EM Update | Vol. 9, Issue 24 | Nov. 14, 2017

• WIPP Marks Milestone With 12,000th Safe Transuranic Waste Shipment
• Workers Safely Finish Grouting Hanford Tunnel
• Site Preparation Underway for Second Mega-Volume Saltsone Disposal Unit at SRS
• ORP Grand Challenge Encourages Culture of Continuous Improvement, Innovation
• SRS Builds on Cutting Edge Technology to Keep Workers Safe
• EM-FIU Partnership Prepares Next-Generation Cleanup Workforce
• Video Captures Employees Across EM Complex Honoring Veterans
• Hanford Site’s Revitalized Water Facility Supports Cleanup

WIPP Marks Milestone With 12,000th Safe Transuranic Waste Shipment

The 12,000th shipment of transuranic waste to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant arrives at the facility from EM’s Idaho Site late Nov. 9.

CARLSBAD, N.M. – EM’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) recently received its 12,000th shipment of transuranic (TRU) waste for disposal since opening in 1999.

   “We are all very proud of receiving the 12,000th shipment of transuranic waste and contributing to the Department’s cleanup mission.” said Todd Shrader, manager of the Carlsbad Field Office.  

   Since the underground repository’s opening, WIPP drivers have safely traveled more than 14 million miles with shipments — equivalent to about 30 roundtrips to the moon without a serious accident or injury — to clean up 22 TRU waste sites around the nation.

   According to Bruce Covert, president and project manager for Nuclear Waste Partnership, WIPP’s management and operations contractor, these milestones would not be possible if not for the dedicated employees in Carlsbad and TRU waste generator sites around the country.

   “Our employees are among the best of the best who are proud to be part of a project that is benefitting the nation,” said Covert. “It takes the entire WIPP team, from the waste handlers, to the drivers who get the shipments here safely, to the employees at the generator sites who package, characterize, and certify TRU waste.”

   Located in southeast New Mexico about 26 miles from Carlsbad, WIPP was constructed in the 1980s for disposal of defense-generated TRU waste. The underground repository is carved out of a 2,000-foot-thick salt bed formed 250 million years ago. TRU waste is disposed of 2,150-feet underground in rooms mined from the salt bed.

   WIPP is the nation's only repository for the disposal of TRU waste. Waste from DOE sites around the country is sent to WIPP for permanent disposal. Disposal of TRU waste is critical to the cleanup of Cold War nuclear production sites. 

-Contributor: Donavan Mager

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Workers Safely Finish Grouting Hanford Tunnel

Thorough coordination and traffic planning enabled hundreds of safe grout truck deliveries. 

RICHLAND, Wash. – Imagine coordinating hundreds of trucks delivering more than 4,400 cubic yards of grout night and day for weeks.

   That was the task of workers on the Hanford Site who safely completed the stabilization of a partially collapsed waste storage tunnel Nov. 11.

   Before the first truck of grout arrived, planning, testing, and practice runs took place over several weeks to prepare approximately 50 workers to place engineered grout in Tunnel 1 near the site’s Plutonium Uranium Extraction Plant.

Workers practiced placing equipment before the actual grouting began at a mockup of the Plutonium Uranium Extraction Plant waste storage tunnel.

   EM Richland Operations Office contractor CH2M HILL Plateau Remediation Company (CHPRC) managed the grout placement. A team from CHPRC and subcontractor Intermech developed a mockup of the tunnel site at Intermech’s facilities, allowing the crew to fine-tune the grout formula in a non-radioactive environment and test equipment for grout placement.

   Workers built and tested an 80-foot flume box at American Rock, a local company that supplied the grout, and four grout test pours were done there to ensure the material would adequately flow the length of the 360-foot tunnel. The team that conducted the mockups also placed the grout.

Several grout formulations were tested to ensure the grout was the correct consistency to flow from one end of the tunnel to the other. 

   “Our singular focus was to safely fill the tunnel with grout,” said Andre LaBonty, CHPRC manager for the grouting project. “We had a skilled and dedicated team from day one. Careful planning and orchestration ensured safety of employees around the moving concrete trucks and a smooth flow of traffic.”

   The tunnel, holding eight rail cars containing legacy plutonium processing equipment, partially collapsed May 9, but was immediately stabilized with sand and soil. Grouting the entire tunnel eliminated a potential threat of further collapse, while protecting workers, the public, and the environment from radiological hazards, yet not precluding future remedial actions or final closure decisions.

-Contributor: Destry Henderson

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Site Preparation Underway for Second Mega-Volume Saltsone Disposal Unit at SRS

EM approved the start of site preparation for the next mega-volume Saltstone Disposal Unit (SDU) at Savannah River Site, marked in blue. SDU 6 is at left.

AIKEN, S.C. – Workers have begun preparing for the second 32.8-million-gallon saltstone disposal unit at the Savannah River Site (SRS). 

   EM approved 13 months of construction work to ready the site for the Saltstone Disposal Unit 7 (SDU 7).  

   DOE-Savannah River Site Manager Jack Craig said the disposal units are critical to remediating SRS waste tanks.

   “Construction on SDU 7 is an important step toward readying the liquid waste facilities for the Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF) startup, and furthering progress on closing the high-level waste tanks at SRS,” said Craig.

   SRS liquid waste contractor Savannah River Remediation (SRR) will relocate a trailer complex; re-route stormwater drainage, electrical utilities, and communication systems; excavate nearly 170,000 cubic yards of dirt; and install the structural base slab.

   SRR began construction late last month by removing trailer decking. Workers are scheduled to relocate six construction trailers this month. They removed trees within the SDU 7 footprint.

   SRR President and Project Manager Tom Foster noted that approval to begin constructing SDU 7 came three months after SRR finished building SDU 6, 16 months ahead of schedule and $25 million under budget.

   “Completing Saltstone Disposal Unit 6 provided the liquid waste team a template to safely complete construction on the next era of mega-vaults,” Foster said. “This culture of disciplined operations will continue as we begin construction on the footprint of Saltstone Disposal Unit 7.”

   It’s the second SDU to be constructed using an innovative design mirroring disposal units for commercial water applications.

   SRS SDUs can accommodate SWPF’s large stream of decontaminated salt solution. SWPF is scheduled to begin operating in December 2018.

   The larger design brings cost savings because it requires less infrastructure and materials to design and build. SRS will need only seven of the larger units to meet mission needs — equivalent to 80 small SDUs, each holding roughly 3 million gallons. 

   SWPF is key to the SRS liquid waste program and will process the majority of the site’s salt waste inventory. Removing salt waste, which fills over 90 percent of tank space in the SRS tank farms, is a major step toward emptying and closing the site’s remaining 43 high-level waste tanks.

-Contributor: Maddie Blair

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ORP Grand Challenge Encourages Culture of Continuous Improvement, Innovation

Marcel Bergeron of Office of River Protection (ORP) tank farms contractor Washington River Protection Solutions shares his team's Grand Challenge proposal at a workshop hosted by ORP in September. 

RICHLAND, Wash. – An EM Office of River Protection (ORP) annual competition provides a forum for creative ideas that could lead to cost savings and efficiencies for Hanford’s tank waste cleanup mission. 

   Since its inception five years ago, the Grand Challenge has grown in scale and was recently recognized as a DOE Best Practice for Leadership and Organizational Transformation.

   “The Grand Challenge competition has captured the attention, and the imagination, of the Environmental Management complex,” said Elaine Diaz, ORP’s chief engineer.

   The competition is open to federal employees, contractors, DOE national laboratory employees, private companies, faculty and students of universities, and stakeholders. 

   “The Grand Challenge encourages a culture of continuous improvement in safety and mission efficiency and engages our internal workforce and the external scientific community in the process of overcoming our biggest challenges,” said Naomi Jaschke, ORP chief technology officer and Grand Challenge lead for 2017.

Judges discuss the final proposals at the Grand Challenge Workshop in September. Judges include representatives from DOE and its national laboratories, academia, and contractors.

   ORP sends out a request for ideas each spring, with submissions due around mid-July. A screening team reviews the proposals in August and selects about 10 finalists to present their ideas at the ORP-hosted Grand Challenge Workshop in September. The winning proposal, and other high-scoring submissions, are further evaluated for possible implementation at ORP.

   Over the years, dozens of proposals have been studied for implementation, and others have been endorsed for outside funding opportunities. 

   When reviewing proposals, judges consider factors such as technical viability and risks, feasibility within required timeframes and safety requirements, cost avoidance and savings, and process efficiencies. Judges include representatives from DOE, the national labs, academia, and contractors. The target cost savings for each submittal is over $250 million.

   “Grand Challenge is about getting the job done better, safer, and sooner, and spending less of our tax dollars in the process,” Diaz said. “By tapping into great ideas from industry, academia, our network of national labs, and our own employees, we can make a significant difference.”

-Contributor: Dieter Bohrmann 

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SRS Builds on Cutting Edge Technology to Keep Workers Safe

AIKEN, S.C. – Savannah River Site (SRS) employees work safer and smarter thanks to innovative technology such as heart rate monitors, cooling vests, and automatic welding systems.

   “Using tools, machines, and technology is key to keeping all employees safe,” said Jim Folk, DOE-Savannah River Assistant Manager for Waste Disposition.

Heart Rate Monitors 

   Imagine being able to monitor your heart rate so you know when to take a timeout from work. Savannah River Remediation (SRR), the site’s liquid waste contractor, made that a reality by applying heat stress technology to physiological monitoring devices.

   An employee’s heart rate is tracked using Bluetooth and an iPad. If the heart rate exceeds a certain level for a period of time, the employee stops working to cool off, in what’s known as heat-stress intervention. The employee can resume working when the heart rate returns to normal.

   A continued elevated rate indicates the beginning of heat strain, and heat-related illnesses or injuries could follow, said SRR Safety, Health, and Environmental Director Patricia Allen. 

   “These heart rate monitors are an invaluable tool to keeping our workers safe during the scorching summer days,” Allen said. “And they have proven to be truly effective. There were more than 225 monitored activities between spring and mid-summer, and 28 of those required an intervention or resting to reduce the heart rate.”

   There have been no heat-stress cases at SRR this year.

Cooling Vests

   Cooling vests keep workers safe in hot conditions at the site’s Defense Waste Processing Facility.

   Working in a hot environment, sometimes with an impermeable chemical resistant suit, face shield, and goggles, is not easy, SRR President and Project Manager Tom Foster said.

   “The safety of our employees is the number one value at Savannah River Remediation,” Foster said. “Anything we can do to make their jobs safer and easier is at the top of our list.”

   The cooling apparatus includes a breathing air compressor, a belt-mounted climate control tube, and lightweight vest. The critical component is the climate control vortex tube that can cool (or heat) incoming air by 30 degrees. 

Automatic Welding System

   An automatic welding system improves safety by reducing the time workers spend welding piping and tubing. It’s also cost-effective, lightweight, and portable.

   The weld continuously rotates 360 degrees, allowing for reliable gas tungsten arc welds, a technique in which metals weld together through heat from an electric arc.

   SRR welding engineers are developing methods to use this system to weld heavy wall piping to further reduce personnel exposure and produce significant cost savings.

-Contributor: Colleen Hart

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EM-FIU Partnership Prepares Next-Generation Cleanup Workforce

EM and Florida International University officials join the DOE Fellows Class of 2017 and other guests at the recent induction ceremony.

MIAMI – DOE recently inducted several Florida International University (FIU) students into its fellowship program that serves as an incubator and pipeline for EM’s future workforce.

   “It is our hope at the Department of Energy that these STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) students will be part of the next generation of scientists and engineers that will continue DOE-EM’s mission into the future,” said Kurt Gerdes, director of EM’s Office of Subsurface Closure, who participated in the induction ceremony. 

   The ability to address EM's scientific and research needs — ultimately aimed at meeting complex cleanup challenges — is rooted in EM’s partnerships with colleges and universities, including FIU.

   EM works to attract, train, and retain the next-generation cleanup workforce in fields such as nuclear, engineering, science, and construction — good-paying jobs supporting EM’s cleanup.

   Since 1995, FIU’s Applied Research Center has supported EM’s mission of accelerated risk reduction and cleanup of the legacy of the nation’s nuclear weapons program. Recent work includes developing robotic platforms and tools to better detect potential leaks in high-level waste tanks underground at the Hanford Site in Washington state.

   “We see the results that FIU produces in our technical areas of D&D, soil and groundwater contamination, high-level waste treatment and disposal, and information technology,” said Gerdes. “The outcome of FIU’s research is being integrated in real world application at our facilities across the EM complex.”

   The DOE Fellows Class of 2017 includes Joseph Coverston, Ryan Cruz, Katherine Delarosa, Christopher Excellent, Silvia Garcia, Alejandro Koszarycz, Manuel Losada, Ximena Lugo, Anibal Morales-Zambrana, Joshua Núñez, and Tristan Simoes-Ponce. 

   Since its inception in 2007, the DOE-FIU Science and Technology Workforce Development Program has inducted 142 fellows who are mentored in research, development, and deployment of new cleanup technologies. The students participate in 10-week DOE internships and present their research at international and national conferences.

   The DOE Fellows Program results in a 98-percent hiring rate for students who complete the program, including 10 DOE Fellows hired by DOE, national labs, and DOE contractors; 13 hired by other government agencies; and 61 hired by the STEM industry.

   “The support that DOE-EM provides FIU is crucial for the development and training of the future workforce of scientists and engineers that will continue the DOE-EM mission into the future,” said DOE Fellows Director Dr. Leo Lagos, the DOE-FIU Cooperative Agreement’s principal investigator. 

-Contributor: Jessica Gleason

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Video Captures Employees Across EM Complex Honoring Veterans

WASHINGTON, D.C. – To mark Veterans Day on Nov. 11, EM created a video featuring its employees across the DOE complex paying tribute to the nation’s veterans. Watch the video here.The video also appears on EM's Facebook page.

-Contributor: Sherry Lawson 

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Hanford Site’s Revitalized Water Facility Supports Cleanup

RICHLAND, Wash. – EM’s Richland Operations Office (RL) recently upgraded the Hanford Site’s oldest operating water treatment facility, ensuring a dependable water source for the Central Plateau cleanup.

   Built in the 1940s, the 283W Water Treatment Facility is a conventional water treatment facility that produces potable water using four gravity-based filter beds controlled by hydraulic valves.

   To maintain drinking water standards, RL contractor Mission Support Alliance (MSA) replaced all four filter bed valves and changed the filter media in three of four filters. Filter media are fine and coarse sand that filters water to remove impurities, much like water filter systems found in households.

   A filter bed is about the size of a living room. Replacing the four filter beds, each containing hundreds of nozzles, required strategic planning and help from several MSA organizations and subject-matter experts.

Maintenance activities like replacing valves and rebuilding filter bed media are necessary to prolong dependable water delivery to Hanford’s Central Plateau.

Pictured is an old valve and its replacement in the recent project.

   Edward Lerma, plant supervisor, worked closely overseeing the maintenance activities.

   “After this work, our filters are performing even better than expected,” Lerma said. “Potable water is extremely important to the Hanford Site and is used for facility fire systems, firefighting, demolition, drilling activities, cleanup activities, and drinking water.”

   MSA sequenced the replacements to minimize disruptions to operations and the site’s water supply.

   “Replacing the filter media required careful attention to the layering of the three different types of media in each bed,” Lerma said. “As the corroded valves were replaced, electronic actuators were installed, allowing for easier operation and integration into the computerized control system.” 

-Contributors: Renee Brooks, Lori Araujo 

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