EM Update | Vol. 10, Issue 22 | June 5, 2018

• SRS Welcomes EM Assistant Secretary Anne White for First Visit
• WIPP Contractor Earns 90 Percent of Available Fee in FY17
• ORP Approves Safety Basis for Hanford Waste Treatment Facility
• EM Assistant Secretary Anne White to Join Event for Cleanup Caucus
• Grand Challenge Inspires Innovative Ideas for Hanford Cleanup Mission
• Photos Highlight Utah’s Sweeping Landscapes Surrounding Moab Project Sites
• West Valley Training Focuses on Rescuing Injured Workers in Confined Spaces
• DOE Contractor Group Visits SRS to Focus on Nuclear Safety
• HAMMER Director to Retire After 20 Years at Training Center
• West Valley Site Presents Donations to Local Organizations

SRS Welcomes EM Assistant Secretary Anne White for First Visit

EM Assistant Secretary Anne White meets Defense Waste Processing Facility operators Ben Anderson and Robert Wallace.

AIKEN, S.C. – EM Assistant Secretary Anne White visited the Savannah River Site (SRS) for the first time last week, touring facilities and meeting with early career professionals and other employees.

   “I am truly, humbly honored to be the head of EM and I fully recognize the immense responsibility this role brings,” White told the employees. “You are doing a tremendous amount of good work here at SRS.”

   White, who was sworn in to her position in late March, first visited the site’s liquid waste facilities. She toured tank farm operations, which included a new project underway that uses an innovative technology to remove cesium, a highly radioactive chemical element, from the salt waste to accelerate waste removal and tank closure.

   At the Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF), White viewed the control room and completed a test weld of a glass-waste canister. The DWPF vitrifies liquid waste stored in SRS tanks into a solid glass form suitable for long-term storage and disposal.

   “Stabilizing and safely storing the radioactive waste at SRS is an important part of DOE’s Environmental Management mission,” DOE-Savannah River Manager Mike Budney said.

   White also visited the Salt Waste Processing Facility, which is in the testing and commissioning phase. That facility will process the majority of the remaining SRS liquid waste by separating the highly radioactive cesium and actinides from the salt waste inventory before it goes to DWPF for vitrification.

   The tour included the Saltstone Disposal Units (SDUs), including a 32.8-million gallon unit completed last year, and the Saltstone Production Facility, which stabilizes the waste in the solid, cement-based form and pumps the grout to the SDUs.

Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF) Federal Project Director Pam Marks, right, takes EM Assistant Secretary Anne White through SWPF, pointing out the massive tanks integral to supporting future processing of Cold War legacy waste and accelerated tank closure at the Savannah River Site.

   During the nuclear materials operations portion of the tour, White saw H Canyon, the nation’s only operating, production-scale nuclear chemical separations facility. It converts nuclear materials into material that can be eventually turned into commercial power reactor fuel for electricity, aiding the nation’s nuclear nonproliferation efforts.

   A meeting with EM employees rounded out White’s first day at SRS. She shared observations of SRS field work with the employees and asked them for input on improving work efficiencies.

   The Assistant Secretary said she is visiting field sites to see EM’s work firsthand to best understand what works well and find opportunities for improvement. White also wants to share expertise and knowledge among field offices. She noted that EM headquarters has the responsibility to find the balance that best enables field sites to get work done with the greatest efficiency.

EM Assistant Secretary Anne White, center, stopped at Savannah River National Laboratory, where she was briefed on new virtual reality and remote system applications for safer, more effective environmental remediation.

   On her second day at the site, White toured EM’s Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) and its Aiken County Technology Laboratory, where she received an overview of the lab’s innovations and research in waste vitrification and cementitious materials.

   The Assistant Secretary also visited SRNL’s Shielded Cells Facility, which provides heavy shielding for the safe examination of testing of highly radioactive materials. After seeing a demonstration of operators using robotic manipulators to handle materials in the cells, White learned about the lab’s innovative approaches to nuclear materials processing, including the recovery of highly valuable isotopes.

   Employees also briefed White on new virtual reality and remote system applications for safer, more effective environmental remediation and discussed advanced manufacturing methods. White also had lunch with the early career professionals.

-Contributors: Paul Erwin, Colleen Hart, Lindsey MonBarren, Julie Petersen 

Field Note from Assistant Secretary White

Much thanks to Mike Budney and his team at the Savannah River Site for providing an action-packed agenda that made my first visit to SRS a highly productive one. Spending time at the facilities and alongside workers just further underscored for me the important work that SRS personnel performs on site cleanup and in their contributions to the EM program. 

My tour began at the liquid waste facilities. At the Defense Waste Processing Facility, Facility Representative Keith Sandroni briefed me on operations, and DWPF operators Ben Anderson and Robert Wallace instructed me on performing a canister test weld. Elsewhere on the tour, Salt Waste Processing Facility Federal Project Director Pam Marks and Facility Representative Steve Stamper walked me through the SWPF that is undergoing testing and commissioning.  

During the day I heard about the successful security drill that had taken place prior to my arrival. Edmund Szymanski, deputy director of the Office of Safeguards, Security and Emergency Services, shared with me a video on the work his group performs. 

A trip highlight was meeting with EM employees, and the lunch I had with several SRS early career professionals — Patrick Cunning, Azadeh Samadi-Dezfouli, Sunny Lunka, Dan Billings, Kathryn Taylor-Pashow, and Matthew Williams. We had rewarding discussions on topics ranging from regulatory relations and compliance, federal hiring and position management processes, and vision for the future of SRS. It was clear to me how much they care about their work.  

The second day of my visit focused on the Savannah River National Laboratory, EM’s corporate lab. I was briefed about the lab’s role in providing technical leadership and support at sites throughout the EM complex.   

The work being done at Savannah River is important work, good work. I heard the word “pride” many times during my visit, and it was obvious the great pride the site workers take in their work. My message: Keep up the good work. I’m looking forward to working with you moving forward and making EM the best it can be.  

-Anne Marie White

Back to Top

WIPP Contractor Earns 90 Percent of Available Fee in FY17

CARLSBAD, N.M. – The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) management and operations contractor earned more than $10.7 million, or 90 percent, of the available fee for fiscal 2017, according to a recently released fee scorecard from EM’s Carlsbad Field Office (CBFO).

   EM releases information relating to contractor fee payments — earned by completing the work called for in the contracts — to further transparency in its cleanup program.

   During the evaluation period, Nuclear Waste Partnership (NWP), successfully restarted WIPP waste emplacement operations and transuranic waste shipments to the site from EM generator sites. NWP also increased the amount of transuranic waste emplaced in WIPP and boosted transportation shipping rates.  

   The award fee determination was based on a subjective rating in the key contract areas of mission performance; regulatory compliance; management performance; safety and health performance; and cost control. NWP earned a score of “excellent” in mission performance and “very good” in the others.    

   NWP’s performance based incentive fees were based on objective criteria, include maintaining ground control (bolting in mine) in core areas of the underground; waste emplacement; completing activities to resume mining operations in Panel 8; and generator site technical reviews and acceptable knowledge reviews to verify that generator sites were ready to resume shipping and verify transuranic waste inventories were acceptable for disposal at WIPP.

   The fee determination scorecard noted areas for improvement. There were documented issues with contract-required monitoring of en-route shipments and inadequate staffing of central monitoring room operators to continuously perform this responsibility. The scorecard also noted that CBFO oversight personnel documented four technical safety report violations.

   Read NWP’s fee determination scorecard here. 

-Contributor: Bill Taylor

Back to Top

ORP Approves Safety Basis for Hanford Waste Treatment Facility

Ben Harp, EM Office of River Protection (ORP) deputy manager, signs a Safety Evaluation Report, which recommended approval of the Hanford Low-Activity Waste vitrification facility Documented Safety Analysis. Looking on from left are Brian Reilly, a Bechtel National Inc. (BNI) senior vice president and Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant project director (left); Rob Hastings, ORP assistant manager for technical and regulatory support; Brian Vance, ORP manager; and Alan Dobson, BNI area manager for nuclear safety.

RICHLAND, Wash. – EM’s Office of River Protection (ORP) last week approved a critical safety basis plan needed before Hanford’s Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) can begin vitrifying low-activity tank waste.

   The Documented Safety Analysis (DSA) outlines the potential hazards associated with treating the waste and ways operators will control those hazards to protect workers, the public, and the environment when the plant comes online as soon as 2022. DSAs are a federal requirement, setting rules for safety controls at DOE nuclear facilities.

   Over the next few years, ORP and WTP contractor Bechtel National, Inc. (BNI) will implement the DSA to prepare the workforce to bring the Low-Activity Waste (LAW) Facility online, also known as the hot commissioning phase. This includes creating the safety programs, commissioning procedures, and training and maintenance plans needed to execute hot commissioning.

EM’s Office of River Protection and Bechtel National Inc. participated in a DOE Safety Evaluation Report signing ceremony which signified approval of the Low-Activity Waste Facility Documented Safety Analysis.

   “We remain on pace to turn over the Low-Activity Waste Facility from the construction phase to the startup and testing phase this summer,” said Brian Reilly, BNI project director for WTP. “The DSA will play an important part in training, qualifying, and preparing the workforce as we move closer to the hot commissioning phase.” 

   The LAW Facility DSA outlines the design and safety controls needed to comply with DOE nuclear safety requirements and standards. To complete the DSA, a team of nuclear safety engineers participated in an extensive hazards analysis, identified and closed anticipated challenges, and established the controls for radioactive and hazardous materials. Then, ORP completed an independent Safety Evaluation Report, which allowed ORP to approve the DSA.

   “Having an approved Documented Safety Analysis provides further confidence that the LAW Facility can safely treat low-activity waste,” explained Brian Vance, ORP manager. “This provides a benchmark and standard for our safety oversight to prepare for operations.”  

-Contributor: George Rangel

Back to Top

EM Assistant Secretary Anne White to Join Event for Cleanup Caucus

WASHINGTON, D.C. – EM Assistant Secretary Anne White will speak at an event for the House Nuclear Cleanup Caucus on Wednesday, June 6. 

   The EM leader, who was sworn in March 29 to her position, will discuss her priorities and experiences so far with the cleanup program in a moderated conversation with William Morrison, chair of the Energy Facility Contractors Group (EFCOG).

   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 EFCOG, the Energy Technology and Environmental Business Association, and Nuclear Energy Institute, the event is from 5:30 to 7 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.

Back to Top

Grand Challenge Inspires Innovative Ideas for Hanford Cleanup Mission

EM Office of River Protection Manager Brian Vance, right, presents a certificate to Matthew Asmussen of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, whose team won this year’s Grand Challenge competition.

RICHLAND, Wash. – The winner of this year’s Grand Challenge held by EM’s Office of River Protection (ORP) proposes to develop a technical basis for using cementitious materials for immobilizing treated low-activity waste streams.

   Since its inception six years ago, this annual competition has provided a forum for creative ideas that could lead to cost savings and efficiencies for Hanford’s tank waste cleanup mission. 

   “The Grand Challenge Workshop is how we communicate our biggest mission challenge areas and encourage great ideas to tackle them. Grand Challenge participants represent the labs, contractors, and federal employees who will be the brain trust to help us solve these issues and better accomplish ORP’s mission,” said Naomi Jaschke, ORP chief technology officer and this year’s Grand Challenge lead. 

   This year’s first-place idea was submitted by a team comprised of Matthew Asmussen, Matthew Fountain, Joe Westsik, Gary Smith and Sarah Saslow from DOE’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory; Ridha Mabrouki from Hanford Site tank farms contractor Washington River Protection Solutions; and DaBrisha Smith from ORP. 

   At the competition, ORP employees representing each aspect of ORP’s mission reviewed 26 ideas and selected 10 finalists, which were presented at a two-day workshop last month. Ideas were submitted by teams from DOE, its national laboratories and contractors, and universities.

   The 10 judges who determined the top entry included representatives from DOE, the labs, and federal contractors. They looked at a variety of factors, including technical viability and risks; whether ideas were achievable within a timeframe to meet mission needs; whether ideas could be executed with existing safety basis requirements; cost avoidance; cost savings; and process efficiencies. 

   The winning proposal and other top entries will be considered for potential implementation.

-Contributor: Dieter Bohrmann

Back to Top

Photos Highlight Utah’s Sweeping Landscapes Surrounding Moab Project Sites

MOAB, Utah – The Moab Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action (UMTRA) Project recently commissioned new aerial photography of its project sites. The photos show the landscapes of southeastern Utah from about 5,500 feet above sea level, with a focus on EM’s cleanup at a former uranium-ore processing facility. The 130-acre tailings pile created from the former mill is adjacent to the Colorado River at center. Workers excavate and condition the tailings before they are removed and placed in steel containers with locking lids for transport by rail to a permanent disposal cell in Crescent Junction, Utah. The city of Moab is pictured in the distance.

The UMTRA Project's engineered disposal cell in Crescent Junction, Utah. This photo shows the cell’s permanent cover (left), an interim cover (center), and the land to be excavated to bury future shipments (right). Behind the Crescent Junction site are the Book Cliffs, a series of desert mountains and cliffs.

UMTRA's 130-acre tailings pile at center. Crews excavate and condition the mill tailings in drying beds to reach the optimal moisture content for disposal. The project currently ships about 9,200 tons of tailings in two trains each week to the Crescent Junction site. 

-Contributors: Jim Hoddenbach, Honora Thompson

Back to Top

West Valley Training Focuses on Rescuing Injured Workers in Confined Spaces

Eric Fuller of CH2M HILL BWXT West Valley takes his turn rescuing a 185-pound mannequin from the excavation pit during confined space training.

WEST VALLEY, N.Y. – EM and its cleanup contractor at the West Valley Demonstration Project recently conducted training to safely rescue an injured person from a confined space.

   CH2M HILL BWXT West Valley's (CHBWV) Pat Douglass and Steve Wedvik, who also serves as a West Valley Volunteer Hose Company assistant fire chief, held the training for employees at an onsite excavation work zone.

   “This type of training is great,” CHBWV’s Eric Fuller said. “Training that employs hands-on learning with real-life applications is better than being inside four walls.”

A multidisciplinary group of employees receive confined space training rescue at an onsite excavation work zone.

   The trainees learned to use tools and equipment for rescue, including, a trench box, harnesses, ladders, ropes, and pulleys.

   Each employee entered the trench to rescue a life-sized mannequin in various scenarios.

   “It’s not just enough to learn something new," Wedvik said. "It’s even more important to take what you’ve learned and be able to apply that learning to different challenges.” 

   Employees trained inside a 30-foot-long, 3-foot-deep trench with a 6-foot-deep pit on one end. Workers had excavated the space to isolate utilities to remove an old Low-Level Liquid Waste Treatment Facility pad.

-Contributor: Joseph Pillittere

Back to Top

DOE Contractor Group Visits SRS to Focus on Nuclear Safety

The Energy Facility Contractors Group Worker Safety and Health Subgroup toured the Savannah River Site (SRS) Bioassay Laboratory at the group’s recent spring meeting at SRS.

AIKEN, S.C. – About 240 members of two Energy Facility Contractors Group (EFCOG) subgroups honed in on worker safety and health and quality assurance across the DOE complex during a recent meeting at the Savannah River Site (SRS).

   EFCOG is comprised of leaders from DOE contractors. The group promotes excellence in all aspects of operations by integrating members from DOE facilities and allowing them to exchange lessons learned. Their working groups deal with project delivery, safeguards and security, safety, training, and waste management.

   “EFCOG allows technical specialists from DOE sites across the complex to share best practices and learn from others’ experiences. The peer-to-peer networking opportunities afforded to EFCOG participants is invaluable,” said Mary Flora, deputy vice president of Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) Environmental Stewardship and Safety and Health. “We are able to see the challenges each site faces and are provided perspectives to help each site resolve those challenges.” 

   Flora chairs the EFCOG Worker Safety and Health Subgroup. SRNS is the SRS management and operations contractor.

   EFCOG has the opportunity to potentially influence DOE policy as its members engage Department representatives.

   “We learn about new technologies as well as regional and national vendors that offer solutions to local, and ultimately, complex-wide issues,” said Greg Tunno, director of radiological protection for SRNS.

   “Delivering excellence in all aspects of our work to support our important national missions is the overriding priority for all DOE contractors,” said Darlene Murdoch, SRNS director of operational excellence and chair of the EFCOG Quality Assurance Subgroup. “By working together, and in partnership with the DOE, we are better positioned to address potential challenges before they arise, resulting in successful continuity of operations.”

-Contributor: Angie Benfield

Back to Top

HAMMER Director to Retire After 20 Years at Training Center

RICHLAND, Wash. – Karen McGinnis will retire this month after serving for 20 years as director of the Volpentest Hazardous Materials Management and Emergency Response (HAMMER) Federal Training Center.

   McGinnis provided direction at the center from its inception through 20 years of operations and has spearheaded HAMMER’s mission to promote worker safety and health at Hanford and at various federal agencies throughout the U.S. 

   Under McGinnis’s direction, HAMMER grew from a concept to a world-class training center that provides emergency response support, enabling safe and efficient cleanup at Hanford. 

Volpentest Hazardous Materials Management and Emergency Response Federal Training Center Director Karen McGinnis will retire this month after serving in the position for 20 years.

   HAMMER has retained DOE’s Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) status for the past 16 years. In 2006, McGinnis was honored with the “Special Achievement Award” for outstanding performance leadership in furthering the DOE VPP Program.

   Believing that meaningful worker involvement was key to HAMMER’s success, McGinnis included workers in HAMMER program development to foster respect, trust, partnership, and collaboration.

   Paul Vandervert, HAMMER operations manager and McGinnis’s first employee at the center, will replace McGinnis as director.

-Contributor: Lori Araujo

Back to Top

West Valley Site Presents Donations to Local Organizations

WEST VALLEY, N.Y. – Representatives from EM’s West Valley Demonstration Project (WVDP), its cleanup contractor CH2MHILL BWXT West Valley (CHBWV), and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) recently presented checks to Bertrand Chaffee Hospital (BCH), Mercy Flight, and the West Valley Fire District 1 on behalf of WVDP.

   Once the site of the first and only commercial nuclear fuel reprocessing plant in the U.S., WVDP is now an environmental cleanup and waste management project located about 35 miles south of Buffalo. The cleanup is conducted by EM in cooperation with NYSERDA.

Donation to West Valley Fire, back row, left to right: Kevin Murray, West Valley Volunteer Fire Company chief; Tom Fontaine, CHBWV manager, radiological and industrial safety; Bryan Bower, EM WVDP site director; Paul Bembia, NYSERDA director; Jeff Bradford, CHBWV president and general manager; and Scott Anderson, CHBWV deputy general manager; front row, left to right: Eric Boberg, West Valley Fire District #1 commissioner; Shawn Lafferty, West Valley Fire District #1 chairman; and Dan Sullivan, EM WVDP site federal project director.

Donation to BCH, back row, left to right: Bryan Bower, EM WVDP site director; Ken Whitham, CHBWV, vice president, environmental, safety, health and quality; Scott Anderson, CHBWV deputy general manager; Jeff Bradford, CHBWV president and general manager; Joel Maul, BCH Foundation; Nils Gunnersen, BCH CEO; and Edwin Heidelberger, BCH vice president of medical affairs; front row, left to right: Dan Sullivan, EM WVDP site federal project director; Kathy Paszkiewicz, Jennie B. Richmond Nursing Home representative to BCH Foundation; Teresa Donohue, BCH chief financial officer; Lee Gordon, NYSERDA senior project manager; Calvin Batterson; and David Batterson, BCH Foundation Board member.

Donation to Mercy Flight, back row, left to right: Jeff Bradford, CHBWV president and general manager; Bryan Bower, EM WVDP site director; Paul Bembia, NYSERDA director; and Scott Anderson, CHBWV deputy general manager; front row, left to right: Dan Sullivan, EM WVDP site federal project director; Ken Whitham, CHBWV, vice president, environmental, safety, health and quality; and Ashley Coder, Mercy Flight director of development and special events.

-Contributor: Joseph Pillittere

Back to Top

Like EM on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DOEEnvironmentalManagement