EM Update | Vol. 9, Issue 22 | Oct. 31, 2017

• Several EM Prime Contractors Surpass Fiscal Year 2017 Small Business Goals
• Oak Ridge EM Program to Preserve, Share History
• Innovative Hanford Workers Upgrade Groundwater Cleanup Systems
• Team Completes Testing for WTP Switchgear Building
• Atomic Energy Workers Council Tours Paducah Site
• New App Improves Safety Requirement Tracking at Savannah River Site
• Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office Donates Nine Tons of Food for Local Families

Several EM Prime Contractors Surpass Fiscal Year 2017 Small Business Goals

Workers with CH2M HILL Plateau Remediation Company subcontractor Ojeda Business Ventures construct a test pad to evaluate a floor saw to remove highly contaminated soil from beneath a former research building on the Hanford Site.

   At least 11 prime cleanup contractors across the EM complex surpassed annual goals for subcontracting with small businesses in fiscal year 2017 (FY17), from Oct. 1, 2016 to Sept. 30, 2017. 

   The contractors at the Hanford, Savannah River, Oak Ridge, Idaho, Portsmouth, Paducah, and Waste Isolation Pilot Plant sites exceeded socioeconomic business goals by subcontracting with small businesses. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), set-asides help small businesses compete for and win federal contracts. The contracts can be set-aside for small businesses in the following certification programs and socio-economic categories:  

• 8(a) Business Development, which helps firms owned and controlled at least 51 percent by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals;
• HUBZone (Historically Underutilized Business Zones) Program, which assists firms in urban and rural communities;
• Women Owned Small Business Program; and
• Service Disabled Veteran Owned Program.

Workers with Watts Construction, a small business subcontractor for Mission Support Alliance, the Hanford Site services contractor, replace 70-year-old piping in the site’s water distribution system.  

Hanford

   EM Richland Operations Office (RL) contractor CH2M HILL Plateau Remediation Company (CH2M) awarded about $150 million, or 79 percent, to small businesses, exceeding a goal of 49 percent.

   An example of a CH2M small business subcontractor is Ojeda Business Ventures, which helped prepare for contaminated soil removal beneath the 324 Building. Ojeda built a concrete pad mockup, simulating the floor inside the building so workers could practice cutting through it with equipment during actual cleanup. 

   “Year after year, our contractors at Hanford are exceeding their subcontracting goals,” said Tom Fletcher, deputy manager, RL. “We appreciate their commitment to doing business with small businesses.”

   Site services contractor Mission Support Alliance (MSA) awarded $155 million in subcontracts, with about $134 million, or 86 percent, going to small businesses, outpacing the company’s goal of 50 percent. One of those small businesses was Watts Construction, which installed and upgraded water lines and sewer systems. 

Thirty business representatives gathered for the region’s first Meet the Buyer program of 2017. Sponsored by Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) and managed by the Tri-City Regional Chamber of Commerce, the event focused on business opportunities with regional transit systems. In its seventh year, the program is part of WRPS small business outreach.

   The Office of River Protection tank operations contractor Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) spent almost $166 million on small business subcontracts, representing nearly 73 percent of available subcontracts, beating its goal of 58 percent. 

   An example of a WRPS small business subcontractor is ELR Consulting, a disabled veteran-owned company, which provided WRPS with engineering and technical support. ELR Consulting also offers laboratory services, and construction management and environmental compliance services.

   ELR Consulting is owned by Emmett Richards, a military veteran and former Hanford 222-S Laboratory technician.

Personnel from Universal Supplies and Services, a small business subcontractor to Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, perform work in a non-nuclear facility.

Savannah River

   Management and operations contractor Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) awarded 71 percent of its subcontracts to small businesses, for a total of more than $175 million, exceeding its goal of 52 percent.

   One of those small businesses, Universal Supplies and Services (US&S), is a facility maintenance and support service provider specializing in operations and maintenance, repairs, renovation, janitorial, grounds maintenance, and staff augmentation. US&S is responsible for performing non-nuclear maintenance across the site.

   “Our supply chain is a vital part of our success at the Savannah River Site (SRS) and exceeding these small business goals is a reflection of our emphasis on continuous improvement across the board,” SRNS President Stuart MacVean said.

   Liquid waste contractor Savannah River Remediation (SRR) consistently surpasses its subcontracting goals. SRR has spent more than $490 million on local small businesses since it began its site contract in 2009. In FY17, SRR awarded more than $69 million, or nearly 83 percent, of subcontracts to small businesses, outpacing its goal of about 50 percent.  

   SRR President and Project Manager Tom Forster said SRR supports businesses of all backgrounds.

   “Small businesses, particularly, are the underpinnings of our economy, especially those that are women-owned, veteran-owned, and locally owned, to name a few,” Foster said. “These companies aid SRR in our mission of safely and efficiently stabilizing the legacy liquid waste at the Savannah River Site.”

   DOE-Savannah River Associate Deputy Manager Thomas Johnson Jr. noted SRS's long history of working with the region's small businesses.

   “These contracts are not only vital to the site in areas such as construction and program support, but it also allows us to support and grow local businesses,” he said.

Alliance Scaffolding employees work in Oak Ridge's East Tennessee Technology Park.

Oak Ridge

   Cleanup contractor URS|CH2M Oak Ridge (UCOR) awarded $134 million, or 83 percent, of its contracts and purchases to small businesses, eclipsing its goal of 65 percent.

   “Since UCOR began their work in Oak Ridge in 2011, they have shown an unprecedented commitment to the skills, value, and capabilities offered by small businesses,” said Karen Shears, director of the Oak Ridge Office of EM Procurement and Contracts Division. “In turn, the support these companies provided UCOR has enabled them to successfully complete projects across the site on time and on budget.”

Left to right, URS | CH2M Oak Ridge (UCOR) Project Services and Support Manager Ron Slottke; Oak Ridge Office of EM Acting Manager Jay Mullis; Alliance Scaffolding President Robert Aft; DOE Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization Deputy Director Christy Jackiewicz; and UCOR Small Business Manager Freda Hopper.

   About 79 percent of UCOR's subcontracts have gone to small businesses each year since 2011. That amounts to $691 million for professional services, technical services, engineering and construction, materials, transportation, waste cleanup, and waste treatment.

   An example of a UCOR small business subcontractor is Alliance Scaffolding, which provides specialized scaffolding for UCOR’s cleanup work at the East Tennessee Technology Park. UCOR named the small business its 2017 veteran-owned small business of the year.

Workers at Diversified Metal Products, an Idaho Falls, Idaho-based small business, develop bin mockups to support Fluor Idaho’s Calcine Retrieval Project.

Idaho

   Cleanup contractor Fluor Idaho more than doubled its target by spending over $78 million to subcontract with small businesses in Idaho and the western U.S. 

   “We originally had a goal of almost $36 million for the fiscal year, but shattered that number,” said Fluor Idaho Business Director Peggy Davis. “Utilizing the products and expertise of small business owners is a key strategy of our contract with the Department of Energy. We’ve found that when doing so, everyone wins, including the taxpayer.”

   Fluor Idaho regularly purchases products such as food, fuel, clothing, and ice melt from small business, and acquires services such as engineering, computer support, photography, and technical writing and editing.

EM’s Idaho Site cleanup contractor Fluor Idaho worked with small business Diversified Metal Products to fabricate a full-scale mockup of a waste storage bin for testing.

   “For this fiscal year, we’ll be looking at increasing our purchasing of goods and services from small disadvantaged and women-owned businesses,” said Davis. “We’d like to see more of these types of businesses bid on our small business contracts.”

   Davis continued, “We’ve had tremendous support from small businesses overall. In many instances, the business owners go above and beyond the call of duty to provide goods to us immediately to aid in our cleanup mission for the Department.”

Geiger Brothers, based in Jackson County near the Portsmouth Site, participates in the DOE Mentor-Protégé Program and works with the site’s primary cleanup contractor, Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth. Here, a Geiger crew installs a new heating and air system in the site’s Emergency Operations Center.

Geiger Brothers, a Historically Underutilized Business Zone small business, supports Portsmouth Site deactivation activities in a large process building housing uranium enrichment equipment. Here, Geiger crews work in the site’s X-333 Process Building.

Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office

   Of its nearly $112 million subcontracting total, Portsmouth Site deactivation and decommissioning prime contractor Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth (FBP) awarded about $67 million, or about 60 percent, to small businesses, topping its goal of 50 percent. 

   Of its more than $11 million subcontracting total, contractor Mid-America Conversion Services (MCS) awarded over $7 million, or nearly 65 percent, to small businesses, surpassing its goal of 50 percent. MCS is the depleted uranium hexafluoride (DUF6) conversion contractor for EM’s Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office in Lexington, Kentucky. MCS operates EM’s two DUF6 conversion facilities and maintains the DUF6 inventory at the Portsmouth and Paducah sites in Ohio and Kentucky, respectively.

   Selected as a 2010 DOE Small Business of the Year, Edgewater Technical Associates is an example of a MCS small business subcontractor. The northern New Mexico business assists with the restart of the Portsmouth DUF6 conversion plant. Its employees prepared startup documents and program and personnel improvements to enable readiness reviews for the restart of plant operations.

Dream Green Recycling, a woman-owned small business, provides recycling services to the Paducah Site.

   Fluor Federal Services (FFS), the former deactivation and remediation prime contractor at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant site, beat its goal of 55 percent by awarding more than $43 million, or approximately 80 percent, of its nearly $54 million subcontracting total.

Waste Isolation Pilot Plant

   Management and operations contractor Nuclear Waste Partnership (NWP) awarded more than $44 million, or 63 percent, of its approximately $70 million subcontracting total to small businesses, surpassing its goal of 50 percent.

   VJ Technologies is an example of a NWP small business subcontractor. VJ provides X-ray technology for characterization of transuranic waste containers. The company recently completed a five-year DOE mentor-protégé agreement with NWP.

VJ Technologies equipment scans a mock waste drum at its East Haven, Connecticut facility.

   VJ’s technology, which uses an enhanced radiography technique coupled with 3-D computerized tomography, reliably and automatically differentiates between materials in waste containers. This helps ensure potential hazards are identified and mitigated before waste is shipped to WIPP. 

   “We are very proud of our relationship with small businesses,” NWP President and Project Manager Bruce Covert said. “These companies do excellent work in support of the WIPP mission.”

-Contributors: Patrick Conrad, Destry Henderson, Ann Ridiesel, Rob Roxburgh, David Sheeley, Erik Simpson, Ben Williams, Ryan Williamson

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Oak Ridge EM Program to Preserve, Share History

Employees, state legislators, stakeholders, local representatives, congressional staff members, and signatory and consulting party members attend a luncheon and preview of the K-25 History Center. Afterward, the attendees viewed plans for the facility.

Left to right, URS | CH2M Oak Ridge (UCOR) President and Project Manager Ken Rueter, Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management Acting Manager Jay Mullis, and City of Oak Ridge Mayor Warren Gooch sign an agreement enabling UCOR to construct the K-25 History Center inside the second floor of the city-owned East Tennessee Technology Park fire station.

OAK RIDGE, Tenn. – DOE’s Oak Ridge Office of EM (OREM) recently previewed the K-25 History Center and launched a project to share the site’s history at an event with cleanup contractor URS | CH2M Oak Ridge and the City of Oak Ridge. 

   When crews finished constructing Building K-25 in 1945, it was the world’s largest structure. Its size rivaled only the importance of its mission — to help end a global war. Despite the facility’s 44-acre footprint and urgent work, the public would not learn of their existence in the Secret City until the end of World War II.

Spanning 44 acres, K-25 was once the world’s largest structure.

The K-25 History Center, Equipment Building, and Viewing Tower will be located next to the footprint of the former K-25 Building, which is now part of the Manhattan Project National Historical Park.

   OREM is working to preserve and highlight that story by constructing the K-25 History Center, Equipment Building, and Viewing Tower — key elements of a 2012 historic preservation agreement.

   “Although the building is no longer standing, OREM and its partners understand the historical significance of the site,” said Jay Mullis, acting OREM manager. “We have made a substantial investment to ensure future generations can hear and understand the amazing story behind the men and women who constructed and operated the former K-25 site.”

   The new facility features a theater and a 4,400-square-foot exhibit gallery with oral histories and artifacts commemorating K-25’s history. 

   “This project will help preserve the history of one of the most significant facilities in modern times,” Oak Ridge Mayor Warren Gooch said. “But more importantly, as we celebrate the 75th anniversary of our community, it is a tribute to the men and women whose work shaped the outcome of World War II and the Cold War.”

   OREM expects to begin building the history center, three-story Equipment Building, and 70-foot Viewing Tower in 2018. The Equipment Building design replicates the exterior of the K-25 building and houses a representative cross-section of gaseous diffusion technology. An enclosed observation deck at the Viewing Tower will provide a 360-degree view of the site. 

The Oak Ridge Office of EM anticipates beginning construction of the Equipment Building and Viewing Tower in 2018. They will highlight the technological accomplishments and scale of the former uranium enrichment site.

In 2012, the Oak Ridge Office of EM signed an agreement to construct the K-25 History Center, Equipment Building, and Viewing Tower, set to open in 2019.

   Those East Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP) projects are independent of the Manhattan Project National Historical Park established in November 2015. The K-25 footprint — the concrete slab on which the massive building once stood — has been incorporated into the park, which is adjacent to the site of the Equipment Building and Viewing Tower.

   In 2015, OREM launched the K-25 Virtual Museum, detailing the facility’s contributions to defense, energy, and technology advancements.

   ETTP uranium enrichment operations ceased in 1985. The site was shut down in 1987, and cleanup began in 1989. DOE is working to transform the site into a private-sector industrial park.

-Contributor: Ben Williams

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Innovative Hanford Workers Upgrade Groundwater Cleanup Systems

This pump-and-treat facility (lower left) near the Columbia River helps remove hexavalent chromium from groundwater. 

RICHLAND, Wash. – Hanford Site workers developed innovative solutions to reduce maintenance needs, keeping groundwater treatment systems operating efficiently to meet cleanup goals in fiscal year 2017.

   Six pump-and-treat facilities pump contaminated groundwater through wells, transfer the water to treatment systems to remove contaminants, and return treated water to the aquifer through injection wells.

   The EM Richland Operations Office contractor CH2M HILL Plateau Remediation Company workers:

• Added steel liners to the bottom of treatment tanks to increase their durability and prevent corrosion;
• Expanded the capacity of one facility along the Columbia River, which runs through the site, from 550 gallons per minute to 700 gallons per minute, a 25-percent increase; 
• Brought new treatment vessels online to strip contaminants from groundwater; and
• Realigned wells to extract groundwater from the most contaminated areas and respond to shifting contaminant plumes to ensure maximum containment. 

This pump-and-treat facility helps remove hexavalent chromium from the groundwater. The chemical was used as a corrosion inhibitor during Hanford’s plutonium production era.

   Five facilities along the river remove hexavalent chromium, a toxic chemical used during the past plutonium production era, from groundwater. A large pump-and-treat facility in the center of the site removes about a dozen contaminants, including radioactive elements. 

   During the past fiscal year, workers treated 2.2 billion gallons of groundwater and removed more than 145,000 pounds of contamination left over from plutonium production.

   “Treating 2.2 billion gallons was an incredible challenge, but the team got it done by coming up with new processes and ideas to enhance our groundwater treatment program,” CH2M Groundwater Treatment Program Operations Supervisor Eric Bertrand said. 

-Contributor: Tania Reyes Mills

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Team Completes Testing for WTP Switchgear Building

RICHLAND, Wash. – The Hanford Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) Project Team concluded startup functional testing of Building 91. The switchgear building provides electrical support to the more than 20 support structures of WTP’s Balance of Facilities. Building 91 was energized earlier this year. Employees with the engineering, construction, startup, and plant management departments of contractors Bechtel National Inc. and AECOM achieved this project goal late last month.

Photos courtesy of Bechtel National, Inc.

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Atomic Energy Workers Council Tours Paducah Site

EM Paducah Site Safety Systems Oversight/General Engineer Brad Pont leads Atomic Energy Workers Council members through the C-300 Building. 

PADUCAH, Ky. – The Atomic Energy Workers Council (AEWC) recently toured EM’s Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant to learn about the depleted uranium hexafluoride (DUF6) conversion process, plant deactivation, and environmental projects.

   The council consists of presidents and vice presidents from all United Steel Workers (USW) local unions that have contracts with DOE across the nation.

   “The council was created in the early 1980s with a mission to better understand the challenges at each participating council site,” said Jim H. Key, AEWC president and USW Paducah Local 550 vice president at large. 

   The EM Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office’s (PPPO) deactivation work includes preparing the C-400 Cleaning Building for demolition. C-400 is historically the most significant contributor to the site’s groundwater contamination.

   The visitors toured the gaseous diffusion plant and DUF6 conversion facilities, where the byproduct of decades of uranium enrichment is converted into more stable chemical forms for beneficial reuse or disposal. 

   “It was good for the council to tour the site to see the challenges and opportunities EM and the workforce face in cleaning up the Paducah Site safely,” said Jennifer Woodard, PPPO’s Paducah Site lead. “It also provided an opportunity for the council to learn about the DUF6 conversion process, which only occurs at the Paducah and Portsmouth sites.”

   Locations represented by the AEWC include Paducah; Portsmouth, Ohio; Oak Ridge, Tennessee; Irwin, Tennessee; Hanford, Washington; Carlsbad, New Mexico; and Idaho Falls, Idaho.

-Contributors: Steve Christmas, Dylan Nichols

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New App Improves Safety Requirement Tracking at Savannah River Site

Savannah River Remediation employees use the new Safety Requirements Management System at the Defense Waste Processing Facility.

AIKEN, S.C. – A new web-based application from the Savannah River Site (SRS) liquid waste contractor helps employees maintain a strong nuclear safety culture by tracking safety requirements and performing other tasks more efficiently.

   The Safety Requirements Management System (SRMS) has several advantages over Savannah River Remediation’s (SRR) past applications. It provides one location for employees to check the status of required safety surveillances and requirements under documented safety analyses, which describe facility hazards during design, construction, operation, and eventual cleanup.

   SRMS also offers greater accessibility via the site intranet, simpler software maintenance, quick review and approval, and critical documentation changes.    

   Launching SRMS is part of SRR’s continuous improvement, a quality of a strong nuclear safety culture, according to SRR President and Project Manager Tom Foster.

   “The transition to the new system has been a smooth conversion for SRR operations,” Foster said. “This technology is the next step in our commitment to nuclear safety.” 

   The SRR Process Applications organization collaborated with operators and engineers from multiple SRR facilities to develop SRMS, consolidating two old applications used by liquid waste facilities. 

   Employees use SRMS at the Defense Waste Processing Facility, the site’s high-level waste glassification plant. SRR will roll it out to the SRS Tank Farm and Saltstone facilities by the end of the year. The Process Applications group is also demonstrating SRMS for use in other SRS facilities.  

   “It’s important to share good ideas and systems that work, especially when it comes to nuclear safety improvements, across DOE contractors,” said Jim Folk, DOE-Savannah River Assistant Manager for Waste Disposition. “Sharing technology has the potential for improving nuclear safety and is also a cost-effective use of resources.”

-Contributor: Colleen Hart

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Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office Donates Nine Tons of Food for Local Families

Fluor Federal Services interns drop off the Paducah Site’s donated food for the 2017 Feds Feed Families food drive.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The annual Feds Feed Families food drive held by EM's Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office (PPPO) and its contractors yielded almost nine tons of food for people in need this year.

   The 17,998 pounds of non-perishable items were distributed through many charities and food banks for the region’s disadvantaged families. The food was provided in three major drop-offs during summer months when donations traditionally run low.  

   "Thanks to everyone who contributed food items and deliveries and otherwise supported this cause, because you have made it a success," PPPO's Dee Powell told her Portsmouth Site colleagues after dropping off their final load at a southern Ohio food pantry. 

Left to right, the Portsmouth Site’s Bryan Davis and Robert Henry, and contractor Restoration Services Inc.’s Abigail Parish take part in a Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office contest for the 2017 Feds Feed Families food drive. Their site was challenged to collect as many “orange-colored” donations as possible.

Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office’s Paula Rhea (right) and Kearney Ackermann of contractor Mid-America Conversion Services top off a load of Lexington’s donations for the 2017 Feds Feed Families food drive. Their site was challenged to collect as many green-colored donations as possible in a contest.

   Each of PPPO's three locations participated, with the Portsmouth Site in Ohio distributing 9,111 pounds of food; the Paducah Site in Kentucky with 7,124 pounds; and the project office in Lexington, Kentucky with 1,763 pounds.

   "What a difference we can make when we come together as a group for a common goal," PPPO drive coordinator Susan Sparks said after the final delivery.

-Contributors: Brad Mitzelfelt, Dylan Nichols 

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