EM Update | Vol. 11, Issue 32 | Aug. 20, 2019

• EM’s Ike White Recognizes Small Businesses During Oak Ridge Visit
• Hanford Waste Treatment Plant Opens Doors to Commissioning Workforce
• Idaho Site Safely Completes Waste Processing, Cleanup at ARP Facility
• Hanford Takes Key Step Toward Safer Storage of Radioactive Capsules
• WVDP Helps Lead Full-Scale Exercise to Prepare for Emergency Incidents
• At His Day Job at EM’s Portsmouth Site, This Gamer Doesn’t Play
• Hanford’s 222-S Lab Contractor Earns DOE Safety Recognition

EM’s Ike White Recognizes Small Businesses During Oak Ridge Visit

UCOR President and CEO Ken Rueter, far left, and EM’s Ike White, second from left, join representatives of the UCOR Small Business Award winners, left to right, Bill Smart, Gina Headrick, Jim Ownby, Sandy Williams, David Bowling, Katherine Baumgardner, John Rose, and Steve Watson. DOE Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management Manager Jay Mullis is at the far right.

OAK RIDGE, Tenn. – Ike White recognized award-winning small businesses helping complete projects on schedule and advance the cleanup mission during his first visit to Oak Ridge in his role as head of EM.

His visit began at the seventh annual Small Business Awards Breakfast — a program hosted by DOE Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM) cleanup contractor UCOR designed to showcase the contributions of the company’s small business subcontractors.

UCOR honored the following companies with awards:

• Small Business of the Year: Linear Path of Knoxville, Tennessee and PacTec of Clinton, Louisiana;
• Small Disadvantaged Business of the Year: Oak Ridge Automotive and Industrial Supply of Oak Ridge, Tennessee;
• HUBZone Small Business of the Year: Premier Contracting and Technical Services of Oak Ridge, Tennessee;
• Woman-Owned Small Business of the Year: Customer Service Electric Supply of Knoxville, Tennessee;
• Veteran-Owned Small Business of the Year: Southeast Equipment Sales of Oak Ridge, Tennessee;
• Service-Disabled, Veteran-Owned Small Business of the Year: LB Services of Oliver Springs, Tennessee.

Ike White, head of EM, speaks during his address at the UCOR Small Business Awards Breakfast at Oak Ridge Aug. 14.

The winning companies were selected based on their performance contributing to cleanup accomplishments. Criteria included developing creative, unique solutions, exhibiting extraordinary customer service, improving productivity and efficiency, and devising innovative ideas that lead to cost, time, and resource savings.

The recipients provide services ranging from automating data processes to manufacturing packaging for waste shipments and repairing large demolition machinery. Each played a crucial role in helping EM and UCOR stay on track to achieve Vision 2020 — the goal to be the first site in the world to successfully complete cleanup of a former enrichment complex next year.

During the event, White highlighted how small businesses help bring this ambitious goal within reach, and he pointed to their role in cleanup work in the decades ahead.

“Small businesses have been instrumental in getting us to the finish line with Vision 2020,” White said. “And, EM will continue to depend on their services as we transition and begin major cleanup at the Y-12 National Security Complex and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). This important work will pave the way for advances and growth in DOE’s scientific research and national defense missions.”

DOE and its contractor partners obligated approximately $385 million in Oak Ridge to small businesses in fiscal year 2018.

“Every partner and every role matters for us to successfully achieve EM’s challenging and complex mission,” White said. “Our mission is too big to complete alone, and I’m glad to know we have partners that do everything in their power to provide excellent service and find solutions to ensure our projects remain on schedule through tough conditions and tight deadlines.”

After the awards event, White met local federal and contractor leadership guiding Oak Ridge’s cleanup, and he toured projects across the site.

-Contributor: Ben Williams

Back to Top

Hanford Waste Treatment Plant Opens Doors to Commissioning Workforce

The Hanford Site celebrated the opening of the Hanford Low-Activity Waste Annex Operations Center with a ceremonial ribbon cutting Aug. 19. From left, Scott Sax, Waste Treatment Completion Company (WTCC) deputy manager; Valerie McCain, Bechtel National Inc. Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) project director; Rick Holmes, WTCC general manager; U.S. Reps. Kim Schrier and Dan Newhouse of Washington state; Brian Vance, Hanford Site manager; and Tom Fletcher, WTP federal project director.

RICHLAND, Wash. – EM’s Office of River Protection has opened the doors to a key portion of the facility where low-activity nuclear waste from the Hanford Site’s underground tanks will be transformed into immobilized glass.

Commissioning workers with Hanford Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) contractor Bechtel National, Inc. (BNI) have moved into the annex housing the plant’s control room at the massive Low-Activity Waste (LAW) Facility. The annex is key to controlling Direct-Feed Low-Activity Waste (DFLAW) operations.

Inside the 20,000-square-foot, two-story annex, workers are scheduled to bring systems online aimed at turning radioactive tank waste safely into glass by 2023.

“The control room is the operations center of the Low-Activity Waste Facility,” said Brian Vance, EM Hanford Site manager. “By moving into the annex, we have the capability to monitor and control completed systems inside the 14 support buildings called the Balance of Facilities. We are also using the control room to conduct startup and testing activities for the Low-Activity Waste Facility and Analytical Laboratory.”

U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse of Washington state speaks during the opening of the Hanford Low-Activity Waste Annex Operations Center Aug. 19. Listening are Brian Vance, Hanford Site manager and Valerie McCain, Bechtel National Inc. Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant project director.

Workers are coordinating a sequenced construction, startup, and commissioning approach for each of the plant’s individual systems. The LAW Facility alone contains the vitrification process, mechanical handling, utility, and air supply systems. Crews have begun startup activities as nearly 78 percent of the facility’s systems — 72 of 92 — are in process to verify they are complete, tested, and in safe working order. After the startup phase, systems undergo a commissioning phase to ensure they are ready to support WTP operations by 2023.

“We are getting closer to making low-activity waste glass,” said Valerie McCain, BNI project director for the WTP project. “Moving into the annex signifies we are moving forward to prepare the Low-Activity Waste Facility for its commissioning phase. It also allows the commissioning team to be in a single, central location for daily work activities.”

U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse of Washington state, who attended an event marking the opening of the annex, praised the workers for achieving this milestone.

“This new control room for the Waste Treatment Plant at Hanford demonstrates a key step toward the goal of treating tank waste,” Newhouse said. “The startup of low-activity waste treatment is dependent upon the entirety of the Hanford Site’s workforce, so I am grateful to the hardworking women and men whose work site-wide has been instrumental in this effort. I am glad to see this progress firsthand and look forward to continuing to work with the Department of Energy and the State of Washington to ensure the safe and efficient cleanup of Hanford.”

-Contributor: George Rangel

Back to Top

Idaho Site Safely Completes Waste Processing, Cleanup at ARP Facility

EM workers, donning required personal protective equipment, safely condition and repackage remaining waste in the Accelerated Retrieval Project V facility at DOE’s Idaho National Laboratory Site.

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho – EM and cleanup contractor Fluor Idaho have safely finished processing remaining waste at an Idaho National Laboratory Site facility following a breach of four drums containing radioactive sludge there last year.

There were no injuries and no external release of radioactive materials during the drum incident and subsequent cleanup and waste processing at the Accelerated Retrieval Project (ARP) V facility. Prior to the 2018 incident, crews had safely processed and repackaged more than 9,500 drums of radioactive and hazardous waste at ARP V.

The design of the ARP V facility and its air filtration systems, which include high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filtration and reverse airflow, ensured containment of the waste material and protection of the environment.

An employee monitors work in the Accelerated Retrieval Project V facility at DOE’s Idaho National Laboratory Site in real time from a nearby trailer.

With the successful completion of ARP V cleanup and waste processing, EM has directed Fluor Idaho to plan the closure of ARP V and focus on waste processing operations at the nearby ARP VII facility. Like ARP V, ARP VII has extensive air filtration and reverse airflow systems, pulling air from the outside and channeling all exhaust through the facility’s HEPA filters, trapping contaminants.

EM is scheduled to safely complete the processing and repackaging of 2,800 drums of radioactive sludge waste at ARP VII late next year. All safety protocols and lessons from the 2018 incident will be implemented at ARP VII as workers there safely process drums and ensure waste is compliant for out-of-state disposal.

Workers at ARP VII recently finished reducing the size of large, contaminated legacy waste boxes and debris and repackaging them for shipment to permanent disposal facilities.

-Contributor: Erik Simpson

Back to Top

Hanford Takes Key Step Toward Safer Storage of Radioactive Capsules

An artist’s rendition shows equipment to be installed to transfer nearly 2,000 radioactive capsules from storage in an underwater basin to safer, dry storage.

RICHLAND, Wash. – EM Richland Operations Office (RL) and contractor CH2M HILL Plateau Remediation Company (CHPRC) recently completed an important step toward moving radioactive capsules from a water-filled basin to safer, dry storage at the Hanford Site.

The recently completed design for modifications to the Waste Encapsulation Storage Facility (WESF) includes installation of an additional ventilation system and upgrades to install equipment to transfer capsules to dry storage casks.

The changes are required before the 1,936 cesium and strontium capsules can be moved from the WESF basin, where they have been stored under water since the mid-1970s. Dry storage reduces the risk of a radioactive release in the unlikely loss of cooling water from the aging WESF facility.

“The design completion is a huge step toward transferring the capsules to safer interim storage,” said Gary Pyles, RL project manager. “I am encouraged by the progress on this critical risk-reduction effort.”

When the facility modifications are complete, the capsules will be placed in specially designed casks and transported to a nearby storage area.

CH2M HILL Plateau Remediation Company’s waste and fuels management project team led the design of modifications to the Waste Encapsulation Storage Facility to support the eventual transfer of nearly 2,000 cesium and strontium capsules to safer dry storage. Back row, from left: Ralph Wilson, Mark Buckmaster, German Martinez-Cisneros, Riley Sutton, John Rutherford, Krystal McCartney, Frank Muller, and Neal Sullivan. Front row, from left: Stephen Koegler, David Dinse, Karen Sanders, Jan Pennock, Lisa Greene, Janette Lehman, and Marie Gillespie.

“Completion of the modification design is a tremendous accomplishment and a reflection of our team’s focus and commitment to this important project,” said Kalli Shupe, CHPRC waste and fuels management project vice president. “We look forward to putting the design into reality to meet our goal of transferring the capsules into dry storage.”

The project will focus next on building a mock-up of the transfer system, designed to replicate conditions at WESF. The mock-up will allow workers to safely train and test equipment before performing the work at the facility.

-Contributor: Jennifer Copeland

Back to Top

WVDP Helps Lead Full-Scale Exercise to Prepare for Emergency Incidents

The West Valley Demonstration Project’s system operations hub serves as an incident command center in the event of an emergency.

WEST VALLEY, N.Y. – EM and its cleanup contractor at the West Valley Demonstration Project (WVDP) recently conducted a full-scale exercise with local emergency response personnel.

WVDP’s environmental and radiological controls departments, and the site’s emergency medical response, security, and other teams joined with West Valley Fire & Rescue and Cattaraugus County’s sheriff’s department, special response team, and emergency services personnel for the training, which tested the skills and response of participants in a mock emergency involving intruders to the site intending to cause damage. The Cattaraugus-Chautauqua Bomb Squad also took part in the exercise.

Participants in a simulated emergency response exercise at the West Valley Demonstration Project prepare to enter an office trailer that may contain a mock intruder.

Employees gather in an area of the West Valley Demonstration Project for safety as part of an accountability drill.

EM and CH2M HILL BWXT West Valley (CHBWV) employees at WVDP helped develop the simulated incident. Five DOE headquarters employees helped evaluate the response to the scenario. More than 25 law enforcement and 10 fire and emergency medical service personnel from agencies outside WVDP joined the event. Employees from DOE’s Argonne National Laboratory also delivered mock social media and news coverage.

“You can never over-plan for emergencies,” CHBWV Event and Emergency Management Manager Kevin Murray said. “To be prepared in our field, you must always be learning, training, and evaluating your performance. I know we can’t predict the future, but we can certainly be well prepared for whatever comes our way.”

-Contributor: Joseph Pillittere

Back to Top

At His Day Job at EM’s Portsmouth Site, This Gamer Doesn’t Play

PIKETON, Ohio – Zak Lafontaine is a world-class gamer.

Recently returning from England, where his five-member team won $15,000 for taking second place in an international video-game competition, the 30-year-old facility representative for EM’s Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant site in Ohio reflected on his team’s performance.

“We missed first place by just one point, or that would have been $30,000,” Lafontaine said.

In addition to his video-game skills, Lafontaine is also a pro at safety, engineering, and field oversight as a primary interface between field operations and EM management. He has been involved in the recent successes of the Portsmouth Depleted Uranium Hexafluoride (DUF6) conversion facility operated by Mid-America Conversion Services (MCS) under direction of EM’s Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office (PPPO).

Zak Lafontaine, facility representative for EM’s Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant site.

“MCS recently exceeded their uptime goal over a nine-month period and during that period was also recommended for VPP Star status,” Lafontaine said of DOE’s Voluntary Protection Program. “They’ve really turned around their safety program and I’m proud of that.”

A 2011 electrical engineering graduate of Ohio University, Lafontaine interned for several PPPO contractors while in college. He joined PPPO in 2016 after working for several of its contractor companies.

So while his hobby involves going after bad guys in a virtual world, Lafontaine’s day job keeps people safe in the real world.

-Contributor: Rick Greene

Editor's note: In an occasional series, EM Update profiles early career professionals across the EM complex.

Back to Top

Hanford’s 222-S Lab Contractor Earns DOE Safety Recognition

Celebrating being named a DOE Voluntary Protection Program Star site are, from left, Tricia Wood, VNS Federal Services (VNSFS) environmental, safety, health, and quality assurance (ESH&Q) director; Kristine Bowen, VNSFS ESH&Q Voluntary Protection Program manager; Richard Valle, EM Office of River Protection tank farm program manager; Sue Kon, VNSFS 222-S Analytical Laboratory manager; Charlie Anderson, VNSFS executive vice president; Chris Harrington, VNSFS business development director; and Matt McCormick, VNSFS west coast operations manager.

RICHLAND, Wash. – The EM Office of River Protection (ORP) contractor that provides analysis and testing services at the Hanford Site’s 222-S Laboratory was recently awarded the DOE Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) Star status for its safety and employee involvement programs.

Richard Valle, ORP’s tank farm program manager for the 222-S Laboratory, congratulated VNS Federal Services (VNSFS) for the VPP Star honor.

“Safety is not just a word but a way of life here at Hanford,” Valle said. “This award recognizes the outstanding effort the company and workers put forth to ensure a safe and healthy workplace.”

Contractors that meet requirements for outstanding safety and health programs can receive VPP recognition. The DOE VPP promotes safety and health excellence through cooperative efforts among labor, management, and government at DOE contractor sites.

“VPP star certification shows that employees are committed to safety at work, and that they care about each other,” said Tricia Wood, VNSFS environmental, safety, health, and quality assurance director at the laboratory. Wood said VPP Star recognition is validation of the safe work the laboratory team does every day.

The 70,000-square-foot laboratory in Hanford’s 200 West Area has 11 hot cells used to remotely handle radioactive samples, primarily samples of waste from Hanford’s large underground tanks.

DOE’s VPP was established in 1994 and mirrors the Occupational Health and Safety Administration VPP to promote improved safety and health performance through public recognition of outstanding programs. DOE VPP participation is open to contractors employed at DOE facilities. The program includes expanded criteria because of the unique hazards and complexity of work at these facilities.

Back to Top

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