DOE Officials Meet With Leaders of New Mexico Pueblos; EM Looks to Bring PipeDream Robot to Life in Cleanup; Oak Ridge Ships to WIPP for First Time in Five Years; PFP Demolition Progress; and Much More!

DOE Office of Environmental Management sent this bulletin at 08/17/2017 11:06 AM EDT

Having trouble viewing this email? View it as a Web page.

EM Update | Vol. 9, Issue 15 | Aug. 17, 2017

DOE Officials Meet with Tribal Leadership at Four New Mexico Pueblos
Four EM Sites in Path of Total Solar Eclipse
EM Looks to Bring PipeDream Robot to Life in Portsmouth Site Cleanup
Workers Take Viewers Inside EM Cleanup in ‘Day in the Life’ Video Series
Oak Ridge Makes First Transuranic Waste Shipment in Five Years
Time-Lapse Video Captures Demolition Progress at Plutonium Finishing Plant
Melter 3 Moves to Defense Waste Processing Facility at Savannah River Site
Office of River Protection Advances System to Support WTP Operations
Portsmouth Site Tour Serves as Reunion for 17 Family Members
Hanford Workers Clear Way to Remove Contaminated Soil
SRNL Improves Hydrogen Powered Forklifts Through DOE Small Business Program
Building Proves Its Worth for Idaho Site Waste Repackaging Mission
About 100 DOE Representatives Attend Hanford Safety-focused Workshop
ORP Decommissioning Challenges with Tank Farms Building Demolition
Interns Try Out Future Careers at Paducah Site
August is Water Quality Month at Hanford
Officials Recognize SRS Contractor Cybersecurity Team’s Capabilities
Hanford Business Outreach Workshop Sets Attendance Record

DOE Officials Meet with Tribal Leadership at Four New Mexico Pueblos

San Ildefonso Pueblo Elder Tim Martinez, left to right, discusses the Pueblo’s 800-year history in the Sacred Area with Acting EM Assistant Secretary Jim Owendoff; Roger Jarrell, Senior Advisor to the Energy Secretary for EM; EM Office of Regulatory, Intergovernmental and Stakeholder Engagement Director Rob Seifert; and EM Los Alamos Field Office Tribal Lead Mike Gardipe. Los Alamos National Laboratory is in the background.

LOS ALAMOS, N.M. – DOE officials visited four Pueblos in New Mexico this month to meet with Tribal leaders, demonstrating DOE’s commitment to government-to-government relations with Tribes.

Those Tribes — Santa Clara, Cochiti, Jemez, and San Ildefonso — signed agreements with DOE in 1992 to formalize the government-to-government relationships and address issues involving Tribal land, associated Pueblos, and surrounding communities.

Acting EM Assistant Secretary Jim Owendoff, EM Los Alamos Field Office Manager Doug Hintze, Roger Jarrell, Senior Advisor to the Energy Secretary for EM, and others met with the Santa Clara Pueblo and toured the Puye Cliffs, Santa Clara’s ancestral dwellings, with Gov. Michael Chavarria and his staff.

They surveyed projects to restore areas of the Santa Clara Canyon damaged by flooding related to the Las Conchas fire in 2011. The Tribe continues to be concerned with storm water events threatening the Pueblo.

“Our life is embedded to these lands,” said Chavarria, who stressed the importance of continued dialogue with DOE.

DOE officials have dinner with Tribal leaders before touring the Pueblos the following day. Left to right: San Ildefonso Pueblo Gov. James Mountain; EM Los Alamos Field Office Manager Doug Hintze, Acting EM Assistant Secretary Jim Owendoff; Jemez Pueblo Gov. Joseph Toya; Roger Jarrell, Senior Advisor to the Energy Secretary for EM; Cochiti Pueblo Gov. Eugene Herrera; and Cochiti Pueblo Lt. Gov. Bernard Suina.

Left to right: Acting EM Assistant Secretary Jim Owendoff, Santa Clara Pueblo Gov. Michael Chavarria, and EM Los Alamos Field Office Manager Doug Hintze visit the Puye Cliff Dwellings.

The DOE officials met with Cochiti Pueblo Gov. Eugene Herrera and the Tribe’s Environment Department staff. Members of the Cochiti Pueblo, located about 14 miles south of Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), are concerned with LANL-derived contaminants in sediments collected in Cochiti Reservoir. Due to the 2011 Las Conchas fire, flooding accelerated movement of sediment from the Rio Grande River to the reservoir.

The group discussed the Tribe’s access to Bandelier National Monument and highlighted the Santa Fe Indian School’s success in preparing Cochiti youth for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers.

DOE representatives gather with Cochiti Pueblo Department of Natural Resources and Conservation Manager Jacob Pecos, third from right, and an Army Corps of Engineers employee, far right, at the Cochiti Dam. Left to right: EM Office of Intergovernmental and Stakeholder Programs Program Support Specialist Jared Bierbach; EM Office of Intergovernmental and Stakeholder Programs Intern Laura Mansfield; Roger Jarrell, Senior Advisor to the Energy Secretary for EM; EM Office of Regulatory, Intergovernmental and Stakeholder Engagement Director Rob Seifert; Acting EM Assistant Secretary Jim Owendoff; EM Tribal Affairs Director Albert Brandt Petrasek; and EM Los Alamos Field Office Manager Doug Hintze.

Just west of LANL, Jemez Pueblo Gov. Joseph Toya and Jemez Department of Natural Resources staff discussed their environmental monitoring programs focusing on air, water, sediment, soil, and crops. Toya emphasized the importance of rain and irrigation. They showed the DOE group the sacred area Valles Caldera — a large, volcanic crater — and described its cultural significance.

The DOE group tours Jemez Pueblo land. Left to right: EM Office of Intergovernmental and Stakeholder Programs Intern Laura Mansfield, a Jemez Pueblo member; EM Office of Intergovernmental and Stakeholder Programs Program Support Specialist Jared Bierbach; EM Office of Regulatory, Intergovernmental and Stakeholder Engagement Director Rob Seifert; EM Los Alamos Field Office Manager Doug Hintze; Jemez Pueblo Environmental Program Director Clarice Madalena; Acting EM Assistant Secretary Jim Owendoff, EM Tribal Affairs Director Albert Brandt Petrasek; Jemez Pueblo Cultural Resources Manager Chris Toya; Jemez Pueblo Department of Resource Protection Director Paul Clarke; EM Los Alamos Field Office Tribal Lead Mike Gardipe; and Roger Jarrell, Senior Advisor to the Energy Secretary for EM.

Acting EM Assistant Secretary Jim Owendoff, left, and Roger Jarrell, Senior Advisor to the Energy Secretary for EM, right, listen to San Ildefonso Pueblo Gov. James Mountain, center, discuss DOE’s groundwater wells to address the migration of the chromium plume near San Ildefonso’s Sacred Area land.

Owendoff met with San Ildefonso Pueblo Gov. James Mountain, the Tribal Council, and Department of Environmental and Cultural Protection staff. Mountain highlighted the Pueblo’s data management capabilities, and the group discussed possible contracting opportunities. They toured the Pueblo’s sacred lands overlooking LANL, and a Tribal Elder discussed the Tribe’s history and culture.

The DOE group also met with representatives of the Regional Coalition of LANL Communities, comprised of nine cities, counties and pueblos surrounding LANL. Owendoff met with Española Mayor Alice Lucero and spoke with Santa Fe Mayor Javier Gonzales about the coalition’s priority to develop skills needed by LANL’s workforce.

- Contributors: Jared Bierbach, Laura Mansfield

Four EM Sites in Path of Total Solar Eclipse

This Monday, Aug. 21, marks the first total solar eclipse in nearly a century that spans the entire United States — including four EM sites. The moon’s shadow will pass over the Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Paducah, Oak Ridge, and Savannah River sites. The INL site and surrounding area expect to experience nearly 2 minutes of totality, or total darkness. EM’s Idaho Cleanup Project contractor Fluor Idaho is shifting next week’s work schedule for 1,800 EM workers from Monday-Thursday to Tuesday-Friday to reduce traffic, anticipating hundreds of thousands of people for the eclipse viewing in Idaho Falls, a city of about 60,000 people. "Traffic congestion could significantly delay the normally 50-mile commute out to the Idaho Site. By taking cars and buses off the road we are helping to alleviate some of the impacts,” Fluor Idaho Environmental, Safety, Health and Quality Director Alice Doswell said. "Plus, a lot of employees have family and friends coming to view the eclipse and this way, they can safely enjoy this once in a lifetime event." Under the direction of the INL Fire Department, the Idaho Site Eclipse Planning Team has planned for potential impacts to the site employees, property, facilities, and buildings in recent months.

EM Looks to Bring PipeDream Robot to Life in Portsmouth Site Cleanup

Participants in the Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) demonstration gather behind PipeDream. Front row, left to right, Portsmouth D&D Federal Project Director Jud Lilly and CMU Principal Investigator Red Whittaker; back row, left to right, EM Office of Technology Development Program Manager Jean P. Pabon, Los Alamos National Laboratory R&D Engineer Bryan Steinfeld, Portsmouth Site Safety Systems Oversight Engineer Richard Mayer, and EM Office of Field Operations Portsmouth Site Liaison Kyle Gjersvold.

PIKETON, Ohio – An EM-led collaborative project is exploring using a robot to drive through several hundred miles of pipes at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant to help identify uranium remaining from enrichment operations.

The project is helping EM evaluate the robot, named PipeDream, for possible deployment to help deactivate and prepare two massive process buildings for demolition.

“The program is a model for shared purpose, knowledge, collaboration, and great chemistry among the many people who made PipeDream a pipe reality,” said Rod Rimando, director of EM’s Office of Technology Development. “As a remote system, PipeDream offers a significant reduction in potential hazards to workers, which is the essence of EM’s Science of Safety.”

The Science of Safety Initiative aims to deploy enhanced technologies throughout the DOE complex, including supporting worker safety in high-hazard operations.

Joining EM headquarters in the PipeDream collaboration are the Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office (PPPO), contractor Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth (FBP), Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), University of Nevada-Reno, and Savannah River, Sandia, and Los Alamos national laboratories.

At right, Larry Papincak, a Carnegie Mellon University master's student in mechanical engineering, explains how PipeDream works to demonstration participants.

The Portsmouth Deactivation & Decommissioning (D&D) project is characterizing the plant’s pipes as part of deactivation work prior to demolishing the buildings. Workers inspect each foot of piping to determine whether it contains uranium levels above pre-determined conservative limits. The vast majority of the plant’s piping falls below those limits and can be safely left in the buildings for demolition. Segments with potential deposits above those limits are removed, cut and cleaned of the deposits before disposal.

Traditional nondestructive assay (NDA) methods — which measure the quantities of uranium deposits — have been used to characterize each segment of pipe. PipeDream could potentially serve as an alternative or complement to external NDA measurements, which are manual, time-consuming, and costly.

The robot would spiral sensors to accurately model the volume of uranium deposits on pipe walls. It combines optical triangulation, which measures the top of the deposit, and inductive sensors, which assess the pipe’s metal surface. The robot can determine permissible thicknesses of deposits as thin as 0.4 millimeters.

PipeDream measures the volume of surrogate deposits while spiraling sensors through a test pipe at the Carnegie Mellon University demonstration. Its headlights alternate white and ultraviolet to acquire the visual and fluorescent appearance of the surrogate deposits.

CMU hosted PipeDream at its Pittsburgh campus for testing in a pipe mockup last month. The robot repeatedly traversed the test pipe to quantify the location, dimensions and constituencies of surrogate deposits. The surrogates included volumetric, visual, radiation and fluorescent simulants of the deposits. Representatives from EM headquarters, the Portsmouth Site, FBP, and Savannah River, Sandia, and Los Alamos national laboratories reviewed the testing. CMU designed and built PipeDream. PPPO and FBP provide program management and implementation, and EM headquarters is the sponsor.

Portsmouth Site Lead Joel Bradburne said the site worked with EM headquarters on innovative robotic technologies for the Portsmouth D&D project through a Science of Safety initiative in May 2016. They held a workshop to demonstrate different systems later that year.

“It’s encouraging that we are now ready to demonstrate a specific application with great potential benefits to the project as an outgrowth of those original workshops,” Bradburne said. “This has been an excellent collaboration and we have been very impressed with the technical capabilities and ‘can-do’ mindset of the CMU team.”

The next PipeDream demonstration is scheduled for September at the Portsmouth plant using the actual pipes.

- Contributor: Red Whittaker

Workers Take Viewers Inside EM Cleanup in ‘Day in the Life’ Video Series

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Individual workers tackling legacy cleanup work are the focus of a series of videos produced at EM sites available on YouTube.

The brief “Day in the Life” videos take viewers through typical shifts of EM workers at the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS), Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee, Hanford Site in Washington state, West Valley Demonstration Project (WVDP) in New York, and Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico.

One of the video series stars is Jon Tanaka, an NNSS Radioactive Waste Management Complex supervisor. “I know our work is important. I like to camp, hike, swim, and enjoy rivers, lakes, and the outdoors. Our work here makes the environment better so everyone can enjoy it,” he says in the video.

Darryl Chapman is a demolition area superintendent at Oak Ridge’s East Tennessee Technology Park. He has supported the Department for nearly three decades, specializing in facility demolition for the past 12 years.

“You’ve got the flexibility in the field to adapt as you go along,” Chapman says, describing how changes in environmental conditions or the site’s disposal operations impact demolitions. “We’re adjusting to accommodate their conditions.”

A view of EM’s “Day in the Life” YouTube playlist.

A Girl Scout leader by night, Lettie Chilson, works as a WVDP high-level waste manager by day. She oversaw construction of 56 vertical storage casks to contain 278 high-level waste canisters from the site’s Main Plant Process Building.

“Having a balance between work and home life can be a challenge, but with this challenge comes great rewards. I enjoy my days at the site and the people I have the opportunity to work with, but I also enjoy time spent with family and the rewards of being a part of my community through volunteerism — Girl Scouts of Western New York, United Way, and supporting our local food pantries,” Chilson said.

Other workers highlighted in the series are Ray Lemmons, a Richland Operations Office radiological control technician, Anthony Alanzo, a WIPP waste handler, and brothers Dwight and Ronnie Hurd, who transport waste cross-country from Oak Ridge’s cleanup.

EM also features the documentary-style worker videos on Facebook with the hashtag #DayInTheLife.

EM documents its cleanup progress, history and workforce on the Facebook page. Special theme days are marked by the hashtags #TeardownTuesday, #WildlifeWednesday, and #FlashbackFriday. Nearly 1,800 people have “liked” EM’s Facebook page since its debut in June last year.

The Day in the Life playlist is part of EM’s larger YouTube playlist of 71 site videos with everything from footage of cleanup — such as the teardown of Oak Ridge's K-27 Building — to the dedication of the WIPP’s Emergency Operations Center.

Keep an eye out for more EM videos on the Facebook and YouTube sites.

- Contributor: David Sheeley

Oak Ridge Makes First Transuranic Waste Shipment in Five Years

Employees at Oak Ridge’s Transuranic Waste Processing Center celebrate resuming shipments to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant for the first time since 2012.

OAK RIDGE, Tenn. – For the first time since 2012, EM recently shipped treated transuranic waste from Oak Ridge’s Transuranic Waste Processing Center to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, New Mexico for permanent disposal.

This waste consists of materials and debris contaminated with elements with a higher atomic mass and listed after uranium on the periodic table. The majority of Oak Ridge’s inventory resulted from previous research and isotope production missions at DOE’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

“Resuming shipments has been an important priority for our program due to the large inventory of processed waste that is stored in onsite facilities. These shipments will remove risk from our site and help fulfill our commitments to the state of Tennessee,” said Jay Mullis, acting manager of the Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management. “This was only possible through a lot of hard work from the federal and contractor employees here and support from staff in Carlsbad.”

The shipment of transuranic waste leaves Oak Ridge bound for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant for permanent disposal.

The first shipment of TRU waste from Oak Ridge safely arrived at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) this month, marking Oak Ridge’s first shipment since WIPP resumed operations early this year.

Much of the site’s transuranic waste had been scheduled for shipment in 2014. However, weeks before shipments were to start, a truck fire and unrelated radiological event occurred at WIPP, suspending waste disposal operations. Activities resumed this year, and WIPP has begun receiving shipments from select sites across the DOE complex.

“This is a really exciting day for us,” said Linda Beach, program manager with contractor NorthWind Solutions at the Transuranic Waste Processing Center. “I’m very proud of how our workforce has responded to the unexpected challenges during the past several years. They have been committed to our mission, and showed great innovation to identify ways to continue making progress and safely store waste despite the delay in shipments.”

With operations at WIPP ramping up, Oak Ridge anticipates making multiple shipments each month. Eligibility for shipping is based on sites verifying that the waste meets requirements for safe transportation and disposal. The exact allocation and sequence for shipping will be adjusted based on the emplacement rate at WIPP, operational needs at WIPP and the sites, and logistical issues, such as weather, affecting shipping.

- Contributor: Ben Williams

Time-Lapse Video Captures Demolition Progress at Plutonium Finishing Plant

RICHLAND, Wash. – Hanford Site workers recently tore down the first portion of the Plutonium Finishing Plant complex’s Main Processing Facility. View their progress in this time-lapse video. They will demolish the facility section by section, from the outside in, toward the center of the 500-foot-long, 180-foot-wide, three-story structure.

- Contributor: Destry Henderson

Melter 3 Moves to Defense Waste Processing Facility at Savannah River Site

Melter 3 arrives at the Defense Waste Processing Facility.

AIKEN, S.C. – The next melter to process high-level radioactive waste at the Savannah River Site (SRS) recently arrived at its new home in the Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF).

Melter 3, known as the heart of DWPF, is a teapot-shaped vessel that treats the waste by blending it with borosilicate glass, or “frit,” to form a molten glass mixture in a process called vitrification. The mixture is poured into stainless-steel canisters, which are decontaminated and stored safely onsite until a permanent storage facility is identified.

Melter 3 replaces Melter 2, which operated nearly 14 years. Workers transported Melter 2 via rail to an underground storage vault. They brought Melter 3 to DWPF on a tractor-trailer from an onsite mockup facility, and safely installed it in the DWPF melt cell.

Melter 2 passes an empty canister on display at the Defense Waste Processing Facility. Canisters like this one are used to store glassified radioactive waste.

DOE-Savannah River Manager Jack Craig said the project occurred at an optimum time for the site’s liquid waste system.

“The melter replacement allowed for preventive and corrective maintenance on systems that cannot be shut down for extended periods during melter operations,” Craig said.

At 75 tons, the melter vessel is 10 feet tall and 8 feet wide. The metal framework surrounding the melter, designed to permit remote handling, is 24 feet long, 12 feet wide, and 17 feet tall.

Crews will connect more than 90 components that allow Melter 3 to operate and receive the feed material to pour glass. The vessel will then undergo testing, with operations expected to begin by the end of this year.

To prepare for Melter 3’s tenancy, EM cleaned the melt cell with the help of a robot modified by Savannah River National Laboratory. With a broom and dustpan in hand, the robot swept radioactive debris left by Melter 2 into piles for disposal.

“I’m very proud of the Savannah River Remediation (SRR) team for its outstanding job accomplishing this melter replacement. Workers from all across the organization came together to accomplish this task safely and efficiently,” said Tom Foster, president and project manager for SRR, the SRS liquid-waste contractor.

“The life of Melter 2 was truly a success story, and the liquid-waste program is looking forward to using the lessons learned from Melter 2 operations and applying them to Melter 3,” he said.

- Contributor: Colleen Hart

Office of River Protection Advances System to Support WTP Operations

This graphic shows the process for moving glass-filled containers of low-activity waste to the Integrated Disposal Facility for permanent disposal during Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant operations.

RICHLAND, Wash. – ILAW transporter system — it sounds like it could have been part of the Starship Enterprise from the 1960s television series, "Star Trek."

But instead of “beaming” space explorers to and from various locations, this system will move immobilized low-activity waste (ILAW) to its final resting place at EM’s Hanford Site.

Now in design, the ILAW transporter system has two major components: engineered pallets for steel containers filled with vitrified low-activity waste from Hanford’s Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP); and the trailer for hauling the waste 1.5 miles to Hanford’s Integrated Disposal Facility (IDF) for permanent disposal.

During WTP operations, a remotely operated gantry crane will load glass-filled ILAW containers from WTP’s Low-Activity Waste (LAW) facility into the single-container pallets secured to the trailer. The pallets will provide shielding for workers and a cost-effective and flexible system to allow the containers to cool before they go to the IDF.

There, workers will off-load the pallets onto a staging pad for further cooling to avoid damaging the IDF liner. When cooled, the pallets will be transported by forklift to the IDF trench bottom where a mobile crane will remove the ILAW containers and deposit them in the ILAW disposal area. Workers will return the empty pallets to the IDF staging area and load them into the trailer for return to WTP and restart of the shipment cycle.

Every major Hanford contractor and both EM Hanford field offices are involved in the ILAW transporter system project:

WTP contractor Bechtel National — finalizing the documented safety analysis and loading operations program;
Richland Operations Office (RL) contractor CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Company — finishing the permitting plan, developing a safety document for the ILAW transporter, and designing and completing a new IDF staging area;
Hanford Site services contractor Mission Support Alliance — upgrading roads and managing the transport fleet;
Office of River Protection (ORP) and RL — oversight; and
ORP tank farms contractor Washington River Protection Solutions — project management and solid waste management coordination.

- Contributor: Washington River Protection Solutions

Portsmouth Site Tour Serves as Reunion for 17 Family Members

From left: Jim and Helen Courson and Roy Landberg.

PIKETON, Ohio – A recent public tour of EM’s Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant may have seemed more like a reunion for 17 members of the Kielmar family.

Kathy Nelson, who works in contractor Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth’s (FBP) human resources department, and her brothers David and Rich Kielmar, who work in FBP and contractor Wastren Advantage security, respectively, were the local residents of the tour group.

It was the first time their aunt and two uncles returned to the plant since working there during the site’s early construction more than 60 years ago. Jim Courson, 89, and his wife, Helen (Kielmar) Courson, 91, live in California. Roy Landberg, 93, lives in Michigan.

Portsmouth Site Lead Joel Bradburne with the Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office said the plant is rich in history and employees have always taken pride in their work to protect the nation.

“We’ve seen time and again former employees coming back for these public tours because they realize that their work played a role in the United States winning the Cold War,” Bradburne said. “The Portsmouth Site is a great American story and those who played a role in it deserve our respect and heartfelt gratitude.”

Helen Courson was eager to see how the site has changed. Her job in the X-100 Administration Building included making copies at the “duplicating machine.” The catch was, she wasn’t allowed to look at any of the documents she was copying.

“There was always a man standing nearby, pulling the copies off the machine,” she recalled. “He made sure the copies were light enough, dark enough, or just right.”

Her husband was a drafting engineer who worked on process building piping drawings.

“They were doing the piping and engineering for some of the systems there that I couldn’t get into,” Jim Courson said. “When I saw the (floodwall) mural in Portsmouth (city) — they have a beautiful picture of the plant on the wall. I couldn’t even make out where in the world I used to work at the plant. We haven’t been out there for a long while.”

The 17 members of the Kielmar family include, left to right, Richard Kielmar, Linda Rigsby, Teri Kielmar, Stephen Landberg, Duane Rigsby, Katrina Kielmar, Shannon Grice, Jim Kielmar, Kathy Nelson, Jim Courson, David Kielmar, Helen Kielmar, Kelly Coriell-Kielmar, Roy Landberg Jr., Roy Landberg Sr., Rex Owens, and Karen (Courson) Owens.

Jim Courson worked at other nuclear facilities, including Newport, Indiana’s Heavy Water Plant (for making atomic weapons), DuPont at Savannah River (where he was in charge of drafting and instrumentation), and Grinell in Charlotte, where he worked on glass process piping for the Oak Ridge plant.

He fondly recalled how he and his good friend Landberg met their wives.

“Roy and I were buddies at the A-Plant,” he said. “One night, we went out and stopped in at a night club, the Trade Winds. It turned out that Helen and her sister Emma were there and we asked them to dance.”

Jim Courson and Landberg worked on plans for the process building piping for the X-326, X-330, X-333, and X-340 complex. Landberg was a mechanical field engineer. During the tour he remembered the half-mile-long process buildings and the X-300 Facility control room as they looked to him in the 1950s. He resides with his son and daughter-in-law in Riverview, Michigan. His wife died earlier this year.

Other family members present for the tour included Kelly Coriell-Kielmar (Rich Kielmar’s wife), Teri Kielmar and Shannon Grice (David Kielmar’s wife and daughter), Stephen Kielmar (Roy Landberg’s son), cousins Rex Lloyd and Karen Owens, James and Katrina Kielmar (their brother and sister-in-law), Linda Rigsby (their sister), and her husband, Duane Rigsby.

After the tour, they reminisced with family members at St. Mary’s Church Fellowship Hall in Portsmouth, enjoying some of their favorite family recipes, memories, and 8mm family movies.

- Contributors: Michelle Teeters, Rich Kielmar

Hanford Workers Clear Way to Remove Contaminated Soil

RICHLAND, Wash. – Hanford Site workers finished removing combustible material and contaminated loose debris recently from the airlock floor of the 300 Area’s 324 Building, meeting a key 2017 Richland Operations Office performance goal. The airlock allows access to adjacent rooms called hot cells, where employees remotely handled radioactive substances.

Clearing that waste is necessary before workers can remove the contaminated soil beneath the building. Workers took out 16 bags of waste, including plastic and contaminated clothing, so they can install remote-operated soil removal equipment in a nearby hot cell. The soil must be removed before the building can be demolished.

- Contributor: Destry Henderson

SRNL Improves Hydrogen Powered Forklifts Through DOE Small Business Program

AIKEN, S.C. – EM’s Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) and Hawaii Hydrogen Carriers (HHC) are collaborating on a new generation of hydrogen powered forklifts thanks to DOE’s Small Business Vouchers (SBV) Pilot.

SRNL has been awarded $300,000 to work with HHC to optimize the performance of a metal hydride-based, onboard hydrogen storage system for proton exchange membrane fuel cell powered forklift trucks.

Forklifts with gaseous hydrogen storage units require high pressure — up to 5,000 pounds per square inch (psi) — but the new solid-state system operates at pressures of only 600 to 800 psi while storing more than twice the amount of hydrogen in less space. As a low-pressure alternative, the system will be safer, run longer before refueling, and require less maintenance. The metal hydride-based storage system can be refueled directly from a solar powered, water electrolyzer, making the hydrogen completely renewable and more broadly adoptable by companies.

Scott McWhorter, Integrated Energy Systems Section Manager at SRNL, and Craig Jensen, President, Hawaii Hydrogen Carriers stand with the metal hydride fuel cell power system.

A forklift powered by Hawaii Hydrogen Carriers ’s metal hydride-based hydrogen storage system for fuel cell applications.

SRNL Integrated Energy Systems Section Manager and Project Lead Scott McWhorter said the expertise SRNL can offer small businesses is critical to these partnerships.

“SRNL’s R&D capabilities, including full-system engineering, can be accessed by small businesses through the voucher program,” McWhorter said. “We provide resources they wouldn’t normally have, allowing them to innovate faster and be more competitive nationally and internationally.”

SRNL will provide analyses and testing of HHC’s prototype, engineering expertise for troubleshooting, and modeling capabilities to examine the different scenarios and conditions under which the system will operate. The goal is to create a forklift cost-competitive with current systems on the market while exceeding the performance and ability to operate and maintain these compressed gas systems.

Craig Jensen, president of HHC, said he is amazed at the advantages the partnership with national laboratories has done for this project so far.

“The long history of work on metal hydride systems at SRNL has already started paying dividends for us,” said Jensen. “For small businesses, there can be so many hurdles, but partnerships like this with SRNL helps remove those barriers. SRNL’s expertise is making this project a success.”

HHC created the prototype forklift with the metal hydride base storage units with the support of Sandia National Laboratories and Hydrogenics, which provides new technologies and applications for industrial and commercial hydrogen systems. The team hopes to demonstrate the improved system in upcoming months, allowing HHC to accelerate the commercialization of these systems.

SRNL is one of eight DOE national laboratories participating in the DOE SBV, an initiative to provide American small businesses the expertise and technical resources to combat challenges such as affordability or limited resources.

- Contributor: Jamacia Jimerson

Building Proves Its Worth for Idaho Site Waste Repackaging Mission

Workers conduct macro encapsulation to treat waste inside the soft-sided building.

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho – Workers at DOE’s Idaho Site have safely increased waste repackaging production thanks to the use of a soft-sided building originally constructed for maintenance of the spent nuclear fuel storage basin water filtration system.

Since early 2016, workers at the Idaho Nuclear Technology and Engineering Center have used macro encapsulation bags (macro bags) to treat secondary waste generated from repackaging sludge at the Radioactive Waste Management Complex. During the macro encapsulation process, waste boxes are wrapped in three layers of tightly cinched plastic to create an impermeable seal between the waste and the disposal environment. This mixed low-level waste (MLLW) is sent offsite for permanent disposal.

Macro encapsulation has resulted in significant taxpayer savings. Historically, this waste required treatment at an offsite facility, which could cost over $4,700 per cubic meter. Using a macro bag onsite reduces the cost to about $1,800 per cubic meter resulting in a $2.1 million minimum cost savings to date.

EM workers now use this building for macro encapsulation.

Originally, macro encapsulation took place outside in the heat of summer and frigid temperatures of winter and early spring. With an increase of MLLW requiring treatment, EM sought an indoor alternative for workers to treat the waste. The 3,000-square-foot, soft-sided building seemed like the perfect solution. Built in 2015, the structure had supported the resin replacement project for the spent nuclear fuel storage basin.

But there was a hitch. EM transferred ownership of the building to DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy (NE) for use by contractor Battelle Energy Alliance (BEA), which manages DOE’s Idaho National Laboratory. While the paperwork for the transfer was complete, BEA hadn’t yet relocated the building. NE returned ownership to EM to support macro encapsulation.

Workers performed maintenance to ensure the building could support treatment. Idaho Cleanup Project contractor Fluor Idaho modified its permit with the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality to allow for the building's new purpose.

Workers treated 284 90-cubic-foot boxes of MLLW debris in the building from early March to late July.

- Contributor: Erik Simpson

About 100 DOE Representatives Attend Hanford Safety-focused Workshop

RICHLAND, Wash. – Nearly 100 employees from about 40 DOE national laboratories and sites across the complex attended a five-day workshop in July for the Electrical Safety Group, part of the Energy Facility Contractors Group (EFCOG). The event was held at the EM Richland Operations Office Volpentest Hazardous Materials Management and Emergency Response (HAMMER) Federal Training Center at the Hanford Site and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. EFCOG promotes excellence in all aspects of integrating DOE facilities in a safe, environmentally sound, efficient, and cost-effective manner.

- Contributor: Lori Araujo

ORP Decommissioning Challenges with Tank Farms Building Demolition

Crews practiced removing the lead shot with a mockup of the plywood box.

RICHLAND, Wash. – Michael Stevens has worked his share of demolition projects across the DOE complex.

But the project manager for the EM Office of River Protection’s (ORP) tank operations contractor was surprised by difficulties experienced when demolishing a small, nondescript metal structure supporting the tank farms.

Within the building was an approximately 4-foot-tall, 1-1/3-foot-wide plywood box filled with lead shot. The lead was used for shielding workers from exposure to radioactivity during certain waste operations and was no longer required.

“This was a unique project. Everybody knew that going into it,” said Stevens, who works for Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS).

Removal of the shield box was the most challenging task in the demolition project. Workers knocked down the building to create a path for future tank waste transfer lines.

“The completion of this project is one of many tasks necessary to prepare for the next single-shell tanks retrieval,” said Jeff Rambo, ORP technical program manager for tank retrievals. “This was an important step in advancing the tank waste mission.”

ORP took precautions due to the hazards posed by working with lead and other potential contaminants, including beryllium and asbestos.

“The work scope certainly had a lot of challenges to it,” said Steven Mata, the field work supervisor for the job. “We took a conservative approach, taking the work one step at a time, and the work planners did a tremendous job of giving us some flexibility to deal with what might come up.”

Lessons learned from a mockup exercise indicated the lead shot would flow similar to sand through an hourglass. So, the work crew drilled a small hole near the box bottom, inserted a specially fabricated spout to control flow, and began to drain the lead shot. They inserted a pencil camera in the box to modify their approach and remove the remaining lead when they encountered difficulties.

“The uniqueness of the job made it interesting and challenging,” said John Wright, WRPS construction manager. “People were motivated and energized, approaching the job with a ‘safety, compliance, progress’ attitude.”

- Contributor: Jerry Holloway

Interns Try Out Future Careers at Paducah Site

Fluor’s Andy Anderson mentors Ansley Sims, a senior studying mechanical engineering at the University of Kentucky.

Interns observe field work at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant site.

PADUCAH, Ky. – Fifteen college students explored careers at EM’s gaseous diffusion plant site near Paducah, Kentucky this summer.

The interns worked within their areas of interest and built relationships with mentors, coworkers, and community members during the 10-week program with the Fluor Paducah Deactivation Project, EM’s prime cleanup contractor at the site.

Tim Ball, a senior at the University of Kentucky, believes his work in groundwater treatment benefitted the environment.

“I am proud of the work I did this summer on the two groundwater treatment systems that control the process of ‘shrinking’ contamination from the groundwater,” Ball said.

Jennifer Woodard, Paducah site lead with the Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office, said the internships serve as great career stepping stones.

“The program is not only a value to the interns, but to the government and current workforce. Their energy, as well as the new and innovative ideas they bring, benefit the whole site,” Woodard said.

The interns also collected donated food and school supplies for DOE’s Feds Feeds Families annual drive and ‘Stuff the Bus’ for United Way, respectively.

“This has been more educational and helpful than I ever imagined,” said Kass Ellington, a junior occupational safety and health major at Murray State University.

- Contributors: Steve Christmas, Joey Hamm

August is Water Quality Month at Hanford

RICHLAND, Wash. – EM Richland Operations Office contractor Mission Support Alliance’s (MSA) water and sewer utilities organization operates the Hanford Site water treatment facility, which produces up to 450,000 gallons of potable water daily. In this photo, MSA operators Chris Morris and Matt Goble clean the facility’s flocculation basin, where particles are separated from water. To maintain water quality standards, MSA operates and monitors the plant, periodically samples the system’s water quality, and flushes water lines — all to ensure fresh, potable water is available across the site. Due to aging systems, MSA is upgrading major infrastructure systems, including building a new water treatment plant, to service the site for decades to come.

- Contributor: Renee Brooks

Officials Recognize SRS Contractor Cybersecurity Team’s Capabilities

Members of the Savannah River Remediation Cyber Security team, from left: Jeffrey Medsger, Carl Jules, Juli Joyner, Larry Sprowls, Sean Nixon, and Steven Lape

AIKEN, S.C. – The Savannah River Site (SRS) liquid-waste contractor’s cybersecurity team has been recognized for excellence for the third consecutive year.

The National Cyber Security Alliance and the Department of Homeland Security named the Savannah River Remediation (SRR) team the champion for National Cyber Security Awareness Month, which is October.

The award honors SRR’s strong cybersecurity culture, including its role in a global online safety awareness campaign called “STOP.THINK.CONNECT.”

That campaign reached out to SRR to form a partnership, allowing the company access to resources to educate its workforce and reduce cyber threats.

SRR launched a user awareness program for its workforce about three years ago, covering topics from safe holiday online shopping to use of digital assistants to help navigate the Internet. The team shares its creative cybersecurity approach with other sites across the DOE complex.

“This program is backed by decades of IT and cybersecurity experience, but it would not be anywhere near as successful without the strong support from our senior management, as well as the partnership we have with the SRR public affairs team for developing ideas and materials,” SRR Cyber Security Manager Juli Joyner said. “The information and materials the program produces tackles a myriad of subjects in multiple imaginative and memorable ways so that anyone can understand the ideas and can put them to use both at work and at home.”

The team also earned high marks for relating its cybersecurity industry perspective to students in Fort Gordon, Georgia.

- Contributor: Ashley Dernberger

Hanford Business Outreach Workshop Sets Attendance Record

Washington River Protection Solutions Small Business Program Manager Haley Taylor presents procurement information to 60 business representatives at the recent “Meet the Buyer” event. She was one of several representatives from Hanford contractors to present at the program, where attendees learn about doing business with various regional organizations.

RICHLAND, Wash. – A business outreach program, co-sponsored by an EM Office of River Protection (ORP) contractor and regional business group, set a new attendance record at its latest quarterly event.

Sixty attendees, some traveling from as far as Michigan and California, participated in a “Meet the Buyer” workshop with presenters from EM Hanford Site prime contractors and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

The Meet the Buyer program connects businesses with federal, state, and local government agencies and is designed to educate businesses about what the agencies buy, how they buy, upcoming projects, and more. It features small business and procurement representatives from different agencies each quarter. Previous participating agencies include school districts, port districts, transit agencies, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The free events are sponsored by ORP tank operations contractor Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) in partnership with the Tri-City Regional Chamber of Commerce. Now in its seventh year, the program has resulted in several million dollars’ worth of contracts for participating businesses.

The program is part of WRPS business outreach.

“Meet the Buyer is extremely important for the Tri-Cities community and Hanford,” said Haley Taylor, small business program manager at WRPS. “It is great to see so many small businesses being able to interact with each other and take advantage of opportunities in a forum that would not otherwise happen.”

- Contributor: Jerry Holloway

Like EM on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DOEEnvironmentalManagement