WIPP Marks Milestone With 50th Waste Shipment Since April; EM Makes History at West Valley With First Demolition of Vitrification Facility in DOE Complex; IWTU Model Performs Successfully; and Much More!

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EM Update | Vol. 9, Issue 17 | Sept. 12, 2017

WIPP Marks Milestone With 50th Waste Shipment Since April
West Valley Takes 'First Bite' of Vitrification Facility in Historic Demolition
DOE Senior Advisor Roger Jarrell Discusses First Impressions of EM Program
SRS Moves Closer to Salt Waste Processing Facility Startup
Paducah Community Leaders Meet with Energy Secretary Rick Perry
This Week’s Cleanup Workshop, House Caucus Event Focus on EM’s Cleanup
EM Partners With USW to Use High Tech for Large-Scale Dismantling at Portsmouth
Scaled Model of IWTU Performs Successfully in 30-Day Demonstration
SRS Engineers Share Impact of Entertaining Education Outreach
Hanford Crews Make Strides Toward Removing Contaminated Soil
Updated Radio System Enhances Savannah River Site Safety
New DOE Newsletter Highlights STEM Updates

WIPP Marks Milestone With 50th Waste Shipment Since April

Waste Isolation Pilot Plant employees pose for a photo to celebrate the resumption of transuranic waste shipments to the facility.

CARLSBAD, N.M. – EM recently achieved a significant milestone when the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) received its 50th transuranic (TRU) waste shipment since April 7.

Shipments to WIPP resumed this past spring after the facility reopened in January. WIPP suspended operations after a truck fire and unrelated radiological event in 2014.

“This is another important milestone for us,” Carlsbad Field Office (CBFO) Manager Todd Shrader said. “We are making steady, safe progress in our efforts to return WIPP to full operations.”

Since April, WIPP has received waste from EM’s Idaho, Savannah River, Oak Ridge, and Los Alamos sites. The Los Alamos waste had been stored at the Waste Control Specialists facility in Texas.

“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 (OREM). “This was only possible through a lot of hard work from the federal and contractor employees here and support from staff in Carlsbad."

Before the resumption of shipments, CBFO and contractor Nuclear Waste Partnership (NWP) briefed state officials, emergency responders, and stakeholders along waste shipment routes to ensure they were aware of WIPP transportation protocols and safeguards.

“WIPP is a critical part of the nation’s nuclear cleanup mission and national security mission,” Shrader said. “We understand the importance of helping these sites meet their missions.”

WIPP is currently receiving contact-handled TRU waste shipments. Total shipments to the facility have climbed to 56 since EM marked the 50th shipment in late August.

The facility is receiving about three to four shipments per week. The current plan is to gradually increase the total number of weekly shipments through next summer.

“Resuming shipments was always a priority for us, but we wanted to ensure it is done in a safe and compliant manner,” NWP President and Project Manager Bruce Covert said. “I am extremely proud of the hard work of this world-class team and am honored to say that I am part of it.”

Operations technicians Larry Hampton and Gerardo Lazalde load a 4,855-pound transuranic waste package into a shipping container at the Idaho Site.

Idaho State Patrol Commercial Vehicle Safety Officer Richard Stouse inspects the first shipment of contact-handled transuranic waste to go to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant since the facility reopened in January.

A truck carrying a transuranic (TRU) waste shipment leaves the Idaho Site’s Radioactive Waste Management Complex en route to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). It was the first contact-handled TRU waste shipment WIPP received since the facility reopened in January.

The Idaho Site and contractor Fluor Idaho have made 38 shipments to WIPP since April. Workers at the Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project (AMWTP) continue to characterize, treat, and certify the waste in support of a 1995 agreement between DOE and the state of Idaho. Approximately 900 cubic meters of waste at AMWTP is ready for shipment to WIPP. Approximately 8,400 cubic meters have been treated and are awaiting certification and shipment. About 7,100 cubic meters remains to be treated or exhumed.

“When we were given the green light to resume shipping in April, it was like a huge shot of adrenalin to our workers,” said Fluor Idaho Waste Operations Manager Jim Floerke. “It was an incredible day when that first shipment went out. We were ready to resume shipments because over the past few years our dedicated, highly skilled workforce stayed focused on our mission and kept the equipment and processes ready to go as soon as WIPP was ready.”

AMWTP uses automated processes and robotic equipment for TRU waste treatment and disposition. The centerpiece of the facility is the supercompactor, which uses up to 4 million pounds of pressure to crush 55-gallon drums of waste into 5-inch-thick pucks, which are placed into larger drums. This volume-reducing method has decreased the number of shipments to WIPP by several thousand truckloads, thus freeing up space in the mine.

Savannah River Site workers prepare transuranic waste for shipment to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant.

A transuranic waste shipment departs the Savannah River Site en route to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant.

The Savannah River Site (SRS) has made nine shipments to WIPP since April, meeting its commitment to ship about 55 cubic meters of TRU waste out of South Carolina in fiscal year 2017.

SRS employees updated TRU characterization, packaging, and certification programs. They reviewed all waste to ensure it met WIPP’s new waste acceptance criteria. The site also completed a readiness review to demonstrate it was prepared to load TRU waste for transport.

For the first time since 2012, processed and treated TRU waste left Oak Ridge’s Transuranic Waste Processing Center (TWPC) for permanent disposal at WIPP. Oak Ridge completed two shipments to the facility this year, both in August. (Watch a video on Oak Ridge’s WIPP shipments here. This video provides an overview of Oak Ridge’s TRU waste operations.)

With WIPP operations ramping up, Oak Ridge anticipates making multiple shipments each month.

“This is a really exciting day for us,” said Linda Beach, North Wind Solutions program manager at the TWPC. “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.”

-Contributors: Danielle Miller, David Sheeley, Erik Simpson, Barbara Smoak, Bobby St. John, Ben Williams

West Valley Takes 'First Bite' of Vitrification Facility in Historic Demolition

Demolition of the Vitrification Facility begins with the "first bite" on Sept. 11.

WEST VALLEY, N.Y. – EM West Valley Demonstration Project (WVDP) workers kicked off the first-ever demolition of a vitrification facility in the DOE complex on Sept. 11.

They've been getting ready for the historic teardown for years, removing hazards through decontamination and deactivation work.

“We’re well prepared for demolition,” said Scott Chase, the facility disposition project operations manager for cleanup contractor CH2M HILL BWXT West Valley, LLC (CHBWV). “It’s been two years in the planning, and we’ve looked at it from multiple directions.”

Workers will demolish the radiologically “cleanest” areas first, such as the perimeter aisles, then move to the facility’s other areas, such as the vitrification cell, which housed all of the major radioactive process equipment. This strategy minimizes the potential for cross-contamination of facility areas and reduces the cost of decontaminating equipment and materials transferred from one area to another.

Crews will control the potential spread of contamination through water misting, encapsulation fixatives, regular housekeeping activities, adherence to established work practices, and full-time monitoring by radiological control technicians. WVDP will use 16 air monitoring stations located outside the site boundary and others placed around the demolition area to monitor for potential migration of contamination.

CH2M HILL BWXT West Valley Facility Disposition Project Operations Manager Scott Chase was hired to test the pumping system used to transfer high-level waste from the site’s underground tanks to the Vitrification Facility, pictured in the background.

Once used to solidify about 600,000 gallons of high-level waste (HLW) liquid and sludge, the 11,000-square-foot, 50-foot-tall concrete structure — one of the site’s major remaining facilities — is reinforced with structural steel and sided with sheet steel. Its walls and roof are between 2 and 4 feet thick. Demolition will generate an estimated 6,500 tons of waste for shipment to an offsite licensed disposal facility.

As Chase oversees the teardown, scheduled for completion in eight months, he’ll remember the many past and present employees who are part of the facility’s legacy.

“Vitrification was an incredible accomplishment that involved a lot of people from beginning to end,” said Chase, who joined the WVDP workforce in 1993 as a test engineer. “We got there because of the brains of the people involved. The operators came up with suggestions, the engineers refined the designs, and the mechanics made it happen.”

Demolition equipment is staged in front of the Vitrification Facility.

Chase was hired to test the pumping system used to transfer HLW from the site’s underground tanks to the vitrification facility. The facility produced 275 canisters of vitrified waste, ending operations in 2002.

A cohort of employees including Chase arrived at the WVDP in the 1990s. They worked to stabilize and remove the site’s waste, and now they are taking the site apart, building by building.

Chase recalled a significant event last December when employees made the first manned entry into the cell in more than 20 years. Workers had decontaminated the facility to the point to allow manned entries.

WVDP Project Director Bryan Bower noted the important roles nearly all employees had in successfully vitrifying the waste.

“As we move into the demolition phase of this project, we recognize the positive impact vitrification had on the area and look forward to completing our mission at West Valley,” Bower said.

For Chase, Bower, and present and former WVDP employees, demolition of the facility will close the book on a long and successful legacy. It’s a legacy to which the old slogan still applies: “Safety and Vit – What a Fit!”

-Contributor: Cynthia Dayton

DOE Senior Advisor Roger Jarrell Discusses First Impressions of EM Program

DOE Senior Advisor Roger Jarrell, right, on a tour of the Transuranic Waste Processing Center at EM's Oak Ridge Site.

EM Update recently spoke with Roger Jarrell, Senior Advisor to the Secretary of Energy for EM, on his first impressions of the DOE cleanup program and what he hopes to achieve during his tenure in the Department.

For those who may not know you, can you talk about your background before you came to DOE and EM?

I grew up in Lexington, Va., where my parents had a horse farm. I went the Virginia Military Institute for my undergraduate degree, and then worked on Capitol Hill and on campaigns for a period of about 10 years as a political consultant.

In 2001, I went to Washington and Lee University for law school. I graduated in 2004, and from 2004 to up until about three years ago, I was in litigation full-time. I worked as a litigator in West Virginia on different complex litigation either involving big banks or the energy industry. So I dealt with some coal mining disasters, and other different litigation involving various energy companies, on both the coal and oil and gas sides.

In 2012, I moved back to Virginia and became involved in politics and campaigns again. In 2014, I was elected as chairman of the Rockbridge Area Republican Committee, where I served as the Republican chairman for the cities of Lexington, Buena Vista, and Rockbridge County. I was reelected in 2016.

In 2016, the Trump campaign approached me and asked about my interest in running the western part of Virginia. I signed on to do that, and ran the western part of Virginia right through the end of the campaign. Then I came here to DOE in January.

You have an advantage in being able to see the EM program through a fresh set of eyes. What have been your impressions of EM so far?

From the perspective of an outsider looking in, I saw a lot of success. Obviously, we have a long way to go with a lot of the cleanup, but I think that sharing some of the positive successes and positive news stories is imperative.

The other thing that I noticed is that with all of the different communities around the various sites, because of the secrecy involved in what they did there for so long during the Cold War, those communities don’t really know how to market themselves. When I was down in Aiken, S.C. (near the Savannah River Site), for example they said, ‘Can you help us? Can the Administration help us? We need to better market ourselves.’ So I see there’s that sort of glaring need for someone to step in and help with rural economic development. The Trump Administration is pretty much all about that.

Does your background in political campaigning help with that marketing challenge?

Absolutely. To me, it’s all social networking and marketing, but not only that, it’s about framing what your positive attributes are and getting that message out there and sticking to that message.

During your visits to EM sites, what have you seen that will make them attractive and marketable for future uses?

I think they’re flexible and willing to learn and do things and step outside of the box. For example, in Oak Ridge, they have really advanced this notion of bringing in a regional airport. So they’re on the cutting edge of that, and they’re almost there. They just need a little extra help to get there.

More broadly, what do you see as EM’s main positives currently? What, in your opinion, is the program doing well?

The work that’s being done — the D&D work for example — across the complex is one of a kind. These are buildings that were never designed to be torn down and we’re having to tear them down piecemeal. Obviously, the 16 sites that are leftover are the 16 most difficult, but there’s an incredible brain trust throughout the entire complex and all of the contractors — some of the most dedicated and talented people I’ve ever met in my life. That is the wonderful aspect about this job — being engaged with those folks on a day-to-day basis.

What do you see as the main challenges facing the EM program?

Obviously, the whole tank issue — whether it’s at Savannah River or Hanford. There’s a whole host of challenges there, and it’s a huge cleanup. It’s a huge project that’s going to go on for a number of years. Anytime you have a lot of moving parts, and there are a lot of moving parts in this process, it’s going to be complicated and mistakes are going to be made along the way. It’s inevitable.

What has been the biggest surprise you’ve encountered so far?

Just the complexity of dealing across many different states with many different regulatory schemes with the different dynamics and political environments of each of them. It’s obviously a very challenging environment and I enjoy it because of that. I enjoy a good challenge.

With the EM program set to continue for decades, how can support for the program be maintained to last?

I think it’s because it is a long-term effort that you have to remind people we started here, and this is where we are, and we still have to go a little bit further. I think it’s important to bring things back into perspective and back into focus. People get caught up in the year-to-year aspects too much, and they don’t really look at the long game.

To wrap things up, when your time here in EM comes to an end, what do you hope to have achieved?

Whether it’s with tribal relations, community relations, industry relations — I want to set the bar even higher. I want to basically advance the ball. To me, it’s not so much — to use a football metaphor — throwing a Hail Mary pass so much as I would rather see incremental gains. I would rather see us getting first downs and moving the ball down the field rather than just a quick strike.

- Contributor: Michael Nartker

SRS Moves Closer to Salt Waste Processing Facility Startup

Before-and-after photos of the 511-S excavation connecting the Defense and Salt waste processing facilities.

AIKEN, S.C. – Workers have finished excavation to expose several waste transfer lines at the Savannah River Site (SRS), a significant milestone in integrating the Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF) with the liquid waste system.

The accomplishment brings SWPF closer to startup. The newly constructed facility undergoing testing and commissioning will process low-level salt waste accounting for more than 90 percent of waste in the SRS Tank Farms.

DOE-Savannah River Waste Disposition Assistant Manager Jim Folk said SWPF startup and integration is a priority for EM.

“The Salt Waste Processing Facility will be key in the future of the liquid waste mission at the Savannah River Site,” Folk said. “Each milestone cleared on the way to startup is a win for all involved. The teams of the integration process have been collaborative, efficient, and committed to delivery.”

Workers will connect more than 3.5 miles of underground piping that carry radioactive liquid waste between facilities. Three of these transfer lines intersect at the 511-S process building, connecting the Defense Waste Processing Facility, the vitrification plant for high-level sludge waste; the Tank Farms, home to 43 operational underground waste storage tanks; and SWPF.

After digging nearly 20 feet underground to expose the lines, workers installed sheet piling, welded support beams, and flushed the lines, sometimes using a high-power water jet to expel radioactive material into a waste tank.

A demonstration of the expanding grout method to break up the concrete surrounding the underground transfer lines, which protected the adjacent waste lines from the shock of traditional demolition methods.

The transfer line tie-in at Tank 49 in H Tank Farm.

Robust effort ensured the transfer lines were thoroughly cleaned to keep the radiological dose to workers as low as reasonable achievable, according to Tom Foster, president and project manager of Savannah River Remediation (SRR), the site’s liquid waste contractor.

“The number one value of any job at Savannah River Remediation is the safety of our workers,” Foster said. “Extreme care and precision must be executed during any scope we do, but particularly one involving a radiological area such as this one.”

The transfer lines were encased in concrete boxes to protect a water barrier surrounding them. Crews inserted expanding grout into the boxes to break up the concrete, a method preferred to demolition, which can damage the adjacent waste lines.

Upcoming work to the transfer lines near 511-S includes:

Modifying the Modular Caustic Side Solvent Extraction Unit (MCU), an interim salt waste processing facility, to link to SWPF;
Connecting new SWPF transfer lines to existing spare transfer lines; and
Installing blank nozzles on the spare lines in the 511-S cell to keep SWPF isolated from the system until ready for operations.

The team will excavate the transfer line for Tank 49, the SWPF feed tank, to modify a valve box and install a new jumper. Workers also will test existing transfer piping to ensure it withstands the increased pressure of a new pump to transfer liquid from the tank to SWPF.

Next steps for Tank 49 work include:

Extending the tank’s new feed line to its final tie-in near MCU;
Excavating the tank’s tie-in point to get dimensions;
Installing a pipe from the transfer line to the tank; and
Installing the new pump for SWPF operations.

-Contributor: Colleen Hart

Paducah Community Leaders Meet with Energy Secretary Rick Perry

WASHINGTON, D.C. – At top, Energy Secretary Rick Perry gestures during a Sept. 7 meeting with visiting members of the Paducah (Ky.) Chamber of Commerce. Seated next to the Secretary is U.S. Rep. James Comer of Kentucky. The community leaders met with Secretary Perry and Acting EM Assistant Secretary Jim Owendoff during their annual "fly-in" to Washington D.C. At bottom, members of the chamber and DOE leaders pose by a wall display in DOE’s Forrestal Building highlighting the history, operations, and cleanup at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant.

This Week’s Cleanup Workshop, House Caucus Event Focus on EM’s Cleanup

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senior DOE executives and site officials, industry executives, and other stakeholders will discuss EM’s cleanup progress at the 2017 National Cleanup Workshop on Sept. 13-14.

The workshop at the Hilton Alexandria Mark Center in Alexandria, Va. is being hosted by the Energy Communities Alliance, and cooperating organizations include DOE and the Energy Facility Contractors Group.

Managers from EM field offices and cleanup contractors across the complex will participate in the workshop. More than 600 people are expected to attend this year's workshop.

More information on this year’s workshop, including a current agenda and a full list of confirmed speakers, can be found here.

Watch the workshop live here.

At the House Nuclear Cleanup Caucus on Sept. 13, DOE headquarters and site officials will participate in a panel discussion on increasing urgency in EM’s cleanup efforts.

Participants are Acting EM Assistant Secretary Jim Owendoff; Roger Jarrell, Senior Advisor to the Energy Secretary for EM; and EM Savannah River Operations Office Manager Jack Craig.

“Bringing a sense of urgency to the EM program, particularly when it comes to decision-making, enables us to take advantage of promising opportunities to build cleanup momentum, generate the greatest risk reduction, and effectively and efficiently execute the EM Program” Owendoff said. “I look forward to discussing the work we are doing that puts EM squarely on track to achieve these shared goals.”

Led by Reps. Chuck Fleischmann (Tennessee) and Ben Luján (New Mexico), the bipartisan caucus serves to educate lawmakers about EM and advocate for cleanup in Congress.

Sponsored by the Nuclear Energy Institute, Energy Technology and Environmental Business Association, and Energy Facility Contractors Group, the event is at 5:30 p.m. in Rooms 2043 and 2044 of the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. A reception follows the panel discussion. Anyone interested in attending the event can RSVP to cleanup@nei.org.

Keep an eye out for the late September issue of EM Update, which will feature coverage of the workshop and caucus event.

EM Partners With USW to Use High Tech for Large-Scale Dismantling at Portsmouth

Workers move a 33-ton converter. More than 1,700 similar pieces of the process gas equipment will be cut into segments and allow their steel shells to be safely placed in the Onsite Waste Disposal Facility.

PIKETON, Ohio – EM and contractor Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth are partnering with United Steelworkers (USW) to make a physically demanding and potentially hazardous job safer and more efficient using remotely operated cutting equipment and a virtual reality interface.

The virtual reality system allows job planners and workers to test out the cutting process before placing workers in a radiologically controlled work zone at EM’s Portsmouth Site in Piketon.

The Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant Deactivation and Decommissioning (D&D) Project plans to cut open 33-ton steel components to remove internal material. More than 1,700 components known as converters must be removed between two of the three major process buildings called the X-333 and X-330.

The Brokk work platform includes different attachments allowing workers to remotely perform a variety of tasks. EM’s Jud Lilly, left, maneuvers a robotic arm under the direction of Brokk’s Jessie Love. Workers train with the equipment to prepare for removing components formerly used to enrich uranium.

Workers will remove materials that may have value in the future. They will size-reduce massive pieces of process gas equipment before sending them to the Onsite Waste Disposal Facility (OSWDF). Size-reducing saves valuable space in the OSWDF.

“It’s been gratifying to see the integration of high-tech methodology with traditional labor intensive activities to create a safer work environment,” Site Lead Joel Bradburne of EM’s Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office said. “Size reduction of the process gas equipment will be cost effective to the project and provide efficiencies for OSWDF operations.”

Personnel are training to use remotely controlled Brokk work platforms. EM is using technology to improve productivity while keeping workers safer by using a machine interface for cutting large components. Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth’s Tim Cline, left, works with a remote while receiving direction from Brokk’s Jessie Love.

USW workers from a variety of job backgrounds are being trained to use new equipment made available through EM under its Science of Safety initiative. The program’s premise is that the best way to keep workers safe is to remove them from potential hazards. Workers will learn to use work platforms with multiple tools, including a cutting device to process a component in 24 hours.

“There is a lot of really useful technology across DOE, as well as prominent universities and agencies like NASA that we studied and tested,” Fluor-BWXT Project Director Dennis Carr said.

A virtual simulator allows personnel to perform movements planned during the converter segmentation process. This training program is designed to improve workers’ and managers’ abilities to safely perform segmentation and other work. Shown, John Bobbitt of Savannah River National Laboratory (center) and Greg Meyer of Fluor work through a demonstration.

“We focused on existing technologies that weren’t flashy but could be applied to the physical hazards facing our workers in a large industrial setting,” Carr said. “This entire program has strong support from USW leadership like Herman Potter and his safety leads. They were key in bringing this technology to the Portsmouth Site.”

Workers cleared an area the size of two football fields in the X-333 building to build a material sizing area with multiple work stations, special ventilation systems, and hazard controls. While the workers will use remotely operated equipment, they will still be alongside the operations, thus anti-contamination equipment and respirators will be required.

Fluor-BWXT anticipates having workers fully trained and ready to begin converter segmentation in the X-333 building by January 2018.

- Contributor: Michelle Teeters

Scaled Model of IWTU Performs Successfully in 30-Day Demonstration

The pilot scale Denitration Mineralization Reformer at the Hazen Research facility in Colorado.

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho – A scaled model of the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit (IWTU) performed exceptionally well during a recent month-long demonstration, continuing EM and cleanup contractor Fluor Idaho’s progress in confirmatory testing and preparations to start up the facility.

Engineers frequently adjusted the operating parameters of the pilot plant at the Hazen Research facility in Colorado, including the simulant feed rate, temperature, and product particle size to assess the process under varying conditions. Despite the intentional changes, the pilot plant produced the desired dried granular waste product. It treated the same simulant waste used in prior demonstrations at the IWTU.

“We operated over a wide range of operating conditions to assess performance and the pilot plant handled all conditions as designed,” said IWTU Technical Issues Resolution Project Manager Leo Thompson. “This testing confirms that the process of converting simulated waste into a carbonate form works over a wide range of conditions. We learned a tremendous amount about the behavior of the process at different conditions, which we can apply to the IWTU for its next demonstration run.”

Thompson said the pilot plant continued to produce wall-scale on the interior of its reaction vessel, just like the IWTU did in its six demonstrations. But the varying conditions revealed trends that help the team understand the formation mechanisms. Under some conditions, minimal scale formed. The scale, resembling bark, has the potential to produce fluidization challenges in the IWTU, but the Hazen testing is giving engineers a better understanding why it forms, if and how it can be minimized, and its effect on the waste treatment process.

“We have a better idea of the factors that control wall-scale formation,” said Thompson. “Importantly, the wall-scale had no effect on the fluidization inside the Hazen reaction vessel.”

The IWTU will use a fluidized bed steam-reforming process to treat the remaining 900,000 gallons of liquid radioactive waste from the Idaho Site’s underground tank farm. The facility’s primary reaction vessel, the Denitration Mineralization Reformer (DMR), contains billions of tiny beads kept in a fluidized state with the help of superheated gases. Liquid waste enters the fluidized bed, coating the beads like the formation of pearls. The waste product is transferred to stainless steel canisters and ultimately concrete vaults.

Engineers are modifying IWTU. They completed work to install a new ring header with an improved design in the DMR using an 18-inch manway. The ring header injects gases and steam into the reaction vessel to fluidize the beads that form during waste treatment. The ring was damaged in a prior demonstration. The engineers are developing the improved design using computer simulations, pilot testing, and input from industry experts.

Engineers will reconfigure the bottom of the DMR to a conical shape to prevent a prior problem from repeating: the creation of “sand castles” that greatly affect the fluidization of the waste product during demonstrations. The DMR’s present shape results in the creation of “dead zones,” which allow treated product to settle and accumulate at the vessel’s bottom. The new design will be tested in the pilot plant and installed in the IWTU this fall, with another demonstration to follow.

-Contributor: Erik Simpson

SRS Engineers Share Impact of Entertaining Education Outreach

Bill Wabbersen, left, holds a photograph from 2003 when he taught students about engineers at Davidson Fine Arts. Thomas Nail, right, is pictured in the photo immediately below (second from left) as a seventh-grader in Wabbersen's class.

AIKEN, S.C. – In 2003, seventh-grader Thomas Nail sat in the front row of his classroom at Davidson Fine Arts in Augusta, Ga., while his teacher introduced engineers from the Savannah River Site (SRS).

“The engineers first quizzed us on basic science questions,” said Nail, now a mechanical engineer for Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS), the site’s management and operations contractor. “Then it got really interesting when they brought out a hovercraft and let us each take turns riding it. For some reason that hovercraft always stuck with me.”

Constructed of plywood, a leaf blower, duct tape and other items, the hovercraft represented how air pressure can translate into lifting power, just like a basketball filled with air bounces.

The demonstration inspired Nail and his friends to build their own hovercraft and become more involved in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) competitions.

After obtaining a degree in mechanical engineering from Georgia Southern University, Nail began work at SRNS and volunteered to teach students about engineering. Nail partnered with Mark Duignan of EM’s Savannah River National Laboratory to lead experiments on thermodynamic principles to a class at Davidson Fine Arts.

A few weeks later at a lunch for the volunteers, something unexpected happened.

“It all started when we were sharing stories about the activities we led for the students,” said Bill Wabbersen, SRNS engineer. “I began describing my homemade hovercraft, and in that moment, I saw Tom’s face light up. It took us both by surprise.”

Wabbersen, who began volunteering in education outreach in the early 1990s, was one of the engineers who visited Tom’s class over a decade ago.

“We’ve visited nearly every school in the Central Savannah River Area in 25 years,” said Wabbersen. “This wouldn’t be possible without our employees who are responsible for SRNS Education Outreach because they ensure we go through the proper channels to reach the schools. We wouldn’t be able to just walk up and volunteer on our own.”

The volunteers strive to entertain the students to keep them engaged.

“When I conduct these workshops, I try to find the wonder in myself that I had when I was young,” Wabbersen said. “We also try to connect to the five senses, just like the day Tom rode on that hovercraft. There’s a distinct sound it makes, and it feels different than sitting in a regular chair.”

Thomas Nail, far right, works with classmates trying to balance eight nails on top of one nail during an education outreach event.

Today, Nail works on a fire suppression system in F/H Laboratories, where employees analyze materials such as soil, water, gases, decommissioning debris, and waste to support the missions of SRS and other DOE sites.

“I’ve reached between 30,000 and 40,000 students, and I had never gotten feedback from anyone who decided to pursue the STEM fields as a result of what I do until I met Tom,” Wabbersen said. “To know I made a difference in a local student’s life was thrilling to me. On top of that, the young man I impacted was paying it forward by sharing his knowledge with middle school students at his alma mater.”

-Contributor: Caroline Reppert

Hanford Crews Make Strides Toward Removing Contaminated Soil

RICHLAND, Wash. – Hanford Site workers are making headway to remove radioactive soil from beneath the 324 Building, just a few miles north of Richland and near the Columbia River.

They’re removing wiring, cables, and other large abandoned equipment from the building’s airlock, which allows access from clean areas to adjacent, contaminated rooms. During the Cold War, workers at this research and development facility remotely handled radioactive and hazardous substances in the rooms.

Workers are removing wiring, cables, and other large abandoned equipment from the airlock of the Hanford Site’s 324 Building.

Crews at the 324 Building use a crane to lift a large piece of packaged waste, retrieved from the building’s airlock, into a waste box for shipment to the Hanford Site’s regulated landfill.

“Each step we take toward remediating the soil under the building brings us closer to completing the project and marking successful cleanup along the River Corridor,” said Bryan Foley, EM Richland Operations Office director for the project.

Earlier this year, workers met a key performance goal to remove combustible material and contaminated loose debris from the airlock floor. With those items gone, work has shifted to removing the larger items.

“The crew has made outstanding progress,” said Mike Douglas, acting 324 Building Disposition Project vice president for contractor CH2M HILL Plateau Remediation Company, which is preparing to remove the contaminated soil. “They are working well as a team, and, most importantly, doing the work safely.”

Workers are drilling holes into the concrete walls of a training facility that simulates a hot cell in the 324 Building. The holes will be used to install remotely operated equipment for worker testing and training.

The contaminated items must be taken out of the airlock to allow installation of remote-operated equipment for removing soil under a nearby hot cell. The radioactive soil must be removed before the building can be demolished.

Nearby at the project’s testing and training facility, employees are preparing to install remotely operated equipment, including a mechanism for moving bins of waste from a simulated contaminated area into the airlock. Drilling into the mockup structure’s walls will support equipment installation. Installation of equipment at the mockup is planned to begin in December.

-Contributor: Destry Henderson

Updated Radio System Enhances Savannah River Site Safety

From left, Barry Knoll, Carlton Cook, and Chris Goodwyn of Savannah River Nuclear Solutions install the new radio system.

AIKEN, S.C. – EM’s Savannah River Site (SRS) is getting a $7 million dollar radio communications system makeover that improves safety.

Radio handsets and vehicles will be equipped with GPS capabilities, allowing workers to be located quickly in the event of an emergency.

“If we need to find a remote worker who is out in the field for any reason, especially if an injury has occurred, we can get the right people to his or her exact location,” said Judson Davis, Site Communications manager with Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS), the site’s management and operations contractor. “And, in time, our managers will be able to load an app that will allow them to use their cell phones like a handheld radio on- or offsite.”

The upgraded system complies with standards intended to improve communications among agencies in emergencies.

“We are also pleased that the radios will be Project 25 compliant,” Davis said. “Project 25 was developed after the 9/11 tragedy, creating a platform to improve communications between the various agencies during security- and emergency-related operations.”

Requiring two tractor trailers to carry its equipment to SRS, the system is scheduled to be fully operational in October. Employees will be trained for the new system over 50 days, ensuring a smooth transition from the previous operation.

The previous radio trunking system required wiring to connect the radio dispatch consoles to a centralized computer. The new computer-based system will have its own information technology network that can locate users through a computer network connection.

“We had been using an 18-year-old system that we could no longer find parts for and the manufacturer was no longer supporting it,” said Davis. “I’m pleased with the reliability and performance of the new products being installed.”

-Contributor: DT Townsend

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