EM Update | Vol. 12, Issue 34 | Nov. 10, 2020

• Salt Waste Processing Facility Operations Underway at SRS
• Portsmouth Site, State Enhance Air Monitoring Ahead of Major Demolitions
• Hanford Completes Key Direct-Feed Low-Activity Waste Milestones
• Subcontract Awarded to Support Hanford Tank Waste Treatment, Risk Reduction
• EM, Los Alamos National Laboratory Preserve America’s Nuclear Knowledge Base
• EM Contractors Recognized for Safety and Health Excellence
• Oak Ridge’s New Technologies Ensure Vehicle Safety

Salt Waste Processing Facility Operations Underway at SRS

An aerial view of the Salt Waste Processing Facility at the Savannah River Site.

AIKEN, S.C. – The Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF), designed to significantly increase the Savannah River Site's (SRS) ability to empty and close radioactive waste tanks, has processed thousands of gallons of waste in its first month of operation.

The first batch of radioactive waste was transferred to SWPF Oct. 5, beginning “hot” commissioning of the facility. As of Nov. 9, SWPF has received eight transfers totaling nearly 86,000 gallons of waste.

“SWPF begins a new era in processing radioactive material that in the near future will enable DOE to close waste tanks at an unprecedented rate,” Savannah River Operations Office Manager Mike Budney said.

The first batch of approximately 4,000 gallons of waste took about two weeks to process as the facility methodically goes through a series of surveillance and sampling to ensure all aspects of the process work as designed.

The first three transfers were relatively small and subsequently diluted once received at SWPF. This is a common practice with any type of nuclear facility startup. It allows for operation of the facility with real, albeit diluted, feed to ensure all systems and components perform as expected.

“The startup of any nuclear facility is performed in a deliberate manner to ensure it operates as designed,” Savannah River Operations Office Waste Disposition Assistant Manager Jim Folk said. “Our startup of SWPF is similarly being conducted using a conservative and safe approach.”

A diagram of the Salt Waste Processing Facility process.

Employees at the Savannah River Site monitor the first transfer of waste to the Salt Waste Processing Facility on Oct. 5.

The next three transfers were larger and less diluted as the facility ramped up its testing expectations. The remainder of the hot commissioning testing will be performed using non-diluted waste as the facility goes through its final operational checkouts.

The process begins by transferring the waste from H Tank Farm to SWPF where it undergoes a two-step cleanup process.

The first step removes strontium and actinides, such as uranium and plutonium, from the waste. The second step, known as Caustic Side Solvent Extraction (CSSX), is designed for the removal of radioactive cesium.

After the separation process is completed, the concentrated high-activity waste is sent to the nearby Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF). The decontaminated salt solution is mixed with cement-like grout at the nearby Saltstone Production Facility for disposal onsite.

Transfers of these waste streams out of SWPF have also been completed successfully. The decontaminated salt solution from SWPF has been sent to Saltstone. The actinide-laden sludge solids and the cesium-laden strip effluent radioactive waste streams, removed from the salt waste by SWPF, have been sent to the DWPF. At that facility, the waste will be immobilized in glass and stored in stainless steel canisters onsite until a federal repository is established.

Hot commissioning activities have progressed as expected with completion currently scheduled for late December. Parsons, the contractor that designed and built the first-of-a-kind facility, will operate SWPF for one year beginning in January. It is anticipated the facility will process between 4 to 6 million gallons of waste in that year of operations.

The SWPF systems and components have largely performed as expected. The only notable issue to date was identified during one of the early transfers, when a pump that sends the salt waste into the CSSX process did not operate properly. The pump has since been replaced.

“Based on results to date, we have every reason to believe hot commissioning will continue as planned and normal operations will begin soon after the new year,” said Folk.

Startup of the SWPF, the last major piece of the liquid waste system at SRS, represents a leap forward in DOE’s ability to tackle the largest and one of the most challenging environmental risks — tank waste.

Now that SWPF is operational, it is expected that nearly all of the salt waste inventory at SRS will be processed by 2030.

-Contributors: Bill Clark, Jim Folk, Sonya Goines

Portsmouth Site, State Enhance Air Monitoring Ahead of Major Demolitions

PIKE COUNTY, Ohio - Additional air monitoring stations are being installed that will enhance environmental and radiological data collection during demolition of the Portsmouth Site’s three large gaseous diffusion plant buildings where uranium was enriched throughout the Cold War.

Pursuant to an agreement between EM, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (Ohio EPA), and the Ohio Department of Health (ODH), the stations will enable independent sampling for regulators and the public.

“We continue to work closely with our regulator partners and stakeholders to provide transparent access to important data that will help us all evaluate and ensure the protection of human health and the environment,” Portsmouth Site Lead Jeff Bettinger said. “This increased level of monitoring and reporting is directly relevant to the upcoming demolition of the large process buildings.”

Consolidated Analytical Systems, a subcontractor to Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth, the Portsmouth Site's deactivation and decommissioning contractor, fabricated the new air monitoring stations, including air monitoring equipment, and shelters for the equipment. This one was installed on Perimeter Road in a strategic location initially determined by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency based on project activities and typical wind direction.

EM stations at the Portsmouth Site have both low- and high-volume air samplers in place for continuous use.

Ohio EPA will monitor for the presence of particulate matter, asbestos, metals, and volatile organic compounds, such as trichloroethylene. Locations for the stations were determined by the Ohio EPA based on planned activities and prevailing wind direction.

Enhanced radiological air monitoring will be achieved through an agreement with the ODH, which will manage a network of 18 new monitoring stations on and around the site. The stations are being co-located alongside EM’s current 15 stations and three of the new Ohio EPA stations. Three additional EM-managed stations will provide another layer of data validation as results are compared among the agencies.

“Although each location will have DOE, Ohio EPA, and ODH air monitoring equipment, sampling and analysis will be performed independent of one another,” said Bob Purtee, the project’s reporting and support manager with Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth, the site's deactivation and decommissioning contractor.

Once the stations are operational, information on particulate matter will be gathered in real time. Samples for metals, asbestos, and volatile organic compounds will be collected and submitted by the respective parties weekly or monthly for analysis. The verified data from Ohio EPA, ODH, and EM will be available to the public on a quarterly basis.

All stations are scheduled to be installed and operational in 2020.

-Contributors: Brad Mitzelfelt, Michelle Teeters

Hanford Completes Key Direct-Feed Low-Activity Waste Milestones

EM Senior Advisor William “Ike” White, fourth from right, got a firsthand look at facilities and systems that make up the Direct-Feed Low-Activity Waste (DFLAW) system at Hanford’s Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant during a visit on Oct. 28. As of the end of fiscal 2020, all pieces and facilities that comprise the physical DFLAW system are in place. Pictured, from left, are Ben Harp, deputy manager, Office of River Protection (ORP); White; Brian Vance, manager, ORP and Richland Operations Office (RL); Brian Stickney, deputy manager, RL; and John Andreatta, Effluent Management Facility completion manager, Bechtel National, Inc.

RICHLAND, Wash. ― EM recently declared major design work complete for Direct-Feed Low-Activity Waste (DFLAW) facilities at the Hanford Site’s Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP).

In 2015, EM expanded its contract with EM Office of River Protection (ORP) contractor Bechtel National Inc. (BNI) to design and build the Effluent Management Facility (EMF) and make plant-wide utilities modifications to support the low-activity waste vitrification, or immobilization in glass, program. This work involved teams of engineers, nuclear safety staff, procurement specialists, and field crews working closely to integrate the design, purchasing, and construction changes.

“Completing major design work is an important step closer to treating low-activity tank waste,” said Mat Irwin, ORP deputy assistant manager for WTP.

BNI holds the contract to design, build, start up, and commission the massive waste treatment plant. This achievement represents the final DFLAW design completion contract milestone for the Bechtel-led team.

“It’s a tremendous accomplishment for our team as we completed more than 5,000 design drawings, calculations, and documents to support the modifications needed to support direct-feed tank waste treatment,” said Felice Presti, deputy project director for BNI. “We are now driving to construction completion and our engineering focus is shifting toward plant startup and commissioning work.”

The EMF design includes a nearly 19,000-square-foot building containing more than 9,500 cubic yards of concrete, nearly 800 tons of structural steel and heating, ventilation and air conditioning ductwork, more than 395,000 feet of piping and electrical cable, and 11 large processing vessels. The facility is the final major construction effort ongoing to complete DFLAW facilities.

During vitrification, secondary liquids will be generated by the off-gas system of the melters in WTP’s Low-Activity Waste Facility and flushing of transfer pipes. The effluent facility will evaporate excess water and process these liquids for disposal. The remaining concentrate will be sent back into the vitrification process.

Workers recently completed construction of six more systems in the effluent facility, and approximately 65% of facility systems have been completed and turned over to startup testing.

After the startup phase is complete, a commissioning phase ensures the utilities and process systems are integrated and ready to support future plant operations.

The plant’s Low-Activity Waste Facility and a collection of 14 utility support buildings are undergoing startup testing and commissioning. The plant’s Analytical Laboratory is in the commissioning phase.

-Contributor: George Rangel

Subcontract Awarded to Support Hanford Tank Waste Treatment, Risk Reduction

EM Richland Operations Office contractor Mission Support Alliance has awarded a subcontract for construction of a 10,000-square-foot water treatment facility that will support the site’s shift to 24/7 operations to treat tank waste and also meet the demands of risk-reduction cleanup operations across the Hanford Site.

RICHLAND, Wash. – EM Richland Operations Office (RL) contractor Mission Support Alliance (MSA) has awarded a $13 million subcontract to Fowler General Construction to build a new Hanford Site water treatment facility that will automate water services, and support treating tank waste and completing risk-reduction cleanup projects across the site.

“This new facility will ensure we can support several years of 24/7 operations to treat millions of gallons of low-activity tank waste while also meeting the demands of our risk-reduction operations at Hanford,” said Jeff Frey, RL assistant manager for mission support. “The tank waste treatment program requires a collective commitment to excellence and significant upgrades to site infrastructure to create the most highly-integrated operational program at Hanford.”

The water treatment facility is one of several projects critical to the Direct-Feed Low-Activity-Waste system that will transform the Hanford Site by enabling a shift to tank waste treatment operations. The approach is a system of interdependent projects and infrastructure improvements that will operate together to send pretreated waste from Hanford’s tank farms directly to the Low-Activity Waste Facility at the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP).

“When we get into 24/7 operations, having an uninterrupted supply of water and other infrastructure services will be critical, because once we turn the melters on, we won’t be able to turn them off until they are replaced periodically when they wear out,” said Mat Irwin, EM Office of River Protection deputy assistant manager for WTP, where the tank waste will be vitrified, or immobilized in glass.

In addition to increasing the volume of water that can be provided for tank waste treatment and cleanup operations, a new water treatment facility’s treatment technology does not require chlorine gas, allowing EM to eliminate the use of the hazardous gas at the Hanford Site when the facility begins operations.

The new water treatment facility will be capable of producing a minimum of 3.5 million gallons of clean water a day and can be expanded to provide 5 million gallons per day if site demands increase. MSA completed design of the facility earlier this year, and construction is expected to begin in April.

“We are excited to expand and upgrade the site’s water treatment system and to play an important role in the upcoming shift to 24/7 waste treatment operations,” said Bob Wilkinson, president and CEO of MSA. “Our crews have proven they can deliver award-winning water treatment services, and we’re looking forward to building on a legacy of more than 70 years of skilled operation of water treatment facilities as we support the mission.”

The new estimated 10,000-square-foot facility will treat water using a process called hollow fiber microfiltration that lets water molecules through, while leaving bacteria and other contaminants behind. The treatment method represents a significant improvement to the safety of personnel working in and around the facility, as it will not use chlorine gas, allowing EM to eliminate all use of the hazardous gas on the site when the new facility begins operating.

-Contributor: Renee Brooks

EM, Los Alamos National Laboratory Preserve America’s Nuclear Knowledge Base

DENVER – A little-known team of experts at the Denver Federal Center and Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) is preserving America’s nuclear weapons research, a commitment that involves capturing, organizing, and digitizing decades of information.

Hundreds of boxes sit at the Denver center, filled with hard copies of data, reports, laboratory notebooks, welding procedures, and technical illustrations. The boxes came from all over the U.S. nuclear complex, including Rocky Flats, Mound, Pinellas, and other EM field sites after their successful closures.

The Rocky Flats Plant in Golden, Colorado was a large manufacturing hub that churned out the majority of the nuclear weapon pits that still exist in the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile. The site’s weapons mission ended in the early 1990s and most of its records sat in storage until recent years.

Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center (EMCBC) Classification Officer Jill McLaughlin and Classification Program Manager Lisa Fulks recently hosted a 14-member LANL team at the Denver center. The team included personnel from plutonium operations, security, and logistics tasked with packaging and shipping 519 boxes of classified records and media from the Denver center to LANL.

The successful shipment of boxes was completed in late August, reducing the inventory of classified materials at the center by a third. The shipment filled a special large tractor-trailer truck.

The team is set to perform a complete document inventory, digitize the contents of the boxes, and create an archive library.

“We are working as fast as we can to provide access to the entire collection of nuclear weapons manufacturing and research records," said Dr. Robert Putnam, a chief scientist at LANL. “The work we’re doing is critical to preserving America’s nuclear knowledge. We need to ensure that the next generation has access to historical information. If you’ve never been taught to run procedures for a nuclear facility, we’re ensuring you can learn from history.”

In fiscal 2020, Joe Watts, LANL project manager, organized 1.7 terabytes of other related electronic classified information — equivalent to about 130 million pages of information, an amount that would fill more than 2,000 file cabinets — and provided the LANL Weapons Programs and EMCBC Classification Office access to it.

That electronic recovery resulted in several million dollars of cost savings for the DOE weapons programs. LANL canceled a planned plutonium metallurgy study when experimental data from Rocky Flats answered the scientific questions asked by weapon design engineers. Elimination of the experiments saved funding and schedule time, and reduced potential radiation exposures for workers.

The EMCBC Classification Office has been working with Watts for more than two years to prepare for the upcoming transfer of classified documents in both electronic and hard-copy form from the Denver center.

"We greatly appreciate the valuable efforts of the LANL team, and look forward to continuing the positive work relationship as the recovery and digitization of the documents continue," said Jack Zimmerman, director of the EMCBC. "Mr. Watts' leadership has been innovative and adaptable despite the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic."

While the EMCBC Classification Office focuses on classification reviews for various EM field sites such as the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, Los Alamos Field Office, Nevada Program, West Valley Demonstration Project, Energy Technology Engineering Center, and Separations Process Research Unit, the office also works to release non-classified documents to EM field sites, the DOE Office of Legacy Management (LM), and the greater public in support of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and other matters.

The office also releases scientific and technical information as required. Digitization of the contents from the Denver center boxes will enable quicker responses by EMCBC and LM for public releases.

The joint EMCBC-LANL team will continue to coordinate efforts to inventory the collection at the Denver center, declassify contents where possible, update classification markings, and digitize the collection with robust metadata that will enable rapid keyword searches.

The project, including digital conversion, is expected to take months, but once complete, will provide secure electronic access to scientists, engineers, training professionals, FOIA programs, record managers, librarians, historians, and other interested parties.

-Contributor: Stephanie Shewmon

EM Contractors Recognized for Safety and Health Excellence

Workers at the West Valley Demonstration Project (WVDP) demolished a nearly 7,000-square-foot utility building, shown here, earlier this year. WVDP cleanup contractor CH2M HILL BWXT West Valley received the DOE Voluntary Protection Program Star of Excellence this year for its robust safety program. WVDP has been a VPP site for 20 years.

EM contractors across the complex have been honored with a variety of awards for safety and health excellence in DOE’s Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) this year.

Working through cooperative efforts among labor, management, and government at DOE contractor sites, the VPP promotes improved safety and health performance through public recognition of outstanding programs.

The awards were presented during the Annual DOE-VPP Participants Meeting. Normally this meeting would have been part of the Annual Safety+ Symposium sponsored by the Voluntary Protection Programs Participants Association, but this year’s symposium was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The meeting was held virtually and the awards were shipped to the winners.

Two employees at the Savannah River Site were honored with the VPP Champion Award, given to only three employees in the DOE complex each year. The site’s awardees were Melanie Gibson, with liquid waste contractor Savannah River Remediation, and George Wisner, with EM contractor Savannah River Nuclear Solutions.

The VPP Star of Excellence Award is presented to VPP Star sites that maintain an injury/illness rate at least 75% below the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) industry average, meet annual VPP goals, actively mentor other companies, and demonstrate strong community involvement.

The following companies received the VPP Star of Excellence Award:

• CH2M HILL BWXT West Valley, cleanup contractor at the West Valley Demonstration Project.
• CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Company, EM Richland Operations Office contractor at the Hanford Site.
• Fluor Idaho, cleanup contractor at the Idaho National Laboratory Site.
• Mission Support Alliance, site services contractor at the Hanford Site.
• Parsons, Salt Waste Processing Facility contractor at Savannah River Site.
• Portsmouth Mission Alliance, EM Portsmouth Site infrastructure support services contractor at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant.
• Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, EM contractor at Savannah River Site.
• Savannah River Remediation, liquid waste contractor at Savannah River Site.
• Washington River Protection Solutions, tank operations contractor at the Hanford Site.

The VPP Superior Star Award is presented to VPP Star sites that maintain an injury/illness rate 50 percent better than comparison industry based on BLS data, meet annual VPP goals, actively mentor other companies, and demonstrate strong community involvement.

The following companies received VPP Superior Star Awards:

• North Wind Solutions, EM contractor at the Transuranic Waste Processing Center at Oak Ridge.
• Wastren Advantage, EM contractor at the 222-S Laboratory at the Hanford Site.
• Waste Treatment Completion Company, Bechtel National Inc. subcontractor at the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant at the Hanford Site.

The DOE VPP Legacy of Stars Award distinguishes a company that has excelled in outreach and mentoring, and has demonstrated sustained excellence in worker safety and health. The award goes to those that would have achieved the Star of Excellence for a fourth consecutive year. They receive the Legacy of Stars Award in lieu of a fourth Star of Excellence Award.

The following companies received VPP Legacy of Stars Awards:

• Intermech, a subcontractor to Waste Treatment Completion Company at the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant at the Hanford Site.
• Mission Support Alliance, site services contractor at the Hanford Site.
• UCOR, Oak Ridge cleanup contractor.

VPP began in 1994 to promote improved safety and health performance through publicly recognizing outstanding programs. Since that time, DOE has seen improved labor and management relations, reduced workplace injuries and illnesses, increased employee involvement, improved morale, and reduced absenteeism at participating sites.

-Contributors: Brad Davy, Colleen Hart, Christina Swanson

Oak Ridge’s New Technologies Ensure Vehicle Safety

OAK RIDGE, Tenn. – EM’s cleanup at Oak Ridge is supported by numerous vehicles that ship waste, transport personnel, and deliver items. With so many types of vehicles operating in a variety of work spaces, there is a potential for accidents.

The Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM) and its cleanup contractor, UCOR, are implementing new technologies to ensure employees who operate machinery and vehicles or perform work around them remain safe.

UCOR is installing a new blind spot technology on all its commercial vehicles to prevent accidents and keep drivers, spotters, and people on foot safe by eliminating blind spots and providing a 360-degree survey of surroundings.

The technology involves the use of small radar sensor boxes attached to all four sides of a vehicle or trailer. The sensor box determines the location of any people or objects within a set distance of a vehicle. A signal is sent to the driver through a display with varying colored lights and sounds indicating the distance and location of the people or objects, and whether they are moving.

A MyZone Technologies Worker Alert Systems transmitter is affixed to the top of a piece of equipment as work is performed in the field.

While a transmitter is attached to equipment in the field, the MyZone Technologies Worker Alert Systems technology also has receivers worn by employees. When a worker gets close to a vehicle, the transmitter emits a signal causing their receiver to vibrate. Pictured is UCOR employee Bobby Alred.

“The biggest benefit is enhancing worker safety, first and foremost,” UCOR Environmental Safety & Heath Operations Manager Bobby Alred said. “Once an incident happens, you can’t take it back, and providing the best tools available to reduce the risk of injury is an important step to enhancing worker safety efforts.”

UCOR is also implementing the MyZone Technologies Worker Alert Systems. With this technology, a transmitter is affixed to a vehicle, and workers wear small receivers. When an employee gets close to a vehicle, the transmitter emits a signal causing the receiver to vibrate. The vibrations alert workers when they are within a preset range of the vehicle.

These technologies differ in who receives notifications. Drivers are notified through the blind spot technology, while My Zone notifies those near vehicles. For certain types of work, UCOR is able to use them together.

“Employee safety is our top priority when performing any task in the field, and having these technologies to supplement existing procedures and safety systems helps to ensure this continues,” OREM Operations Management Division Director Larry Perkins said. “Identifying and implementing technologies like these is another way we are protecting our workforce and maintaining safety excellence at the site.”

-Contributor: Wayne McKinney

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

Follow EM on Twitter: @EMcleanup