EM Update | Vol. 12, Issue 9 | March 3, 2020

• Oak Ridge Opens K-25 History Center to Preserve Site’s Rich History
• Hanford Crew Operates Hoist in Mark of Progress for Tank Waste Treatment
• Cleanup Success Drives Record Number of Freight at Hanford
• Idaho Site Shares Expertise With Canadian Cleanup Program Visitors
• Hanford Employees ‘Introduce a Girl to Engineering’ Using Mini Robots, Boats
• Portsmouth/Paducah Cleanup Leads Contracting Officer Back Home

Oak Ridge Opens K-25 History Center to Preserve Site’s Rich History

Holding an oversized pair of scissors, DOE Under Secretary for Science Paul Dabbar and Oak Ridge Mayor Warren Gooch cut a ceremonial ribbon to mark the grand opening of the K-25 History Center. They are joined by Oak Ridge EM, labor and contractor officials, and former K-25 Building site workers.

OAK RIDGE, Tenn. – Hundreds of community members and former workers weathered subfreezing temperatures Feb. 27 to attend a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new K-25 History Center.

DOE’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management and its contractor UCOR hosted the grand opening for the history center, located next to the original foundation for the K-25 Building. The center was built to honor and preserve the stories of the workers who constructed and operated the K-25 uranium enrichment complex during World War II and the Cold War.

“I applaud the many agencies that helped us bring the K-25 History Center from an idea to an engaging facility that shares the incredible story of a secret city in Tennessee that changed the course of history,” DOE Under Secretary for Science Paul Dabbar said. “DOE is proud to provide the Oak Ridge community a new educational attraction that preserves that story and highlights the men and women who built the world’s largest building in 18 months, and developed first-of-a-kind technology that helped defend and power our nation.”

Visitors explore the many exhibits and interactive displays in the K-25 History Center.

Due to the K-25 structure’s deteriorated state, EM demolished the enormous facility as part of its efforts to clean and transform the site for reuse. The last shipment of debris from the K-25 demolition project left the site in 2014.

The cleanup program also signed a multi-project agreement to preserve and share the building’s historical significance. The K-25 History Center was a major component of that agreement, and the grand opening marked the fulfillment of a significant commitment to the community. The K-25 footprint is part of the Manhattan Project National Historical Park.

The history center offers visitors 7,500 square feet of exhibits with more than 250 original artifacts on display. Nearly 1,000 oral histories were collected over a 10-year span from former Manhattan Project and Cold War-era workers that museum professionals used to develop the exhibits and interactive galleries.

A view of the K-25 Building in the 1940s. At the time of construction, it was the largest building in the world, but it was kept secret from the public.

Originally constructed in 1944, K-25 was the largest structure in the world with a 44-acre footprint. It produced uranium for the world’s first nuclear weapon, and at its peak, the K-25 enrichment complex employed 12,000 workers. Despite its massive size, the complex was kept secret from the public until the end of World War II.

Uranium enrichment operations ceased at K-25 in 1985, and the site was shut down in 1987. EM then began a massive environmental cleanup effort to transform the site into a multi-use private-sector industrial park, known as the East Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP). All remaining demolition projects are scheduled to be completed at ETTP this year.

The K-25 History Center is open to the public seven days a week. Admission is free.

-Contributor: Ben Williams

Hanford Crew Operates Hoist in Mark of Progress for Tank Waste Treatment

A 10-ton transfer hoist, located in the Hanford Site’s Low-Activity Waste Facility, is a key component in moving containers filled with treated tank waste. During operations, the remotely operated hoist will function behind a shield door.

RICHLAND, Wash. – A startup crew recently operated a hoist that will be used to lift containers of waste turned into glass weighing about 7 tons each for the first time since opening an annex to the Hanford Site’s Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) Low-Activity Waste (LAW) Facility last summer.

The operators had remotely connected to the hoist before operating it from the control room annex in the LAW Facility, marking continued progress in EM’s Direct-Feed Low-Activity Waste (DFLAW) program to treat Hanford tank waste.

“You can feel the pace of operations getting quicker, as systems that have been under construction for so long are coming online,” said Jason Young, EM WTP federal program manager. “Treating tank waste is complex and multifaceted, and requires a sustained collective commitment to excellence and teamwork. Getting the transfer hoist operational is one more step toward success.”

Julian Leam, senior mechanical handling test engineer with Waste Treatment Completion Company, observes as a transfer hoist is remotely operated from the Hanford Low-Activity Waste Facility control room. The hoist will be used to lift containers of molten tank waste weighing about 7 tons each.

In the annex, technicians for Bechtel National, Inc. subcontractor Waste Treatment Completion Company (WTCC) have been testing equipment in the LAW Facility and bringing systems online, in order to safely turn radioactive tank waste into glass in a process called vitrification by the end of 2023.

During operations, the 10-ton hoist will operate behind a shield door. Employees will operate the hoist remotely from the LAW Facility control room while viewing through a series of cameras and monitors.

“Movement of the transfer hoist is a great achievement for the project and a major step in the ongoing progress towards vitrifying waste,” said Julian Leam, WTCC senior mechanical handling test engineer. “Making ‘first contact’ was an exciting moment and gives us confidence to move through the rest of the handling systems that will move stainless steel containers through the LAW Facility to be filled with vitrified waste.”

In the LAW Facility, low-activity waste will be mixed with silica and other glass-forming materials. The mixture will be fed into the LAW Facility’s two 300-ton melters and heated to 2,100 degrees Fahrenheit. The glass mixture will then be poured into containers that are 4 feet in diameter, 7 feet tall, and weigh about 7 tons when filled.

-Contributor: Ian Klei

Cleanup Success Drives Record Number of Freight at Hanford

RICHLAND, Wash. – A record amount of freight was processed through the Hanford Site central warehouse in the last fiscal year, a key indicator of the increase in cleanup momentum across the site.

Resources varying from computer and office gear to specialized equipment used in the tank farms go through the site’s central warehouse managed by EM Richland Operations Office (RL) contractor Mission Support Alliance.

“You usually don’t see or hear about them, but the warehousing and delivery team is very important in moving the Hanford cleanup mission forward,” said Jeff Frey, assistant manager for mission support. “They are responsible for receiving shipments, delivering materials to all contractors across the 580-square-mile site, and storing spare parts and equipment.”

In fiscal 2019, which ended Sept. 30, the property and warehouse management team processed more than 239,000 pieces of incoming freight, a jump of more than 30 percent over the previous year. The team processed nearly 20,000 freight items per month, sometimes 1,600 or more a day.

“This is the highest volume of freight that has come through the warehouse in at least 10 years,” said John Horton, manager of Hanford’s central warehouse. “The increase in warehouse traffic is a reflection of cleanup progress across the site.”

Horton said the team managed the increase and maintained its delivery schedule without having to bring in additional staff. As the site prepares to transition to 24/7 operations with the startup of the Direct-Feed Low-Activity Waste program to treat tank waste, Horton expects the team to stay busy receiving and delivering materials to workers across the site.

-Contributor: Patrick Conrad

Idaho Site Shares Expertise With Canadian Cleanup Program Visitors

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho – EM and cleanup contractor Fluor Idaho recently discussed lessons learned and other expertise on nuclear safety and regulatory strategies with representatives of Canada’s cleanup program during their visit to DOE’s Idaho National Laboratory (INL) Site.

Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL) is decommissioning aging facilities and conducting research projects at the Chalk River site in the Ontario province, one of Canada’s cleanup sites. The INL and Chalk River sites are similar in that both have cleanup underway as they expand nuclear research and development. And like the INL, Chalk River is being considered for small modular reactor development.

The CNL officials toured the Idaho Nuclear Technology and Engineering Center (INTEC) and Radioactive Waste Management Complex (RWMC). They expressed interest in the safety basis for each facility and the regulatory framework under which work is conducted at them. CNL is developing a safety basis for Chalk River that addresses the environment and communities near the site. A safety basis outlines design and safety controls needed to comply with nuclear safety requirements and standards.

The CNL representatives viewed EM’s targeted buried waste exhumation at the RWMC’s Accelerated Retrieval Project. Exhumation work is directed and monitored in a nearby trailer with closed-circuit video capabilities. That operation also monitors workers for heat generation from potentially reactive buried waste. Chalk River also has a radioactive waste landfill that will require exhumation.

Operators monitor all facets of the Accelerated Retrieval Project through closed-circuit monitors.

At INTEC, the visitors saw spent nuclear fuel storage facilities, which included horizontal storage of fuel and debris; in-ground storage where fuel elements are placed in steel sleeves with shielding caps; and cask storage, where spent fuel is stored in transport casks on a concrete pad. Tour participants also discussed the Chemical Processing Plant-603, where spent nuclear fuel is suspended and air cooled.

Following the tour, the visitors met with nuclear safety professionals to discuss how cleanup work is safely executed at the INL Site and how those lessons can be applied to CNL’s work.

“We had a great meeting with the CNL representatives,” Fluor Idaho Environmental, Safety, and Health Director Kliss McNeel said. “I believe the more we work with other similar sites, the more we all benefit. So many of the issues are similar and if we work together, we can find solutions that work for all of us.”

-Contributor: Erik Simpson

Hanford Employees ‘Introduce a Girl to Engineering’ Using Mini Robots, Boats

More than 20 engineers from EM Hanford Site contractor CH2M HILL Plateau Remediation Company (CHPRC) volunteered for Engineers Week in local elementary, middle, and high school classrooms, teaching students about the concepts of engineering and opportunities available at Hanford. Founded by the National Society of Professional Engineers in 1951, Engineers Week is dedicated to ensuring a diverse and well-educated future engineering workforce by increasing interest in engineering and technology careers. Hayley McClendon, a CHPRC scientist, is pictured at far left with sixth-graders in a science class at Horse Heaven Hills Middle School in Kennewick, Washington.

-Contributor: Randal Fox

Portsmouth/Paducah Cleanup Leads Contracting Officer Back Home

Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office Contracting Officer Tyler Hicks.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Growing up in Kentucky’s capital of Frankfort, Tyler Hicks knew a lot of state employees.

But he didn't think civil service was for him, so he enrolled at the University of Kentucky in Lexington to study business and finance. By 2008, he had earned his bachelor’s degree, but job opportunities were scarce under the worst recession in a generation. So Hicks stayed at the university another year, earned a master’s degree, and met an Air Force representative at a campus job fair.

“I showed up for free pizza,” Hicks remembered recently from his desk at EM’s Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office (PPPO) in Lexington.

Although most of the graduates that day weren’t planning on government careers, a dozen of them decided to pursue internships as civilian contract specialists at Ohio’s Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Hicks said the base offered good entry opportunities at respectable pay grades.

After his first three years at Wright-Patterson, Hicks joined the F-35 Joint Program Office in Arlington, Virginia. In 2014, knowing that PPPO was hiring, he stopped by Lexington to introduce himself at the PPPO office while visiting relatives in Kentucky.

Now in his sixth year as a PPPO contracting officer, Hicks oversees more than $4 billion worth of contracts guiding the safe execution of deactivation and decommissioning work at EM’s Portsmouth Site in southern Ohio. The site was home to one of the nation’s three large Cold-War-era uranium-enrichment plants for 50 years.

“Working myself out of a job,” as he describes it, Hicks anticipates the Portsmouth cleanup will be finished before he reaches retirement age.

With more than 10 years of federal service, the 33-year-old has had a successful career even though it’s not exactly what he once planned on doing. And with PPPO anticipating the first massive uranium-enrichment process building’s demolition starting late this year, Hicks said he and his colleagues are gratified to see the results of their efforts.

“It’s exciting to get to see the fruition of all the work,” he said.

-Contributor: Brad Mitzelfelt

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

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