Secretary Perry, EM Assistant Secretary White Join Senator McConnell on Paducah Site Tour; Idaho Site Advances Landfill Cap Design; Cleanup Caucus Event Preview; and Much More!

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EM Update | Vol. 10, Issue 14 | April 10, 2018

Secretary Perry, EM Assistant Secretary White Join Senator McConnell on Paducah Site Tour
Landfill Cap Design Advances as Idaho Buried Waste Cleanup Winds Down
Under Secretary Paul Dabbar to Join Event for Cleanup Caucus
EM Improves Safety at ORNL Building Awaiting Demolition
Paducah Site Kicks Off 2018 Community Tours
National Robotics Week: Robots Play Key Role in SRS Liquid Waste Mission
Hanford Contractors Team Up to Erase Hunger
SRNL Internship Inspires Doctorate Studies

Secretary Perry, EM Assistant Secretary White Join Senator McConnell on Paducah Site Tour

At the largest source of groundwater contamination at the Paducah Site, April Ladd of EM’s Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office describes ongoing deactivation and remediation projects related to the C-400 Cleaning Building to Sen. Mitch McConnell (center) and Secretary Rick Perry.

PADUCAH, Ky. – Energy Secretary Rick Perry and EM Assistant Secretary Anne Marie White visited the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant Site April 5, accompanied by U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.

“We’re excited about getting to take a look at the Paducah Site and the work going on here, and to get boots on the ground,” Perry said.

The leaders toured the site and received updates on cleanup progress and ongoing deactivation and environmental remediation of the Cold-War-era uranium-enrichment facilities.

EM Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office Manager Robert Edwards (left) discusses with Secretary Rick Perry the strategy to accelerate the final remediation of the Paducah Site's largest groundwater contamination source.

Brad Pont of EM’s Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office (right) explains the functions of the Paducah C-300 Central Control Facility to EM Assistant Secretary Anne Marie White (center) as she toured the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant site last week. The C-300 is where operators monitored and ran the uranium enrichment plant for more than 60 years. Also pictured is Allison Finelli of EM headquarters (far left).

Paducah City Commissioner Sandra Wilson introduces Secretary Rick Perry to Dr. Anton Reece, president of West Kentucky Community and Technical College, during a community leaders meeting following a tour of the Paducah Site.

Following the tour, Perry and McConnell joined a meeting with federal, state, and local officials, and contractor, business, and labor leaders. It was the first opportunity for many Paducah community leaders to meet White, who was recently confirmed by the Senate as Assistant Secretary for EM.

During a media availability following the event, Perry and McConnell spoke about the importance of safe and efficient cleanup and the added benefits of maintaining employment levels for Paducah’s highly skilled and specialized workforce.

“We’re committed to making sure that the resources are there, and making sure that the professional oversight is in place,” Perry said. “And having quality people like Anne White to oversee this, I have great confidence that this site is going to be appropriately addressed, and the people of Paducah can have confidence.”

-Contributors: Brad Mitzelfelt, Dylan Nichols

Field Note from Assistant Secretary White

Last week, I was honored to join Secretary Perry and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell at the Paducah Site for my first trip as EM Assistant Secretary. I went a day early to meet with federal staff and contractors. Robert Edwards, Jennifer Woodard, Bill Kirby, Alan Parker, and Tammy Courtney provided a great agenda and a very smooth tour. The Q&A sessions both with federal staff and the contractors clearly indicated to me their high level of conscientiousness, pride, and dedication to the project.

The trip was helpful to me in hearing insightful input that will benefit our ability at DOE headquarters to support the cleanup mission at Paducah. April Ladd laid out the work being done to deactivate the C-400 Cleaning Building in order to move forward on the “city block” strategy for the building and surrounding area. Brad Pont provided an A-plus tour of the gaseous diffusion plant control room and other areas. Clint Courtney, a control room operator at the Depleted Uranium Hexafluoride (DUF6) Conversion Project, explained how teamwork in the control room is essential to the processing operations there, and he also pointed out some challenges and how they are being worked through.

My thanks to the Mid-America Conversion Services crew at DUF6, the contract workers with Four Rivers, and the staff of Swift & Staley. Their feedback on challenges and suggested solutions will play an essential part as I formulate plans for the overall EM program direction. Thanks again to Leader McConnell and Secretary Perry for visiting EM’s Paducah site.

-Anne Marie White

Landfill Cap Design Advances as Idaho Buried Waste Cleanup Winds Down

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho – With almost 85 percent of the targeted buried transuranic waste removed from the Idaho Site’s Subsurface Disposal Area, EM and cleanup contractor Fluor Idaho are designing a cap to cover the 97-acre Cold War landfill and further protect the underlying Snake River Plain Aquifer.

EM, Fluor’s Environmental Restoration Program, and Fluor subcontractor Daniel B. Stephens & Associates have completed a 30-percent design package on how technical and environmental requirements will be met as the cap design proceeds. That package is being reviewed by DOE, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and State of Idaho. Fluor is contractually required to submit a 90-percent design package for regulatory review by April 2020.

Since 2005, crews have removed more than 8,600 cubic meters of radioactive and hazardous waste from more than 4.82 acres of the landfill in compliance with a 2008 record of decision between DOE, EPA, and the State of Idaho. The landfill received waste in unlined pits and trenches from the now-closed Rocky Flats Plant near Denver from 1954 until 1970. The remediation project is approximately 2 years ahead of schedule with less than 1 acre remaining to exhume.

The Subsurface Disposal Area before and after (illustrated) cap construction.

A cap that prevents the migration of rain and snowmelt through the remaining debris and contaminated soil is a key component of the record of decision and is crucial to long-term protection of the aquifer located 585 feet below the ground surface. Due to the desert climate and low rainfall conditions in eastern Idaho, a cap consisting of native soils and gravel, termed an evapotranspiration cover, is preferred over a synthetic cap.

Two ancient dry lake beds, located just 1.5 miles from the landfill, are the preferred sources of the nearly 3 million cubic yards of material required to construct the cap. Planners anticipate a barrier between the cap surface and the remaining buried waste will be up to 10 feet thick.

EM, Fluor, and Daniel B. Stephens & Associates are working on the 60-percent design for the cap. They will consider many factors and data points, including the ideal soil and plants to use, how to account for settling, and both long- and short-term maintenance needs. Studies are ongoing on the potential borrow site areas, examining how porous the soil is, its particle size, and compaction capabilities.

-Contributors: Danielle Miller, Erik Simpson

Under Secretary Paul Dabbar to Join Event for Cleanup Caucus

Under Secretary for Science Paul Dabbar (left) is briefed by Savannah River National Laboratory Senior Fellow Scientist Bob Pierce on research for processing graphite fuel during Dabbar’s recent visit to the Savannah River Site. Taylor Playforth of DOE Congressional Affairs is in the background.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – DOE Under Secretary for Science Paul Dabbar will speak at an event for the House Nuclear Cleanup Caucus on Wednesday, April 11, discussing EM and national laboratory priorities.

“After visiting many EM sites and national labs over the past several months, I am impressed by the progress being made in the field when it comes to environmental cleanup and American innovation,” Dabbar said. “Increased synergy among EM, our labs, and the Office of Science is putting us on a stronger path. I look forward to discussing ongoing efforts to boost momentum across the board.”

DOE’s offices of EM, Science, Technology Transitions, Legacy Management, and the National Laboratory Operations Board, fall under Dabbar’s purview.

During his six months on the job, including some lab visits prior to confirmation, Under Secretary Dabbar has visited 11 DOE sites, including Hanford, the Savannah River Site and the Savannah River National Laboratory, and all 10 of the Science-run National Labs.

Chaired by Rep. Chuck Fleischmann of Tennessee, and co-chaired by Rep. Ben Luján of New Mexico, the bipartisan caucus serves to educate lawmakers about EM and advocate for cleanup in Congress.

Sponsored by the Energy Technology and Environmental Business Association, Nuclear Energy Institute, 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.

To RSVP, email cleanup@nei.org.

-Contributor: Jessica Gleason

EM Improves Safety at ORNL Building Awaiting Demolition

Crews conduct a process known as “fogging” to blow a fixative material into contaminated hot cells and laboratories to encapsulate and immobilize radioactive conntamination.

OAK RIDGE, Tenn. – DOE’s Oak Ridge Office of EM (OREM) and its cleanup contractor URS|CH2M Oak Ridge (UCOR) have completed one of the final steps to ensure a highly contaminated building at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) remains safe.

Building 3028, known as the Radioisotope Production Lab, contains seven inactive hot cells and former laboratories used for isotope and target fabrication production from 1950 until 1985. The facility is located in ORNL’s central campus near modern infrastructure housing thousands of researchers and staff.

The hot cells were emptied years ago, but the internal surfaces were still highly contaminated. To reduce the hazards, the team recently applied a fixative to encapsulate and immobilize the radioactive contamination. This process, known as “fogging,” is used to blow a fixative material into the hot cells and laboratories to plate the interior surfaces.

This project is part of DOE’s Excess Contaminated Facilities Initiative. Using special congressional funding, OREM is enhancing safety at ORNL and the Y-12 National Security Complex by removing risks and stabilizing buildings as they await eventual demolition.

“Through the Excess Contaminated Facilities Initiative, we are continuing to execute meaningful risk reduction projects across ORNL,” said Bill McMillan, ORNL portfolio federal project director. “This project is another example of how our cleanup program is working to keep employees safe and enable DOE’s important ongoing missions.”

Workers conduct "fogging" to plate interior surfaces.

Isotope and target fabrication production took place in Building 3028, which operated from 1950 until 1985. Through the Oak Ridge Office of EM’s work, it is now in safe standby mode.

The team completed the tasks inside Building 3028 safely and without any issues. They applied four coats of the fixative. After the material dried, workers took samples to determine the effectiveness of fogging, and the results demonstrated success in controlling residual radioactivity contained within the hot cells.

The only non-industrial hazard identified in Building 3028 is the residual surface radioactive contamination, which was addressed by fogging. The four-story structure is in safe standby mode, and the only remaining operations inside the facility are related to OREM’s surveillance and maintenance activities.

-Contributors: Wayne McKinney and Ben Williams

Paducah Site Kicks Off 2018 Community Tours

PADUCAH, Ky. – Steve Christmas of Four Rivers Nuclear Partnership leads the EM Paducah Site’s first community tour of 2018 Saturday during a stop at the Central Control Facility. Also known as the C-300 Building, the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant's nerve center was where uranium-enrichment operations were overseen for more than 60 years. Now in their third consecutive year, the seasonal tours have oriented more than 1,200 public visitors with the history and current mission at the western Kentucky site.

-Contributor: Ron Dockery

National Robotics Week: Robots Play Key Role in SRS Liquid Waste Mission

AIKEN, S.C. – They crawl. They clean. They make work safer.

Highly hazardous working environments at the Savannah River Site (SRS) make it necessary to have robots complete important but remote work in areas where humans cannot go.

This National Robotics Week, April 7-15, Savannah River Remediation (SRR), EM’s liquid waste contractor at SRS, has several robots deserving of recognition. They do everything from radioactive waste tank sampling, inspecting, and cleaning to contaminated cell cleanup and remote repairs. And thanks to the SRR robots, the risk of the liquid waste is being reduced to the workers, the community, and the environment.

Waste tank closure is key to the SRS liquid waste mission. There are 43 underground waste tanks — each containing Cold War era radioactive liquid waste — left to be operationally closed. Robots are used in various steps of the closure process.

G.I. Joe

A crawler nicknamed G.I. Joe is used to sample the waste in the tanks. To retrieve the samples, G.I Joe is remotely controlled with the help of cameras to maneuver inside the tank. The robot’s arm grips a specially fabricated collection device used to scoop up the sample. Then the robot maneuvers to another area within the tank, where the sample is placed in a retrieval basket so it can be lifted from the tank.

Wall crawler

SRR manages the surveillance of the aging tanks and uses robots to maintain the tanks’ integrity while they await closure. The primary tank walls and the outer annuluses are inspected with a remotely manipulated camera using high-resolution photography and ultrasonic inspections. The cameras and sensors for these inspections are deployed on wall crawler robots to help them maneuver around the tank.

Melt Cell Crawler

The Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF), operated by SRR, uses a vessel called a melter to glassify the high-level liquid waste into a glass form safe for long-term storage. Last year, workers replaced the melter. SRR called on EM’s Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) to help clean and remove radioactive debris that remained on the melt cell floor. SRNL modified a compact robot that was remotely deployed into the cell by crane. The laboratory also developed the tools needed for the robot to gather and package the debris for disposal.

Robotic Duo

Also in the liquid waste system are the evaporators, vessels that boil salt waste water until it evaporates, which in turn reduces the waste volume. In February 2016, one evaporator developed a leak into a contained, remote area. A dynamic robotic duo came to the rescue for repair. An arm called KUKA and a base called Brokk were joined together for repair preparations, which included removal of insulation around the vessel, holding a camera inside the cell, and maneuvering an ultrasonic probe to measure the thickness of the vessel. To complete the job, the pair welded a specialized cap onto the vessel to repair the leak site.

-Contributor: Colleen Hart

Hanford Contractors Team Up to Erase Hunger

Mission Support Alliance President Bob Wilkinson, left, and Bechtel Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant Project Director Brian Reilly helped pack more than 6,100 Bite2Go food kits.

RICHLAND, Wash. – Two contractors at EM’s Hanford Site recently teamed up to help end childhood hunger.

Employees from Bechtel’s Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) and site services provider Mission Support Alliance (MSA) volunteered with Second Harvest Tri-Cities by packaging weekend food kits for the Bite2Go program. The kits, which include food products that don’t need to be refrigerated or cooked, are distributed to local children who may not otherwise have access to food over the weekend.

“Hungry kids have a harder time learning and staying focused in school,” said Bob Wilkinson, MSA’s president. “Supporting this program gives these students, our future leaders, the opportunity to do better in school.”

Mission Support Alliance organizes at least four volunteer events at Second Harvest each year because employees feel so strongly about the organization and enjoy seeing the tangible results of their efforts.

Bechtel’s NextGen and Women@Bechtel employee resource groups volunteer at the Bite2Go Builds and mobile markets throughout the year.

Bechtel and MSA employees volunteer at Second Harvest for hundreds of hours a year. In addition, the companies make corporate financial contributions to support the Bite2Go program.

“It’s exposure to things like this that make you realize how lucky and fortunate you are,” WTP project director Brian Reilly said. “It makes me feel good that I can do something that helps the community, especially children.”

Holly Siler, regional executive director of Second Harvest, appreciates the support from the Hanford contractors.

“Bite2Go has reached new levels of service thanks to the time and financial contributions from Bechtel and MSA,” Siler said. “Hanford contractors are such a vital part of our economy, it’s amazing to see the support they are also willing to provide in the community.”

-Contributor: Renee Brooks

SRNL Internship Inspires Doctorate Studies

Emily Searles presents a poster of her research conducted as a Savannah River National Laboratory intern at the laboratory’s poster presentation.

AIKEN, S.C. – When Emily Searles, a senior at Roanoke College in Virginia, arrived for her summer 2017 internship at EM’s Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL), her main goal was to experience real-world research. By the time she left, she was inspired to take the next step on her career path.

“I went into my summer project wishing to better understand what real-world research looked like, to determine if I wished to pursue a career in the field of chemistry,” said Searles. “After my experience at SRNL I knew I wanted to pursue a doctorate in chemistry.”

Her internship, through the DOE Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internships (SULI), let her work with Dr. Simona Murph, a principal scientist in SRNL’s National Security directorate and the founder of the Group for Innovation and Advancements in Nano-Technology Sciences. Searles created multifunctional iron oxide-gold nanoparticles and used them to detect ultra-low levels of chemical species in environmental samples.

“SRNL provided an internship experience that fostered an open environment of learning through real-world, hands-on experiences that allowed for a depth in knowledge in a particular project of meaningful science,” she said.

The research Searles conducted at SRNL was one of three projects selected for Roanoke College’s Enrichment Program in Chemistry lecture series.

“It is so gratifying to see that through academic and experimental research at SRNL, our interns are developing the knowledge and skills needed to be successful in their post-internship careers.” Murph said.

“Outstanding research mentors like Dr. Murph and the structure of our SULI internships combine to give our interns a valuable competitive edge,” said Natalie Ferguson, program manager for SRNL Workforce Management and lab education director for SULI Internships.

After graduation, Searles plans to attend graduate school in chemistry, concentrating on physical chemistry and nanotechnology. She has been accepted into five universities, including Rice University, Virginia Commonwealth University, University of Texas at Austin, University of Tennessee, and University of South Carolina at Columbia.

“I hope to find a career in the chemical industry and apply the skills I have learned through internships, my undergraduate studies, and future graduate experiences,” Searles said.

-Contributor: Jamacia Jimerson

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