Acting EM Assistant Secretary Sue Cange (right) participated in the plenary session at this year's Waste Management Symposium with Hirohide Hirai, Director-General for International Energy and Technology Cooperation at the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (left); and Greg Meyer, Senior Vice President, Environmental & Nuclear, Fluor Corporation (center).
PHOENIX – EM is moving forward with a new strategic planning initiative to better tackle the longer-term challenges the DOE cleanup program faces, Acting Assistant EM Secretary Sue Cange said here last week during the 2017 Waste Management Symposium.
In her plenary address, Cange said that EM will be “assessing cross-cutting program and site specific strategies that present opportunities to reduce life-cycle costs, address high risks early and/or achieve other tangible benefits.” She emphasized that this new strategic planning initiative will be “driven by the priorities of the new Administration.”
“We have just begun this strategic planning process and going forward, we plan to incorporate each of our site’s multi-year budget profiles into a comprehensive set of goals and outcomes for the program,” she said.
Explaining the anticipated benefits of the new initiative, Cange said, “This overall effort maps out incremental targets, aids in proper prioritization, and better informs decision-making.” EM will also be better able to adapt to shifts in annual funding levels, she said.
Acting EM Assistant Secretary Sue Cange
addresses the 2017 Waste Management Symposium.
EM’s new strategic planning efforts are intended to help harness the momentum generated by recent successes to continue to make progress across the entire DOE cleanup program, Cange said. Among the accomplishments EM is working to meet this year is:
Completing the demolition of the Hanford Plutonium Finishing Plant to slab-on-grade;
Continuing with startup activities at the Idaho Integrated Waste Treatment Unit and the Savannah River Salt Waste Processing Facility;
Completing the design of a planned mercury treatment facility at Oak Ridge; and
Making significant progress in removing contaminated piping and equipment from buildings at the Portsmouth and Paducah gaseous diffusion plants.
Integral to helping EM realize such accomplishments, Cange said, is the workforce at EM headquarters and across the field.
“Our strength starts with our people. The federal employees, contractors and labor workforce are comprised of men and women dedicated to getting the job done each and every day as safely, effectively and efficiently as possible. Collectively, this ‘EM Team’ is without question our biggest asset,” she said.
“The more I learn about the entire EM complex, the more impressed I am, and the more confident I am in EM’s ability to achieve the decades-long mission that lies ahead,” Cange said. “We know how to do this work and we are prepared to get the job done.”
From left to right, EM Deputy Assistant Secretary for Acquisition and Project Management Ralph Holland; EM Associate Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Corporate Services Candice Trummell; EM Associate Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Regulatory and Policy Affairs Frank Marcinowski; and EM Associate Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Field Operations Stacy Charboneau.
PHOENIX – EM’s recent efforts to become a more field-centric organization are already reaping rewards, senior EM officials said here last week during a panel discussion at the 2017 Waste Management Symposium.
EM has been working to provide site managers with increased authority in some areas and to play a greater role in the development of new initiatives at EM headquarters, said Stacy Charboneau, associate principal deputy assistant secretary for field operations. She also highlighted the work being done by the new set of site liaisons at EM headquarters to help more efficiently address and resolve site issues.
“I think they have worked quite wonderfully,” Charboneau said. “Success looks like safe mission execution. That’s what we’re here for.”
In the area of acquisition, EM is now providing increased authority to field procurement directors and working with the field to consolidate or eliminate directives to create a “much leaner governance model,” said Ralph Holland, deputy assistant secretary for acquisition and project management and director of the EM Consolidated Business Center.
“We’re going to be judicious in how we manage that authority,” Holland noted.
EM headquarters is also working to better support the field in more effectively working with stakeholders, said Candice Trummell, associate principal deputy assistant secretary for corporate services.
“Field managers know best what their stakeholders need,” she said.
As an example of the importance of EM’s relationships with stakeholders, Frank Marcinowski, associate principal deputy assistant secretary for regulatory and policy affairs, cited the new Consent Order DOE finalized last year with the state of New Mexico for the legacy cleanup of Los Alamos National Laboratory. The new Consent Order was completed “in record time” thanks to EM’s relationships with state officials and local stakeholders, he said, adding that the new LANL Consent Order can serve as a model going forward.
In addition, the new LANL Consent Order can help local stakeholders better advocate for cleanup at Los Alamos because they can now better explain how work will be done, Marcinowski said.
Leadership and staff representing EPA Region 4 and EPA-HQ, DOE cleanup project management from the DOE sites in EPA Region 4 — Oak Ridge, Paducah, and Savannah River Site — respective State regulatory officials and DOE-EM (HQ) recently gathered at SRS to build upon national dialogue communications and collaborations.
AIKEN, S.C. – On March 2, 2017, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), State, and DOE cleanup project management and staff from the DOE sites in EPA Region 4 — Oak Ridge, Paducah, and Savannah River Site — met at the Savannah River Site (SRS) at the invitation of Manager Jack Craig to discuss their common environmental cleanup challenges and successes. The facilitated meeting continued the dialogue begun at the first meeting, convened in August 2016 at EPA Region 4 headquarters by regional Superfund Division Director Franklin Hill. Leaders from EPA's Federal Facilities Restoration & Reuse Office and DOE's Office of Environmental Management also participated in the workshop at SRS.
“The goal was to build upon the national dialogue between DOE, EPA and the states,” said Jack Craig, DOE-Savannah River Manager. “We welcome opportunities to increase mutual understanding among the parties with respect to the regional Environmental Management program and to share best practices and identify opportunities to streamline interactions between the agencies.”
Specifically, the parties discussed prioritizing cleanup tasks; organizational roles and responsibilities for remedial decision-making and milestone-setting within DOE, EPA, and state agencies; and project-level communication and decision-making. The focus of discussions was to provide best practices and lessons learned that can be used to improve existing processes. The site teams will apply outcomes discussed at the March meeting toward identification of priorities in support of the FY19 DOE budget formulation before reconvening the regional group.
Full-day discussions among the parties focused on best practices and lessons learned that can be used to improve existing processes, decision-making and goal-setting.
"I found the meeting to be beneficial to EPA, States and DOE. The workshop provided all parties a platform to come together and discuss budget challenges, priorities and opportunities to enhance our communication and collaboration at the management and project team level,” shared Franklin Hill, EPA Region 4 Superfund Division Director. “I look forward to coming together again with my counterparts in September, to continue the dialogue on how we can identify efficiencies and cleanup opportunities to move these complex sites forward.”
A day-long tour for the group included a
stop at R Reactor, one of two SRS nuclear reactors decontaminated and
decommissioned in situ (in place).
A tour of SRS for the participants took place preceding the workshop on March 1. The tour included cleanup overviews and stops at H Tank Farm, Saltstone Disposal Facility, Salt Waste Processing Facility, Defense Waste Processing Facility and the Site’s decontaminated and decommissioned R Reactor. Another meeting of the group, to be hosted by the DOE-EM Portsmouth Paducah Project Office, is planned in September in Lexington, KY.
Temporary lights now illuminate the hallways and other spaces inside the main processing facility at Hanford’s Plutonium Finishing Plant.
RICHLAND, Wash. – The last stop of plutonium processing on the Hanford Site is now one significant step closer to demolition. EM’s Richland Operations Office contractor CH2M HILL Plateau Remediation Company (CH2M) recently isolated the main processing facility at the Plutonium Finishing Plant (PFP) in southeastern Washington state from electrical service, marking a critical step in going “cold and dark,” where all forms of hazardous energy are removed from the building before demolition. Transitioning to temporary power minimizes the chance of exposure to teams removing asbestos and contaminated ventilation piping.
“We’re close,” said Jim Johnson, CH2M maintenance manager at PFP, of the progress made toward demolition of the main processing facility. “We’re just a couple of months away from starting demolition.”
Demolition is well underway on the Plutonium Reclamation Facility at Hanford’s Plutonium Finishing Plant.
The main processing facility is the largest of the four buildings in the PFP complex, which is being demolished to reduce risk on the Hanford Site. After delays during the winter, demolition is well underway on the Plutonium Reclamation Facility and Americium Recovery Facility. Temporary power will supply electricity to lights and outlets, an elevator, and a criticality alarm system, while crews perform the final work inside the main processing facility.
In addition to cutting power, all employees recently moved out of the main processing facility. Employees now use temporary trailers to dress and undress in protective clothing before entering and after exiting the plant.
“The demolition process is really an evolution, from a fully functioning processing facility, to deactivation, to cleaning it out and now moving people out, shutting off power and then demolition,” said Tom Bratvold, CH2M vice president for PFP. “I couldn’t be prouder of the safe progress we’ve made so far and the progress we’ll make as demolition begins on the main facility in a few months.”
From left to right, Ricky Bang, ORP Safety and Health Division Director; Kevin Smith, ORP Manager; Glyn Trenchard, ORP Acting Assistant Manager for Tank Farms Project; Mark Lindholm, President and Project Manager, Washington River Protection Solutions; Bill Hamel, Assistant Manager/Federal Project Director, Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant Project: Peggy McCullough, Project Director of Hanford Vit Plant, Bechtel National Inc.; Delmar Noyes, ORP Acting Assistant Manager, WTP Startup, Commissioning and Integration; Karthik Subramanian, WRPS One System Director; and Jason Vitali, WRPS Deputy, Chief Technology Office comprise an Office of River Protection panel on ORP as a featured site March 7 at Waste Management Symposia 2017.
PHOENIX – Senior federal and contractor officials from EM’s
Office of River Protection at Hanford discussed the progress being made on the
direct-feed low activity waste (DFLAW) approach for treating Hanford’s tank
waste during a panel discussion here last week at the 2017 Waste Management
Symposium.
“We have a very focused and dedicated team” at ORP, said
Manager Kevin Smith, who led the discussion. The panel included representatives
from ORP; Bechtel National Inc. (BNI), the contractor responsible for the Waste
Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) project; and Washington River
Protection Solutions, responsible for the Hanford tank farms. Hanford was one
of the feature DOE sites at this year’s conference.
DFLAW is intended to allow EM to begin vitrifying Hanford
tank waste as soon as 2022. Vitrification involves combining the tank waste
with glass-forming materials and then heating the mixture to 2,100 degrees
Fahrenheit. The material is then poured into stainless steel containers, where
it cools to a solid glass form facilitating long-term storage. DFLAW will use
the WTP Low-Activity Waste (LAW) Facility, Analytical Laboratory, and other
ancillary support facilities. These sections of WTP are closer to completion
than the two other main sections of WTP — the High-Level Waste and Pretreatment
facilities.
Peggy McCullough, BNI project director at WTP, outlined what
she described as the “excellent progress” being made on the various components
of the DFLAW approach. BNI is working to complete construction of the WTP LAW
Facility this winter, ahead of a contractual milestone of June 2018. The last
major piece of equipment---the caustic scrubber---was installed at the LAW Facility
in February, and BNI is in the final stages of completing the facility’s two
melters, McCullough said. In addition, the design for a new facility needed at
the WTP as part of the DFLAW approach, the Effluent Management Facility, is
almost 80 percent complete, she said.
Mark Lindholm, Washington River Protection Solutions President and Project Director, answers a panel question about the progress being made to develop vapors technology at Hanford's Tank Farms during a panel session at Waste Management Symposia 2017, where ORP was a featured site.
ORP Assistant Manager for the WTP, Bill Hamel highlighted several of the benefits of a new contract modification DOE and BNI finalized late last year to complete and implement the DFLAW approach. The contract modification contains sets of “deliberate and very strategic” milestones related to engineering and construction work and commissioning activities to effectively incentivize BNI for successful completion, he said. BNI has the ability to earn a significant amount of fee for completing activities ahead of schedule, but also is at risk of losing significant amounts of fee for delays.
“That is a very powerful feature,” Hamel said.
While some construction activities are still underway, DOE and its contractors are already beginning some startup and commissioning activities at the WTP facilities involved with the DFLAW approach. Delmar Noyes, WTP startup, commissioning and integration assistant manager at ORP, said he had recently spent four months at the Salt Waste Processing Facility at the Savannah River Site to observe and learn from startup activities there. One key lesson, he said, is that it is a “huge transition” from the construction phase to the startup and commissioning phase.
Workers remove combustible items from the Homogenous Reactor Experiment facility. This activity allowed OREM to deactivate the building’s heat detection system.
OAK RIDGE, Tenn. – EM and its cleanup contractor at Oak Ridge are taking steps now to remove risks and help prepare excess facilities for eventual demolition at the Y-12 National Security Complex and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL).
Oak Ridge is home to more than 350 excess facilities totaling more than 6 million square feet, many of which are several decades old, Alan Stokes, associate director for the Planning and Execution Division in Oak Ridge’s EM program, said during a panel discussion last week at the 2017 Waste Management Symposium, held in Phoenix. Stokes also noted that Oak Ridge has more than a quarter of the “higher-risk” excess facilities in the entire DOE inventory.
Several projects are already underway at some of these excess facilities to perform characterization, abate hazards, and stabilize them which will reduce eventual demolition risks and costs, Stokes said.
One recently completed project was the removal of all combustible materials from the Homogenous Reactor Experiment facility, also known as Building 7500, at ORNL. As a result, the Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM) and cleanup contractor URS-CH2M Oak Ridge, LLC (UCOR) were then able to deactivate the heat detection system and eliminate the need for personnel to enter the building to periodically inspect the system and thereby reduce potential risks.
A look at the deteriorated conditions inside the Homogenous Reactor Experiment facility.
At last week’s conference, Ron Slottke, director for Project Services and Support at UCOR, said additional hazards abatement work is planned for this year at Building 7500. This summer efforts to prepare the facility for demolition will take another significant step forward, when workers are set to remove asbestos from the building and drain and grout a portion of the flooded basement.
Building 7500 was constructed in 1951 as a research reactor, and it operated until the 1980s supporting various missions. The 14,695-square foot, three-level structure has degraded throughout the years. The roof is beyond repair and allows water to enter the building which accelerates the structure’s degradation and keeps the basement flooded.
“The projects funded through the Excess Facilities initiative are not only improving safety for the future, but they are also providing immediate benefits,” OREM Acting Manger Jay Mullis told EM Update. “The upcoming work at this facility will further reduce safety and environmental concerns and keep it in a manageable state until it can be demolished.”
A look at the exterior of the Homogenous Reactor Experiment facility, constructed in 1951.
During last week’s panel discussion, Slottke highlighted other recently completed risk reduction projects, including:
Risk reduction activities at ORNL’s Building 3026 Hot Cells, including sealing the hot cells and capping pedestals with concrete to prevent the spread of contamination.
Roof repairs at Y-12’s Alpha-4 building, which prevents water damage that would cause rapid structural deterioration and the spread of contamination.
Initiation of deactivation activities at the COLEX West outside Y-12’s Alpha-4 building, which involves cleaning out and preparing the old, hazardous, mercury-contaminated equipment for removal.
Characterization activities at Y-12’s Biology Complex, which involved sampling at more than 350 locations to complete the preliminary step required for demolition.
Idaho
governor C.L. “Butch” Otter listens as Acting Assistant Secretary for Environmental
Management Sue Cangeaddresses
guests at the AMWTP Retrieval Completion Celebration on Thursday,
March 2.
IDAHO FALLS, Idaho – On March 2, workers at DOE’s Idaho site celebrated the completion of transuranic waste retrieval activities at the Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project’s Transuranic Storage Area-Retrieval Enclosure (TSA-RE).
For more than 20 years, the gigantic building–covering seven acres of land—has been the temporary storage location for the largest stockpile of legacy transuranic waste in the DOE complex. The TSA-RE covered an earthen berm that protected more than 50,000 cubic meters of metal drums and boxes containing transuranic waste. An additional 15,000 cubic meters of waste had been stored in nearby storage modules.
Excavation and retrieval activities began in 2003, and the last box was safely retrieved in February. Each of the drums and boxes retrieved from the TSA-RE has, or will be, repackaged and prepared for shipment out of Idaho for final disposal. A celebration to mark the completion of retrieval activities and honor the AMWTP workforce included Idaho Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter, Lt. Governor Brad Little, Attorney General Lawrence Wasden, Acting EM Assistant Secretary Sue Cange, DOE Idaho site management, and several area elected officials.
“Due to the skill and dedication of our staff, AMWTP has made remarkable progress over the years. We owe a great debt of gratitude to every employee who has worked on this project, and recognize that its success includes contributions from employees all across the DOE complex,” said Jack Zimmerman, Deputy Manager for the Idaho Cleanup Project at the DOE Idaho Operations Office.
At one time more than 150,000 drums and boxes of transuranic waste were stored in the Transuranic Storage Area-Retrieval Enclosure. Now, with those containers safely retrieved, all that remains is the equipment and structures used to finish their retrieval, including the two yellow Inner Contamination Enclosures that were placed over severely degraded containers, adding another level of containment during retrieval.
The final waste box, the last of the containers that held more than 50,000 cubic meters of waste, is wrapped and awaiting removal from the Retrieval Contamination Enclosure, located inside the Transuranic Storage Area-Retrieval Enclosure. The work was performed by employees working on the Idaho Cleanup Project Core contract.
Bill Barrett, director of operations and maintenance for the groundwater remediation project for CH2M HILL Plateau Remediation Company, describes the 200 West Pump and Treat facility at the Hanford Site to a group of Japanese guests ahead of the 2017 Waste Management Symposium. The Hanford Site, one of the featured sites at this year’s symposium, was offered as a tour stop for interested attendees. The group comprised both government and commercial officials from Japan, which was a featured country at the symposium.
PHOENIX – Leaders from EM’s Hanford Site updated the 2017 Waste Management Symposium on progress and planned activity.
Tom Fletcher, deputy manager with the Richland Operations Office (RL); Bill Johnson, president of Mission Support Alliance (MSA); Ty Blackford, president and CEO of CH2M HILL Plateau Remediation Company (CH2M); and Alex Smith, manager of the nuclear waste program with the Washington state Department of Ecology, discussed their respective programs and projects.
While outlining the 2020 Vision for DOE-RL, Fletcher stressed the importance of safety as the thread running through all the work at Hanford.
“Work crews are progressing safely and deliberately,” Fletcher said. “I can’t give enough credit to the workforce. Their number one priority is safety.”
Much of the work is within the scope of Blackford’s CH2M projects.
“The 2020 Vision is a really good roadmap for us, from a risk-reduction standpoint,” Blackford said, detailing successes such as the startup of demolition of the Plutonium Finishing Plant, remediation of hazards at the 618-10 Burial Ground, and preparations for moving highly radioactive sludge out of a reactor basin near the Columbia River.
Much of CH2M’s work relies on the support of MSA, the site-wide integrator responsible for supporting DOE and the other contractors’ infrastructure needs, a critical scope of Hanford work.
“If we are in the background, not creating a lot of noise, if things are working well, that’s a good day for us,” Johnson said of the importance of his team offering seamless site-wide support.
Smith offered the audience a glimpse into the important role played by the Washington state Department of Ecology, one of the signatories of the Hanford Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order, known as the Tri-Party Agreement that guides Hanford Site cleanup.
PPPO Manager Robert Edwards speaks at the Portsmouth Paducah Project Office Session at 2017 Waste Management Symposium.
PHOENIX –Officials from EM’s Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office emphasized the theme of “One PPPO” during a panel discussion last week at the 2017 Waste Management Symposium.
PPPO Manager Robert Edwards stressed the ongoing collaboration between the Portsmouth and Paducah sites as they work towards the cleanup of DOE EM’s last two gaseous diffusion plants, as well as conversion of the depleted uranium hexafluoride (DUF6) cylinders at the two sites. Working as a cohesive unit helps the sites be safer, more efficient, and allows quick application of lessons learned, Edwards said.
At Portsmouth, ‘We Have The Plan’
At Portsmouth, DOE Site Lead Joel Bradburne said he is confident the site had a solid plan to get the plant to final cleanup.
Bradburne listed a series of “check marks” to illustrate his point, such as completion of a lifecycle baseline, regulatory approvals, stakeholder consensus, a technological approach, and a focused workforce as aligned to reach the end goal.
Jeff Stevens, deputy project manager for Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth, LLC, said he agrees Portsmouth is positioned for closure. Giving an update on FBP’s progress, Stevens said the contractor expects to bring the first cell of the X-326 process building to criticality incredible and ready for demolition this spring. In addition, FBP will continue work in the second process building, X-333, and maintain environmental remediation progress in treating contaminated groundwater. Stevens also noted the need to maintain a rapid pace on the construction of a planned on-site waste disposal facility as key to the cleanup project staying on schedule.
Paducah Has ‘More to Do Than We Have Done’
DOE Paducah Site Lead Jennifer Woodard said the lessons learned from Portsmouth were invaluable as Paducah begins the planning efforts to reach a comprehensive lifecycle baseline. Woodard described the complexity of the cleanup at Paducah by saying we have “more to do than we have done.” Paducah has an extensive environmental remediation scope that was being performed while uranium enrichment operations continued through 2013.
After DOE received the plant in October 2014, Paducah has been focused on maintaining the remediation effort, while re-sizing the newly returned plant facilities, the equivalent of a small city, to be efficient for cleanup activities. As an example, Woodard described a revised approach to the C-400 building cleanup. C-400 was the primary source of TCE contamination at the site. Prior to the return of the facilities a number of actions were segmented to reach the TCE sources while the building was occupied. Now that the building is no longer in use, a new approach to reach the source directly under the building is being described as cleaning up the whole city block is being proposed.
Woodard also expressed the need for investment in infrastructure maintenance as a priority for the site. Many of the buildings at the site are over 60 years old, creating both safety and long term cost issues.
From left to right, PPPO Paducah Site Lead Jennifer Woodard, PPPO Portsmouth Site Lead
Joel Bradburne and PPPO Manager Robert Edwards,share a lighthearted
moment before the start of Thursday's Portsmouth Paducah Project Office Session at 2017 Waste Management
Symposium.
Bob Smith, project manager with Fluor Federal Services, provided more details on the progress at the Paducah site. FFS has completed numerous deactivation activities, including the reroofing of 75 acres of process building roofs, finishing consolidation of switchyards, and positioning the recycling of large quantities of R-114 stored onsite.
Smith also provided more specifics on the acceleration approach to the C-400. Workers are focused on cleaning out 81,000 square feet of building space, which will allow for a targeted sampling event through the floor of the building. This will give the site access to previously unknown groundwater data, allowing for a more effective cleanup of the TCE source.
Adding another dynamic to the PPPO session was a presentation from Tammy Courtney, project manager for Swift and Staley, LLC, on infrastructure services at the site. PPPO has a unique contract arrangement at their D&D sites, using a small business prime contractor specifically to handle infrastructure for DOE and all of the resident contractors.
Courtney laughingly told the audience that we aren’t just “road and commodes”, then proceeded to detail a laundry list of accomplishments over the past year that included performing classification review on over 8.6 million pages of records, providing training services for 1,700 site employees, and maintaining an IT system that processed 18 million e-mails last year.
From left to right, Tammy Courtney, Swift and Staley Program Manager; Bob Smith, Fluor Federal Services Program Manager; Jeff Stevens, Fluor BWXT Deputy Program Manager, and Reinhard Knerr, DOE PPPO Federal Project Director, prepare to discuss the opportunities and complexities of working cleanup at PPPO's Portsmouth, Paducah, and DUF6 plants at the Waste Management Symposium.
DUF6 Culture Now Seven Lines, One Project
In addition to remediation and demolition work at PPPO, the two DUF6 conversion facilities are primed to see significant action this year. Reinhard Knerr, federal project director for the DUF6 plants at both Portsmouth and Paducah, echoed the “One PPPO” theme by describing a re-alignment of the plant culture as seven lines, one project. The Portsmouth DUF6 plant has three conversion lines, while the Paducah plant has four conversion lines. Bringing the plants together as one project allowed for multiple safety and maintenance corrective actions to be put in place and experiences to be shared between the sites.
Knerr also introduced the new DUF6 contractor Mid-America Conversion Services, led by industry veteran Alan Parker.
Although describing himself as new to the group, Parker, president and program Manager for MCS, said he has found the cohesiveness of the PPPO group to be inclusive. After giving an overview of MCS and its approach to operating the DUF6 plants, Parker expressed confidence in the plants’ personnel to get two additional lines running at Paducah by June 2017 and Portsmouth restarted by September 2017.
PHOENIX – Acting EM Assistant Secretary, Sue Cange, met with senior Japanese officials last week to discuss continued collaboration on the cleanup of the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear power plant since the March 2011 incident.
On the sidelines of the 2017 Waste Management Symposium, Cange met with senior representatives from Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and the Nuclear Damage Compensation and Decommissioning Facilitation Corporation. Cange expressed her desire to further strengthen bilateral partnerships, both at the government and industry level, and to further develop the on-going cooperation between both nations. Cange explained how the remediation efforts at Fukushima have a lot in common with the remediation challenges the EM program has tackled over the past 25-plus years, as well as some of the more difficult issues currently facing the cleanup program.
Both sides expressed their desire to further strengthen and establish a long-term strategic relationship based on collaborating on environmental clean-up and decommissioning activities. Japan was the featured country at this year’s Waste Management conference.
Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) scientists
handle extremely hot molten glass with extreme caution. In 2016, SRNL completed
1.5 million work hours without a recordable safety incident.
AIKEN, S.C. – The Savannah River National Laboratory’s more than 1,000 employees – administrators, engineers, operators and scientists — completed 2016 injury-free. SRNL is one of only two National Laboratories to achieve an annual Total Recordable Case (TRC) rate of zero.
During 2016, SRNL employees worked more than 1.5 million hours with no injuries that resulted in medical treatment or days away from work.
Laboratory Director Dr. Terry Michalske notes that this achievement speaks volumes about the safety culture and the caring attitude employees possess that has driven this achievement.
“We work together as a community” he said. “Sharing a common interest and goal to provide products for our customers in the safest manner possible, we look out for one another, ensuring everyone completes their work free of harm.”
Johnnie Burkett, SRNL facility operations specialist and co-chairman of the Local Safety Improvement Team (LSIT), said the challenging and advanced work done at SRNL means extra precautions are necessary.
"Here at SRNL, our motto is ‘We Put Science to Work,’” Burkett said. “We have to approach each task with fresh eyes, being mindful and alert to our surroundings, always keeping in mind that improvement is a continuous effort.”
As the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Environmental Management Laboratory, SRNL specializes in environmental remediation and risk reduction, nuclear materials processing and disposition and many other program areas that require critical work to fulfill our nation’s missions.
For example, SRNL provides support to the vitrification mission at the Savannah River Site’s Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF). DWPF converts liquid radioactive waste into a solid glass form suitable for long-term storage and disposal. SRNL provides expertise to DWPF in simulation, modeling and testing of glass waste forms and vitrification process development.
Some of the participants in the fifth SNFWG Meeting gather for a photo in 270 Corporate Center. First row from the left: Ron Ramsey, Glenn Dyer, Jason Tokey, Bill Bates, Nancy Buschman, Hitesh Nigam, Steve Kamas, Dale Luke, Maxcine Maxted, John Shultz, Debbie Kula, Ken Picha, Brett Carlsen, Chris Wright. Back Row from the left: Larry Saraka, Lance Lacroix, Kenny Osborne, Steve Schneider, Jack Wheeler, Sandy Birk, Alan Denko, Bill Hartman, Sam Steckley, Allen Gunter, Bob Sindelar, Ray Lopiccolo (Not shown: Mary McCune, Johnny Moore, Al Farabee).
GERMANTOWN, Md. – The Spent Nuclear Fuel Working Group (SNFWG) held its fifth meeting on January 24 and 25. This senior-level coordinating group, chaired by the Office of Environmental Management’s Office of Nuclear Materials and the Office of Nuclear Energy’s Office of Nuclear Facilities Management, and including representatives from Department of Energy programs and field offices that manage spent nuclear fuel (SNF), has been meeting about twice a year at various locations in the complex since 2014.
The Working Group tackles policy and cross-cutting issues impacting the handling, storage, and disposition of the Department’s SNF.
At the January meeting, the Working Group approved the SNFWG charter. They also reviewed ongoing initiatives, including a study to evaluate different alternatives for disposition of existing and expected inventory of SNF at SRS and disposition of aluminum-clad SNF at ID. This study is evaluating these approaches using economic considerations as well as more programmatic considerations. Another ongoing initiative is the Aluminum-clad SNF subgroup study which is evaluating the environmental, safety and long-term programmatic risks associated with DOE SNF extended dry storage configurations. An INL fuel storage optimization study is also evaluating possible approaches for fuel storage at Idaho to support the continued operation of the Office of Nuclear Energy’s Advanced Test Reactor.
Another presentation provided a perspective on specific initiatives the commercial nuclear industry is pursuing regarding aging management of SNF.
Of the number of new initiatives identified at the meeting, the Working Group agreed that the top priority should be preparation of a DOE SNF Strategic Plan.
EM’s Office of Nuclear Materials showed a DVD of a 1981 film that was produced for the DOE commercial spent fuel program at the time. The Working Group was interested to see what had changed, and not changed so much, in the last 35 years.
The next SNFWG meeting will be held in Idaho in July.
The
intensity of kids and parents creating catapults can be seen in this “bulls
eye” view of the launch action at the Museum of Idaho – Fluor Idaho’s
Engineering Day.
IDAHO FALLS, Idaho – More than 300 engineer wannabes discover a fun way to understand basic engineering principles at the Museum of Idaho-Fluor Idaho Engineering Day on Saturday, Feb. 25.
Sponsored by Fluor Idaho, participants had a chance to learn the engineering behind catapult construction and water filtration devices. The water filtration engineering has a special significance for the Fluor Idaho team and its mission to protect the Snake River Plain Aquifer, the primary drinking and irrigation water source for more than 300,000 Idahoans.
A determined young participant
in the Museum of Idaho – Fluor Idaho Engineering Day puts his newly designed
catapult to the test.
Working with partners from Idaho State University and the Museum of Idaho, Fluor Idaho personnel provided instruction to students and parents who attended the Engineering event, held at the Museum of Idaho in Idaho Falls, ID. The Engineering Day was designed to support the Department’s commitment to support educational outreach, specifically science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) disciplines.
Parents played an important role in the Museum of Idaho – Fluor Idaho’s Engineering Day
by helping their children understand engineering design can be fun.
Designing
water filtration systems was an activity that attracted eastern Idaho students
to the Museum of Idaho – Fluor Idaho’s Engineering Day.
The hands-on projects blended educational lessons with the fun of
building catapults to launch skittle candies, and water filtration systems to
clean water to parts per million levels. And, as important as the lessons
students received, it also brought families together.
“One of our goals is to create a family friendly atmosphere that
complements the fun side of learning,” said Museum of Idaho Executive Director
Karen Baker. “It was fun to watch the kids and equally encouraging seeing
students and parents enthusiastically involved in the projects. From the
museum’s perspective, this is the type of activity that contributes to the
education of area students and the appreciation for STEM-based education.”