EM Update | Vol. 11, Issue 37 | Sept. 24, 2019

• Idaho Site Marks 500th WIPP Shipment Since Facility’s Reopening
• Demolitions Continue to Transform Landscape in Oak Ridge
• Hanford Looks to Rebuild Infrastructure to Support Future Cleanup
• Celebrating 30 Years of EM: Employee Spotlight
• Hanford Improves Safety Culture Following Recommendation
• West Valley Demolishes Inactive Ventilation System Structures, Components
• Cleanup Caucus Leaders Reflect on Progress, Partnerships in EM’s 30 Years
• Paducah Site Boilers to Help Fire Up Regional Job Growth
• EM Nevada Program Hosts Groundwater Information Exchange

Idaho Site Marks 500th WIPP Shipment Since Facility’s Reopening

EM crews pose with Idaho State Police (ISP) officers in advance of the 500th shipment of transuranic waste leaving the Radioactive Waste Management Complex, headed for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. ISP officers inspect each shipment that leaves the DOE Idaho National Laboratory Site.

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho – EM crews safely and compliantly sent the 500th shipment of transuranic (TRU) waste from the DOE Idaho National Laboratory (INL) Site to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) since the disposal facility reopened and resumed receiving waste in April 2017.

“The shipments to WIPP are helping us fulfill a very important commitment to the state of Idaho," said Jack Zimmerman, deputy manager for DOE’s Idaho Operations Office. "I am very pleased that we’re able to continue to ship waste to WIPP for disposal at an efficient pace.” 

Workers with EM’s INL Site contractor Fluor Idaho recently moved the milestone shipment out the gates of the Radioactive Waste Management Complex Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project (AMWTP) en route to WIPP.

“There are so many intricate steps that are required for each shipment to WIPP and our crews perform flawlessly for each and every one of them,” Fluor Idaho Waste Management Manager Steve Poling said. “We’re happy to achieve milestones such as this one and just look forward to the next ones.”

Fluor Idaho Transportation Certification Official Shawn Strozzi, left, double-checks the 500th shipment's manifest as Idaho State Trooper Peter Sibus conducts an inspection of the shipment.

Since its reopening, WIPP has received more than 651 shipments for permanent disposal from sites across the DOE complex.

The EM program at the INL Site sends about six to eight shipments of contact-handled TRU waste to WIPP every week. About 96 percent of the waste to be disposed at WIPP is contact handled.

More than 6,360 of the 12,580 shipments WIPP has received from its opening in 1999 through early September 2019 have come from the INL Site.

The AMWTP treatment facility’s supercompactor compresses 55-gallon waste drums to five-inch-thick pucks, saving more than 6,000 truck shipments that would have been required to send the waste to WIPP. Furthermore, supercompaction has led to more efficient and effective use of available disposal space at WIPP.

-Contributor: Erik Simpson

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Demolitions Continue to Transform Landscape in Oak Ridge

Oak Ridge crews spent several months completing deactivation work to prepare the K-1423 Toll Enrichment Facility for demolition.

OAK RIDGE, Tenn. – Oak Ridge crews recently tore down another facility at the East Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP), bringing EM closer to completing cleanup at the site. Each ETTP demolition brings more change to the landscape, drawing sharp contrast to the government enrichment complex of decades past.

Workers have finished demolition and debris removal of the 30,817-square-foot K-1423 Toll Enrichment Facility. The building was originally used to transfer liquefied uranium hexafluoride to cylinders for the plant’s uranium enrichment process. Watch the project update video on the K-1423 demolition at ETTP here.

EM cleanup contractor UCOR performed the demolition as part of efforts to complete major cleanup at ETTP by the end of next year.

UCOR project manager Mickey Tunstall described the transformation as significant.

“I’ve worked at the site for 19 years, back when all the buildings were standing, so it still felt like a full operating community at that time,” Tunstall said. “The change at the site, especially during the last five to 10 years, has been dramatic, as numerous buildings started being demolished and replaced with grassy fields.”

A view of the 30,817-square-foot K-1423 Toll Enrichment Facility at Oak Ridge before demolition began in August.

A post-demolition view of the K-1423 Toll Enrichment Facility. The teardown moves EM and UCOR closer to Vision 2020, the goal to complete major cleanup at ETTP by the end of next year.

Crews have demolished five massive uranium enrichment facilities at the site, as well as hundreds of ancillary facilities spanning 12 million square feet. Next year, Oak Ridge will become the first in the world to complete major cleanup at a former uranium enrichment complex.

Enrichment operations ceased in 1987. EM and UCOR are working to transform the site into a thriving, multi-use industrial park. More than 1,200 acres have already been transferred to the community, and removal of this facility opens additional land for future industrial development. Its removal also enhances safety and reduces risks associated with these old, unneeded facilities.

The K-1423 Toll Enrichment Facility operated from 1969 to 1986. The building was later used for a variety of purposes, including addressing radiologically contaminated drums, washing chemically contaminated drums, and storing waste.

Tunstall once worked in the building, supporting cleanup efforts.

“Having worked there, it’s bittersweet to see it come down,” he said. “However, it’s a necessary step in achieving site transformation.”

Tunstall noted that crews spent several months performing deactivation work to prepare the building for demolition.

“These demolition projects are definitely a collaborative effort that requires a broad cross section of skills to safely and successful prepare the building, tear it down, and dispose of the demolition debris,” Tunstall said.

-Contributor: Wayne McKinney

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Hanford Looks to Rebuild Infrastructure to Support Future Cleanup

RICHLAND, Wash. – The next major phase of Hanford cleanup is treating tank waste using vitrification — mixing the waste with glass — at the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP), as part of the Direct-Feed Low-Activity Waste program.

DFLAW is a system of interdependent projects and infrastructure improvements that must operate together to successfully vitrify low-activity waste. Many diverse activities must be completed in the next three years to start treating tank waste before a Dec. 31, 2023 milestone.

With the Hanford Site preparing for a shift to 24-hour operations to treat tank waste, EM Richland Operations Office (RL) contractor Mission Support Alliance (MSA) is reconfiguring, rejuvenating, and right-sizing key infrastructure. Much of Hanford’s infrastructure is more than 75 years old and does not provide reliable service for future cleanup, including work at WTP.

“We are entering one of the most important phases of cleanup at Hanford,” said Sharee Dickinson, director of the RL infrastructure and services division. “When we start turning waste into glass, we will need reliable systems to support round-the-clock operations.”

Technician Quinn Bragg with EM Richland Operations Office contractor Mission Support Alliance installs new equipment as a part of a project to upgrade phone service at the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant. The work supports a program to treat Hanford tank waste, called Direct-Feed Low-Activity Waste, which is expected to begin in 2023.

EM Richland Operations contractor Mission Support Alliance (MSA) is playing a key role in ensuring the Hanford Site is ready to start 24/7 operations to treat tank waste before the end of 2023 as part of a Direct-Feed Low-Activity Waste program. With much of Hanford’s infrastructure more than 75 years old, MSA is reconfiguring, rejuvenating, and right-sizing roadways, power lines, water and sewer lines, and information technology for the new mission.

As the site services provider, MSA is rehabilitating systems, including roadways, power lines, water and sewer lines, facilities, and information technology services.

“The size and age of Hanford’s infrastructure presents us with a lot of challenges,” said Rick Moren, director of reliability projects at MSA. “We are focused on making sure the systems can support WTP, and we also need to ensure workers in other areas of the site have the infrastructure and resources to support the various phases of cleanup.”

A key component of MSA’s support of DFLAW is building a new water treatment facility. Scheduled for construction early next year, the $14 million facility will replace an aging facility and provide reliable potable water to users in the center of the Hanford Site.

MSA also recently finished refurbishing one of the main roadways to be used to transport treated low-activity waste from WTP to a Hanford disposal site known as the Integrated Disposal Facility. Additional projects include updating phone services, replacing electrical lines, and ensuring water and sewer lines are in adequate condition to support demand.

-Contributor: Patrick Conrad

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Celebrating 30 Years of EM: Employee Spotlight

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Hanford Improves Safety Culture Following Recommendation

Michelle Molina of Bechtel National Inc. provides a safety briefing at the beginning of an employee meeting at the Hanford Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP). Safety messages at the beginning of meetings across the Hanford Site increase employees’ focus on improving the safety culture. Bechtel is the EM Office of River Protection WTP contractor.

RICHLAND, Wash. – Meetings begin with a safety message, shifts begin with a safety briefing, and signs with safety reminders are located across the EM Hanford Site.

This has become the norm at the site over the last eight years, where EM’s Office of River Protection (ORP) has focused on improving its safety culture, especially at the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP).

Eight years ago, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board issued Recommendation 2011-1 indicating the WTP’s safety culture was flawed, and the board cited several observations indicating how it had become so. ORP immediately formulated a plan to improve.

Recently, the board chairman stated Recommendation 2011-1 would be closed. The board agreed ORP had “adequately addressed the underlying causes associated with the Board’s concerns.”

ORP Deputy Manager Ben Harp said the closure of Recommendation 2011-1 was a result of a lot of hard work by many employees and management to change the safety culture from 2011 to now.

“It took a lot of hard work to achieve the result that motivated the board to close Recommendation 2011-1,” Harp said.

The improvements went beyond messages, briefings, and signs.

To pinpoint the areas in most need of improvement, ORP reviewed past assessments. Some key focus areas were safety culture expectations and safety culture training. Industry best practices showed that establishing a diverse employee-driven group, a management-monitoring group, and a safety culture advisor would work best to improve the safety culture at WTP and the Hanford Site. ORP also created the Organizational and Safety Culture Improvement Council, Organizational Safety Culture Advisory Group, and a safety culture advisor position.

In addition, Hanford leadership saw the opportunity to bridge gaps between supervisors and staff. This included DOE training mandated by the Secretary of Energy for all DOE and DOE contractor senior leaders targeted at equipping senior leaders to lead a positive shift in the organization and culture by fostering a work environment that promotes trust, a questioning attitude, and receptiveness to raising issues.

Steps taken to improve the safety culture at the plant included improving management involvement, creating a consolidated area of information to set expectations, issuing surveys and self-assessments, increasing training, and clearly defining roles and responsibilities.

Over the last eight years, all employees have grown and an understanding of safety culture is now the expectation and not the exception. A working environment where employees feel their opinions are valued by leadership, especially when the exchange starts small, has spread throughout the workplace. Leadership willing to listen to opinions and open lines of communication with other industry leaders shows that positive change has occurred.

-Contributor: Sharon Braswell

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West Valley Demolishes Inactive Ventilation System Structures, Components

An operator uses a hydraulic shear to remove one of two Waste Tank Farm condenser structures at the West Valley Demonstration Project.

WEST VALLEY, N.Y. – Crews recently demolished two Waste Tank Farm condenser structures and an equipment shelter at the West Valley Demonstration Project (WVDP). These structures were associated with the Main Plant Process Building’s former ventilation system, which was taken out of service in 2001. This recent demolition brings EM’s total number of structures removed at the site to 64.

WVDP personnel removed, size-reduced, and packaged the two condenser structures for off-site disposal. Each condenser contained two heat exchangers that cooled the off-gas and condensed the vapor. Each 360-square-foot structure was constructed in 1966 to remove water vapor from the tank off-gas ventilation system and was further treated and filtered before being directed to the Main Plant Process Building stack.

The Waste Tank Farm Shelter is a 779-square-foot concrete block building, which consists of a shielded side where the former air filtration equipment was located, and an operating aisle that houses fans and control systems. This ventilation system was replaced with a newer and more efficient system.

An operator begins demolishing the Waste Tank Farm Shelter after completing the removal of two condenser structures.

Crews will focus on debris loading after completing the demolition of the Waste Tank Farm Shelter and associated equipment.

EM WVDP Director Bryan Bower commended the team for its work.

“The completion of this work changes the landscape and footprint of the WVDP site, and is a reminder of the ongoing progress here,” Bower said.

Scott Anderson, president of CH2M HILL BWXT West Valley (CHBWV), EM’s WVDP cleanup contractor, said his employees used their combined knowledge and lessons learned to safely complete this work.

“The CHBWV team continues to make great progress towards the demolition of these historically significant facilities at West Valley with the completion of the Utility Room Extension," Anderson said. "Our team continues to complete demolition work at the site in a safe and environmentally-sound manner.”

-Contributor: Joseph Pillittere

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Cleanup Caucus Leaders Reflect on Progress, Partnerships in EM’s 30 Years

From left, Rep. Ben Ray Luján of New Mexico, Rep. Chuck Fleischmann of Tennessee, and former congressman Doc Hastings of Washington state discuss EM's progress over the past 30 years, as part of a panel discussion at a recent event of the House Nuclear Cleanup Caucus.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – As EM marks its 30-year anniversary this year, past and present congressional and DOE leaders recently gathered on Capitol Hill to discuss efforts to build on the cleanup program’s longstanding record of results.

EM Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Todd Shrader noted the critical role congressional support has played throughout the history of the cleanup program as he welcomed Rep. John Shimkus of Illinois, Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina, Under Secretary for Science Paul Dabbar, Assistant Secretary for Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs Melissa Burnison, and others to the event of the House Nuclear Cleanup Caucus.

During a panel discussion, former congressman Doc Hastings of Washington state shared his experience in 1995 as a newly-elected member of Congress representing the Hanford Site — the largest and most complex EM site — and described his work to create the caucus.

“It was immediately clear that the universe of those who cared deeply about EM was quite small,” Hastings said. “It was essential for the small group who did have a direct stake in EM to speak loudly and with one voice to ensure that EM overall received the stable resources and attention it needed.”

Hastings credited progress like the work along Hanford’s Columbia River Corridor with improving the perception of the cleanup and enabling wider recognition of the federal government’s ability to meet legal obligations to clean up legacy waste resulting from defense programs that helped end World War II and the Cold War.

Reps. Chuck Fleischmann of Tennessee, Ben Ray Luján of New Mexico, and Dan Newhouse of Washington state are moving the caucus forward, providing bipartisan leadership and advocacy for safe, effective, and efficient cleanup of sites across the EM complex.

Fleischmann commended contractor teams at EM’s Oak Ridge site in Tennessee and across the complex for doing “exemplary” jobs, and noted that the Administration’s focus on cleanup makes it easier to garner support for the cleanup mission.

While noting that EM has successfully cleaned up all but 16 sites, Luján highlighted the need for developing smart technologies to deal with the tough challenges that remain.

Maria Korsnick, panel moderator and CEO of the Nuclear Energy Institute, which organized the cleanup caucus event, concluded the panel by saying that performing cleanup work well has positive impacts on the broader nuclear field and efforts to increase nuclear power in the U.S.

-Contributor: Jessica Gleason

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Paducah Site Boilers to Help Fire Up Regional Job Growth

PADUCAH, Ky. – EM’s Paducah Site recently transferred two 650-horsepower package boilers to the Paducah Area Community Reuse Organization (PACRO) for the purpose of generating funds to bolster job growth in a five-county region.

“Identifying a beneficial use for the equipment no longer needed at the Paducah Site is a win for the community and for environmental stewardship,” said Jennifer Woodard, Paducah Site lead for EM’s Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office. “The items that have been transferred to PACRO to date have helped generate economic development for this region while also supporting our cleanup mission.”

The portable natural-gas boilers provide a clean and efficient source of energy, producing as much as 21,200 pounds of steam per hour, enough to heat approximately 3,800 homes.

“We are excited to continue the partnership we have ongoing with DOE. This relationship allows our region to continue moving forward as we seek opportunities to expand job opportunities in western Kentucky,” said Kevin Neal, PACRO chair.

PACRO represents Ballard, Graves, Marshall, and McCracken counties in Kentucky and Massac County in southern Illinois.

-Contributors: Dylan Nichols, Jessica Vasseur

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EM Nevada Program Hosts Groundwater Information Exchange

LAS VEGAS – The EM Nevada Program held its sixth groundwater technical information exchange recently, providing a peer-to-peer forum for EM and its contractors to share research, results, and other expertise related to groundwater at or near the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS). The NNSS contractors participating in the information exchange included Navarro Research and Engineering, Mission Support and Test Services, the Desert Research Institute, the United States Geological Survey, and DOE’s Lawrence Livermore and Los Alamos national laboratories. Two members of the Nevada Site Specific Advisory Board (NSSAB), which provides recommendations to the EM Nevada Program, also attended the meeting. Posters and graphic demonstrations presented topics such as groundwater flow, data collection, and comparison of water sampling methods. More information on the NNSS groundwater program will be available to the public at EM’s Groundwater Open House in Beatty, Nevada on Oct. 17. For more information on EM’s groundwater program at NNSS, click here. In this photo, Rob Boehlecke, program manager for the EM Nevada Program, talks with Janice Six of the NSSAB.

-Contributors: Christy Morris, Patty Neese

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