Assistant Secretary Welcomes Advisory Board's Input, Emphasizes Completion Mindset; Hanford Workforce Engagement Center Celebrates Grand Opening; Paducah Site Improves Groundwater Treatment System; and Much More!

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EM Update \| Vol. 10, Issue 18 \| May 8, 2018

Assistant Secretary Welcomes Advisory Board's Input, Emphasizes Completion Mindset Officials Celebrate Opening of Hanford Assistance Center for Workers EM Sites Mark National Small Business Week EM Completes Major Upgrade to Paducah Groundwater Treatment System Demobilization Activities Progress at Hanford’s C Farm Lessons Learned From West Valley Legacy Waste Cleanup Improve Efficiency SRNL Continues Broad Array of Support for Fukushima Cleanup University of Utah Students Tour Moab Project Officials Mark Opening of Mound Cold War Discovery Center Assistant Secretary Welcomes Advisory Board's Input, Emphasizes Completion Mindset Members of the EM Site-Specific Advisory Board toured EM's Waste Isolation Pilot Plant last week as part of their semiannual meeting. Here they are pictured on the tour with EM officials. ROSWELL, N.M. – EM Assistant Secretary Anne White recently told the chairs and vice-chairs of the EM Site-Specific Advisory Board (SSAB) that she looks forward to receiving their input as she renews a completion mindset for the cleanup program. “No one understands local concerns and priorities better than the people who live, work, and raise their families near our sites,” White said in a video message presented at the board's May 3 semiannual meeting. “One of my top priorities is to reinvigorate a completion mindset throughout this program. I look forward to having the benefit of your ideas.” The chairs and vice-chairs of each local board discussed priorities of the EM sites they represent and future recommendations for White. The SSAB was created to involve stakeholders more directly in EM’s cleanup decisions, providing advice and recommendations on the cleanup and environmental management activities. Board members received an EM program and regulatory reform update from Mark Gilbertson, EM Associate Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Regulatory and Policy Affairs. Steve Trischman, Director of the Office of Budget and Planning, provided an update on the current EM budget. The EM SSAB is considered a single advisory board, however eight local boards have been organized under its umbrella charter, one at each major EM cleanup site. The local boards are the Hanford Advisory Board, Idaho National Laboratory Citizens Advisory Board (CAB), Northern New Mexico CAB, Nevada SSAB, Oak Ridge SSAB, Savannah River Site CAB, Portsmouth SSAB, and Paducah CAB. These bodies are made up of representative members of local citizens, Native American tribes, and community and public interest groups that provide recommendations to EM on its cleanup program. On May 2, the chairs and vice-chairs toured EM’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in Carlsbad, New Mexico, and received an update from Carlsbad Field Office Manager Todd Shrader. The tour gave members a firsthand view of how important WIPP operations are to the complex and the cleanup mission. -Contributor: Alyssa Harris Back to Top Officials Celebrate Opening of Hanford Assistance Center for Workers Washington state’s congressional delegation, senior DOE officials, union leadership, community leaders, and Hanford workers cut the ceremonial ribbon marking the grand opening of the Hanford Workforce Engagement Center. RICHLAND, Wash. – EM Assistant Secretary Anne White joined elected officials, Hanford Site leadership, and union leaders to celebrate the grand opening of the Hanford Workforce Engagement Center May 3. The center is a first of its kind across the DOE complex. Its mission is to be a one-stop shop for current and former Hanford workers and their families for assistance with questions about occupational health and compensation programs. “I want to thank the DOE and contractor management here at Hanford, the site workforce, and the labor unions here for their unique partnership that made this center a reality,” White said. “I hope this marks a new era of collaboration that results in these programs working more effectively and efficiently for the benefit of Hanford workers, past and present.” EM Assistant Secretary Anne White (center) talks with Rep. Dan Newhouse (left) and EM Richland Operations Office Manager Doug Shoop at the grand opening ceremony of the Hanford Workforce Engagement Center May 3 in Richland, Wash. EM Assistant Secretary Anne White tours the newly opened Hanford Workforce Engagement Center with Ashley Morris of EM’s Richland Operations Office. Additional speakers at the ceremonial ribbon-cutting included Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.); a representative of Sen. Patty Murray's office (D-Wash.); Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.); EM Richland Operations Office Manager Doug Shoop; EM Office of River Protection Manager Brian Vance; Central Washington Building and Construction Trades Council (CWBCTC) President Mike Bossé; and Hanford Atomic Metal Trades Council (HAMTC) President Jeff McDaniel. Community leaders, Hanford workers, and other community supporters attended the presentations and ribbon-cutting. DOE, Hanford contractors and the two unions — CWBCTC and HAMTC — worked together to establish the center. The center opened on April 2 and is staffed by union and non-union Hanford workers who are knowledgeable about the many programs and options available to employees with occupational health concerns and their family members. Staff members are experts on navigating the federal and state programs available to current and former Hanford workers. “The staff at the center are second to none,” said Jeff McDaniel, HAMTC president. “This is a place where workers can go to get help with their questions and get pointed in the right direction.” -Contributor: Kelly Rae Back to Top EM Sites Mark National Small Business Week In honor of National Small Business Week, held April 29 to May 5, EM Update is highlighting small businesses that work at EM sites across the DOE complex. See a handful of the small businesses supporting the cleanup below. RICHLAND, Wash. – The Hanford Site was proud to celebrate National Small Business Week and the many small businesses that work on the site. Over the last several years, Hanford prime contractors, including Mission Support Alliance (MSA), CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Company, and Washington River Protection Solutions, have awarded billions of dollars to small businesses. In this photo, workers with Watts Construction, a small business subcontractor to site services provider MSA, help with asphalt repairs on the site. -Contributor: Patrick Conrad MOAB, Utah – The Moab Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action Project works with a handful of small businesses in Utah, including Bodec Electric, Inc. which helps with electrical upkeep at the Moab and Crescent Junction project sites. -Contributor: Honora Thompson IDAHO FALLS, Idaho – PacTec, a Louisiana-based company, provides unique soil bags, called macro bags, to EM cleanup contractor Fluor Idaho to manage secondary waste generated from the sludge repackaging project at the Idaho Site's Radioactive Waste Management Complex. During the macro encapsulation process, waste boxes are wrapped in three layers of tightly cinched special plastic to create an impermeable seal between the waste and the disposal environment. The macro encapsulated waste, categorized as mixed low-level waste, is then sent offsite for permanent disposal. -Contributor: Erik Simpson CARLSBAD, N.M. – In November 2015, Edgewater Federal Solutions, Inc. was awarded a five-year contract to provide a full range of information technology (IT) services for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). As the IT contractor, Edgewater develops new products and IT systems, designs and maintains the underlying infrastructure for all IT related activities, and provides technical support services for all IT related equipment and software. "The IT services provided by Edgewater Federal Solutions, Inc. enables the employees at WIPP to safely monitor, track, and fulfill their work activities," said Mark Edwards, procurement manager with Nuclear Waste Partnership, WIPP’s management and operations contractor. "We value the contributions of our small business partners and the vital role they play in furthering the mission of WIPP." Back to Top EM Completes Major Upgrade to Paducah Groundwater Treatment System Geologists Rob Flynn (left) and Ken Davis examine core samples used to determine the location of the wells to optimize pump-and-treat operations at the Paducah Site’s northeast plume. PADUCAH, Ky. – EM has installed an enhanced system to treat contaminated groundwater at its Paducah Site. Commonly referred to as “the pump-and-treat facility,” the original system was installed in the mid-1990s to control migration of contaminated groundwater and to reduce concentrations of trichloroethene (TCE), an industrial degreaser historically used to clean parts at the former gaseous diffusion plant. To date, the pump-and-treat system has cleaned approximately 4 billion gallons of groundwater by pumping water out of the ground, treating it to remove the TCE, and returning the treated water to the environment. The enhanced northeast pump-and-treat system includes two new groundwater extraction wells, in locations closer to the contaminant source, and an improved treatment system. Drill rig operators prepare to retrieve a sample to be used to determine the location of the wells to optimize pump-and-treat operations at the Paducah Site’s northeast plume. Drill rig operators prepare to retrieve a sample to be used to determine the location of the wells to optimize pump-and-treat operations at the Paducah Site’s northeast plume. Optimization of the pump-and-treat system is intended to increase TCE removal and to control migration at the eastern edge of the Paducah Site, said Jennifer Woodard, Paducah Site lead for EM’s Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office. Woodard added that the enhanced system includes the addition of 14 monitoring wells and eight water-level measurement wells. Those wells, combined with the existing monitoring wells, provide data to evaluate performance and effectiveness of the enhanced system. “The new extraction wells and treatment system will provide more effective removal of contaminants and more efficient treatment of the extracted groundwater,” Woodard said. “Laboratory sample analysis of all startup, testing, and preoperational activities has confirmed that the enhanced system is reducing TCE concentration in the groundwater successfully.” -Contributors: Steve Christmas, Eddie Spraggs Back to Top Demobilization Activities Progress at Hanford’s C Farm Riggers use a crane to position a bottle-handling tent at Hanford’s AN Farm. The tent will be used to support workers who wear self-contained breathing apparatus needed to remove waste transfer lines from C Farm to AN Farm. RICHLAND, Wash. – EM’s Office of River Protection (ORP) and its contractor Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) continue to make substantial progress demobilizing equipment from Hanford’s C Tank Farm. In November 2017, ORP and WRPS completed waste removal operations from the last of 16 underground storage tanks in C Farm, making it the first of Hanford’s tank farms to be retrieved. C Farm is one of the oldest tank farms at Hanford, dating back to the Manhattan Project. WRPS has been working to disposition a wide variety of in-farm retrieval equipment. “We’re de-energizing most everything used for flow or power that is no longer in use,” said Garth Stowe, WRPS project manager. Permanent water and power will remain available for future use, including the possible removal of waste from Catch Tank C-301 and the 244-CR Vault, and eventual closure of all C-Farm tanks. “We’re moving along at a good pace,” Stowe said. “We had a very mild winter that allowed us to gain some momentum. We’ve got an experienced, hardworking crew that is used to adjusting to changing conditions and ensuring the work is completed safely.” By September, the team is scheduled to complete the removal of the last 20 hose-in-hose transfer lines from C Farm to AN Farm. The lines are used to move highly contaminated waste from single-shell tanks to double-shell tanks. Removing them involves disconnecting and capping the lines from tank pits, splitter boxes, and diversion boxes. The hose sections are then moved into a radiological materials area, where they will be loaded into waste containers for transport to the Environmental Restoration Disposal Facility in central Hanford. “ORP is encouraged by the great progress that continues to be made at C Farm,” Tank Retrievals Program Manager Jeff Rambo said. “Completing retrieval in these 16 tanks and beginning the process to close our first tank farm is a major cleanup achievement for Hanford, and one the workforce should take great pride in.” -Contributor: Mark McKenna Back to Top Lessons Learned From West Valley Legacy Waste Cleanup Improve Efficiency The vessel known as the Dissolver, or 3C-1, is transferred to the Remote-Handled Waste Facility at the West Valley Demonstration Project for processing. WEST VALLEY, N.Y. – EM and its cleanup contractor at the West Valley Demonstration Project (WVDP) say their commitment to applying lessons learned has helped keep them on track to reach a major milestone in legacy waste disposition later this year. “Using lessons learned to safely disposition legacy waste is a great practice that benefits the project and the environment,” WVDP Director Bryan Bower said. “It can be applied to other areas of work to further improve safety, processes, and efficiencies.” EM and CH2M HILL BWXT West Valley’s (CHBWV) waste management team have shipped for disposal just over 159,000 cubic feet of the more than 165,000 cubic feet of low-level legacy waste at the site. They need to complete about 20 more shipments to arrive at the milestone. That waste includes several large vessels used during past fuel reprocessing operations. A prominent lesson learned resulted from the team’s work on a vessel called the Dissolver, or 3C-2. During an 18-month period at the Remote-Handed Waste Facility (RHWF), crews processed, packaged and shipped the majority of this waste for disposal offsite. Original surveys of the 3C-2 showed its dose rates were above 200 millirem, which requires remote handling. Based on those dose rates, crews planned to cut the vessel into several panel-sized pieces and place them in 55-gallon drums for storage. After cutting each panel and moving them away from the 3C-2, surveys showed the dose rates dropped below the 200-millirem threshold. It was an anomaly compared to previous characterization assumptions. Crews investigated the decrease in dose rates and learned that the annulus of the Dissolver contained leached fuel hauls from past reprocessing operations. Those leached fuel hauls created the high dose rates — not the Dissolver as a whole. The team applied this lesson learned to cleanup of the second Dissolver, 3C-1, and increased work efficiency. Processing of the second Dissolver is expected to be complete in five months, compared to 18 months for the first Dissolver. Another lesson learned came with processing 3C-1. The team learned that non-destructive assay — a method for measuring radioactivity — confirmed that the box holding the 3C-1 can be size-reduced and packaged as low-level waste instead of transuranic waste. That means workers can cut the 3C-1 into two sections instead of multiple panels inside the work cell at the RHWF. Crews will package those sections in two large shipping containers for disposal offsite, and grout both portions for additional shielding and stabilization for transportation. Earlier this year, workers finished processing a third vessel, the reboiler, a component of the liquid-waste treatment system. It’s scheduled for shipment for offsite disposal in June. The team shipped a fourth vessel — the separator, another part of the liquid-waste treatment system — for offsite disposal in March. The team noted that use of lessons learned helps maintain a learning organization where pertinent information is shared and used across multiple disciplines and departments, fostering continuous improvement among employees and the organization as a whole. -Contributor: Joseph Pillittere Back to Top SRNL Continues Broad Array of Support for Fukushima Cleanup Tomoaki Kishimoto, chief associate for Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s International Relations and Strategy Group, has been working with researchers at Savannah River National Laboratory to evaluate technologies and remediation strategies for the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. AIKEN, S.C. – As Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) continues cleanup of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, the Japanese utility is deepening its relationship with EM’s Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) and other DOE laboratories to help evaluate technologies and remediation strategies. TEPCO is expected to make more use of its partnership with SRNL over the next year as the company deploys a senior engineer at the laboratory full time. Initiated in 2012, this partnership includes participation by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) at the Hanford Site. SRNL hosted a senior delegation of TEPCO executives involved in the Fukushima cleanup for meetings and a tour in mid-March. “TEPCO is certainly getting a better understanding of what the DOE national laboratories can do and at this point in the cleanup operation, they have a better understanding of what their needs are,” SRNL Associate Lab Director for Environmental Stewardship Jeff Griffin said. “We are well-positioned to help TEPCO tackle this cleanup effort.” TEPCO is increasingly relying on SRNL and PNNL to evaluate the likely effectiveness of specific cleanup technologies and waste management approaches at Fukushima. “SRNL has really been able to help in the ‘honest broker’ role, utilizing our experience in the EM world,” Griffin said. “TEPCO is doing water cleanup, decontamination, waste management, disposition pathways — all the things we’ve been dealing with in EM for 30 years. Prior to Fukushima, Japan hadn’t really been doing this kind of cleanup work. They had to jump into it overnight.” Tomoaki Kishimoto, chief associate for TEPCO’s International Relations and Strategy Group, has been embedded with SRNL leadership for nearly a year and will continue to be located at the lab in Aiken for the remainder of the year. “We’ve had much to learn about decommissioning and cleanup,” Kishimoto said. “SRNL, SRS (Savannah River Site), and the rest of DOE have been able to share many lessons learned and evaluations of technology that have helped us significantly. The relationship has been even more effective now that I’m here at SRNL to communicate our needs directly.” Griffin agreed, adding that Kishimoto’s presence at SRNL has been “tremendously” helpful. “He knows what they need and is getting to know our capabilities. He’s embedded with us and is plugged in to their emerging needs in real time.” Over the next year, SRNL and PNNL expect to ramp up work for TEPCO in a number of areas, including: Technical support to help measure and understand hydrogen gas retention in the waste in secondary containers; Identification of the various chemical species of iodine present, and recommendations on decontamination technologies tailored to each species; Selection of technologies for fuel debris cutting and decontamination; and Flowsheet improvements for increased efficiency of water treatment systems. Griffin noted that EM benefits significantly from the partnership. “This is not just about SRNL and PNNL providing assistance — the work is truly a benefit to the EM program as well,” Griffin said. “For example, TEPCO is deploying ion exchange technology for the cleanup of the water, which is the same technology we are deploying here at SRS with the Tank Closure Cesium Removal and at Hanford with Tank Side Cesium Removal. The experience in Japan is very relevant so having the labs plugged in to what’s going on in Japan in that area has been very helpful.” Back to Top University of Utah Students Tour Moab Project Senior Program Manager Joe Ritchey, center, explains Moab Site revegetation work to students visiting from the University of Utah. MOAB, Utah – A student group from the University of Utah’s Institute of Nuclear Materials Management chapter recently toured the Moab Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action Project. Students from universities tour the project, mostly in spring and summer, to complement course curricula. Students from the University of Utah gather around Senior Program Manager Joe Ritchey while he explains the soil and rock used in the disposal cell cover at the Crescent Junction Site. After a brief site history and project overview, the University of Utah students viewed the uranium mill tailings removal operations in Moab. They observed the site’s gantry crane loading a train, and visited the well field along the Colorado River to see the groundwater interim action system and recently revegetated areas. Leading the tour was Joe Ritchey, senior program manager with S&K Logistics Services, EM’s technical assistance contractor at the Moab Site. The group ended the tour at the permanent disposal cell being constructed near Crescent Junction, Utah. They saw the site where the trains arrive from Moab, the location for tailings placement, and the rock used for the cell cover. The project anticipates additional requests from student and other groups this summer. -Contributor: Honora Thompson Back to Top Officials Mark Opening of Mound Cold War Discovery Center Officials cut the ceremonial ribbon to mark the opening of the Mound Cold War Discovery Center. Pictured, left to right, are DOE Office of Legacy Management (LM) Mound Site Manager Sue Smiley, U.S. Rep. Michael Turner of Ohio, Dayton History Director Brady Kress, Mound Science and Energy Museum Association Vice President Paul Lamberger, Miamisburg Mayor Richard Church Jr., DOE Deputy Assistant Secretary for Intergovernmental and External Affairs Douglas Little, LM Team Lead Gwen Hooten, Dayton History Board of Trustees Director Mike Leesman, and Mound Development Corporation President Eric Cluxton. U.S. Rep. Michael Turner of Ohio speaks at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new Mound Cold War Discovery Center. MIAMISBURG, Ohio – Officials held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new Mound Cold War Discovery Center at the former Mound Plant site on April 23. U.S. Rep. Michael Turner of Ohio and Miamisburg Mayor Richard Church Jr. were present at the event, along with Douglas Little, DOE Deputy Assistant Secretary for Intergovernmental and External Affairs. The center is a major remodel of an existing Mound building performed by Dayton History, the official historical organization for Montgomery County, Ohio. DOE’s Office of Legacy Management (LM) provided funds to Dayton History through a cooperative agreement. EM completed cleanup at Mound in 2010. Workers disposed of nearly 20,000 cubic meters of soil and decontamination debris in the cleanup, which focused on the Operable Unit-1, a former mixed-waste landfill. Mound supported the nation’s nuclear weapons and energy programs until decommissioning began in 1993. Back to Top
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