  Teams use a 20-ton overhead crane to move the lower reactor vessel of the Oak Ridge Research Reactor into a cask for eventual shipment and disposal.
Latest Oak Ridge cleanup achievement represents important advancement for largest deactivation projects at Oak Ridge National Laboratory
OAK RIDGE, Tenn. — Team members with Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM) contractor UCOR have successfully lifted and removed the lower reactor vessel from the Oak Ridge Research Reactor, also known as Building 3042.
The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management accomplishment was a major development for one of the largest deactivation projects at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). Removing the vessel is the first step before preparing the remainder of the facility for its upcoming demolition.
Last week, workers used a 72-inch diamond wire saw to cut the final pieces that held the lower reactor vessel in place at the bottom of the reactor pool. They used a 20-ton overhead crane to lift that equipment and load it into a 32,000-pound protective cask to ship it for disposal offsite.
“Removing the reactor vessel from the Oak Ridge Research Reactor facility has been an incredibly complex task,” said Jim Daffron, ORNL portfolio project director. “Through an immense amount of planning and careful execution, workers were successful and completed the work safely.”
 Crews used a large diamond saw to cut the final pieces that held the lower reactor vessel in place at the bottom of the Oak Ridge Research Reactor pool. This photo shows the final segment of the reactor being lifted from the pool area.
UCOR had taken out the top portion of the reactor vessel last fall. Since then, crews have focused on filtering and draining the reactor pool water to reach irradiated materials and prepare for the lower reactor vessel removal.
Rigorous safety measures were in place due to high radiation dose rates, and those rates increased as thousands of gallons of pool water were pumped into tanks outside the facility, lowering the buffer between the radioactive materials and workers.
With the wastewater safely drained, employees performed sampling and characterizing to ensure the work areas remained safe for final tasks, including removal of components.
“We faced various challenges throughout the pool reactor remediation and cleanup process with our key partner, Energy Solutions, who provided their knowledge and expertise in collaboration, helping us resolve critical issues quickly and safely,” said Steven Reed, UCOR Oak Ridge Research Reactor project manager.
 The reactor vessel of the Oak Ridge Research Reactor is loaded into a protective shipping container for transportation and disposal offsite.
Workers removed 127,000 gallons of water and sediment to reach the lower portion of the reactor vessel, which sat on the pool floor. They also took out the lead brick shielding in the basement that surrounded the pool. Twenty crew members loaded 157,000 contaminated bricks into containers.
The next steps involved in preparing the reactor for demolition consist of isolating and deactivating 6,000 feet of piping. Crews will also finish draining the pool water and encapsulating the 25-foot-deep pool with a fixative to reduce contamination migration during demolition.
This is OREM’s latest project helping transform the heart of ORNL’s central campus. Cleanup work is eliminating risks and clearing land to support future research missions.
-Contributor: Carol Hendrycks
 EMTV: Watch U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management crews tear down a building known as Accelerated Retrieval Project VIII — the largest building on a Cold War landfill at the Idaho National Laboratory Site.
IDAHO FALLS, Idaho — U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management (EM) crews have demolished one of the biggest buildings at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) Site, and two more structures are set to come down before the year’s end.
The steel-framed, soft-sided building, called Accelerated Retrieval Project (ARP) VIII, was more than 3 acres in size. It served as the enclosure for targeted buried waste retrieval from two pits within a 97-acre Cold War-era landfill known as the Subsurface Disposal Area. EM crews began the dig within a 1.72-acre area in 2014 and completed the waste exhumation mission in 2022.
Decontamination and demolition (D&D) crews with EM cleanup contractor Idaho Environmental Coalition (IEC) had prepared for the teardown for months by removing internal equipment and inner fabrics. They performed decontamination activities to allow for a safe demolition, covered the exhumation footprint with clean soil and removed the facility ventilation system.
Final steps in the project included removing the enclosure’s exterior skin and weakening the building’s support structures. Large bulldozers pulled the skeletal frame over, and workers later applied clean cover material to the former site.
Crews are now focusing their efforts on the final two buildings over the landfill — ARPs VII and IX.
At ARP VII, workers exhumed targeted buried wastes from the landfill. Following that exhumation mission, the facility was permitted under the U.S. Resource Conservation and Recovery Act for use to reduce the size of waste boxes from Rocky Flats, a former nuclear weapon production plant near Denver, Colorado, as well as contaminated gloveboxes from the Mound Site in Miamisburg, Ohio, a former nuclear weapons research facility. Later, crews at ARP VII treated and repackaged sludge waste that originated at Rocky Flats.
Before workers exhumed waste at ARP IX, the building was used to condition a uranium-bearing waste — called roaster oxides — to facilitate offsite disposition.
The two remaining buildings will be demolished with similar methods as the previous ARPs.
Eventually, an engineered cover containing native rocks and soils will be constructed over the entire landfill to reduce water movement through the remaining waste and protect the underlying Snake River Plain Aquifer.
The landfill accepted INL Site-generated radioactive and hazardous wastes beginning in 1952 and from Rocky Flats and other generators from 1954 to 1970. In 2008, EM, the state of Idaho and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency agreed to exhume targeted radioactive and hazardous waste from nine areas covering a total of 5.69 acres. The exhumation project was completed 18 months early.
“I could not be prouder of the accomplishments of the ARP decommissioning team,” said ARP Project Director Jason Chapple. “This work was completed, first and foremost, safely. It was also completed ahead of schedule and under budget. Just a few short years ago, the ARP mission was exhumation and packaging waste, and the team seamlessly and safely transitioned to a D&D mission. It’s a testament to the focused and dedicated workforce at the ARP.”
-Contributor: Erik Simpson
 U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management Paducah Site Safety Systems Oversight Brad Pont, center, leads a tour of the C-333 Process Building with summer interns.
PADUCAH, Ky. — Internship programs at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Environmental Management’s (EM) Portsmouth, Paducah, and Lexington sites began a new, collaborative effort this summer aimed at enhancing knowledge-sharing and professional development.
This year, the OnePPPO Internship initiative began with the formation of working groups with the 75 interns from EM and contractors Enterprise Technical Assistance Services (ETAS), Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth (FBP), Four Rivers Nuclear Partnership (FRNP) and North Wind Dynamics to provide a platform for interns to exchange insights, ideas and best practices across various disciplines within EM’s Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office (PPPO).
“The OnePPPO Internship program fosters a culture of teamwork and learning among our interns, encouraging them to leverage their unique perspectives for innovative solutions and building on DOE’s commitment to nurture talent and foster a robust workforce,” PPPO Manager Joel Bradburne said.
 Summer interns from different Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office organizations and contractors engage in field activities together to learn from each other and bring new experiences back to their counterparts.
 U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environemental Management Portsmouth Site Lead Jeremy Davis leads a "lunch and learn" event for all Portsmouth Site interns.
The working groups routinely gathered online to learn about their peers across the PPPO sites and share information about the projects they were working on throughout the summer. The Paducah and Lexington sites are in Kentucky, while the Portsmouth Site is in Ohio. By pooling the diverse backgrounds and expertise, interns gained experience in cooperation as well as a comprehensive understanding of the EM and greater DOE missions.
“I can’t believe how much I learned in just 12 short weeks,” FBP Intern Brittani Wolfenbarker said. “I had such a basic understanding of what human resources was and what comes with it. The entire team has been so welcoming and helpful. I am excited to continue my time here in a full-time position.”
Through structured discussions, hands-on projects and field activities participation, interns in the OnePPPO Internship program not only deepened their technical knowledge, but also cultivated essential communication and leadership skills by promoting knowledge-sharing and professional development.
“Being a part of the OnePPPO Internship program was extremely beneficial,” ETAS Intern Zachary Allen said. “The supportive environment and mentorship provided by my colleagues enabled me to grow both technically and professionally.”
 Summer interns at the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management Portsmouth Site participate in a variety of “lunch and learn” sessions, part of the site’s training workshop to aid in understanding process improvement techniques.
The OnePPPO Internship experience prepares interns to tackle real-world challenges and contribute to EM’s mission at the Portsmouth and Paducah sites, as well as the Lexington office, in the future and beyond.
“Integration with other interns through the OnePPPO Internship program has been a great experience not only in connecting with other interns, but also the ability to share information towards achieving a common goal,” FRNP Intern Fletcher Riney said.
-Contributors: Shawn Jordan, Sarah Marko, Dylan Nichols
 Justin Wilde with Hanford Mission Integration Solutions’ Ecological Monitoring and Compliance team inspects the walls of the K East Reactor interim safe storage structure.
RICHLAND, Wash. — Risk reduction is a key component of the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management (EM) cleanup mission at the Hanford Site. Placing the K East Reactor into interim safe storage, also known as “cocooning,” in October 2022 marked a significant accomplishment in that mission.
This summer, a team with EM contractor Hanford Mission Integration Solutions’ (HMIS) Long-Term Stewardship Program finished its inspection inside and outside the interim safe storage structure.
“These protective enclosures reduce risks to the Hanford workforce and the environment,” said Tashina Jasso with EM’s Site Stewardship Division at Hanford.
 The Long-Term Stewardship Program team with Hanford Mission Integration Solutions recently inspected the Hanford Site’s K East Reactor interim safe storage structure, looking closely for any signs of deterioration.
The steel cocoon built around the deactivated reactor protects the building while the radioactivity in the core decays over the next several decades, making it safer for workers to complete facility disposal in the future.
The annual inspection is part of EM’s Post-Cleanup Surveillance and Maintenance Program. It gave radiation technicians an opportunity to confirm no contamination has left the sealed reactor core.
An HMIS team flew a drone inside the space between the structure and the reactor building to inspect the reactor’s roof and outside walls. They also used the drone to inspect the roof of the overall enclosure.
“That’s been a game changer from a safety perspective,” said Joy McCrea, Environmental Field Support director with HMIS. “With the drone, we can now get a bird’s-eye view of the roof while keeping everyone safely on the ground.”
 Tristan Harris was hired by Savannah River Mission Completion and started out as a senior capstone student for the University of South Carolina Aiken. He now works at the Defense Waste Processing Facility as a facility system health coordinator.
AIKEN, S.C. — A student who worked on a capstone project for the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management’s liquid waste contractor at the Savannah River Site (SRS) heard a calling to join the nuclear industry.
And he’s glad he did.
Hired in December, Savannah River Mission Completion (SRMC) employee Tristan Harris is a facility system health coordinator at the Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF). Key to the liquid waste mission, the facility began operations in March 1996, converting high-activity radioactive liquid waste stored at SRS into a solid glass form suitable for long term storage and disposal.
Harris’ general role is to be the engineering interface to ensure that SRMC is compliant in procedures that outline the system health program at DWPF. System health helps ensure the facility is running well and following all performance plans.
If a system breaks down frequently or is constantly out of service, it is Harris’ job to document it to help show that they need to improve it to safely meet production processing goals and expectations.
Harris found out about SRMC through his senior capstone project in May 2022. He and several students were tasked with analyzing deficiencies and proposing upgrades to the Shielded Canister Transporter.
During his capstone project, he saw DWPF up-close, learned more about the process of turning nuclear waste into a glass, and the importance of treating and immobilizing radioactive liquid waste so it does not get into the environment.
His experience at DWPF led him to a career in nuclear.
After graduating, he got an interview with SRMC after attending a job fair at the University of South Carolina Aiken and got hired. Since working at SRS, he has come to know what it is like to be passionate about a career.
“I am happy that I get to come to work every day, and I am so thankful that SRMC allows me the opportunity to be able to grow as a professional. It feels good to know that I am helping better the future in the long run,” Harris said.
-Contributor: Roman Gardner
RICHLAND, Wash. — Crews at the Hanford Site’s Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant are maintaining a large-scale thermal catalytic oxidizer to prepare for operations. This system, like those in modern diesel vehicles, uses a non-toxic solution to remove hazardous emissions. Workers are conducting a complete system check on the plant’s Low-Activity Waste Facility before starting treatment operations.
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