 UCOR employees execute troubleshooting prior to the installation of the new Distributed Control System, including mock-up of all electrical lockout and tagouts to ensure safe compliance and system testing for infrastructure compatibility.
OAK RIDGE, Tenn. – The Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM) and its contractor UCOR are performing extensive upgrades designed to extend the life of the Liquid and Gaseous Waste Operations (LGWO) facilities.
LGWO treats wastewater from OREM’s cleanup operations and Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s (ORNL) research and development laboratories. Made up of 60 facilities and 27 miles of piping, this infrastructure is critical for ongoing EM and Office of Science missions. Most recently, UCOR finished replacing the Distributed Control System (DCS), which controls LGWO’s instrumentation. The upgrade project was necessary for the waste treatment system to remain operational.
With the old system running on obsolete components, the upgrade project included the design, fabrication and installation of a fully new system complete with a new fiber optic cabling system between the LGWO facilities, network cabinets, control cabinets, new software and a new backup system.
 The Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management’s Distributed Control System upgrade project included the design, fabrication and installation of a fully new system complete with a new fiber optic cabling system.
The DCS controls and monitors 2,216 process points across 18 facilities; those points span three waste treatment systems that comprise LGWO: the Liquid Low Level Waste, Process Waste Treatment and Gaseous Waste systems.
UCOR planned and executed troubleshooting before the new DCS installation began to ensure safe compliance and system testing for infrastructure compatibility. That extensive effort was completed ahead of schedule and under budget.
In addition to the system upgrades, UCOR is completing other actions to maintain safe and reliable operability of the LGWO systems.
Another project involved installing a new pretreatment facility that treats low-level liquid waste and allows it to be diverted from storage tanks directly to the Process Waste Treatment System. That change alleviates previous storage volume issues. Crews also replaced a diesel generator that powers critical pumping stations and valve boxes when power is interrupted.
OREM and UCOR are also in the midst of an $18 million project to replace more than a mile of above-ground piping and valves, making the system more efficient and reliable and helping avoid the possibility of disrupting ongoing ORNL operations. That work is slated to continue through 2024.
-Contributor: Shannon Potter
 The Integrated Disposal Facility on the Hanford Site is designed to receive containers of vitrified, or immobilized in glass, low-activity waste from Hanford’s underground storage tanks, and mixed low-level waste from other site operations.
RICHLAND, Wash. – EM Richland Operations Office (RL) contractor Central Plateau Cleanup Company (CPCCo) has awarded a two-year, $36 million subcontract to provide landfill management, operations, inspection and maintenance services for the Integrated Disposal Facility (IDF) and Environmental Restoration Disposal Facility (ERDF) on the Hanford Site.
The chosen subcontractor is a joint venture between CTI and Associates and Veolia Nuclear Solutions - Federal Services, or “CVE.” The contract includes an option for two two-year extensions, worth an additional $88 million, to support operations through calendar year 2029.
“CPCCo’s subcontract supports our Direct-Feed Low-Activity Waste (DFLAW) Program to treat and dispose of tank waste, a sitewide mission and top DOE priority,” said Mark French, RL division director for Hanford’s Central Plateau Cleanup Project. “It also ensures the ERDF continues to support other cleanup progress across the 580-square-mile Hanford Site as it has done for more than 25 years.”
CVE supports operations at the IDF, which will receive containers of treated low-activity waste from underground storage tanks that has been vitrified, or immobilized in glass, at the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant and mixed low-level waste from other site operations.
The IDF is expected to be operational this fall and is made up of two disposal cells and a lined basin system protecting the environment from the contents in the cells and rain or snow runoff. The disposal facility can also be expanded as needed.
 The Environmental Restoration Disposal Facility on the Hanford Site is the largest landfill in the EM complex, containing nearly 20 million tons of contaminated soil, debris and solid waste from cleanup activities in the site’s Central Plateau and Columbia River corridor. The facility opened in 1996.
CVE will also perform day-to-day operations at the 107-acre ERDF, the largest environmental landfill in the EM complex. CVE will also support waste-acceptance and compliance functions to ensure regulatory requirements are met during waste generation, packaging, transport and disposal activities.
In operation since 1996, the ERDF contains nearly 20 million tons of contaminated soil, debris and solid waste from cleanup activities in the site’s Central Plateau and Columbia River corridor and is composed of eight disposal cells, two supercells — the size of two disposal cells each — and a lined basin system, similar to the IDF. On average, the landfill receives 10,000 to 15,000 tons of waste each month.
“We look forward to working with CVE’s experienced team to begin disposal of vitrified-waste containers at the IDF and continue the safe, efficient and compliant management of the ERDF,” said Andy Drom, director of CPCCo’s Waste Projects & Operations group. “This subcontract award supports ongoing operations and reinforces CPCCo’s commitment to supporting small business.”
-Contributor: Dieter Bohrmann
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