EM Update | Vol. 13, Issue 37 | Sept. 21, 2021

• Hanford Treats More Than 2 Billion Gallons of Groundwater Seven Years in a Row
• Oak Ridge Contractor Teams With Skilled Labor to Build Workforce
• WIPP Forges Ahead With Construction of Key Building for Ventilation System
• ‘Frit’ a Critical Ingredient in Hanford’s Melter Heatup Recipe
• SRS Expands Canister Double-Stacking to Second Building
• West Valley Repurposes Facility to Support Main Plant Demolition

Hanford Treats More Than 2 Billion Gallons of Groundwater Seven Years in a Row

RICHLAND, Wash. – The Hanford Site is closing in on treating 28 billion total gallons of groundwater to remove contamination since treatment began in the mid-1990s, significantly reducing risk to the Columbia River. That is a volume roughly equal to the amount of water that flows over Niagara Falls in 12 hours.

Operators will treat nearly 2.4 billion gallons of groundwater in fiscal 2021 alone, which ends Sept. 30. This is the seventh consecutive year Hanford has treated more than 2 billion gallons of groundwater to remove contamination caused by decades of producing plutonium for the U.S. nuclear weapons program.

“Protecting the Columbia River was our primary goal when groundwater cleanup began more than 25 years ago, and it continues to drive our treatment efforts today,” said Mike Cline, EM Richland Operations Office (RL) project director for cleanup of soil and groundwater at Hanford.

The 100-HX Pump-and-Treat Facility is one of five treatment facilities that removes contaminants from groundwater along the Columbia River at Hanford.

RL contractor Central Plateau Cleanup Company (CPCCo) operates six treatment systems to remove radioactive and chemical contaminants from groundwater along the Columbia River and on Hanford’s Central Plateau, located near the center of the site. This is where massive chemical processing facilities separated plutonium from fission products from the 1940s through the 1980s, discharging billions of gallons of contaminated liquids into soil disposal sites.

“The efficiency and reliability of our treatment systems are key components of Hanford’s groundwater program success, but it’s the experience and professionalism of our operators and support teams that allow us to meet our treatment goals year after year,” said Mark Cherry, director of CPCCo soil and groundwater operations.

Hanford’s treatment systems have removed about 600 tons of contaminants over the life of the groundwater cleanup mission, including most of the chromium contamination along the Columbia River, as well as other contaminants of concern, such as carbon tetrachloride, uranium, and technetium-99 on the Central Plateau.

-Contributor: Dieter Bohrmann

Oak Ridge Contractor Teams With Skilled Labor to Build Workforce

OAK RIDGE, Tenn. – Recruiting the next generation of organized labor in the skilled trades is vital to EM’s important mission.

Oak Ridge cleanup contractor UCOR continues working with labor organizations to address a shortage of skilled workers needed to perform cleanup projects in Oak Ridge.

“The American economy has changed, and with it, its skillset has changed,” said Jimmy Hart, president of Metal Trades, American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations.

To address that change, UCOR has initiated numerous programs to develop the next-generation workforce. The contractor recently partnered with the Metal Trades to work with Roane State Community College to offer a chemical engineering technology program that provides students coursework and hands-on training to prepare for careers as chemical operators.

Students in the program participate in an apprenticeship with UCOR, where they work during the day before attending classes in the evening. They are typically offered full-time positions upon graduation.

From left, Len Morgan, UCOR labor relations manager, Mike Thompson, Atomic Trades and Labor Council president, and Jimmy Hart, Metal Trades president, visit a project site where UCOR and labor employees are advancing cleanup in Oak Ridge.

Levi Trentham, a chemical operator journeyman with UCOR, benefited from the Roane State program. He now supports environmental cleanup in Oak Ridge.

“The partnership with UCOR and Roane State gave me an opportunity to go to school and learn about chemical engineering technology,” Trentham said. “The hands-on experience that you get working in the field, following other chemical operator journeymen — that experience is invaluable compared to in-class stuff. This opportunity really changed my life.”

Trentham was recently featured in an episode of the series “In Depth” hosted by Laurence Fishburne on PBS. The episode focused on the successful labor and industry partnership of UCOR and the Metal Trades. Watch it here. 

Earlier this year, the labor partnership again proved beneficial when UCOR had trouble finding qualified vendors to perform pipe fabrication services for the Molten Salt Reactor Experiment at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). At risk of schedule delays, the contractor was able to perform the work successfully with skilled welders provided by the Knoxville Building and Construction Trades. Those welders now support another major ORNL upgrade project.

“Considering the amount of cleanup ahead of us at the Y-12 National Security Complex and ORNL, and the skill required to perform those tasks, it’s essential to continue investing and building a workforce for the future,” Oak Ridge Office of EM Manager Jay Mullis said. “We commend UCOR for their efforts with the labor unions to build a trained, capable workforce to help us successfully achieve our mission.”

-Contributor: Shannon Potter

WIPP Forges Ahead With Construction of Key Building for Ventilation System

CARLSBAD, N.M. – One of two major buildings for a modern air supply system designed to improve air quality for workers in the underground at EM’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) is quickly going vertical.

That’s in no small part because of a construction method being used on the building that speeds the process and quickly changes the WIPP skyline.

WIPP’s Salt Reduction Building (SRB) is being enclosed with precast concrete walls. Built in San Antonio by the Tindall Corporation, the insulated walls are trucked to the site on flatbed trailers and lifted into place by a 250-ton crane.

There are 32 wall panels between the building’s 41-foot-tall concrete corners, support structures known as shear walls. The wall panels weigh up to 47,343 pounds, or 23 tons. Four additional panels on the west side will be installed at a later date; the opening will be used to bring equipment into the building.

The largest containment fan system among DOE facilities, the Safety Significant Confinement Ventilation System (SSCVS) is designed to run continuously in unfiltered or high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filtration mode. The system provides approximately 540,000 cubic feet per minute (cfm) of air to the underground, significantly more than the 170,000 maximum cfm provided by the current ventilation operation. The increased airflow will allow simultaneous mining, rock bolting, waste emplacement, maintenance, and experimental scientific operations.

Cranes lifting precast wall sections into place tower over the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant’s (WIPP) Salt Reduction Building (SRB), part of the site’s Safety Significant Confinement Ventilation System. The interior columns will support the next phase of construction: the installation of precast roof panels.

The SRB includes 64 roof panels, up to 34,400 pounds each; 15 roof beams, 24,450 pounds each, and 18 support columns, weighing up to 20,626 pounds each.

The Industrial Company (TIC), a subcontractor to Nuclear Waste Partnership (NWP), WIPP’s management and operations contractor, has ramped up construction of the system, the largest construction effort at WIPP in three decades.

“To date, with the initiation of work under this new main build subcontractor (TIC), the project is 16 days ahead of schedule, with any quality issues being quickly resolved,” said Steve Smith, NWP’s capital infrastructure manager. “This work is truly a collaborative team effort between the NWP SSCVS project team and TIC.”

Precast walls are generally less expensive and less labor intensive then poured concrete. Instead of waiting for concrete to cure within forms, the precast walls are lifted by crane and fastened in place.

The 25,000-square-foot SRB will be the first step in the SSCVS filtration process, prefiltering air before it goes to the New Filter Building (NFB), the other major SSCVS building. The SRB uses water misters and filters to drop airborne salt out of the exhaust stream that comes out of the WIPP underground. WIPP’s underground nuclear waste repository is cut from a 2,000-foot-thick layer of salt laid down 250 million years ago by the shallow Permian Sea.

The prefiltered air that goes to the NFB is pulled by four 1,000-horsepower fans through HEPA filtration units. The 22 sets of filters are switchable, meaning underground activities do not need to be curtailed while a filter changeout occurs. The filtered air is then exhausted out a 125-foot-high stack.

-Contributor: Roy Neese

‘Frit’ a Critical Ingredient in Hanford’s Melter Heatup Recipe

Glass frit like this will be used in the process of heating up the first melter inside the Low-Activity Waste Facility at the Hanford Site. The frit is provided through a contract with Fluids Controls and Components Inc. of Richland, Washington, and mimics waste by dissolving into a solid form at high temperatures to assist during the melter heatup process.

RICHLAND, Wash. – A material resembling small glass beads will serve as a critical ingredient to heating up the first melter at Hanford’s Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) set for later this year.

Glass frit is a mixture of chemicals that will mimic waste materials during the melter heatup process in the Low-Activity Waste (LAW) Facility. The melter is at the heart of the vitrification process that transforms radioactive and chemical waste into an immobilized glass form safe for disposal through the Direct-Feed Low-Activity Waste (DFLAW) Program. The DFLAW Program is a system of interdependent projects and infrastructure improvements, managed and highly integrated, that must operate together to vitrify the waste.

Richland-based company Fluids Controls and Components Inc. (FCCI) was contracted by Bechtel National Inc. (BNI), the prime contractor designing, building, and commissioning the plant, to provide 108,000 pounds of the frit. FCCI has also provided valves, piping, and piping components for plant construction.

“It was the first time we dealt with frit,” said Russ Watson, FCCI vice president. “The chemistry and physical profile of the frit were very complex. The specifications were strict, and the monitoring process was extensive.”

During vitrification, waste treated near large underground tanks to remove radioactive cesium and solids will be mixed with glass-forming materials, then fed to the LAW Facility’s melters. The mixture will be heated to 2,100 degrees Fahrenheit and poured into specially designed stainless-steel containers for disposal at the nearby Integrated Disposal Facility.

The frit will be used only during melter heatup. It mimics waste by dissolving into a solid form at high temperatures. During the heatup process, the glass frit will be flushed out of the melter with a simulated feed.

“Partners like FCCI are crucial to the success of the project,” said Frank Salaman, procurements and subcontracts manager for BNI. “We rely on them to meet the complex specifications the project requires.”

The project team is scheduled to initiate heatup of the first melter by the end of 2021. Information on the commissioning process, including a loss-of-power test and melter heatup, is available on the Journey to Melter Heatup website.

The plant facilities can be viewed using the self-guided Hanford Virtual Tour.

-Contributor: Patti Jones

SRS Expands Canister Double-Stacking to Second Building

Crews at Savannah River Remediation successfully double-stacked the first canisters in an underground vault in the Glass Waste Storage Building 2 at the Savannah River Site using the shielded canister transporter.

AIKEN, S.C. – EM has demonstrated the capability to expand double-stacking high-level waste canisters at the Savannah River Site (SRS), an approach that saves the cleanup program more than $100 million.

For the first time in Glass Waste Storage Building (GWSB) 2, crews with SRS liquid waste contractor Savannah River Remediation (SRR) recently demonstrated stacking two canisters, one on top of the other. GWSB 2 is the second of two interim storage facilities for the stainless-steel canisters. The canisters are maneuvered using the one-of-a-kind shielded canister transporter (SCT).

Jim Folk, DOE-Savannah River assistant manager for waste disposition, said demonstrating double-stack capabilities in GWSB 2 means EM will not have to build an additional interim storage facility for canisters, saving more than $100 million.

“The Department of Energy is focused on completing the liquid waste mission at SRS,” Folk said. “Canister double-stacking is an innovative solution for providing the interim storage options needed for the high-level waste canisters.”

The canisters hold glassified high-level waste from the Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF). Double-stacking canisters has already proven successful in GWSB 1. Just over 1,350 canisters have been double stacked in the first building since the project began in August 2016. SRR has exceeded its fiscal 2021 goal of double-stacking 300 canisters in GWSB 1.

SRR President and Project Manager Phil Breidenbach said the double-stack demonstration is another example of SRR’s core value of continuous improvement.

“We have proven it is safe, feasible, and effective to expand the canister double-stack project into Glass Waste Storage Building 2,” Breidenbach said. “The innovative thinking of our engineers and performance of our construction team have proved expanding the double-stacking improves the process and saves money, a win-win.”

If fully implemented in both GWSB 1 and GWSB 2, this technique will increase the total storage capacity in both buildings to 9,204 canisters, exceeding the total number of canisters projected to be produced by DWPF.

The canisters will be safely stored underground in the GWSBs until a federal repository for high-level waste is established.

A feasibility study for double-stacking canisters in GWSB 2 verified the safety basis, radiological, fire protection, structural, environment, and other technical evaluations for GWSB 2 double-stacking.

-Contributor: Colleen Hart

West Valley Repurposes Facility to Support Main Plant Demolition

Workers at the West Valley Demonstration Project safely remove a section of a concrete shield wall as part of modifications to a former waste storage facility. A new rollup door will be installed in the opening. This facility will support waste operations during the future demolition of the Main Plant Process Building.

A view of a former waste storage facility at the West Valley Demonstration Project after crews created an opening to accommodate a large fork truck for transporting waste containers in and out of the building for off-site disposal.

Operating from 1966 to 1972, the five-story, 350,000-square-foot Main Plant is a former commercial reprocessing facility that had been used to recover plutonium and uranium from spent nuclear reactor fuel.

EM and its WVDP cleanup contractor, CH2M HILL BWXT West Valley, modified the former waste storage facility by constructing an opening to accommodate a large fork truck for transporting waste containers in and out of the building. The waste will be shipped by rail for off-site disposal.

Workers removed sheet metal that covered the storage facility to expose an interior concrete shield wall, which they safely cut into sections for removal. They reinstalled the metal covering around the new opening, and a rollup door will be installed. Crews also will build entrances and exits for workers.

The 17,250-square-foot storage facility was constructed in 1987 for remote loading, placement, and shielded storage for approximately 20,000, 71-gallon square drums of waste generated from previous operations. Workers shipped the drums for off-site disposal in 2006 and 2007.

-Contributor: Joseph Pillittere

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