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EM Update | Vol. 9, Issue 21 | Oct. 24, 2017

• Advisory Board Leaders Collaborate at Hanford
• New Cleanup Contractor Begins at Paducah Site
• SPRU Nears Completion of Building Demolition
• Hanford Contractor Earns 92 Percent of Available Fee for Fiscal Year 2016
• EM Names New Manager for Office of River Protection at Hanford
• Idaho Site Marks 50th WIPP Shipment Since Waste Repository's 2017 Reopening
• Crews Reduce Risk at Oak Ridge Excess Facilities
• Idaho Site Paves Tank Farm to Protect Snake River Plain Aquifer
• Workers Replace Roof of Aging Hanford Building
• SRS Fire Protection Symposium Focuses on Safety Excellence
• EM, University of Kentucky Help High Schoolers Hone Critical Skills

Advisory Board Leaders Collaborate at Hanford

The EM Site-Specific Advisory Board Fall 2017 chairs’ meeting included a tour of the Hanford Site, with a stop at the Environmental Restoration Disposal Facility (pictured).

KENNEWICK, Wash. – Joined by EM officials, leaders from the advisory boards that work on behalf of their local populations convened at the Hanford Site for a semi-annual meeting Oct. 17-19.

   The EM Site-Specific Advisory Board (EM SSAB) chairs’ meeting brought together the chair and vice-chair of each of the eight local boards of the EM SSAB. 

   “Sharing best practices is one of the keys of this meeting,” said David Borak, the EM Designated Federal Officer who oversees and facilitates the operation of the advisory boards, located at the Savannah River Site, Hanford, Los Alamos, Paducah, Nevada National Security Site, Portsmouth, Oak Ridge, and Idaho National Laboratory.

   The group toured the site and listened to overviews on its cleanup and history, including its role in the Manhattan Project National Historic Park.

   “Each of your sites has that story,” Stacy Charboneau, EM Associate Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Field Operations, said to the group during keynote remarks. Charboneau provided an update on EM priorities and highlighted the importance of EM SSAB work.

EM Richland Operations Office Deputy Manager Tom Fletcher welcomes the EM Site-Specific Advisory Board chairs and EM participants to their meeting in Kennewick, Wash.

   The boards’ key function is developing recommendations for site managers and EM leaders to consider when making cleanup decisions. Members shared ideas on preparing good cleanup recommendations.

   “I always find it very enlightening when we get together,” said Susan Leckband, chair of the Hanford Advisory Board, speaking to the group as the meeting was nearing its close.

-Contributor: Mark Heeter

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New Cleanup Contractor Begins at Paducah Site

PADUCAH, Ky. – Four Rivers Nuclear Partnership, LLC (FRNP), a CH2M-led company with partners Fluor Corporation and BWX Technologies, Inc., commenced work under a new Paducah Deactivation and Remediation (D&R) Contract at EM’s former Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant on Oct. 20. 

   “During transition we have had the opportunity to get to know the site and the workforce, set expectations, and assess the contract scope,” said FRNP Program Manager Bill Kirby. “Our team brings lessons learned from across the complex combined with incumbent site knowledge that will help us deliver cost-effective results in achieving the cleanup mission of DOE Environmental Management.” 

   The Four Rivers leadership team led by Kirby brings extensive collective experience from sites across the EM complex, including the East Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP), Idaho Cleanup Project, Hanford Plateau Remediation Company, West Valley Demonstration Project, and Portsmouth and Paducah Gaseous Diffusion plants.

   The team has a history of successful deactivation, demolition, groundwater remediation, regulatory interface, strategic planning and integration, waste disposition, and safe performance of work:

• Deputy Manager Myrna Redfield and Roland Chretien, health, safety, security and quality manager, bring years of Paducah experience;
• Stabilization and deactivation manager Mike Swartz has led safe stabilization, deactivation and remediation of uranium and plutonium processing facilities at three EM sites;
• Allen Schubert, planning and optimization manager, led strategic planning and integration efforts at ETTP; and
• Environmental Services Manager Curt Walker implemented a remedial action plan for stabilization and deactivation at ETTP.

Paducah Site deactivation crews work to remove systems and equipment to prepare the C-400 Cleaning Building for demolition.

   The D&R performance-based contract is valued at approximately $1.5 billion over five years, with options for extending it up to 10 years. The project includes management of more than 650 structures, properties, and buildings to minimize maintenance costs, risk, and future demolition costs.

   “FRNP has been tasked with deactivating and remediating the Paducah Site safely, efficiently, and consistently with EM’s priorities and resources, and we look forward to working with them to achieve that mission,” said Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office Manager Robert Edwards.

   The Paducah Site is situated on approximately 3,500 acres in western Kentucky, 10 miles west of Paducah, and 3.5 miles south of the Ohio River. The site, built in the 1950s as part of the nation’s nuclear weapons complex, processed uranium from 1952 to 2013 for military reactors and nuclear weapons, and later for nuclear power plant fuels. 

-Contributors: Lynette Bennett, Dylan Nichols

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SPRU Nears Completion of Building Demolition

Building H2 under the tent enclosure at Separations Process Research Unit.

NISKAYUNA, N.Y. – Workers have begun the last phase of building demolition at the Separations Process Research Unit (SPRU).

   On Oct. 13, EM and its cleanup contractor began removing the tent enclosure at Building H2, which at one time housed the interior of the one-time research facility. The enclosure was equipped with high-efficiency filters to ensure protection of the public and the environment.

   Previous activities included removal of hazardous and radioactive materials; isolation of utility systems; and removal of tanks, vessels, components, and miles of piping and tubing. Successful completion of these efforts led EM to determine the remaining structure could be safely demolished without the need for the enclosure.

  Starting open-air demolition on H2 was the latest milestone for the project collocated at the Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory in Niskayuna, outside Schenectady, N.Y.

    H2 was one of two buildings at SPRU that supported improvements in the chemical separation of plutonium for the nation’s strategic defense early in the Cold War. Open-air demolition of the other building, G2, began in July 2016 and is nearly completed.

Workers have begun the last phase of building demolition at the Separations Process Research Unit. 

A section of Building H2 after workers took down the tent enclosure.

   Demolition work at H2 culminates several years of preparation by EM and its demolition contractor, AECOM.

   "The EM SPRU Field Office staff and our AECOM contractor worked together closely to safely and successfully arrive at this major project milestone,” said Federal Project Director Steven Feinberg.

   AECOM SPRU Disposition Project Manager Jeff Selvey said completing demolition of Building H2 will help accelerate efforts to safely remove the Cold War-era nuclear processing facilities.

   “It’s a significant step forward in achieving EM’s goal of eliminating the risks inherent in these 60-year-old facilities,” Selvey said.

-Contributor: Rick Ford

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Hanford Contractor Earns 92 Percent of Available Fee for Fiscal Year 2016

Workers install a sludge storage treatment container to transport sludge from the 100-K Area to the center of the Hanford Site.

RICHLAND, Wash. – EM’s Richland Operations Office (RL) has awarded its prime cleanup contractor CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Company (CH2M) more than $14 million, or roughly 92 percent, of the available fee for fiscal year 2016.  

   “(CH2M) was very responsive to customer needs,” according to a recently released award fee determination scorecard. “The contractor accomplished a number of the Department of Energy’s key performance goals for cleanup at the Hanford Site during 2016.”

   Each year EM releases information relating to contractor fee payments — earned by completing the work called for in the contracts — to further transparency in its cleanup program. 

   CH2M earned the fee for helping reduce risks at the Hanford Site. Crews removed hazardous waste streams and facilities, cleaned up billions of gallons of contaminated groundwater, prepared to remove highly radioactive sludge from a basin near the Columbia River, and made progress decommissioning and demolishing the Plutonium Finishing Plant. 

   The fee is paid for subjective and objective performance measures, each having different eligible amounts. CH2M earned about 87 percent of the eligible fee for subjective and 92 percent for objective performance measures. 

   The contractor met the completion criteria to merit full payment for 24 of 27 performance measures. The three performance measures not completed during the period included receipt of sludge treatment storage container production order; completion of the Reduction-Oxidation Plant roof design; and completion of the Waste Encapsulation and Storage Facility Ventilation and Stabilization Project.

   RL gave CH2M credit for completing one performance measure — legacy facilities and equipment disposition — for fiscal year 2018 early.

    View the scorecard here. 

-Contributor: Kristen Holmes  

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EM Names New Manager for Office of River Protection at Hanford

RICHLAND, Wash. – EM has named Brian Vance the new manager for its Office of River Protection at the Hanford Site.     Vance has more than 30 years of leadership experience, serving in key roles with Westinghouse and AREVA, and as a career submarine officer. He has served in Department of Defense acquisition programs and the Navy nuclear propulsion program. He recently held the position of director of the 300-296 Remote Soil Excavation Project for Hanford cleanup contractor CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Company.    “I know he will be able to leverage his skills and expertise to assist ORP in maintaining the strong momentum now underway to address the Hanford tank waste mission and continue making progress on the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant,” Acting Assistant EM Secretary Jim Owendoff said.    A retired captain from the Navy, Vance held leadership positions for lifecycle stages of projects from concept through sustainment. He also served as program manager for the Navy’s Undersea Defensive Warfare Systems and the Submarine Combat and Weapons Control programs, and as commander of the Naval Submarine Support Command in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.    Vance has a Bachelor of Science degree in meteorology from Pennsylvania State University and a Master of Business Administration from the University of North Carolina. He is certified as a Project Management Professional by the Project Management Institute.        He replaces Kevin Smith, who retired from federal service in late September. Deputy Manager Ben Harp had been acting as the ORP manager.  -Contributor: Michael Nartker Back to Top

Idaho Site Marks 50th WIPP Shipment Since Waste Repository's 2017 Reopening

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho – EM and Idaho Cleanup Project contractor Fluor Idaho recently completed the 50th shipment of Cold War weapons waste from the Idaho Site to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) since the New Mexico repository reopened earlier this year. “The Idaho Site is very pleased that we’re able to continue to ship waste to WIPP for disposal,” said Jack Zimmerman, deputy manager for DOE’s Idaho Operations Office. 

A Fluor Idaho employee loads a container with 10 55-gallon drums inside a TRUPACT-II shipping vessel at the Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project.

As many as four shipments of transuranic waste leave the Idaho Site’s Radioactive Waste Management Complex each week destined for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant.

-Contributors: Danielle Miller, Erik Simpson 

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Crews Reduce Risk at Oak Ridge Excess Facilities

A worker removes asbestos from Building 7500.

OAK RIDGE, Tenn. – Workers recently surpassed the halfway mark removing asbestos from a former research reactor, advancing DOE Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM) efforts to remove risks and prepare excess facilities for eventual demolition. 

   OREM expects to continue asbestos abatement until early 2018 inside Building 7500, also known as the Homogenous Reactor Experiment facility, at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). Crews are pulling out ceiling and floor tile, pipe and vessel insulation, and wall board.

   The project further reduces risk after OREM and cleanup contractor URS | CH2M Oak Ridge cleared all combustible materials and deactivated the heat detection system inside the building earlier this year. 

   Deactivating the system eliminated the need for personnel to enter the building for periodic inspections, and it allowed for removal of all hazardous energy sources as required before asbestos abatement.

Crews remove materials from Building 7500.

   “Our efforts inside Building 7500 are helping stabilize a deteriorating facility, eliminate risks, and protect the environment at ORNL,” said OREM Acting Manager Jay Mullis. “Since the facility is not scheduled for near-term demolition, it is important for us to ensure the building remains in a safe and manageable state.”

   Built in 1951, the reactor operated until 1961, when it was shut down and placed in standby. The 14,695-square-foot, four-level structure has degraded through the years due to its age and large amounts of water entering the building. 

   The project is part of DOE’s Excess Contaminated Facilities Initiative. Oak Ridge has more than 350 excess facilities at ORNL and the Y-12 National Security Complex totaling more than 6 million square feet. Oak Ridge has more than a quarter of the high-risk excess facilities in the entire DOE inventory, far more than any other site in the DOE complex. 

-Contributor: Ben Williams

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Idaho Site Paves Tank Farm to Protect Snake River Plain Aquifer

Asphalt placement and compacting on the west side of the Idaho Nuclear Technology and Engineering Center Tank Farm.

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho – EM and cleanup contractor Fluor Idaho recently finished capping most of the Idaho Site tank farm with asphalt to reduce or eliminate the movement of water through contaminated soil to the Snake River Plain Aquifer 475 feet below the Idaho Nuclear Technology and Engineering Center (INTEC).

   The asphalt paving will prevent precipitation from reaching a contaminated body of water about 130-140 feet beneath INTEC. It resulted from historic leaks in piping and valve boxes at the tank farm, which accepted millions of gallons of liquid waste from spent nuclear fuel reprocessing until the early 1990s. Known as a perched water zone, the body of water was created when facility discharges and precipitation percolated into the ground, accumulating above a sedimentary layer of ground.

   “The asphalt mix design along with a surface seal coat that we used for this project prevents water infiltration, and combined with additional surface water controls in and around the tank farm, we hope to eventually dry up the underlying body of contaminated water,” said Fluor Idaho Project Engineer Dean Shanklin.

   Workers paved about two-thirds of the 5-acre tank farm in 2017. Once EM finishes emptying three more tanks and treats the liquid waste they contain, crews will clean and grout all remaining tanks under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. Ultimately, EM will install an engineered soil cover several feet thick over the entire tank farm and close the area under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act.

   Crews installed about a mile of lined drainage ditches to collect rain and snowmelt and divert it to a lined evaporation pond east of INTEC. Shanklin said Fluor Idaho’s Environmental Restoration Program monitors INTEC for leaks from underground piping and buildings, primarily through the use of the perched water monitoring well network. Over the last 10 years, the program has eliminated over 80 water discharges from the 65-year-old facility.

   “The asphalt cap over the tank farm, although an interim measure, is an important step in not just minimizing the infiltration of water in the area, but also getting to the final closure of the tank farm,” Shanklin said. 

   The aquifer is the primary drinking and irrigation water source for more than 300,000 Idahoans.

-Contributor: Erik Simpson

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Workers Replace Roof of Aging Hanford Building

Workers finish punch-list items for the roof repair at the Reduction Oxidation Plant (REDOX).

A new roof adorns the Reduction Oxidation Plant (REDOX).

RICHLAND, Wash. – Crews finished replacing the roof of a Hanford canyon facility from the plutonium production era known as REDOX (Reduction Oxidation Plant) this month. The work keeps the structure intact while EM awaits a future cleanup path for the canyon.

   “This significantly reduces water intrusion and the potential for the spread of contamination in the facility,” said Doug Shoop, manager of EM’s Richland Operations Office. “Proper maintenance on aging Hanford structures is necessary to protect workers and the environment.”

-Contributor: Tania Reyes

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SRS Fire Protection Symposium Focuses on Safety Excellence

Participants in the symposium included, front row from left: Kevin Uber, Savannah River Remediation (SRR); Susan Omberg Carro, Washington River Protection Solutions; Sandy Twilley, AECOM; Jim Streit, Los Alamos National Laboratory; Karen Lesko, SRR; Peter Feng, Nevada National Security Site; back row, from left: Ron Baker, SRR; Jim Gibson, SRR; Brett Kujoth, East Tennessee Technology Park; Bernie Till, AECOM; Nick Everett, SRR; and Eric Shogren, SRR.

AIKEN, S.C. - Fire protection engineers from across the DOE complex recently gathered at the Savannah River Site (SRS) to share best practices and further improve safety.

   Specialists from SRS, the Nevada National Security Site, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and Hanford and Oak Ridge sites participated in the symposium led by SRS liquid waste contractor Savannah River Remediation. The group toured SRS and explored ways to reduce risks common to fire protection safety in nuclear operations. 

   DOE-Savannah River Assistant Manager for Waste Disposition Jim Folk said the forum is key to exchanging expertise and making DOE facilities safer.

   “Risk assessment and risk mitigation are essential aspects of fire protection engineering groups in nuclear facilities,” Folk said. “Sharing experiences across the DOE complex shows a commitment to developing high standards in safety.” 

Savannah River Remediation Acting Director of Public Affairs and Project Communications Dean Campbell leads the fire protection engineers on a tour of the Defense Waste Processing Facility at the Savannah River Site.

   The participants discussed spark-inducing activities, such as welding and grinding, performed at DOE facilities. They agreed to develop a more universal and effective protocol for these activities based on best practices used at their facilities.

   SRR President and Project Manager Tom Foster said the symposium allowed for an important conversation on maintaining a strong nuclear safety culture.

   “The recent symposium allowed us to converse with other fire protection programs that assess similar risks and learn from each other on best practices,” Foster said.

   A follow-up symposium will be held in the future.

-Contributor: Maddie Blair

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EM, University of Kentucky Help High Schoolers Hone Critical Skills

Marshall County High School students tour the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant’s C-300 Control Room as part of their Annual Site Environmental Report summary project orientation.

PADUCAH, Ky. – Local high school students will apply writing, analysis and critical thinking skills to translate a highly technical Paducah Site report for the public. 

   They recently kicked off the annual project to summarize the EM Paducah Annual Site Environmental Report (ASER).

   The students from Marshall County High School in Draffenville, Kentucky observed environmental field activities at the site and adjacent area, and listened to briefings from experts including Jennifer Woodard, the site lead for EM’s Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office; Dr. Steven Price, University of Kentucky Department of Forestry director; and Tim Kreher, West Kentucky Wildlife Management Area manager.

Tim Kreher with the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources assists Marshall County High School advanced placement physics student Tanner Hayes with environmental field work during his class’s visit to the West Kentucky Wildlife Management Area adjacent to EM’s Paducah Site.

   “This annual project allows students to benefit from hands-on experience in the field and classroom learning to assess methods used for cleanup at the site,” Woodard said. “EM has a strong team of remediation experts who invest time with these students to improve skills that will be invaluable to their futures.”

   The site partners with the University of Kentucky on the project.

   “DOE and the University of Kentucky have done an outstanding job of introducing our students to the opportunities to understand science and industry right here in west Kentucky,” said Tina Marshall, the school’s AP Physics teacher.  

   The report includes sampling data to measure effects of remediation activities on the environment. Sampling activities include analysis of surface water, groundwater, and soil. The students will present their work to EM in May 2018, and the summary will later be published. 

-Contributors: Steve Christmas, Dylan Nichols

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