EM Update | Vol. 4, Issue 12 | December 2012

Federal Facilities Liaison Weighs in on EM Achievements, Challenges at Savannah River Site

 AIKEN, S.C. – For more than two decades, Shelly Wilson has been working with the Savannah River Site (SRS) as an employee of South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (SCDHEC). For the past seven years she has worked as the SCDHEC Federal Facilities Liaison. In this role, Wilson ensures the state and EM program at SRS work collaboratively, and she says she applies pressure where needed to drive down risks. The state has hazardous waste regulations that require comprehensive cleanup of Cold War legacy waste at SRS. A host of other state regulations involving air, waste water, storm water and other waste areas also apply to the site. Wilson recently talked with EM Update about her experience working with the EM program at SRS:

How has the relationship between SCDHEC and SRS evolved over the years?

   Although we have had our combative moments, our overall relationship is very good, and characterized by frequent communications. We have invested heavily in a partnership-based team approach to cleanup and that carries over to many other areas.

   In the 1990s, DOE convinced us to try a partnering mode. That’s been very successful; 3,229 cleanup milestones have been met continuously since 1993 without missing one. We have cleanup decisions at 77 percent of contaminated areas at SRS. I give you those numbers to show that we work very well together and produce results.

   Our relationship is characterized by communications. And at this stage in our relationship, I can usually expect that before SRS goes down any path affecting the environment, that they usually talk it over with us first to get our perspective. And what they can expect in return from us is a willingness to discuss and consider all the options. In other words, they can expect to hear from us. That open communication is key to our relationship.

Shelly Wilson, third from right, participates in a roundtable discussion at the Intergovernmental Meeting with the DOE in New Orleans this month. Also pictured are Maryland Delegate Sally Jameson, left to right, Office of River Protection Deputy Manager Stacy Charboneau, Willie Preacher, Director of DOE-related projects for Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, and Eddy County, N.M., Commissioner Roxanne Lara.

Can you relate your experience working as a liaison for projects such as the closure of Tanks 18 and 19, two of the Cold War hazardous waste tanks at SRS?

   That has been one of the best experiences of my career so far. I have worked with some truly amazing people. The thing that stands out for me is that we went from being stuck to the beginnings of victory.

   If you remember, around the year 2000, we were mostly at a standstill with any progress on these tank closures. In 2005, we jointly worked with common goals and values with Savannah River Site and SCDHEC and the Governor’s Nuclear Advisory Council, and also the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, and that was foundational in crafting a technical plan for moving forward. Couple that with leadership from U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham on Section 3116 (the Ronald W. Reagan National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2005), and we finally had enough to start moving forward.

   We chartered a regulatory roadmap that ensures all requirements are addressed as we go through the decision-making process with important pauses for public input. Although it was cumbersome the first time through, now that we have blazed the trail, subsequent closure decisions can follow the same pathway on a faster timeframe. 

Can you describe any historic turning points in EM work at SRS?

   Three things: One is when the Federal Facilities Agreement (this was established to address cleanup decisions for soil and groundwater) was signed in 1993, the starting point for measuring the 3,229 cleanup milestones.

   The second turning point was approval of the site’s treatment plan (this set up a plan for legacy waste treatment) in 1995.

   And the third turning point was when we developed common values and principles (to address high-level waste) in 2005.

   The common thread between all three is that from those specific turning points we developed a path forward that met needs of both DOE and DHEC. The path forward was a cleanup and risk reduction path.

Shelly Wilson has been working with the Savannah River Site for more than two decades, and for the past seven years she has worked as the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (SCDHEC) Federal Facilities Liaison.

Tell us, in your opinion, the major EM milestones and accomplishments at SRS.

   Tanks 18 and 19 closed this year. That’s amazing. Another thing we’re incredibly pleased with is disposal of legacy transuranic (TRU) waste. Right now, they’ve disposed of 86 percent of that legacy TRU, well on the way to almost being done. A third thing we’re really proud of is 77 percent of contaminated areas have cleanup decisions, a measure of strong cleanup progress.

Has SRS developed innovative solutions for reducing risk or otherwise solving problems? If so, can you please describe them?

   SRS has been very innovative at finding ways to reduce risk and solve problems. One area is transuranic waste. SRS started out with 11,000 cubic meters of legacy TRU and at the beginning we all — SRS, contractors and DHEC, all of us — decided to focus dollars that were available on disposal of TRU rather than storage because we hoped that storage would be short term.

   So, SRS had a great idea of using existing buildings (such as H Canyon) to package and treat the waste for shipment to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant rather than new construction. We at DHEC determined we had sufficient regulatory flexibility to go with this option. By using these existing buildings, the dollars went into preparation for shipment rather than construction of short-term facilities. That strategy has paid off big for us because, as I mentioned, they are 86 percent done and shooting to finish it next year.

What, in your opinion, are the biggest unresolved challenges at SRS facing EM?

   The biggest challenge for us is high-level waste. We’ve made significant progress on soil and groundwater and TRU and while we’ve been working hard on high-level waste, there are still about 36 million gallons of highly radioactive and toxic liquid waste in aging tanks.

   We’ve been thrilled to celebrate recent victories with Tanks 18 and 19 but we know we have to stay focused. We have a regulatory and technical roadmap all set up and we need to press forward. It’s a challenge but we are ready to do our part.

Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management Pursues Vision of Future While Remembering Past 

 OAK RIDGE, Tenn. – What a difference a year makes.

   In 2012, DOE’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (EM) surged ahead on the agency’s largest-ever demolition project, the K-25 building. Due to effective federal oversight, and the efficient work of the site’s prime contractor, URS|CH2M Oak Ridge (UCOR), the 44-acre Manhattan Project-era superstructure is disappearing quickly. 

   Currently, portions of the east wing and north tower remain from the U-shaped building. EM anticipates demolition on the north tower finishing in February, with all debris disposed by April. That leaves only six of the building’s 54 original units to be demolished. These six units are all that remain of the east wing, but they require further deactivation due to the presence of technetium-99, a slow-decaying radioactive metal.

   What was once the world’s largest building is only a small fraction of its original size, vastly improving safety and advancing EM’s mission for the site.

Demolition of K-25, DOE’s largest-ever demolition project, is ongoing.

   “The level of success our federal and contractor team accomplished this year has us very excited about the future,” said Jim Kopotic, federal project director for East Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP) cleanup. “The great efforts from the K-25 work crews have put us in a place where we can look beyond K-25 to other cleanup projects and the extended future of ETTP.”

   The work at ETTP is the largest environmental remediation project in Tennessee’s history. Decades ago, ETTP was the site of enriched uranium production. The property is being turned into an industrial park for future economic development.

This graphic shows the status of activities at the East Tennessee Technology Park as of this month. Various colors note sites where facilities have been demolished, demolition is under way, or structures are ready or being prepared for demolition. It also identifies buildings that will remain there.

   One of the greatest factors contributing to K-25’s continued demolition was the signing of a historic preservation memorandum of agreement (MOA). Past plans called for the north end of K-25 to be preserved. But this summer, federal, state and local historic preservation groups signed an agreement establishing an alternative plan that allows the north tower to be demolished while still recognizing the historic significance of the site. The final plan lays out a multi-year approach to commemorate the K-25 complex, which contained more than 500 facilities, including the world’s largest building, and employed 12,000 workers who accomplished countless technological and scientific discoveries.

   Under the terms of the agreement, DOE will undertake three broad initiatives to commemorate and interpret the history of the K-25 complex. The projects include constructing a three-story equipment building that recreates a scale representation of the gaseous diffusion technology and contains authentic equipment used in the original facility. In addition, the EM program agreed to place a K-25 History Center at the site that exhibits equipment, artifacts, oral histories, photographs and videos. Also, DOE provided a $500,000 grant to preserve the Alexander Inn, a historic structure in Oak Ridge where visiting scientists and dignitaries stayed during their visits to the area. 

   Through a decade-long negotiation process, EM was able to incorporate desired elements from multiple parties that allowed the organization to honor the successes of past employees while cleaning the site and preparing it for eventual private industrial use.

Retrieval of Tenth Single-shell Tank Complete at Hanford's Office of River Protection

RICHLAND, Wash. – The Office of River Protection (ORP) has completed retrieval of radioactive and chemical waste from the tenth underground waste storage tank at the Hanford site.

   C-109 is the third single-shell tank completed this year, an accomplishment that moves ORP and prime contractor, Washington River Protection Solutions, one step closer to meeting a regulatory commitment of emptying all 16 tanks in C Farm by the end of September 2014.

EM’s Office of River Protection has successfully removed waste from a tenth storage tank at the Hanford site. Located in C Farm, C-109 is one of 16 underground tanks ranging in capacity from 55,000 to 530,000 gallons.

   An engineering evaluation in the field shows the waste volume in C-109 is below the regulatory requirement of 360 cubic feet of waste remaining in the tank. Video of the 530,000-gallon-capacity tank shows a large percentage of the tank bottom is now visible.

   “The completion of retrieval activities in the second tank within a month and the third tank this year marks a historic achievement at Hanford tank farms,” EM Assistant Manager for the Tank Farms Project Tom Fletcher said.

Standing near a pipe providing access to the tank below, workers initiate a water soak aimed at loosening hard-to-remove-waste from the bottom of the underground tank known as C-109. 

   Retrieval of C-109 began in 2007 using modified sluicing as the first retrieval technology. This process used recycled liquid waste from a nearby double-shell tank to mobilize the waste to the center of the tank where it was pumped and transferred to a receiving tank. This process continued for about a year at which point the bulk of the waste was removed, leaving an estimated 8,600 gallons of hard-heel waste to be retrieved.

   Deployment of a second retrieval technology in C-109 took place earlier this year, as crews began a two-step chemical soak process to dissolve the hardened remaining waste, first by performing a water soak and then adding sodium hydroxide to the tank to loosen and break down the hardened waste at the bottom of the tank. This chemical dissolution process has been used successfully in two other Hanford tanks this year, C-104 and C-108.

A crane and rigging worker prepares to lift equipment into position near C-104, one of three underground waste storage tanks emptied this year at Hanford.

   Most recently, waste retrieval began in Tank C-101, a single-shell tank containing roughly 88,000 gallons of waste.

   In all, crews have removed waste from six different underground tanks in 2012, completing retrieval activities in three tanks and removing the bulk of the material from another two. And, for the first time in Hanford history, workers removed waste solids from three different tanks simultaneously.

Moab Project Continues Progress on Tailings Removal with Contract Transition

MOAB, Utah – The Moab mill tailings removal project in Utah ended the year having shipped more than 35 percent of the total 16 million tons of uranium mill tailings off-site.

   The tailings are being transported by rail 30 miles north to a disposal cell for permanent storage. More than 1 million tons of tailings were shipped during fiscal year 2012, which closed at the end of September.

   The Moab Project also successfully transitioned both of its prime contracts in 2012. DOE awarded the Remedial Action Contract (RAC) to Idaho Falls-based Portage, Inc., to continue the tailings removal and disposal operations. Portage assumed site operations on April 30; its contract extends through September 2016.

   DOE awarded the Technical Assistance Contract (TAC) to incumbent S&K Aerospace, LLC, a tribally owned company based in St. Ignatius, Montana. S&K provides technical support services to DOE and manages the groundwater remediation program. S&K’s contract began on June 20, and is for three years, with two one-year options.

   Both prime contractors are small businesses.

   “The transition to the new contracts went very smoothly,” said Moab Federal Project Director Donald Metzler. “Portage spent a couple of days at the beginning of its contract to ensure all of the necessary safety measures were in place and that employees knew their responsibilities before resuming the tailings haul.”

   Other than planned shutdowns, a trainload was shipped once daily, four days per week, through November.

Laborers place a disposable liner in a tailings container.

   Although no tailings shipments will occur from December through February, workers will be busy installing permanent liners in the containers used to transport the tailings. Made of a half-inch-thick durable plastic, the liners will prevent the tailings material, which tends to be sticky, from holding up in the containers. The existing practice of manually placing single-use disposable liners in the containers, which has the potential to create a safety issue, will be eliminated through installation of the permanent liners.

   “The cost of the permanent liners will be recouped in less than five years through elimination of the disposable liners and the associated labor to place them,” Portage Project Manager Jeff Biagini said.

   The Moab Project has shipped more than 5.7 million tons of tailings to date and the RAC scope of work is to move 650,000 tons each year of its contract. In addition, the TAC extracted 16 million gallons of contaminated groundwater during 2012 and prevented 53,000 pounds of ammonia and 400 pounds of uranium from reaching the Colorado River.

LANL Shatters Records in First Year of Accelerated TRU Waste Shipping Effort

LOS ALAMOS, N.M. – In the first year of accelerated transuranic (TRU) waste shipments, Los Alamos National Laboratory shattered its own record and became one of the largest shippers of this type of nuclear waste in the country.

   “Our goal was to transport 184 shipments of waste during the first year of an accelerated schedule, and we surpassed that by nearly 60 shipments,” said Dan Cox, deputy associate director of environmental programs at the Lab.

   Los Alamos’ previous record was 171 shipments, set last year.

From left, EM Deputy Assistant Secretary for Waste Management Frank Marcinowski, San Ildefonso Pueblo Governor Terry Aguilar, Los Alamos County Council Chair Sharon Stover, New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez, Los Alamos Site Office Manager Kevin Smith, and Laboratory Director Charles McMillan applaud as the 1,000th shipment of waste leaves Los Alamos National Laboratory.

   The effort to accelerate the removal of waste stored above ground is the result of an agreement between the New Mexico Environment Department and the Department of Energy to remove 3,706 cubic meters of TRU waste stored above ground at LANL by June 30, 2014.

   This project became a priority for the State of New Mexico after the 2011 Las Conchas Fire threatened the Laboratory’s transuranic radioactive waste storage facility.

In addition to shattering all of its own shipping records, Los Alamos National Laboratory celebrated its 1,000th shipment to Waste Isolation Pilot Plant with a ceremony that featured New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez. 

   Los Alamos removed 920 cubic meters of TRU waste from its stored inventory during fiscal year 2012. It plans to almost double that effort during fiscal year 2013, with a goal of removing 1,800 cubic meters. The final 1,106 cubic meters are expected to be sent to permanent disposal facilities by June 30, 2014, in accordance with the agreement.

   “We successfully realigned our environmental cleanup priorities and shifted resources to meet our first-year goals,” Cox said.

   “A lot of people worked together to make this effort a success, including the state, the Department of Energy, the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant and the Laboratory,” National Nuclear Security Administration Los Alamos Site Office Assistant Manager for Environmental Operations Pete Maggiore said. “Thanks to the outstanding efforts of our partners, we exceeded our goal and are on track to double both volume removed and number of shipments this coming year.”

Idaho Waste Retrieval Facility Begins New Role

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho – A waste retrieval facility constructed over a former buried radioactive waste disposal cell, known as Pit 9, at the Idaho site has been repurposed for treating 6,000 drums of sludge waste left over from the Cold War weapons program.

   The Accelerated Retrieval Project-V (ARP) facility — a steel-framed, fabric building — was originally constructed in 2010 over Pit 9. In January 2011, the main Idaho site cleanup contractor, CH2M-WG Idaho (CWI), began removing targeted radioactive and hazardous waste buried since 1969. CWI completed the cleanup of Pit 9 in August 2011, a year ahead of schedule and millions of dollars under budget.

Empty drum handling prior to compaction.

   “We are very pleased with the results of the partnering between the EM Idaho Cleanup Project, and our two cleanup contractors. This innovative approach uses existing resources to repackage and ship waste out of Idaho in compliance with the 1995 Idaho Settlement Agreement”, said Mark Brown, Assistant Manager for the EM Idaho Cleanup Project. That agreement between the state of Idaho, DOE, and the U.S. Navy requires DOE to safely remove transuranic waste from the Radioactive Waste Management Complex. The two cleanup contractors are CWI and the Idaho Treatment Group. 

   Following a request from DOE, the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality recently issued a permit for the ARP-V facility to store and treat waste generated at the former Rocky Flats Plant near Denver, Colo. That waste had been shipped to Idaho after 1970 for above-ground disposal.

A waste retrieval facility constructed over a former buried radioactive waste disposal cell known as Pit 9 at the Idaho site has been repurposed for treating 6,000 drums of sludge waste left over from the Cold War weapons program.

   Stored on a pad and covered with soil for more than 30 years, the waste was not allowed to be shipped to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico for permanent disposal because it contained small amounts of liquid from sludge containing both carbon tetrachloride and plutonium.

   All 6,000 drums are being opened by specially designed excavators where operators wear protective clothing with supplied air. A liquid-absorbing material is being added to the waste prior to repackaging and shipping certification.

Workers review procedure for the sludge repack project.

   Using the ARP-V facility saved the Department as much as $20 million over the cost of constructing a new storage and treatment facility compliant with the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.

   The project, managed by CWI, is expected to take 18 months to complete.

Nevada National Security Site Cleanup Information Is Just a Click Away with Computer Map, Database

New Interactive Map Makes NNSS Data More Accessible to the Public

LAS VEGAS – For decades, the Nevada Site Office (NSO) has been investigating, characterizing, identifying, and performing corrective actions in areas contaminated by historical nuclear research, development and testing.

   More recently, the NSO consolidated this body of work into a single, accessible information repository for stakeholders.

   Now, with the help of a new computer map and database known as the NNSS Remediation Sites map, interested members of the public can literally open the book on thousands of sites located on the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS) and surrounding Nevada Test and Training Range.

   These sites undergo corrective actions in accordance with the Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order, a formal agreement between the NSO and the State of Nevada Division of Environmental Protection. By simply clicking on a specific historical test location on the map, users can activate an information box that identifies the type and quantity of contaminated media present at that location. Additional hyperlinks allow the user to access more in-depth reports that include information on the various cleanup approaches and closure methods used at each site as well as a thoroughly-researched site history.

Shown here is a screenshot of the interactive map, which makes Nevada National Security Site data more accessible to the public. 

   These site reports are housed on the U.S. Department of Energy Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI) library. The library, known as the OSTI Information Bridge, includes approximately 2,000 NSO documents, published as early as 1982, that address historical NNSS contamination challenges. 

   The interactive map was designed to give users flexibility. Clicking the “More” button will activate options for altering the map’s detail, such as include or exclude roads and boundaries. Users can also group sites according to Surface/Near Surface Contamination, Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) Locations, Defense Programs (DP) Locations, Environmental Restoration (ER) Locations, Deep Sub-Surface Contamination, All Locations, and a combination of these options. 

   The idea for the map originated in discussions with stakeholders during public meetings in September 2011.

   “As we shared the progress of our cleanup efforts, we realized that locating relevant documents and reports wasn’t as easy as it could be,” NSO Environmental Management Operations Manager, Rob Boehlecke explained. “Our hope is that the interactive map not only makes information more readily available, but that it also gives users a visual context for the quantity and variety of work being accomplished at the NNSS.” 

   Though fully operational, the interactive map is a pilot program. Over the next few months the NSO will evaluate its use and seek feedback from the public.

   “We want to make sure stakeholders are satisfied with the map’s overall utility and ease of use,” said Boehlecke. 

   Additional information on the NSO Environmental Management mission can be found at www.nv.energy.gov/envmgt. To submit comments or suggestions relating to the map, please e-mail envmgt@nnsa.doe.gov, or call 702-295-3521.

Contributors

Patti Jones, Los Alamos National Laboratory 

Dona Merritt, Nevada National Security Site 

Angela Ramsey, Nevada National Security Site 

Rob Roxburgh, Hanford site

Wendee Ryan, Moab site 

David Sheeley, EM Office of External Affairs

Erik Simpson, Idaho site 

Ben Williams, Oak Ridge site

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