EM Update | Vol. 8, Issue 18 | Sept. 30, 2016

• 'Focus on the Field' is Key to Continued Cleanup Progress, EM Leaders Say
• EM Builds on Recent Success With Vision for Future Work
• EM Works to Involve Local Communities More in Acquisition Processes
• EM Partnerships Put Science of Safety to Work
• DOE and Contractor Officials Discuss Safety Culture at National Cleanup Workshop
• Building EM’s Workforce of Tomorrow
• ‘Partnering’ Panel Stresses ‘Alignment of Priorities’
• DOE Recognizes EM With Secretarial Honor and Presidential Rank Awards
• Lab Day on the Hill Shines Light on Latest Environmental Management Advances
• Science of Safety in Spotlight on Capitol Hill
• EM Assistant Secretary Monica Regalbuto Visits EM Sites in Western States
• ORP Contractors Earn Highest DOE Safety Awards
• Doctoral Student Working Under ORP Contract Earns Award
• EM Cleanup Chief Meets with Advisory Board Members From Across Complex
• Contributors

'Focus on the Field' is Key to Continued Cleanup Progress, EM Leaders Say

EM Assistant Secretary Monica Regalbuto focused on EM's priorities during her address at the National Cleanup Workshop.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Top EM officials highlighted a variety of accomplishments across the DOE cleanup program at the recent National Cleanup Workshop, and outlined efforts underway to support EM’s field sites in continued progress.

   “Significant progress is being made because of the men and women hard at work, in the field, every single day at each of our sites,” EM Assistant Secretary Monica Regalbuto said. “During my tenure as head of the EM program, my focus has been on providing our workers in the field with the leadership and support required for success.”

   Regalbuto and EM Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Mark Whitney spoke to approximately 600 attendees at the National Cleanup Workshop, held Sept. 14-15 in Alexandria, Va. The workshop, hosted by the Energy Communities Alliance with DOE and the Energy Facility Contractors Group serving as cooperating organizations, brought together senior DOE executives and site officials, industry executives, and other stakeholders to discuss DOE’s progress on the cleanup of the environmental legacy of the nation’s Manhattan Project and Cold War nuclear weapons program.

   Regalbuto cited a number of EM accomplishments achieved over the past year, such as:

• Progress in deactivating and decommissioning major facilities at Hanford, Oak Ridge, Portsmouth and the West Valley Demonstration Project;
• Completing construction of the Salt Waste Processing Facility at the Savannah River Site and closing the eighth high-level waste tank there;
• Continued progress in preparing to resume waste emplacement activities at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant once it is safe to do so; and
• Moving forward with construction of sections of the Hanford Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant to be used for the Direct Feed Low Activity Waste (DFLAW) approach, intended to allow waste treatment to begin as soon as 2022.

About 600 people attended the National Cleanup Workshop.

   Regalbuto also highlighted a variety of workers across the EM program who provided ideas and input to make their work safer or more efficient. As one example, she discussed how EM’s facility representatives at DOE’s Idaho Site proposed using better portable computing devices — an idea ultimately implemented at Idaho and other EM sites.

   “Often all that is required is a willingness to listen to our men and women in the field and empower them to make a difference — regardless of the individual role they play in the EM mission,” Regalbuto said. “In a large organization like ours, we are continuously looking for ways to be more efficient and more successful to allow us to get the mission done at the lowest cost to the taxpayer.”

EM Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Mark Whitney spoke about EM's management initiatives and preparing for the cleanup's future.  

   Whitney outlined several EM headquarters initiatives to support EM field sites in their work. One effort is a continuing dialogue with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and state regulators to help improve communications and better understand priorities.

   “Because one site’s decisions necessarily impact other sites in many, many cases, it is incumbent upon us to ensure that all parties understand complex-wide challenges,” Whitney said. “We are working to have a frank, open and transparent conversation about where we are, what’s left to do and what our priorities are, and that’s something that’s constructive and I look forward to building on.” 

   EM headquarters is also identifying additional resources for cleanup work by asking the field sites to reduce operational costs by 5 percent by the end of this fiscal year, Whitney said. 

   “I know we are making progress and we have, through the effort, been able to reduce costs and we’ll continue to build on that,” Whitney said.

   Whitney noted that EM’s fiscal 2017 budget request of approximately $6.1 billion is EM’s largest in the past five years.

   “I think that’s a reflection of a lot of things, including the confidence the administration has in the EM program and the work that’s getting done, and the importance it places on this mission.”

   Regalbuto and Whitney discussed EM’s efforts to develop new cleanup technologies to aid workers in carrying out their activities more safely and efficiently, such as new “roadmaps” to help tackle mercury and technetium contamination, advanced robotics and expanded collaborations with universities and other federal agencies.

   “EM is working to better leverage technology development to reduce time and life-cycle costs associated with its cleanup across the DOE complex,” Regalbuto said.

   “It’s the men and women at our sites each day that make progress possible, turning cleanup plans into reality and getting the job done,” Regalbuto said. “When field work is properly supported, the results have a real impact.”

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EM Builds on Recent Success With Vision for Future Work

EM Associate Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Field Operations Stacy Charboneau, far left, addresses attendees at the National Cleanup Workshop. West Valley Demonstration Project Director Bryan Bower and CH2M HILL BWXT West Valley President and General Manager Jeff Bradford are at right. 

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A central theme of the “Path to EM Success in 2016 and Beyond” session at the recent National Cleanup Workshop was how EM, its site workers, regulatory agencies, states and communities will build on successful cleanup to achieve goals at Oak Ridge in Tennessee, Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina and the West Valley Demonstration Project (WVDP) in New York.

   Officials provided a snapshot of work completed over the last several years to deactivate and demolish the five gaseous diffusion plants at the East Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP) in Oak Ridge, complete construction and begin startup of the Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF) at SRS and prepare for demolition of former spent fuel reprocessing facilities at WVDP.

   EM Associate Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Field Operations Stacy Charboneau facilitated the discussion by site federal and contractor officials.

   “The achievements we have realized, and are continuing to realize, at Oak Ridge, Savannah River and West Valley not only benefit those individual sites, but the EM program as a whole,” Charboneau said. “When one site marks a significant accomplishment, it shows all of our stakeholders across the country what the EM program can achieve and why we are worthy of their continued trust and support.”

   Oak Ridge officials recognized a decade of work that led to the recent ETTP accomplishment and discussed the vision to complete cleanup there by 2020 and remediate the Y-12 National Security Complex.

   “ETTP is the next site in the EM complex that will close, and we are extremely excited that this goal is clearly within grasp,” said Sue Cange, manager of the Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management. “Future plans call for transferring parcels of cleaned-up land to the City of Oak Ridge and the Community Reuse Organization of East Tennessee. We’re working together to transform the site into a private-sector, brownfield complex capable of creating hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars in capital investment for the region.”

   Ken Rueter, president and project manager of ETTP cleanup contractor URS-CH2M Oak Ridge, noted statistics that underscore the project’s safe, effective performance: 

• Five enormous gaseous diffusion facilities demolished, the largest accumulation of Category 2 nuclear facilities in the world;
• 56,000 truckloads of waste transported with 3.6 million miles driven safely; and
• $1.12 worth of work delivered for every dollar spent, while working ahead of schedule.

Preparing for SWPF Operations

   Construction of SWPF was a 10-year effort completed eight months ahead of the target schedule and more than $60 million under the target cost for construction activities from Dec. 31, 2012 through the end of construction. SRS officials discussed plans for the commissioning and startup in the years ahead.

   “It takes a lot of hard work, good partnering, and a very talented workforce to achieve those results,” said Jack Craig, manager of the DOE Savannah River Operations Office. “It also takes partnering with the community, and we will be relying on continued safe performance of work and our partnerships to achieve our goal of starting up SWPF in two years.”

   SWPF will provide a tenfold increase in capacity for treating high-level waste in the site’s underground tanks. To date, EM and its contractors have emptied and closed 12 tanks, and SWPF will process the remaining 36 million gallons stored in 42 remaining tanks. 

   There is much work to do over the next two years to prepare SWPF for operations, said Frank Sheppard, senior vice president and project manager for Parsons, the contractor responsible for SWPF:

• 71 systems are being turned over from construction; and
• 60 systems operation tests need to be done with three completed so far.

   “Completing systems operations tests in the facility’s control room was a key to being able to work more efficiently to control and complete the remaining tests,” said Sheppard. “Our goal is to finish testing as early as possible at the lowest cost.”

Savannah River Operations Office Manager Jack Craig, far right, discusses Savannah River Site successes. Other panelists included, left to right, Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management Manager Sue Cange, URS-CH2M Oak Ridge President and Project Manager Ken Rueter and Parsons Senior Vice President and Project Manager Frank Sheppard.

West Valley Prepares for Complex Work Ahead

   WVDP officials discussed challenging work underway to remediate facilities that processed approximately 640 metric tons of commercial spent nuclear fuel. The highly complex, contaminated WVDP facility is at a site with an intricate regulatory framework, requiring extensive dialogue among agencies.

   EM WVDP Director Bryan Bower pointed out that the cleanup is performed by EM and its contractor on a site owned by the State of New York and licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), with key partnerships in the stakeholder community. 

   “We’re making sure we all move forward with a common vision for the site,” said Bower. “Working with our counterparts at NRC and the state, as well as the community, we are putting the vision in front of the workforce so they can proceed with their talents to get the job done safely.”

West Valley Demonstration Project Director Bryan Bower shares achievements at the EM site in New York state.

   Jeff Bradford, president and general manager of cleanup contractor CH2M HILL BWXT West Valley, also touched on the complexity of the Main Plant Processing Building that will be demolished once canisters of vitrified high-level waste are removed and placed in storage casks.

   "This facility wasn’t built for demolition,” said Bradford. “It’s a real Rubik’s Cube and in really bad shape. We have multiple crews going into very hazardous environments, there’s a lot going on at the same time, and there’s not a lot of space in the facility for doing the very hazardous work inside.” 

   Bradford and Bower outlined the project’s legacy of success and the vision for critical work ahead:

• Workers have completed 90 percent of preparations for demolition in the Vitrification Facility and 50 percent of preparations in the Main Plant Process Building. Demolition of the Vitrification Facility is scheduled to begin in March 2017 and be completed that year. Demolition of the Main Plant Process Building is scheduled to begin in 2018.
• 150 of the 278 canisters of high-level waste in the facility have been decontaminated and placed in storage casks, with 30 of 56 casks loaded and moved to a storage pad near the facility. West Valley is on track to finish removing the high-level waste canisters from the Main Plant Process Building in December 2016 – one year ahead of schedule. 
• EM is working with the State of New York, NRC, the Environmental Protection Agency and stakeholders to determine plans for future cleanup of the site in the years ahead. Final decisions still need to be made for decommissioning of the waste tank farm (with four underground tanks) and two permitted landfills for radioactive waste.

   “All of these accomplishments across the EM program are due to the workers at our sites, who perform their activities day-in and day-out safely and efficiently,” Charboneau said. “It’s my job and the job of all of us at EM headquarters to do what we can to continue to aid the field in achieving progress."

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EM Works to Involve Local Communities More in Acquisition Processes

EM Acquisition and Project Management Deputy Assistant Secretary Ralph Holland provides EM's acquisition outlook during the National Cleanup Workshop. 

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – EM is looking to enhance how local communities near cleanup sites can be involved in the procurement process to further develop a “field-centric approach” to acquisition and project management, EM Acquisition and Project Management Deputy Assistant Secretary Ralph Holland said at the recently National Cleanup Workshop.

   “The involvement and the role of the local communities is invaluable to the Department and is critical to our success,” said Holland, who also serves as director of the EM Consolidated Business Center. 

   EM has already begun to hold “Community Day” events to gather feedback from local communities in the early stage of procurement planning. The first of these events was held after the release of the draft request for proposals for the new legacy cleanup contract at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. 

   “We didn’t do very well,” Holland acknowledged. “But we’re going to get better and it’s something we’re going to build into our process going forward.”

   EM is looking at ways to “enhance the visibility” of community commitment plans developed as part of companies’ bids for new cleanup contracts, Holland said. Such plans will be required as part of the bid process, and the winning company will be evaluated as part of its fee determination on how it implements the plan.

   “We want to be a better partner with our communities and we want our contractors to be part of that as well,” Holland said.

   EM is also working to enhance “meaningful” small business participation in procurements, Holland said. One approach being considered is to “put some teeth” into how small business subcontracting plans are executed, such as by making it a factor in fee determination or how past performance is evaluated in contract bids, he said.

   “I’ve had a number of small businesses approach me and say, ‘We need meaningful opportunities to participate so we can grow our businesses in meaningful ways,” Holland said. “That’s a concept we are really just beginning to discuss and want to understand better.”

   Holland noted that EM is working on ways to provide field sites with more contracting oversight authority. “I believe the best decisions are those made closest to the work,” he said.

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EM Partnerships Put Science of Safety to Work

EM Office of Technology Development Director Rod Rimando discussed how advanced robotics and remote systems can benefit EM's workforce and cleanup operations.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Officials from EM headquarters and the Savannah River National Laboratory discussed progress being made to develop new technology to enhance worker safety, improve performance and reduce cost during a panel at the recent National Cleanup Workshop. 

   “The Science of Safety Initiative certainly has taken a rather big role now in EM,” said EM Office of Technology Development Director Rod Rimando, referring to the effort to develop new cleanup technology to “make our work safer and easier to perform.”

   Rimando addressed a central piece of the initiative resonating with EM’s workforce: advanced robotics and remote systems. 

   “We’re striving to put these robotic and remote systems into our workforce’s hands so they can do their work smarter and safer,” Rimando said. 

   There’s a lot of momentum, energy, enthusiasm and creative thinking in robotics, and the growing interest in the infusion of technology in cleanup is especially evident in EM’s workforce, which views robotics and remote systems as useful and viable, Rimando said.

   “We really hope that they will become common tools in the workforce’s toolbox,” he said.

   Although robots can’t reason, judge and troubleshoot, a variety of circumstances exist in which cleanup workers could benefit from them, Rimando said. Robotic platforms provide remote access and entry to high-risk areas. Robotic tools help with routine tasks in which workers are susceptible to complacency or loss of mental focus. Multi-use, multi-user robots can be deployed to respond to emergencies. Wearable robotic devices improve performance and productivity while preventing injuries due to conditions such as fatigue and hyperextension.

   “With use of robotic technologies, we hope to improve our efforts to keep occupational exposure to all workplace hazards as low as reasonably achievable,” Rimando said. “We want to minimize, if not completely eliminate, direct handling of high-hazard, high-consequence materials and waste.”

   Rimando played a video produced by SRNL on the recent “EM Science of Safety: Robotics Challenge” at EM’s Portsmouth Site. He noted that the robotic devices in the video were put in the hands of EM’s workers to demonstrate at their workplaces.

EM Office of Laboratory Policy Director Mark Gilbertson speaks during the panel session on the development and deployment of new technologies to aid EM's mission.

   During the panel discussion, Mark Gilbertson, director of EM’s Office of Laboratory Policy, described how DOE is strengthening its partnerships with SRNL and other national laboratories to support EM in achieving cleanup goals at EM field sites and execute the Department’s other missions. 

   “What we are talking about is all 17 national laboratories operating as a system to support the DOE program and the country as it moves forward,” he said, noting that the partnerships rebuild fundamental tenets created when the Department was established.

   EM will work closely with SRNL, EM’s laboratory, to meet complex-wide objectives while encouraging the laboratory to grow and pull in outside innovative approaches, such as advanced manufacturing practices from the chemical industry, to increase the cleanup’s efficiency, Gilbertson said. He noted that SRNL is a conduit to support all EM sites, not just Savannah River Site (SRS).

Savannah River National Laboratory Director Terry Michalske, at podium, speaks about the laboratory's technological advances supporting EM's cleanup. 

   SRNL Director Terry Michalske described the laboratory’s work in advanced technologies, from robotics to computer modeling, to aid in EM’s mission.   

   EM is no different than private-sector industries such as engineering, manufacturing and construction when it comes to the need for a technical edge critical to success, Michalske said.

   “There is an opportunity to up our game in that regard and bring that edge more to the forefront of the success of this program,” he said. “Our job really is to do this more effectively, reduce the costs, shorten the lifecycle and get this job done, but really do it in a way where it improves the safety of the people who have to do the work.”

   Michalske highlighted projects in which the laboratory and other entities at SRS used advanced technologies to enhance safety, improve cleanup performance and reduce cost. 

   SRNL partnered with Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS), the SRS management and operations contractor, to apply virtual reality to help workers carry out decontamination work at the site’s Building 235-F. Michalske said this technology allows workers to experience the environment without its risks.

   “They can accelerate their work planning, go through design reviews, and do virtual walk-downs of the work environment without having to dress out for the contaminated environment until they’re ready,” he said.

   In another SRNL-SRNS partnership, robotic off-loading helps workers safely process highly radioactive liquids in H-Canyon at SRS.  

   “In the end, it’s all about our workers and about the people who pay for this — the taxpayers. They deserve to have the very best and they deserve to have this job go as fast and smart and safely as possible,” Michalske said.

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DOE and Contractor Officials Discuss Safety Culture at National Cleanup Workshop

DOE Environment, Health, Safety and Security Associate Under Secretary Matthew Moury speaks about EM's safety culture. EM Safety, Security and Quality Assurance Deputy Assistant Secretary Jim Hutton is at right.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – DOE officials and contractor executives agreed during a panel at the recent National Cleanup Workshop that a 2011 Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) recommendation galvanized the DOE complex into further strengthening its safety culture.

   “I think the most significant thing about the recommendation was that DOE took a very broad and deep approach to dealing with it. We found that we needed to build fundamentals into the organization, fundamental expectations for leadership and management behavior, which led to training on those expectations for senior leaders across the Department,” EM Safety, Security and Quality Assurance Deputy Assistant Secretary Jim Hutton said.

   The panelists kicked off discussion by laying out the impact of the DNFSB recommendation, and later explained how DOE maintains safety levels during transition periods, such as management changes. They agreed that DOE strives to ensure workers are comfortable raising concerns without fear of retaliation, and while there’s no “magic metric” to measure safety culture, viewing the “whole landscape” of performance can provide a basis for assessments. They also described improvements in safety after operational work pauses at some DOE sites.

   The 2011 DNFSB recommendation called for the Energy Secretary to assert federal control at the highest level to establish a strong safety culture at the Hanford Site’s Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) and conduct reviews to determine whether safety culture weaknesses were limited to that project. 

   DOE Environment, Health, Safety and Security Associate Under Secretary Matthew Moury noted that the Department went beyond the Board’s recommendation to institutionalize safety culture across the complex.

   “We want it to be a part of the Department’s DNA, something that we do on a day-to-day basis. We have been working in that area significantly,” Moury said.

   Hutton noted that monitoring the behavior of the DOE organization — focusing on “weak signals” and observing interactions — helps transcend day-to-day changes, such as the “comings and goings of management.” 

EM Safety, Security and Quality Assurance Deputy Assistant Secretary Jim Hutton addresses safety culture at the National Cleanup Workshop.

   One issue discussed by the panelists is how DOE can strike a balance between making sure workers feel comfortable raising concerns without being afraid of retaliation and taking appropriate disciplinary action when necessary.

   Todd Wright, general manager and executive vice president of AECOM’s nuclear and environment strategic business unit, agreed with Hutton that it’s vital to keep the issue separate from the person. 

   “In all cases you want to create an environment where issues can be brought up,” he said.  

   “There’s also a big matter of trust when it comes to this,” said Greg Meyer, senior vice president for operations at Fluor. “When you deal with these kind of issues, you clearly have to deal with them objectively and fairly.” 

   He added: “You have to build trust with the workforce, that they’re confident that you are listening, you get it, and you are in fact trying to improve things.”

   Meyer said that operational pauses led to extra levels of screenings, high-hazard review boards, and special teams that ensured sufficient work planning, identification of all hazards and appropriate controls.

   “It has been very effective to get the message across to the workforce that this is not business as usual,” he said. 

   Employee- or union-led safety committees are “extremely valuable and important,” Wright said, adding that engagement is the “third leg on the stool” with leadership and training.

   Hutton said operational pauses are synonymous with safety culture.

   “When work is stopped because of issues like this that we’re talking about, that is what safety culture looks like,” he said. “That is leaders taking responsibility, even though it is not in their short-term interest, and costs them time, money, et cetera to do the responsible thing that is in the long-term interest.” 

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Building EM’s Workforce of Tomorrow

Dyan Foss, global managing director of CH2M’s nuclear sector, speaks during the panel on building the next-generation EM workforce. David Foster, DOE senior adviser on industrial and economic policy, is at left, and Fred Hughes, president and project manager of Fluor Idaho, is at right.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – How can EM build a workforce from the millennial generation or from “Generation Swipe,” young people who are growing up with new levels of comfort with technology? A panel of experts at the recent National Cleanup Workshop concluded it may take new approaches as well as doubling down on well-proven strategies.

   In a discussion on “Building the Next Generation Workforce,” Carol Berrigan, senior director of supplier policy at the Nuclear Energy Institute, said attracting and retaining employees is often thought of as a daunting task.

   But it can be rewarding, she said, “when we look at the next generation of workers and how excited they can be about coming into our industry.” She nicknamed them “Generation Swipe” for their seemingly instinctive capabilities on smartphones and consumer technology. 

   David Foster, DOE senior adviser on industrial and economic policy, laid out the need ahead for EM: The average age among the agency’s federal workforce of approximately 1,400 people is 52, a decade older than the median age of the U.S. workforce. Of the 22,300-person contractor workforce, almost 15 percent are older than 60 and nearly 54 percent are over age 50. This leaves EM exposed to retirement bubbles.

   And while population growth is healthy in communities near cleanup sites where national laboratories anchor research opportunities, such as in Idaho Falls and the Tri-Cities in Washington state, other sites in largely rural communities with declining or slow growth create challenges to sustaining a workforce, he said. 

   To its credit, Congress has responded, Foster said. Lawmakers in 2015 passed the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, which launched a major reform of the federally funded workforce development system. This presents opportunities for EM to solve long-term workforce issues in partnerships with other federal agencies and state-run systems.

   In the meantime, the environmental cleanup industry suffers shortages in occupations such as fire protection engineers, safety-case writers and radiological control technicians, according to industry executives on the panel. 

   Dyan Foss, global managing director of CH2M’s nuclear sector, said workforce struggles are not unique to the domestic industry. 

   “I look at our industry and it is not an American problem, it is an industry-wide issue,” she said. That said, Foss added, Canada and the United Kingdom have made advances through skills academies and hands-on training programs tailored to younger recruits. 

   “They are doing much more than we are doing,” Foss said.

   Herman Potter, president of United Steelworkers Union Local 689 in Piketon, Ohio, said he was encouraged by initiatives like EM’s “Science of Safety,” which emphasizes exposing workers to new technology.  

   “We think that is a fantastic initiative,” Potter said. “From my perspective it takes a fresh look on some old types of training. It actually marries what people already know and actually makes it a little bit new. We want to keep doing that.”

   Fred Hughes, president and project manager of Fluor Idaho, the cleanup contractor for EM’s Idaho site, said recruiters highlight the benefits of living and working in Idaho Falls to prospective workers who enjoy the outdoors.

   “Second, once you get them in the door, you have to challenge them with interesting jobs that challenge their capabilities and skills,” Hughes said. He said he admired the military for its intensive training and preparation of 18- and 19-year-olds into positions of responsibility. Fluor is attempting something similar by pairing young workers with mentors who can test them.

   Ron Woody, county executive of Roane County, Tenn., said the county’s long and strong relationships with local colleges, workforce development boards and building and trades organizations have paid dividends. The University of Tennessee now offers a minor in nuclear decommissioning and environmental management. An environmental technology program established in 1988 at Roane State Community College still is churning out graduates.  

   “What made that program successful? Scholarships, internships and of course employment placement,” Woody said. “We have to expose the younger generation to the opportunities that exist. We’ve done a pretty good job at Oak Ridge. We still have some challenges. Whoever gets to the youth first may have a career for them.”

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‘Partnering’ Panel Stresses ‘Alignment of Priorities’

EM’s Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office Manager Robert Edwards talks during the panel on "Strengthening EM through Partnerships."

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – EM officials, contractor executives and local officials from communities near DOE sites discussed how successful partnering can help continue cleanup progress during a panel at the recent National Cleanup Workshop. 

   The panelists shared partnering strategies they used to help ensure successful cleanup contract acquisitions, performance and community and industry support.

   Doug Shoop, manager of EM’s Richland Operations Office, credited much of the successful cleanup at the Hanford Site to strong partnerships with stakeholders that allowed the entities involved to align priorities.  

   “I do not believe we could have done what we did in the River Corridor without those three things,” he said. “We had great partners, we had great alignment and we knew what our priorities were.”  

   Several panelists cited the closure of the Rocky Flats site in Colorado in 2006 as a model for successful site cleanup.  

   “The initial alignment of the goals and the end state for the (Rocky Flats) site is truly the one thing I think was the basis for why it was a success,” said Jeff Stevens, deputy project manager for Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth, the EM Portsmouth Site’s deactivation and decommissioning contractor. 

Speaking at the National Cleanup Workshop, EM Richland Operations Office Manager Doug Shoop credited much of the Hanford Site cleanup success to strong partnerships.

   Robert Edwards, manager of EM’s Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office, added that it is important to get candid, open, frequent and continuing feedback from community partners to ensure alignment continues.

   “You need to frequently go back and make sure everyone is still on the same page,” he said. “It seems easy, but it takes work.”

   Energy Communities Alliance Treasurer and Los Alamos County Councilor Kristin Henderson cited the recent Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) settlement and agreement to use fine revenues to pay for road improvements from Los Alamos to the WIPP facility as one good partnering outcome. 

   Idaho Falls Mayor Rebecca Casper outlined some of the city’s partnership programs that support the Idaho Operations Office and Idaho National Laboratory, including the ‘Community to Capital’ and Partnership for Science and Technology outreach programs.

   “Locals have a responsibility to be engaged just as much as DOE or the contractor,” she said. “Bottom line is I am firmly convinced that an adversarial relationship is part and parcel of the old, tired model, and that partnering is a whole lot more productive.”

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DOE Recognizes EM With Secretarial Honor and Presidential Rank Awards

EM employees were part of the Laboratory Operations Board General Purpose Infrastructure Crosscut Committee, which was honored in September with the Secretary of Energy's Achievement Award for its contributions to the Department and nation. The committee transformed the Department's assessment, planning and strategic approach to DOE infrastructure. (Ken Shipp/DOE Photo)

The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) Technical Assessment Team (TAT) and Accident Investigation Board (AIB) received the Secretary of Energy's Achievement Award. The team and board were recognized for exemplary collaboration across DOE sites and laboratories to determine the causes and processes that resulted in the radiological release at WIPP in 2014. The TAT and AIB contributed significantly to the Department's broader response to the release, established key lessons learned for all DOE nuclear facilities, and provided the information necessary to determine how to safely reopen and operate WIPP for generations to come. (Ken Shipp/DOE Photo)  

The WTP Strategic Realignment Team received the Secretary of Energy's Achievement Award for its contributions to the tank waste mission at EM's Office of River Protection. The team's innovative approach to that mission contributed significantly to the Department's restructuring of the project for the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant, which will enable the Department to begin treating tank waste at Hanford as soon as practicable. (Ken Shipp/DOE Photo)

Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, left, honored Savannah River Operations Office Manager Jack Craig with the Presidential Rank of Distinguished Executive Award for Craig's sustained extraordinary accomplishments as director of the Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center. The programs under his leadership have been successful in achieving dramatic results for the Department by saving over $10 billion and accelerating cleanup activities by over 20 years, while eliminating substantial risk to the environment and the public. Read more about his award here. (Ken Shipp/DOE Photo)

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Lab Day on the Hill Shines Light on Latest Environmental Management Advances

Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, far right, invited five panelists, including EM Assistant Secretary Monica Regalbuto, second from right, to participate in a “fireside chat” at the Environmental Stewardship National Lab Day on Capitol Hill. (Photo courtesy of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory)

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Work performed by the best and brightest scientists tackling environmental management challenges at DOE’s national laboratories was on display and in the spotlight at a recent exhibition for members of Congress. 

   The Sept. 13 “Environmental Stewardship National Lab Day on Capitol Hill” event underscored the role of the labs as a unique resource in the fields of science, technology and engineering. 

   In a corner of a large U.S. Senate hearing room, a 3-D virtual reality display took observers “inside” a contaminated plutonium facility. The virtual environment tool already being used at the Savannah River Site allows workers to train in the complex tasks of decontamination and decommissioning.

   Elsewhere, instrumentation in ‘sensor fish” developed at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) simulated what real fish experience when they swim through hydropower turbines. The data gathered could help energy companies design hydroelectric facilities in ways that minimize losses of fish populations. 

   Roughly 20 displays and exhibits demonstrating advances in environmental management and stewardship science and technology were presented at the event. It was co-hosted by the Savannah River and Pacific Northwest national laboratories, and featured work by many of the 17 national labs.

   Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz toured the exhibits, along with EM Assistant Secretary Monica Regalbuto and members of Congress. Afterwards, Moniz hosted a discussion with Regalbuto and other experts on the work being done at the labs, their impact on DOE missions and workers and what more could be accomplished.

   “We need to double down on our innovation in the next five years,” Moniz said. “We have a lot of capacity to innovate that we are not using. In spite of all the terrific results you see here we have a lot more we could be doing. Across the board, in all our missions, upping the game on innovation would pay enormous dividends to our country.”

   Regalbuto said EM is transforming itself through lab-developed technology to tackle the most challenging problems in cleaning up Cold War nuclear sites, such as characterizing chemical components of tank waste, managing challenging plumes in soil and addressing groundwater contaminants.

   “We’ve been working to bring modernization to the way we do business,” she said. “We no longer have to put the same technologies we were applying in the ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s to the most difficult problems that remain.  

   “There is significant room for us to do innovative solutions,” she said. 

From left to right, Paul Shoemaker, senior manager at Sandia National Laboratory, EM Assistant Secretary Monica Regalbuto, and Paul Dixon, program manager at Los Alamos National Laboratory, chat during Environmental Stewardship National Lab Day on Capitol Hill.(Photo courtesy of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory)

   Collaboration among laboratories, universities and contractors will be crucial to tackle the thorniest remediation challenges, panelists told Moniz.

   “Cleanup contractors who execute this work, that is an important piece of moving forward,” said Terry Michalske, director of the Savannah River National Laboratory. “We have a workforce that is capable of using new technologies and training, and we have the incentives in place to accelerate the process.”

   “It’s pretty clear that the remaining challenges in environmental management are some of the most difficult,” said Dr. Sue Clark, Battelle Fellow, Energy and Environment Directorate with PNNL.   

   “The problems are so big that the national labs can benefit from partnerships, and partnerships can include universities, industry, all stakeholders,” Clark said. PNNL was recently awarded an Energy Frontier Research Center grant in which Clark will lead a partnership to investigate the chemistry of residual materials in tank waste.

   While already making significant contributions, the full potential of robotic technology has yet to be realized, according to noted roboticist Dr. Robin Murphy.  

   “Robots already are being used. They are a necessity for economic productivity and worker safety,” said Murphy, director of the Center for Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue and the Center for Emergency Informatics at Texas A&M University.

   “The biggest potential of all is to quit thinking about robots for disasters and emergency response and remediation but put it in day-to-day operations to help improve worker safety and things like that,” Murphy said. “That is the real long-term challenge.”

Malin Young, deputy director for science and technology at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, tries out virtual reality glasses at Environmental Stewardship National Lab Day on Capitol Hill.(Photo courtesy of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory)

   Workers are growing to see technology advances as something that can enhance their safety and productivity, and perhaps allow them to work deeper into their careers, said Carol Landry, international vice president at large of the United Steelworkers. The union counts 3,500 members across eight DOE sites, making its voice a strong one in the complex. 

   “When Monica (Regalbuto) first approached us about this whole idea of robotics, of course workers, their hands go up, and ‘they are going to take our jobs,’” Landry said.

   “So Monica walked us through some of these ideas,” Landry said. “And I can tell you the reaction that we have received so far from our members has been tremendous.” A recent United Steelworkers health and safety conference in Pittsburgh featured two workshops demonstrating the use of robotics in the workplace.  

   “Not just DOE sites, but we see applications in so many other sectors as well for these sort of things,” Landry said. “All of that to say we do see potential moving forward. It is very exciting.” 

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Science of Safety in Spotlight on Capitol Hill

Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R.-Tenn.), chairman of the House Nuclear Cleanup Caucus, dons 3-D glasses while interacting with "Robo Sally" at the Sept. 14 event for the caucus on Capitol Hill that focused on the EM Science of Safety Initiative. Robo Sally is an advanced robot developed by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Sporting camera lenses for eyes, four wheels for feet, a pipestem torso and gloves covering metallic “fingers,” a 650-pound “Bimanual Dexterous Robotic Platform” more commonly known as “Robo Sally” waved and shook hands with people entering the Capitol Hill conference room.

   Though not human, Robo Sally put a face on the Sept. 14 event for the House Nuclear Cleanup Caucus to highlight EM’s Science of Safety Initiative. Its developers at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory demonstrated the robot and discussed potential applications in environmental cleanup, threat investigations and explosive ordnance removal.

   The event also featured a panel discussion spotlighting EM progress on Science of Safety, contributions being made by DOE national laboratories, how the private sector is putting advanced technologies to use and how the endeavor can help further improve worker safety and efficiency at EM sites.

   Alongside Robo Sally was a grasshopper-inspired “hopping” machine developed at Sandia National Laboratories. The size of a shoebox, the “hopper” can draw on a combustion-driven piston to leap over or onto obstacles more than 6 meters high, allowing it access to difficult-to-reach crannies. 

   To Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.), the devices on display were proof of the know-how made possible through collaborations.

   “When we work together with our partners, the future is bright not only for EM but for all the technology innovations that allow us not only to work better at EM but at whatever our mission might be,” said Fleischmann, caucus chair.

   Spearheaded by EM Assistant Secretary Monica Regalbuto, the Science of Safety Initiative is aimed at deploying enhanced technologies where applicable throughout the complex, including supporting worker safety in high-hazard operations. 

   “This initiative is really personal and important to me,” Regalbuto told the audience of roughly 170 people. “I have had the opportunity over my career to work in pretty much all the same dangerous situations that our workers work in today. To me it’s always very important to understand what we are asking and tasking our workers to do.  

   “It’s time to modernize the way we do business,” she said. 

From left, Westinghouse Senior Project Manager John Hubball; Sandia National Laboratories High Consequence Automation & Robotics Senior Manager Dr. Philip Heermann; the “Bimanual Dexterous Robotic Platform,” more commonly known as “Robo Sally,” which was developed by Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory; EM Assistant Secretary Monica Regalbuto; and DOE Industrial and Economic Policy Senior Adviser David Foster.

   Dr. Philip Heermann of Sandia National Laboratories spotlighted devices pioneered at the lab, including an energy efficient “walking robot” and an “X-ray tool kit” developed in cooperation with the military now is in widespread use by bomb squads throughout the country. 

   “One of the things that Science of Safety can do is bring workers together with technology providers to really build technology that is effective for people,” said Heermann, senior manager of High Consequence Automation & Robotics at Sandia. 

   John Hubball, senior project manager at Westinghouse, said robotics play a key role in ongoing cleanup of the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant site in Japan.

   “We are sorting through that using robotics and camera systems and manipulators from up to two kilometers away,” Hubball said. “We are removing people from those hazards.”

   The same way the steel industry over time improved worker safety by engineering deadly hazards out of the workplace, the Science of Safety holds the potential to do the same for environmental cleanup, said David Foster, DOE senior adviser on industrial and economic policy.

   “It seems almost quaint that burns from sizing bits were once a routine problem,” said Foster, a former United Steelworkers official. “We engineered them out of the work process, and that is what is so exciting about the Science of Safety to me. Some of the best roboticists in the country are working with men and woman whose experiences can identify high-risk situations.”

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EM Assistant Secretary Monica Regalbuto Visits EM Sites in Western States

EM Assistant Secretary Monica Regalbuto visited several EM sites in the western U.S. in recent weeks, including the Moab Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action Project sites on Sept. 8. Regalbuto began her day in the Grand Junction, Colo., administrative office and traveled to the Crescent Junction disposal site in Utah. This photo was taken following a tour of the site, which is where the 16 million tons of uranium mill tailings from the former ore-processing site in Moab (30 miles to the south) are being permanently disposed in an engineered cell constructed by DOE. Her day finished with an all-hands meeting with employees and a tour of the Moab site. Regalbuto also visited cleanup efforts at the Nevada National Security Site, Energy Technology Engineering Center, and the Lawrence Berkeley and Lawrence Livermore national laboratories. 

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ORP Contractors Earn Highest DOE Safety Awards

RICHLAND, Wash. – EM Office of River Protection (ORP) contractors recently earned the highest DOE safety awards during the 32nd annual National Voluntary Protection Programs Participants’ Association Safety and Health Conference in Kissimmee, Fla.

   Bechtel National Inc. (BNI), and Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) received the Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) Star of Excellence awards, signifying they had Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) rates 75 percent lower than their industry counterparts. Wastren Advantage Inc. received the VPP Legacy of Star award. To achieve this legacy level, a company must have had four consecutive years of Star of Excellence awards.

   DOE launched its VPP in 1994 to encourage and recognize excellence in occupational safety and health protection. The program outlines areas DOE contractors and subcontractors can exceed compliance with DOE orders and OSHA standards. It relies on cooperation between managers, employees, and DOE to continuously improve health and safety programs.

   BNI is the prime contractor for construction of the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant and WRPS is the prime contractor for managing ORP’s tank farms. WAI is the prime contractor managing the 222-S Laboratory on Hanford Site.

   BNI subcontractor Intermech Inc. also received the VPP Legacy of Star award. 

   Courtney Blanchard of ORP’s Safety and Health Division attended the DOE conference and praised the ORP contractors for the recognition they received.   

   “This is amazing and ORP contractors received two of the three Legacy of STAR awards (given during the conference),” said Blanchard. “It is like having four employees: two rated excellent and two rated outstanding.”

   WAI is only in its second year managing the 222-S laboratory, but earned the award for four consecutive years of star awards.   

   “DOE VPP does allow a new company that is awarded the contract to submit a written justification why they should retain their DOE VPP status,” said Blanchard. “WAI justification included that their staff remained the same: safety and health manager Bill Leonard stayed, and appointed laboratory manager Kris Kuhl-Klinger, who was instrumental in ATL's first Star of Excellence.” ATL was the lab’s previous contractor.  

   “I have observed something in both of these companies that, I believe, makes them such great places to work and have excellent safety results,” Blanchard continued. “Each employee takes ownership of themselves and their fellow workers. They work like the unselfish well-executing sports team, only focused on what matters to them. Employee safety is their primary objective. And all the employees in both companies are proud of their DOE VPP status.” 

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Doctoral Student Working Under ORP Contract Earns Award

RICHLAND, Wash. – Rutgers University student Charles Cao was recently awarded second-place prize in the Innovations in Fuel Cycle Research Awards sponsored by DOE’s Office of Fuel Cycle Technologies.  

   Cao supports EM’s Office of River Protection (ORP) through a contract with Rutgers to further understanding of nepheline glass formation, separate from the work done for the award.

   His work that led to the award applies to Hanford’s tank waste, focusing on the immobilization of radioactive iodine-129 through the development of a suitable ceramic waste form at room temperature, according to ORP glass scientist Albert Kruger. 

   Iodine-129 exhibits one of the longest half-lives out of all of the radioisotopes with a half-life of about 15.7 million years, said Kruger.

   Due to its highly soluble nature, storage of iodine-129 waste in geological repositories represents a very complex challenge, according to Kruger. According to assessments from the Hanford Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant, iodine-129 will be the primary radiation emitter in the first 5,000 years after Hanford’s waste is immobilized, he said.

   This was the first reported instance in which this material was synthesized at room temperature using wet chemistry. Cao is also working on developing a suitable glass binder to consolidate the apatite-based ceramic waste form. Apatite is a pale green to purple mineral, consisting of calcium phosphate with some fluorine, chlorine and other elements

   Cao is part of a research group under Rutgers professor Ashutosh Goel, working to help ORP increase the amount of waste that can be immobilized in glass. Their work could cut the time and cost it takes to vitrify Hanford’s 56 million gallons of waste.  

   “This work allows for aluminum waste loading in borosilicate glass in excess of 30 weight percentage, by understanding how to avoid the growth of crystalline material that causes the waste glass to challenge the durability test imposed by the repository,” said Kruger.

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EM Cleanup Chief Meets with Advisory Board Members From Across Complex

EM Assistant Secretary Monica Regalbuto spoke to the chairs and vice-chairs of all eight EM Site-Specific Advisory Boards at their biannual meeting in Las Vegas. Regalbuto discussed her vision for the EM program and sought input from the chairs on a variety of issues, including transition memos, communication strategies and reindustrialization. 

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Contributors

Brad Mitzelfelt, Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office

Michael Nartker, EM Headquarters

Darlene Prather, EM Headquarters

David Sheeley, EM Headquarters

Stephan Tetreault, EM Headquarters

Geoff Tyree, Hanford Site

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