EM Update | Vol. 12, Issue 19 | July 28, 2020

• Demolition Underway on Final Building at ETTP in Oak Ridge
• Crews Tear Down Four Buildings at ETEC Since Active Cleanup Resumed Last Week
• EM Names Brian Vance as Permanent Manager of Hanford Offices
• An EM 2020 Priority: West Valley Moves Closer to Demolishing Main Plant
• Hanford WTP Holds Drill for Emergency Preparedness
• Paving Around Hanford’s WTP Reshapes Landscape
• WIPP Upgrades Fire Protection System
• SRS Performs Remote Testing on New Waste Characterization Equipment
• 2020 National Cleanup Workshop To Be Hosted Virtually

Demolition Underway on Final Building at ETTP in Oak Ridge

OAK RIDGE, Tenn. – DOE’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM) and contractor UCOR have begun demolishing Building K-1600 at the East Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP), marking the final teardown to end a decades-long effort to remove a shuttered uranium enrichment complex.

ETTP, formerly known as the Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant, once contained five massive uranium enrichment buildings, including the world’s largest building at the time of its construction, along with hundreds of support facilities. The site dates back to the Manhattan Project and continued to expand its operations during the Cold War. Those operations ended in 1987, and the site was permanently closed in 1989.

OREM and UCOR are working to complete major cleanup at ETTP later this year — a goal known as Vision 2020. It will mark the first time in the world a former uranium enrichment complex has been cleaned and removed. UCOR accelerated cleanup by four years, saving taxpayers nearly $500 million.

“We are in the process of making history as this building starts coming down,” OREM Manager Jay Mullis said. “Getting to this point is the culmination of nearly 15 years of large-scale demolition with countless more hours preparing, planning, and ensuring each project was conducted safely. It’s extremely rewarding to see how all of these efforts have transformed the site, and how our work has removed barriers and created new economic opportunities for the community.”

This graphic shows all facilities that have been demolished to date at the East Tennessee Technology Park in Oak Ridge. Demolition of the only remaining building, K-1600, is advancing.

The 42,000-square-foot Building K-1600 is a recognizable facility due to its height and location, sitting in the middle of the Building K-25 footprint. Building K-1600 was used as a former test and demonstration facility for uranium enrichment centrifuges. Centrus Energy Corp. leased the government-owned facility from 2002 until 2019. The company no longer needed the lease after consolidating its centrifuge testing and demonstration activities into a location in Oak Ridge.

Demolition and environmental cleanup at ETTP is part of an effort to transform the former government-owned enrichment complex into a privately-owned multi-use industrial park. OREM has taken down facilities spanning nearly 13 million square feet, transferred more than 1,200 acres of land for economic development, and placed more than 3,000 acres in a conservation easement for community recreational use.

Additionally, more than 100 acres will be used for historic preservation efforts at the site. Since the K-25 footprint is part of the Manhattan Project National Historical Park, the demolition of Building K-1600 will increase accessibility and remove risks in the area for future use.

As demolition ends at ETTP, UCOR is transitioning crews to new deactivation and demolition projects at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Y-12 National Security Complex. These projects will eliminate deteriorating, high-risk facilities, enhance safety, and clear land for future national security and scientific research missions.

-Contributor: Ben Williams

Crews Tear Down Four Buildings at ETEC Since Active Cleanup Resumed Last Week

A crew tears down an instrumentation laboratory at the Radioactive Materials Handling Facility complex at the Energy Technology Engineering Center.

SIMI VALLEY, Calif. – EM has marked the successful demolition of four buildings at the Energy Technology Engineering Center (ETEC) since July 21, making continued progress in the active cleanup at the former nuclear and liquid metals research site in Ventura County, California.

Those demolished structures include an office building, instrumentation laboratory, ancillary guard station, and storage shed at the Radioactive Materials Handling Facility (RMHF) complex. Cleanup activities resumed on July 21.

“I am excited at the progress the team has accomplished in the first few weeks at ETEC. The team is working hard to anticipate challenges and keep this cleanup moving safely and efficiently,” said ETEC Federal Project Director John Jones.

Removing the RMHF facilities, a set of 10 buildings constructed in 1959 and used for the processing, packaging, and shipment of radioactive and mixed hazardous wastes during site operations that ended in 1988, will reduce potential risk of release of hazardous substances due to wildfires or erosion from severe storms.

Site demolition and removal of debris is on track and expected to take approximately six months. Activities are being conducted under a recently signed agreement between the DOE and the State of California, and in adherence to safety practices recommended to protect workers from exposure to the coronavirus. Debris from the cleanup is being transported outside the State of California for disposal at licensed commercial disposal facilities.

ETEC, located in Area IV of the Santa Susana Field Laboratory, served as a premier research facility from the 1950s until the end of active operations. Since the 1980s, more than 200 structures on the site have been demolished and removed; after completing RMHF demolition, only eight DOE structures will remain.

-Contributor: Stephanie Shewmon

EM Names Brian Vance as Permanent Manager of Hanford Offices

RICHLAND, Wash. – EM has named Brian Vance as manager, on a permanent basis, of the two offices that supervise cleanup of the Hanford Site, a move to cement coordination at the site that is preparing to initiate landmark tank waste treatment.

Since February 2019, Vance has been serving on a limited appointment as the manager for both the Richland Operations Office (RL) and Office of River Protection (ORP). In that post, he has aligned operations as Hanford gears up to begin treating tank waste through the Direct-Feed Low-Activity Waste (DFLAW) approach, and concentrates cleanup work on the site’s central plateau.

Last fall, the site marked the removal of the radioactive sludge from Hanford’s K Basins away from the Columbia River for safer longer-term storage; safely resumed removal of demolition debris at the Plutonium Finishing Plant; and most recently completed startup testing at the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant’s Analytical Laboratory, a key component of the DFLAW system.

“Brian has guided Hanford operations with a steady hand,” said William “Ike” White, Senior Advisor for Environmental Management to the Under Secretary for Science. “The men and women on the ground continue making great progress, and I have full confidence that Brian will continue to lead this team into the next phase, as we move towards actual tank waste treatment and cleanup completion in many areas.”

EM has named Brian Vance as permanent manager of the Richland Operations Office and Office of River Protection at the Hanford Site.

Vance has more than 30 years of nuclear industry experience, including project director for RL contractor CH2M HILL Plateau Remediation Company’s 300-296 Soil Removal Project at Hanford. He is a retired Navy nuclear submarine officer with a Bachelor of Science in meteorology from Penn State University, and a Master of Business Administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Joe Franco will continue as the RL deputy manager, and Ben Harp will continue as the ORP deputy manager, with both responsible for the day-to-day operations of each of the offices.

An EM 2020 Priority: West Valley Moves Closer to Demolishing Main Plant

WEST VALLEY, N.Y. – Workers at the EM West Valley Demonstration Project began demolishing a former utility building this month. The 6,955-square-foot building is an ancillary structure to the Main Plant Process Building, the last remaining major facility at the West Valley site. Five other ancillary structures associated with the Main Plant Process Building have been safely torn down, bringing EM’s total number of structures removed at the site to 67. Demolition of the Main Plant Process Building is among EM’s 2020 priorities. “The start of this work will change the landscape and footprint of the WVDP site, and is a reminder of the ongoing progress here,” EM WVDP Director Bryan Bower said.

-Contributor: Joseph Pillittere

Hanford WTP Holds Drill for Emergency Preparedness

The emergency preparedness team at the EM Hanford Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant held its first Hazardous Facility Emergency Response Organization tabletop drill recently.

RICHLAND, Wash. – A team at the Hanford Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) recently held a drill considered an important first step in building an emergency preparedness program to ready the plant for commissioning and eventual full operations.

“We plan, train, and work hard for normal and successful operations,” said Tim Haddick, EM supervisor of security and emergency services. “We also work just as hard to be ready if something doesn’t go as planned so we can protect workers and the public, and get back to normal operations as quickly as possible. This adds an additional layer of safety to operations.”

The training is called the Facility Emergency Response Organization (FERO) tabletop drill. Tabletop drills are a common DOE emergency preparedness tool, in which a facilitator presents a scenario for FERO members, who then discuss their roles and responsibilities during an unlikely emergency. The drill also provided the members an opportunity to incorporate lessons learned for continuous improvement in the emergency preparedness program.

“The team did an outstanding job to make the drill a success,” said Eric Kinnunen, emergency preparedness manager for WTP subcontractor Waste Treatment Completion Company. “We are using a crawl-walk-run philosophy, and it was our first time ‘crawling.’ As we move through the process, we will introduce new scenarios, and they will get increasingly complex.”

The drill was conducted using COVID-19 social-distancing controls and attended by personnel from the WTP FERO, EM Office of River Protection, Hanford support services contractor Mission Support Alliance, Hanford Fire Department, and Hanford Patrol Operations Center.

-Contributor: George Rangel

Paving Around Hanford’s WTP Reshapes Landscape

RICHLAND, Wash. – Before and after views: the landscape around EM’s Hanford Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) continues to show signs of progress. Inland Asphalt, part of CRH Group, a subcontractor to WTP contractor Bechtel National Inc., is paving roads and parking lots around the future operational area of the plant, which supports one of EM’s 2020 priorities: complete Direct-Feed Low-Activity Waste construction and turn-over to commissioning. While taking advantage of the warm summer weather and using COVID-19 safety protocols, this work will continue over the next several weeks to establish nearly 620,000 square feet of permanent walkways and roadways.Click here to watch a video about this project.

-Contributor: Bechtel National Inc.

WIPP Upgrades Fire Protection System

Concrete bases are in place for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant's new fire water system tanks.

SRS Performs Remote Testing on New Waste Characterization Equipment

Characterization equipment operators Tim Carlton, left, and Todd Shepley perform a virtual equipment test.

AIKEN, S.C. – In a first for the Solid Waste Management Facility (SWMF) at the Savannah River Site (SRS), employees completed equipment tests virtually, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The tests were designed to ensure proper installation and operation of two pieces of equipment used to characterize transuranic (TRU) waste at the facility. TRU waste consists of solid materials, such as clothing, tools, rags, residue, debris, and other items contaminated with trace amounts of plutonium. All TRU waste at SRS is characterized before it can be shipped to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) for permanent disposal. This ensures the waste is allowed by WIPP.

“Due to the COVID-19 travel restrictions in place at the time, acceptance tests were performed using video calls for the first time ever,” Solid Waste Programs Manager Kerri Crawford said. “An initial test was performed to ensure the video call could accurately meet requirements with both onsite and offsite personnel, and SRS subject-matter experts. The initial test was successful, and we completed the required acceptance testing while the travel restrictions were still in place.”

Following the successful testing, the equipment was calibrated. It will be certified for use in TRU waste characterization.

After TRU waste characterization efforts at SWMF are complete, the equipment will be used elsewhere at SRS.

“For example, criticality control overpack storage and shipping containers storing plutonium down-blend will be characterized, stored, and shipped from the Site’s K Area Complex storage and production facility instead of from SWMF,” Crawford said.

“Doing site acceptance testing through video is an inventive and effective way to ensure continued work during the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Sonitza Blanco, director of the DOE-Savannah River Waste Disposition Programs Division. “This is something we will evaluate for future use as a cost savings.”

-Contributor: Lindsey MonBarren

2020 National Cleanup Workshop To Be Hosted Virtually

The 2020 National Cleanup Workshop is being revamped to be a virtual workshop on Sept. 16, 2020. The half-day event will feature remarks from Under Secretary for Science Paul Dabbar and senior DOE officials, state and local government officials, and industry leaders. They will discuss key issues facing the DOE complex in the year ahead and celebrate important progress made this year.

Last year we celebrated 30 years of EM’s cleanup program. This year’s agenda will focus on continuing success and overcoming adversity with moderated discussions about the path forward for EM’s strategic vision, contracting updates, and regulatory successes.

A revised agenda is in development. For more information, please click here.

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