DOE Under Secretary for Science Paul Dabbar Visits SRS; EM Completes Phase 1 Cleanup at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; Modifications Complete at Idaho Waste Treatment Facility in Preparation for Demonstration Run; and much more!

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EM Update | Vol. 10, Issue 9 | March 6, 2018

DOE Under Secretary for Science Paul Dabbar Visits SRS
EM Completes Phase 1 Cleanup at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
PMI Chapter Recognizes Two Hanford Projects for Exceptional Project Management
Modifications Complete at Idaho Waste Treatment Facility in Preparation for Demonstration Run
DOE Savannah River “Science Bowl” Challenges High School Students
EM Contractor Funds Youth Robotics Program in Rural Idaho Communities
Savannah River Remediation Sets Company Record at Over 7 Million Safe Work Hours
Advisory Board Gets Up-Close Perspective of Excess Facilities at Oak Ridge

DOE Under Secretary for Science Paul Dabbar Visits SRS

Savannah River National Laboratory Senior Fellow Scientist Bob Pierce (right) explains the research he is conducting for processing graphite fuel to Under Secretary for Science Paul Dabbar (left) and Taylor Playforth of DOE Congressional Affairs.

AIKEN, S.C. – Department of Energy (DOE) Under Secretary for Science Paul Dabbar recently visited the Savannah River Site (SRS) to learn more about site operations and the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL).

On day one of his two day visit, Dabbar focused on nuclear operations with stops at all the site’s major nuclear materials management and cleanup facilities. He received an overview of the Plutonium Down-blend process in K Area. Dabbar then toured the L Area Disassembly Basin and Spent Nuclear Fuel Storage, followed by a briefing on nuclear processing in H Canyon, the only operating, production-scale, radiologically shielded chemical separations facility in the United States. Dabbar also visited the facilities housing the Savannah River Tritium Enterprise, which is operated by the site’s managing and operating contractor, Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, for the National Nuclear Security Administration. SRTE helps to maintain the U.S. nuclear stockpile by supplying gas transfer systems, which ensure the performance of nuclear weapons.

Other highlights included a liquid waste overview at the Defense Waste Processing Facility, a stop at the Salt Waste Processing Facility and a tour of the Saltstone Disposal Unit

DOE Facility Representative for the Defense Waste Processing Facility Keith Sandroni (right) provides an overview of DWPF melter operations to Under Secretary for Science Paul Dabbar.

Under Secretary for Science Paul Dabbar (left) and Savannah River Nuclear Solutions Materials Disposition Engineer Mike Lewczyk watch as H Canyon Crane Operator Bruce Cain demonstrates using remote-control cranes.

On the second day, Dabbar signed an agreement establishing EM’s Savannah River National Laboratory as the lead national laboratory providing technical support to DOE’s management of remediated cleanup sites.

According to the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), the DOE Office of Legacy Management (DOE-LM) will gain formal access to SRNL technical expertise and assistance. Since the mid-1990s, the lab has addressed critical technical issues for DOE-LM, which manages and monitors more than 90 sites in the former nuclear weapons complex where environmental cleanup has been completed.

Dr. Terry A. Michalske (left), Director of Savannah River National Laboratory, Under Secretary for Science Paul Dabbar, and Michael Budney, Manager of the Savannah River Operations Office sign a Memorandum of Understanding establishing SRNL as the lead national laboratory providing technical support to the DOE Office of Legacy Management.

SRNL is the lead national laboratory supporting ongoing cleanup by the DOE Office of Environmental Management. The MOU designates the laboratory as lead for DOE-LM as well.

“This MOU facilitates SRNL an opportunity to provide technology for DOE’s Legacy Management office for their long-term environmental stewardship mission, with access to some of the best environmental scientists and engineers in the nation,” said Dabbar.

In addition, Dabbar toured the unique facilities at SRNL’s main campus and the materials science laboratories at its Applied Research Campus. Among the highlights of the visit were a stop at the SRNL Tritium Research Laboratories, a briefing on SRNL innovations in high-level waste processing, an overview of its nuclear materials processing expertise in the SRNL Shielded Cells Facility and a discussion about advanced manufacturing.

EM Completes Phase 1 Cleanup at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

These photos show the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Old Town area before and after completion of the first of four cleanup phases.

BERKELEY, Calif. – EM has completed the first of four ongoing cleanup phases at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) by demolishing three structures, removing floor slabs and foundations from two previously demolished buildings and remediating nearly 2,700 cubic yards of contaminated soil.

As part of the cleanup phase, crews tore down a chemistry annex built in the 1940s that provided expanded research laboratory space for housing radioactive substances; an industrial and scientific research facility; and an associated storage facility.

Under its cleanup objective, EM is scheduled to demolish four additional buildings remaining in the “Old Town” section of the laboratory. Altogether, the seven facilities and remaining floor slabs covered about 48,000 square feet. They date back to the 1940s and were declared seismically deficient.

No workers sustained injury resulting in missed days of work during the project’s first phase.

In upcoming project phases, crews will remove the remaining buildings, their floor slabs and foundations and associated contaminated soil, and restore the area for future use.

The cleanup is focused on an area of the Northern California laboratory that played an active role in groundbreaking science following World War II. In their heyday, the site’s facilities supported pioneering physics research using the lab’s cyclotron particle accelerator.

The project is being completed by EM and the University of California, as the Management and Operations contractor at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

-Contributors: Kevin Bazzell, David Sheeley

PMI Chapter Recognizes Two Hanford Projects for Exceptional Project Management

CH2M HILL Plateau Remediation Company (CHPRC) won the Project Management Institute's Columbia River Basin Chapter 2018 Project of the Year award. Individuals from CHPRC and its small business partners Intermech Inc. and Ojeda Business Ventures accepted the award for outstanding planning and work that went into the Plutonium Uranium Extraction Facility (PUREX) Tunnel 1 project. Pictured left to right: Rochelle Twomey (CHPRC), Mark Malloy (Intermech Inc), Andre LaBonte (CHPRC), Mark Wright (CHPRC), Jhivaun Freeman-Pollard (CHPRC), Darin Corriell (CHPRC), Luis Ojeda (Ojeda Business Ventures), Kory Voldman (CHPRC).

RICHLAND, Wash. – The Columbia River Basin Chapter of the Project Management Institute (PMI) honored two Hanford projects at its annual awards gala Feb. 23. EM’s Richland Operations Office sponsored both winning entries.

The Project of the Year award was presented to contractor CH2M HILL Plateau Remediation Company for successfully grouting Tunnel 1 of the Plutonium Uranium Extraction plant following a partial collapse in May 2017. Crews worked mostly at night to place several thousand cubic yards of engineered grout into the tunnel. The grout will reduce the risk of further collapse and increase the protection for workers, the public, and the environment from radiological hazards, while not precluding future remedial actions or final closure decisions.

The People’s Choice Award went to Hanford Live 2017, an innovative two-hour broadcast held in April 2017. The interactive program allowed the public to engage in real time with Hanford managers via multiple online platforms. Hanford Live was a collaboration involving staff from DOE, numerous contractors, and the Hanford regulators — Washington Department of Ecology and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — with additional participation from the Hanford Advisory Board. The project was nominated by contractor Mission Support Alliance.

EM Richland Operations Office contractor Mission Support Alliance (MSA) won the Project Management Institute’s Columbia River Basin Chapter 2018 People's Choice Award for Hanford Live 2017, an interactive broadcast designed to enable people from across the world to participate in a public meeting. Project team members pictured left to right: DOE's Rich Buel, MSA's Dana Cowley and Jen Colborn, and contractor North Wind's Dieter Bohrmann.

“I’m extremely proud of the teamwork involved in both of these unique projects,” said DOE Richland Manager Doug Shoop. “The collaboration between multiple agencies and contractors, and coordination and communication with stakeholders, helped drive successful outcomes, and both projects are very deserving of recognition.”

The award recipients now have the opportunity to apply for national and global competitions. Last year, another Hanford contractor, Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS), earned the prestigious Global Project of the Year award for the Double-Shell Tank AY-102 Recovery Project.

Approximately 100 people attended this year’s local PMI awards gala at the Richland Community Center. The other entries — those nominated for awards that did not win — included WRPS’s AW-106 Pump Replacement Project and the Women Helping Women Fund Tri-Cities’ 2017 Luncheon Project Featuring Libby Moore.

-Contributor: Dana Cowley Gribble

Modifications Complete at Idaho Waste Treatment Facility in Preparation for Demonstration Run

The new brick refractory in the Carbon Reduction Reformer at the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit.

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho – Modifications are complete to two of the reaction vessels of the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit (IWTU), and crews are re-assembling the facility’s components in preparation for the next demonstration run this spring at EM's Idaho Site. The IWTU is designed to treat 900,000 gallons of liquid waste stored in underground tanks at the site.

While most of the attention ahead of the demonstration run had been on modifying the sodium-bearing waste treatment facility’s primary reaction vessel – the Denitration Mineralization Reformer (DMR) – IWTU crews also replaced the Carbon Reduction Reformer’s (CRR) refractory, or insulation material, which protects the vessel’s outer wall from extreme heat while operating. The insulation was replaced with a brick-like material, which is expected to fare much better during the facility’s heat cycles.

The CRR, which operates at 1750 degrees Fahrenheit, converts organics in the liquid waste material to carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide. Additionally, it converts the nitrogen oxide generated during waste treatment to nitrogen, further reducing any emissions.

Fluor Idaho Force Account welders earlier modified the shape of the DMR. Based on computer modeling and testing at Hazen Research Inc., in Colorado, engineers had determined the shape of the DMR was not conducive to optimum waste treatment and actually hampered the fluidization of billions of tiny beads necessary to convert liquid waste to a granular solid. The bottom of the DMR was redesigned to an inverted cone from its previous, half-moon shape.

Like previous demonstration runs at IWTU, a waste simulant resembling radioactive liquid waste at the Idaho Nuclear Technology and Engineering Center’s tank farm will be used to test the IWTU’s processes. In the next run, scheduled to begin in late March, phosphoric acid will be added to the simulant to minimize the chance of wall scale – a bark-like material – from forming on the inside of the DMR. The wall scale disrupts the fluidization process.

The demonstration run is expected to be the longest for the IWTU, totaling approximately 80 days, and consisting of a fluidization test and a subsequent waste feed rate and particle size test.

-Contributor: Erik Simpson

DOE Savannah River “Science Bowl” Challenges High School Students

DOE Science Bowl teams from the Savannah River Regional competition participate in the American Chemical Society Savannah River Section sponsored “brain teaser” activity. Pictured from Westminster High School in Augusta, Ga., are (left to right) Lisa Xia, Sarah Banta and Caroline Vickery.

AIKEN, S.C. – The Savannah River Site (SRS) recently organized and sponsored a regional Science Bowl competition making it one of only four DOE sites to have participated each year at the regional level since the start of the DOE Science Bowl competition in 1991. This year’s winning team from Lakeside High School, Evans, Ga., will be rewarded with an all-expense paid trip to Washington D.C. for the national competition in April.

The 2018 Savannah River Regional contest was held in partnership with the University of South Carolina Aiken and involved 120 students making up 24 teams from 15 high schools from across South Carolina and nearby Augusta, Ga. The event was kicked off by Pam Marks, Federal Project Director of the Salt Waste Processing Facility Project Office.

Marks expressed the importance of pursuing careers requiring STEM-based skills and applauded the teams for the time and commitment they invested in preparing for the competition. The DOE Science Bowl is the only academic competition of its kind sponsored by a federal agency that tests students’ knowledge in all areas of science.

Science Judge Brent Peters (left), scorekeeper Jeff Igel and moderator Dr. Brian Looney (right), discuss with Pamela Marks how the double elimination rounds are conducted during the recent Savannah River Science Bowl competition held in Aiken, S.C

Lakeside High School from Evans, Ga., wins the 2018 Savannah River Regional DOE Science Bowl competition. Pictured left to right: Abhijay Suhag, Saurabh Wakade, William Marcus, Felix Pei, and Krishan Mistry.

The Science Bowl format is similar to the television show “Jeopardy,” where teams face-off during a timed period of fast-paced question-and-answers. Questions cover a wide range of science disciplines including biology, chemistry, earth science, physics, energy and math.

Volunteers from across the Savannah River Site worked as scorekeepers, timers and judges during the tournament. Many of the volunteers have participated for over twenty years with a notable influx of new SRS employees joining as volunteers in recent years.

In addition to the regular competition, a “brain teaser” activity is coordinated by the Savannah River Section of the American Chemical Society, providing an opportunity for the teams that are eliminated after the round robin portion of the competition to remain engaged in science and showcase their chemistry knowledge.

-Contributor: DT Townsend

EM Contractor Funds Youth Robotics Program in Rural Idaho Communities

A team of students from rural Idaho communities near EM's Idaho Site tied for third place in a robotics championship in February. The team includes, back row, left to right: Caleb Hampton, Macy Larsen, Kylee Haight, Ben Goldthorpe, JoAnn Schaefer, Garrett Wilkie, and Rylen Wilkie; front row, left to right: Jennifer Schaefer, Dylan Tessmer, Alyssa Hawley.

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho – Students from Howe, Arco, and Mackay are proving there’s as much emphasis on technology as there is in tractors in these rural Idaho farming communities.

A large portion of this area of some 3,000 residents is adjacent to the 890 square miles that forms the EM's Idaho Site. Agriculture is the area’s primary industry, but thanks in part to grants from EM cleanup contractor Fluor Idaho, local students are learning about the technologies key to the national laboratory they share a border with.

This growing interest in technology is evident in students like Mackay High School senior Nathan Hampton. A member of the Custer County 4-H Club, Hampton wrote a grant request to purchase materials to develop a science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) project based on robotics.

“STEM related projects under 4-H allow for members to pursue interests outside of the traditional livestock and food science curriculum,” Nathan said. “I personally believe that the 4-H program provides a unique pathway of learning that can reach youth in a different, but complementary, way to traditional STEM classroom curriculum.”

Hampton helped members of the neighboring Butte County 4-H Club submit a similar grant request to aid in the growth of their robotics program.

Fluor Idaho funded both requests, enabling the Custer County 4-H program to develop new STEM curriculum and the Butte County 4-H program to expand its budding 4-H robotics program.

Using robot kits purchased with the Fluor Idaho grant, students from Howe, Arco, and Mackay formed a robotics team last year to compete in the FIRST LEGO League, an international robotics competition in February designed to ignite STEM enthusiasm among young people.

For five months the students met two to three times a week to prepare for the competition involving 45 teams. This included performing research, developing presentations, and designing, building, and programming their robot. Their hard work paid off as the Butte County 4-H Team tied for third place in the robotic portion of the competition, just five points behind the first-place team.

-Contributor: Rick Dale

Savannah River Remediation Sets Company Record at Over 7 Million Safe Work Hours

Savannah River Remediation operations employees safely re-wet the inside of Tank 15 prior to bulk waste removal efforts.

AIKEN, S.C. – Employees with EM’s liquid-waste contractor recently set a company record by surpassing 7 million hours, or a year and a half, without injury resulting in a missed day of work at the Savannah River Site (SRS).

It’s the first time Savannah River Remediation (SRR) crossed the 7-million-hour threshold under its EM contract, which began July 1, 2009. SRR recorded its previous safety record in 2015 when employees reached 6.5 million hours without injury resulting in a missed day of work.

Disciplined operations at SRR are woven into the safety culture, creating an environment where employees leave SRS the same way they arrived. Over the past year and a half, safe work practices contributed to accomplishments in the liquid waste mission, including:

Completing bulk waste removal in Tank 15, one of the site’s remaining 43 high-level waste tanks;
Finishing construction of the site’s first mega-volume disposal unit and beginning construction of the next;
Removing Melter 2 in the Defense Waste Processing Facility and replacing it with Melter 3; and,
Continuing outage maintenance at the liquid waste facilities, preparing for safe and continued operations for years to come.

SRR President and Project Manager Tom Foster said accomplishing this safety record starts with employees incorporating safety into their daily work and staying vigilant while executing their important mission.

“SRR is moving the liquid waste mission forward each time an employee works safely, whether it is by attending a pre-job briefing, abiding by the posted speed limits, or calling a time out with their work,” Foster said. “This string of hours represents SRR’s focus on safety and the commitment we have to our community and state to reduce the risk of legacy liquid waste.”

-Contributor: Ashley Dernberger

Advisory Board Gets Up-Close Perspective of Excess Facilities at Oak Ridge

The Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management provides tours to Oak Ridge Site Specific Advisory Board members to give them an up-close look at current projects. This month’s tour focused on DOE’s excess contaminated facilities at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Y-12 National Security Complex.

OAK RIDGE, Tenn. – Federal project directors recently took members of the Oak Ridge Site Specific Advisory Board (ORSSAB) on a tour to view DOE’s excess contaminated facilities at the Y-12 National Security Complex (Y-12) and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL).

Oak Ridge contains nearly a third of the Department’s high-risk facilities — far more than any other DOE location. The Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM) is working to reduce risks and prepare a portion of these buildings for eventual demolition.

The board, comprised of 22 local members, is a vital component of OREM’s commitment to community engagement and serves as a resource for the cleanup program to gather insight, opinions, and recommendations from the public. The board meets monthly to learn about and discuss cleanup projects. When applicable, OREM provides tours for members to get an up-close look at that month’s topic to enhance their understanding.

Federal Project Director Brian Henry led the tour at Y-12, where he focused on two major projects. First, participants were able to learn about the work underway to clean out and remove the old, mercury-contaminated COLEX equipment outside Alpha 4. Next, the tour stopped at the Biology Complex, where crews have completed characterization. This process involved evaluating and sampling these 1940s-era buildings to confirm the contents and risks to enable demolition.

That complex has been vacant since 2000, and it contains chemical, radiological, physical, and biological hazards. OREM is scheduled to tear down two of the eight remaining structures this spring, removing two high-risk facilities from Oak Ridge’s list. The goal is to remove all of the complex buildings by the early 2020s.

Federal Project Director Bill McMillan led the tour at ORNL. Participants entered Building 3028 and Building 3029 where teams completed risk reduction work earlier this year. Both were hot cell facilities that closed in the 1980s after decades of isotope research.

Federal Project Director Bill McMillan (second from left) led the tour at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, where participants are pictured in front of Building 3028. The Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management completed risk reduction activities inside the hot cell facility earlier this year.

The Oak Ridge Site Specific Advisory Board tour stopped at the Biology Complex, where characterization has been completed to identify contaminants before demolition and waste disposition.

The tour stopped at Building 7500, the Homogenous Reactor Experiment Building. OREM has conducted risk reduction and stabilization activities inside the building for almost two years. In December, workers successfully removed all of the asbestos-containing materials leaving Building 7500 empty and in stable condition until it can be demolished.

“We really enjoyed the opportunity to provide an in-depth and close-up look at our important work underway,” McMillan said. “I think this tour gave board members a deeper appreciation for our mission, and it helps them understand the challenges and complexities of our work as they develop future recommendations.”

-Contributors: Shelley Kimel, Ben Williams

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