape our cleanup efforts and has a direct impact on the progress of the legacy cleanup work at LANL.

5. Heading into EM-LA's second year, what are your main priorities? What challenges do you see on the horizon?

Certainly the biggest priorities right now are the safe storage and treatment of the remediated nitrate salts and implementing the interim measure for a chromium plume migrating to the site boundary. Currently we’re implementing measures that will increase the margin of safety for storage of remediated nitrate salts. It’s an important step which will eventually allow us to develop the safest and most effective process for treating the waste and eventually shipping it off-site.

Since the environmental assessment for the chromium plume interim measure and characterization was released last December, we’ve been getting the infrastructure in place necessary to reach our goals. We began drilling on an angled injection well last month, for example, and the project’s third extraction well was completed a couple of weeks ago.

There are always challenges, both small and large; what’s important is to never get complacent with our mission. If we continue to prioritize safety and efficiency, I am confident we can meet the challenges before us.

6. What are the main accomplishments you hope to achieve over the course of the next year?

We want to make significant progress implementing the interim measure for arresting the chromium plume, treat the remediated nitrate salt drums, effectively manage the remaining transuranic waste for which we are responsible, clean up contaminated waste units, and continue to build trust with communities around LANL and across New Mexico. An important tool to do so will be the follow-on EM contract we expect to award commencing fiscal year 2018.

New Idaho Cleanup Project Contractor Unveils Management Team

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho – EM’s new contractor for the Idaho Cleanup Project (ICP), Fluor Idaho, LLC, has unveiled its senior management team.

“The 90-day transition process is now halfway complete and Fluor Idaho, LLC, is on track to take over operations on June 1,” DOE-Idaho Deputy Manager Jack Zimmerman said.

Heading Fluor Idaho as president and program manager is Fred Hughes, who has spent almost 40 years in government, commercial power, and naval nuclear operations. Hughes last served for five years as deputy site project director for Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth, LLC, EM’s decontamination and decommissioning contractor at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Ohio. He is no stranger to DOE’s Idaho Site, though, having previously served for three years as general manager for BNFL, Inc., responsible for permitting, constructing and starting up the Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project (AMWTP). He also served for five years in management positions at the Idaho Site’s Radioactive Waste Management Complex (RWMC).

Hughes’ previous positions include vice president and project consortium director for Westinghouse at the V.C. Summer Nuclear Generating Station from 2008 to 2010; and chief operations officer at the former Rocky Flats Plant in Colorado for four years. He is a U.S. Navy veteran who started his career in the U.S. Navy submarine force on the USS Abraham Lincoln and USS Ohio.

"I am looking forward to returning to Idaho and delivering on the mission that I was part of years ago. I'm joining an incredibly talented team and together we will integrate, accelerate, and deliver the Idaho Cleanup Project mission,” Hughes said.

Fluor Idaho’s management team also includes:

Deputy Program Manager and Waste Operations Director Tom Dieter;
AMWTP/ARP Operations Manager Hoss Brown;
INTEC/SNF Director Michael Swain;
Regulatory Planning and CERCLA Remediation Director Marc Jewett;
EM Infrastructure Director John Law;
ESH&Q Director Alice Doswell;
Business Director Peggy Davis;
Chief Engineer Steve Davies; and
Communications Director Ann Ridesel.

Fluor Idaho is a wholly owned subsidiary of Fluor and leads a team that includes subcontractors CH2M, Waste Control Specialists, LLC, and Idaho-based small businesses North Wind, Inc., and Portage, Inc.

Many of Fluor Idaho’s senior managers come with experience at other EM sites. For example, Swain, Doswell, and Davis all previously worked at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. Like Hughes, Law and Jewett also previously worked at the Portsmouth site. Both Dieter and Brown were on the management team of CH2M-WG Idaho, the previous contractor for the Idaho Cleanup Project.

In early February, EM awarded Fluor Idaho the ICP Core Contract, estimated to be worth approximately $1.4 billion over five years. Work to be performed under the contract includes stabilizing and storage of spent nuclear fuel and high-level waste; dispositioning transuranic waste; retrieving targeted buried waste; closing the Idaho Nuclear Technology and Engineering Center (INTEC) tank farm; maintaining Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) remedial actions; and operating and maintaining the INTEC, RWMC, and the Radioactive Scrap and Waste Facility (RSWF) facility infrastructure.

Oak Ridge Hosts EM Site Specific Advisory Board Spring Chairs Meeting

Left to right, ORSSAB Chair Belinda Price, EM Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Mark Whitney, City of Oak Ridge Mayor Warren Gooch, and Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management Deputy Manager Jay Mullis gather at the EM SSAB 2016 Spring Chairs Meeting in Oak Ridge.

Oak Ridge, Tenn. – More than 60 participants from across the country traveled to Oak Ridge this month to attend the EM Site Specific Advisory Board’s (SSAB) 2016 Spring Chairs Meeting. The event was hosted by the Oak Ridge Site Specific Advisory Board (ORSSAB).

The ORSSAB is a federally chartered citizens’ panel that provides recommendations to Oak Ridge’s EM program regarding cleanup activities locally. The EM SSAB, however, is comprised of representatives from each of the eight advisory boards located throughout DOE’s EM enterprise nationwide.

The EM SSAB gathers twice a year for its Chairs Meeting, which brings together leadership from each board and officials from DOE to discuss program-wide cleanup activities. Since the location rotates between headquarters and eight sites across the country, multiple years will pass before a site has the opportunity to host again.

“Oak Ridge last hosted the event in 2010, so the 2016 meeting is a big deal for us,” ORSSAB Chair Belinda Price explained. “It represents an amazing educational opportunity for us as board members to learn about what is happening at the other sites and gives us the opportunity to directly interact with DOE decision-makers.”

The 2016 Spring Chairs Meeting featured two of EM’s top officials, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Mark Whitney and Site Restoration Deputy Assistant Secretary Mark Gilbertson. The agenda included tours of the Oak Ridge Reservation, an EM program update, news on recovery efforts at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico, and discussions centered on issues in site restoration, reindustrialization, and land use.

Additionally, local board representatives from the ORSAAB provided updates on recent board activities and accomplishments during the three-day event. They shared news about recent recommendations, public outreach efforts, and progress toward EM milestones, such as Vision 2016 — the demolition and cleanup of all five gaseous diffusion buildings at the East Tennessee Technology Park.

“We are excited to welcome citizen advisors from all regions of the country to Oak Ridge,” said Sue Cange, manager of the Oak Ridge Office of EM. “This meeting provides a great forum to share our strategies and successes and to gather perspective and community engagement ideas from people living near DOE’s largest cleanup sites.”

The EM SSAB was created under the Federal Advisory Committee Act, or FACA, charter, which provides an avenue for public involvement regarding EM’s cleanup activities. Eight local boards exist under this parent charter at waste management sites that are tied to the nation’s nuclear past and are working toward environmental restoration, long-term stewardship, and future land use. They include the Hanford Advisory Board, Idaho National Laboratory Citizens Advisory Board, Nevada SSAB, Northern New Mexico Citizens’ Advisory Board, Oak Ridge SSAB, Paducah Citizens Advisory Board, Portsmouth SSAB, and the Savannah River Site Citizens Advisory Board.

Each board is comprised of a federally-appointed panel of citizens, who are unpaid for their time, and who reflect the diverse culture and views of the communities and regions affected by nuclear waste. The boards meet regularly to ensure public access to information on federal cleanup projects is available and to help facilitate opportunities for public involvement in discussions and decision-making on key issues. These boards provide valuable input to DOE through a formal recommendation process on cleanup priorities and projects.

Savannah River Site Contractor Resumes Full Operations Following Pause

AIKEN, S.C. – Savannah River Site management and operations contractor Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) has resumed full operations following an operational pause in September 2015, incorporating improvements and lessons learned across all projects and facilities. The HB Line facility emerged from a period of improvements called Deliberate Operations in April, the last of the SRNS operations to resume full operations.

The operational changes, additional training, and procedure improvements that were identified during the pause are now fully in place, collectively known as Enhanced Operations.

“Enhanced Operations will be our ‘new normal’,” SRNS President and CEO Carol Johnson said. “We will never return to operating as we were before the pause. We will do better.”

SRNS opted to take a company-wide operational pause in September of last year, following the discovery of a non-compliance with a procedure during movement of special nuclear material in HB Line.

“Although the event was self-reported immediately and there were no injuries and no damage to equipment, all non-essential work was suspended,” SRNS Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Dave Eyler said. “We believed we were beginning to see an operational shift away from the way we expect our employees to work, so we’re very serious in ensuring we addressed those behaviors immediately.”

Once SRNS management believed personnel behavior and expectations were satisfactory, departments were allowed to exit the pause and enter Deliberate Operations. Deliberate Operations was a timeframe where processes being conducted required specific, intentional, and well-thought-out actions. Each department was responsible for identifying corrective actions, validating procedure steps and participating in regular small group meetings to help management reinforce expectations. All departments had moved into Deliberate Operations by Nov. 23, 2015.

During Deliberate Operations, SRNS management also created a Sustainment Plan, which highlights ways to ensure expectations and performance stay aligned. This includes increasing staff in some areas and a required monthly half-day pause in each department to address concerns and reinforce positive behaviors.

“In Enhanced Operations, SRNS will implement the corrective actions we identified during Deliberate Operations and in the Sustainment Plan to ensure strict adherence to our conduct of operations,” said Eyler. “Enhanced Operations are the result of a lot of hard work, and a recommitment of our company to remain vigilant in our duties to the Department of Energy and the country.”

Johnson said SRNS is a learning organization that is continuously seeking ways to improve, and this examination has allowed SRNS to refocus its operations in a number of important ways, including revising meeting schedules to allow for more management time in the field and hiring more personnel to focus on training. SRNS employees also changed how they adapt, monitor and implement operating procedures and increased mentoring for first-line supervisors. SRNS also worked with DOE to make sure those lessons learned are available to similar projects across the country and anyone else who is interested.

Johnson emphasized that the pause not only provided an opportunity to improve operations across the site, but also to demonstrate to the workforce that DOE and its contractors are willing to “walk the walk” when it comes to safety.

“We believe that instituting the operational pause was the right thing to do, and that it will make us a stronger operation going forward,” she said.

Waste Isolation Pilot Plant Contractor Receives 86 Percent of Available Fee

Nuclear Waste Partnership received about 86 percent of the available fee for the performance period as the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant management and operations contractor.

CARLSBAD, N.M. – EM’s Carlsbad Field Office (CBFO) recently issued the fiscal year 2015 fee award determination for Nuclear Waste Partnership (NWP), and it shows the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) management and operations contractor earned almost 86 percent — or about $11.7 million of more than $13.6 million — of the fee available for the performance period.

“Fiscal year 2015 was challenging, and the contractor accomplished many of the milestones that were important for the recovery of WIPP,” CBFO Manager Todd Shrader said. “The contractor also had several strong performance areas like improvements to the WIPP underground, plant availability, community commitments, exceeding all annual small business subcontracting goals, environmental and regulatory compliance, and nuclear safety culture improvements. However, we also noted a few areas that could have been improved, like the schedule for the ventilation systems and the quality of subcontracting data packages.”

WIPP employees continue to make progress toward the goal of resuming waste emplacement by the end of 2016. Key remaining milestones include approval of the new documented safety analysis, targeted for later this month; eight weeks of cold operations; and contractor and DOE operational readiness reviews.

NWP President and Project Manager Phil Breidenbach said the contractor improved from fiscal year 2014 in every functional area for which DOE grades the company.

“DOE recognized us for site recovery activities. They further highlighted achievements, including maintaining high plant availability, which allowed for significant recovery progress; substantial progress in catch-up bolting and underground restoration; improving work planning and controls; a strong environmental and regulatory compliance program; significant progress on improving safety programs, reflecting a maturing nuclear safety culture; maintaining a very good environmental management system; and our work with local communities. I am very optimistic that we will continue to see gains in a number of performance areas in FY16,” Breidenbach said.

CBFO gave NWP an overall rating of “good” in the four evaluated areas of the subjective award fee determination, which accounts for 25 percent of the overall available fee. Areas considered under the subjective portion include mission performance, management performance, environmental safety and health performance, and cost control.

The objective performance-based incentives (PBIs) account for 75 percent of the overall available fee. Areas evaluated under the PBIs include underground ventilation systems; documented safety analysis development; transuranic waste certification; reducing preventive and corrective maintenance backlogs; improvements to the WIPP site; and developing a performance measurement baseline for the WIPP Recovery Plan.

To view a copy of the fee determination scorecard, click here.

Forward Thinking of Employees at Hanford Site Helps in Accelerated Cleanup

An ancillary building in the H Reactor Area is among many in the soil and groundwater program that was demolished ahead of schedule.

RICHLAND, Wash. – EM’s Richland Operations Office and contractor CH2M HILL Plateau Remediation Company (CH2M) are finding creative ways to manage resources and accelerate Hanford Site cleanup. Workers recently completed a demolition project along the Columbia River shoreline that included tearing down several old groundwater treatment buildings and disposing of thousands of pieces of equipment.

The CH2M Soil and Groundwater Remediation Project’s maintenance and operations crews specialize in eliminating hazards in buildings before their scheduled demolitions. Buildings are frequently challenging and require extensive investigation to ensure they are safe and compliant for demolition. Some requirements include removal of chemical hazards, disposition of equipment, and coordination of power removal.

The demolition preparation along the Columbia River was not scheduled for several years, but the crews felt they could handle the task of preparing them for demolition this fiscal year. With this goal in mind, they accelerated this work by carving out time to support transition to the demolition project in addition to their daily work activities.

“We worked hard to find time in our schedule to ensure a safe transition of the buildings. Every chance we had, we worked to make headway on hazard elimination in addition to our normal work, and little by little we made progress,” said Rich Stephenson, field work supervisor with maintenance and operations who has been working on the Hanford Site for 40 years. The work included disposing of thousands of pieces of remediation equipment. “This success proves we can get creative to progress on cleanup and protect the Columbia River,” Stephenson said.

Once the transition work was complete, demolition crews took down a former pump-and-treat facility used to treat contaminated groundwater, two pump-and-treat transfer buildings used to transfer groundwater, and an old warehouse.

“We are consistently finding ways to raise the bar and be more efficient, and this is a prime example of that,” said Karen Wiemelt, vice president of Soil and Groundwater Remediation for CH2M.

Due to worker efficiencies, demolition crews finished the demolition work ahead of schedule, saving time and expenses, while allowing demolition teams to get an early start on other projects.

Employees Achieve Certified Success at Idaho Site’s Waste Treatment Project

Idaho Treatment Group’s Characterization and Storage Manager Chuck Stepzinski examines 100-gallon drums that have been certified and are ready to ship for disposal.

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho – Employees at EM’s Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project (AMWTP) at the Idaho Site have finished preparing 7,231 certified waste drums so they’re at the ready to be shipped for disposal.

The work falls under the Certification Row Relocation Plan, designed to create additional storage space where waste characterization is performed. It ensures the drums, arranged in 30 rows, will be ready to roll out once operations resume at EM’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) later this year. They join more than 5,000 other drums ready for shipment.

Employees moved the drums from the project’s Type II Storage Modules to a location inside the Transuranic Storage Area-Retrieval Enclosure (TSA-RE). That enclosure — roughly the size of an aircraft carrier — was built to cover the waste, most of which came from the now-closed Rocky Flats plant near Denver.

Some 65,000 cubic meters of transuranic waste was originally stored in the enclosure. Since the project began in 2003, nearly 57,000 cubic meters have been safely and compliantly shipped out of Idaho. Crews expect to finish retrieving the final 1,400 cubic meters of the original waste still stored in the enclosure later this year.

Environmental Compliance employee Evan Roberts performs an inspection of the 55-gallon drums. A weekly inspection of all the drums is required under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.

“AMWTP has done a great job in completing the project to relocate the WIPP-certified backlog into consolidated rows. This consolidation will facilitate the quick shipment of Idaho’s large backlog of waste to WIPP once shipments resume.” Idaho Solid Waste Disposition Supervisor Ben Roberts said.

The 45-day mass migration of drums was a precise execution of a plan that helped position drums in the certified rows without impacting full operations of other processes at AMWTP requiring drum movements, such as production and characterization.

The drums will move out of Idaho in roughly 800 shipments expected to take up to a year to complete if crews average 15 shipments per week.

Relocation of the drums allows DOE’s Idaho Operations Office to efficiently manage its waste inventory and dramatically expands storage space for two other AMWTP operations, the sludge and drum repackaging projects. Moving the drums also creates space to store Accelerated Retrieval Project waste.

"It’s a superb demonstration of the technical prowess, professional skills, and ability to adapt to changing conditions that is representative of operations at many DOE complex sites. It also shows the versatility and capabilities of AMWTP in its role as a regional waste treatment plant for DOE, and allows AMWTP to react quickly to any shipping demands once WIPP resumes operations," DOE-Idaho Deputy Manager Jack Zimmerman said.

Innovative Mentoring Program Provides Positive Start to Rewarding Career

SRNS engineering mentor Glynn Dyer (left) describes the Savannah River Site H-Canyon chemical separations process to newly hired engineers Lisa Lee and Jae Choi.

AIKEN, S.C. – Born in South Korea, Jae Choi is the first in his family to graduate from college.

Newly hired as an engineer by Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS), the management and operations contractor at DOE’s Savannah River Site (SRS), he says he feels like he’s been adopted by a large second family.

“These days, it’s hard to find a large company that doesn’t think of you as a tool,” said Choi. “One of the primary reasons I chose to accept a position at SRNS is their people-oriented approach to managing employees and the emphasis they place on career growth.”

Mike Hughes is the SRNS manager of the Engineering Leadership Development Program (ELDP). Hughes says the program is unusual for corporations because it focuses on professional attention, support, and respect for new employees.

“We are going to do everything in our power to ensure their first six months here is a positive and rewarding start to their career,” he said.

ELDP provides technical engineering and operational training and short-term projects in a variety of facilities and processes across the site. Emphasis is on knowledge transfer and one-on-one quality time with experienced engineers who serve as mentors. Mentoring ensures these new employees gain skills and confidence in their new roles.

The program is shaping the future of SRNS and the rest of the DOE site, Hughes says.

“We’re developing genuine, long-term relationships, which are a key to success for any organization. In addition, we’ve worked hard to create a process to ease that sometimes difficult transition from college student to full-time employee,” Hughes said.

Along with Choi, Lisa Lee is one of the 30 new engineers participating in the ELDP. A recent graduate of the University of South Carolina with a degree in chemical engineering, Lee, at age 40, is starting a new career a little later in life.

“The Engineering Leadership Development Program at SRNS offers a unique experience to new graduates transitioning into the engineering profession,” Lee said. “In this program, experienced members of the SRNS team take the time to guide us through a variety of projects and training courses that prepare us for successful placement at SRS. The support and guidance I’ve received in this program make me feel that I am an important part of the team, not just another new hire. The program is definitely working.”

Hughes says the program is a win-win for SRS and colleges and universities.

“Since we’re hiring about five engineers a month, this is an ongoing program,” said Hughes. “We’re investing most of our recruiting resources into local and regional colleges and universities. This strategy supports their engineering programs while providing candidates who have local ties, helping to increase employee satisfaction and retention at SRS.”

Engineers Society Awards EM Employee

WASHINGTON, D.C. – An EM employee has been honored for bringing a greater international perspective to work to maintain standards for nuclear quality assurance.

Gustave “Bud” Danielson recently received a certificate of acclamation from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) for excellence in forming the society’s International Working Group-Europe. Danielson is a senior-level general engineer reporting to EM’s Chief of Nuclear Safety, Greg Sosson, who oversees EM’s high-hazard nuclear facilities.

“It was pretty meaningful to see it come to fruition,” Danielson said of the society’s first international working group. “My task group was excited that we were able to move it from a concept to a functioning body.”

The Europe international working group falls under the domain of the society’s Nuclear Quality Assurance Committee (NQA), of which Danielson is a member. The group maintains the American National Standard ASME-NQA-1, Quality Assurance Requirements for Nuclear Facility Applications. The standard is used to develop quality assurance programs for DOE and commercial nuclear facilities worldwide.

The society’s high-level Council on Standards and Certification honored Danielson with the certificate at a committee meeting. The certificate says the Europe group supports the evolution of the committee in the international community and furthers the society’s goal to increase the international understanding and use of the society’s codes and standards, particularly for nuclear quality assurance.

Danielson, a DOE employee of 26 years, has represented the Department on the society’s committee for more than 20 years.

A few years ago, Danielson was honored with a society award for leading a team that helped make the nuclear quality assurance standard reflective of DOE’s nuclear safety regulation, 10 CFR 830. These changes allow for DOE’s contractors and suppliers to achieve full compliance with 10 CFR 830 requirements through implementation of NQA-1.

EM's Gustave “Bud” Danielson received a certificate of acclamation from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers for excellence in forming the society’s International Working Group-Europe.

His latest award honors work that is farther reaching, impacting the international nuclear industry, Danielson said. The committee will benefit from the knowledge of the new international participants while a general understanding and adoption of the society’s codes and standards grows internationally, he said. It also will support DOE’s international supply chain for items and services affecting nuclear safety.

“People in other countries now have the opportunity to influence the standards,” he said. “They have good ideas, as well as problems implementing standards we can’t always know about since our membership has been almost exclusively from the USA for decades.”

The 15-member Europe group includes members from Germany, Italy, France, Sweden, Bulgaria, Switzerland, Romania, and Czech Republic.

Prior to the formation of the group, it was challenging to arrange for international officials to travel to the U.S. to discuss codes and standards used internationally, Danielson noted. Now, members of the new group can meet closer to home while maintaining a formal connection with the voting body of NQA.

Danielson and other committee members are building on the momentum of the Europe group to help establish other international working groups in China, India, Japan, and Latin America. Danielson is scheduled to travel to China for a formation meeting in September, where he’ll conduct a workshop with ASME staff and NQA members to help launch the country’s new group.

“The success from the Europe group is helping us form other groups, he said.

Contributors

Jennifer Bradley, Paducah Site

Rick Dale, Idaho Site

Jessica Gleason, EM Headquarters

Danielle Miller, Idaho Site

Brad Mitzelfelt, Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office

Michael Nartker, EM Headquarters

Nuclear Waste Partnership, Waste Isolation Pilot Plant

Tania Reyes-Mills, Hanford Site

David Sheeley, EM Headquarters

Stephan Tetreault, EM Headquarters

DT Townsend, Savannah River Site