EM Update | Vol. 5, Issue 4 | April 2013

In This Issue:

• WIPP Celebrates 14th Anniversary
• Salt Waste Contractor Reaches Contract Milestone
• Oak Ridge Project Opens Possibilities for Future Mission Work, Development
• Rocket Slated for Removal Following Inspections
• Coffee Can Time Capsule Found at Hanford Site
• Hanford Site Creates One-Touch Wonder for Groundwater Treatment Systems
• Idaho Cleanup Contractor Surpasses Significant Safety Milestones

WIPP Celebrates 14th Anniversary 

CARLSBAD, N.M. – The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) recently marked its 14th year as America’s only operational deep geologic repository for the disposal of radioactive waste.

   “WIPP’s 14th anniversary isn't just about passing another day on the calendar,” Carlsbad Field Office (CBFO) Manager Joe Franco said. “It’s about looking back at everything we’ve done, not only in the last 14 years, but going back much further.” CBFO has responsibility for WIPP and the National Transuranic (TRU) Program.

WIPP employees guide a TRU waste payload as it is lifted from a shipping container by an overhead crane. The TRU dock platform allows workers to access the 10-foot-high TRUPACT-II shipping container.

   Many others remember that first shipment of TRU waste coming through WIPP’s gates in 1999 when floodlights illuminated a jubilant crowd of employees, elected officials and newscasters gathered to witness history: the arrival of a lone shipment from Los Alamos National Laboratory. The 340-mile journey from waste generator site to final disposal had taken nearly 25 years. 

   EM Senior Advisor Dave Huizenga congratulated Carlsbad and WIPP senior leadership and federal and contractor employees for their tremendous contribution to the cleanup of defense-related TRU waste from around the nation.

   “EM is deeply committed to ongoing cleanup, and WIPP’s anniversary is a reminder that the work we do has a significant, positive impact on citizens and the environment,” Huizenga said.

   Other nations studied WIPP's successes. WIPP created the Central Characterization Project, with its mobile-loading experts and equipment, to expedite waste characterization at generator sites across the nation. Shipments increased from one to two per week in 1999 to a high of 32 weekly shipments in eight years.

   WIPP was originally designed to handle 17 shipments per week. In 2003, workers installed two additional TRU docks in the Waste Handling Building to double TRU waste receipt and handling capabilities. Process improvements became the norm as WIPP sought state approval for more than 100 changes to its operating permit to make complex waste characterization methods safer for workers and more efficient.

   Eleven thousand shipments and 14 years later, WIPP has assisted in the cleanup of 22 TRU waste sites nationwide. The “pilot” plant today is an international model for the safe, environmentally sound disposal of radioactive materials.

   “All who have ever worked at WIPP have every reason to be pleased. Together, we have served the DOE complex well,” Franco said. “I’m proud to work with the entire team as we continue to build public confidence in our service to the nation for many years to come.”

Salt Waste Contractor Reaches Contract Milestone 

AIKEN, S.C. – The liquid waste cleanup contractor for the EM program at the Savannah River Site (SRS) recently surpassed a 2013 contract milestone by processing more than 600,000 gallons of salt waste.

   Savannah River Remediation (SRR) salt disposition process facilities removed nearly all the radioactive isotopes from the salt waste from large underground storage tanks. The isotopes were moved to the Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF), where they were transformed into a molten glass mixture for permanent storage.

   Achieving this milestone continues to prove the effectiveness of salt waste processing at SRS, DOE-Savannah River Operations Office (DOE-SR) Assistant Manager for Waste Disposition Project Terrel Spears said.

   “I congratulate SRR for reaching this initial milestone,” Spears said. “Processing salt waste is essential for us and our mission to close tanks. The salt processing technologies utilized have proven very effective in removing the radioactive constituents from salt waste.”

Robert Brown, SRR tank farm operator, performs daily inspections of a salt disposition process facility. The inspections and improvement upgrades have resulted in continued successful operations.

   Dave Olson, SRR President and Project Manager, said salt waste constitutes 90 percent of the total waste inventory stored in SRR’s two tank farms.

   “The milestone demonstrates the safe and continuous operations of a key component in the waste removal process at SRS,” Olson said.

   Past achievements in SRS salt waste dispositioning include:

• Workers processed more than 704,000 gallons on salt waste in fiscal year 2012, surpassing a target of 700,000 gallons;
• SRR has processed more than 3.5 million gallons of salt waste since launching operations in April 2008; 
• Saltstone Facilities marked a two-month production record in September and October 2012 by processing 1.1 million gallons of decontaminated salt solution; and,
• Melter 2, a 65-ton vessel that treats waste at DWPF, has been in operation for 10 years as of 2013, eight years past its design life expectancy.

   SRR’s 2012 annual review is available here.

   In other recent SRS news, DOE-SR announced Pamela A. Horning as the new Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF) Project Office Federal Project Director.

   “We are pleased to have Pam join our DOE-SR family,” DOE-SR Manager David Moody said. “I am confident in her ability to successfully steer the completion of the construction and startup for SWPF with its interface to the DOE-SR Liquid Waste Disposition Project.”

   Horning has more than 29 years of experience in the nuclear industry managing and operating large manufacturing and technical services operations for the commercial nuclear industry and the federal government. Most recently, she served as the Babcock & Wilcox Technical Services Group Vice President of Assurance and Operational Excellence. 

Oak Ridge Project Opens Possibilities for Future Mission Work, Development 

OAK RIDGE, Tenn. – EM is refining the picture of uncontaminated areas within the 33,500-acre Oak Ridge Reservation through a review of historic documents and extensive sampling, analysis and characterization. The EM program has verified thousands of acres are not contaminated, or otherwise meet existing regulatory standards, and therefore do not require cleanup, creating possibilities for future mission work and economic development.

   “This project clarifies our future environmental cleanup needs within the Oak Ridge Reservation,” Oak Ridge’s EM Manager Mark Whitney said. “Our efforts confirm that a large percentage of our site does not require cleanup, and we can focus our planning, energy and resources on the identified contamination areas.”

   Beginning in 2008, the EM program began sampling and characterizing 21,000 acres surrounding the East Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP), the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and Y-12 National Security Complex (Y-12).

Environmental sampling helps identify which reservation locations are not contaminated.

   Last month, EM completed the first Environmental Baseline Survey Report that confirmed five parcels totaling 4,600 acres around ETTP are not contaminated, or otherwise meet existing regulatory standards, and therefore do not require cleanup.

   This summer, EM expects to complete the second Environmental Baseline Survey Report addressing 14 parcels totaling 15,500 acres around ORNL and Y-12. A total of 19,300 acres could be approved as requiring no further investigation, improving Oak Ridge’s image and opening land for potential use or reuse.  

   A majority of the parcels were never involved in process-related activities, but also were not formally classified as uncontaminated or deemed as requiring no further investigation by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The validation allows that land to be removed from the Federal Facility Agreement’s list of areas to address. EM collaborated on the project with the EPA and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation.

   The program contracted Oak Ridge Associated Universities to complete verification activities. Workers analyzed 102 surface water samples, 80 soil and sediment samples and nine groundwater samples. They also surveyed soil at 203 grid points in an area identified as potentially contaminated.

Rocket Slated for Removal Following Inspections

LAS VEGAS – Nevada Field Office and U.S. Air Force staff conducted inspections of a partially-buried rocket located at a historic testing location on the Tonopah Test Range (TTR) earlier this year.

   While the origin of the rocket and the time frame of its launch are unknown, TTR personnel report seeing the rocket at this Clean Slate III location since the mid-1980s.

Though not linked to activities at Clean Slate III, the rocket is situated inside the historic testing location, identified for the plutonium dispersal test conducted under Operation Roller Coaster in June 1963.

   Established 30 miles southeast of Tonopah in 1957 by Sandia Corporation, the TTR provided a remote, restricted area for the Atomic Energy Commission, DOE’s predecessor agency, to test new weapons systems and conduct low-altitude, high-speed aircraft operations.

   Activities at the TTR were expanded to accommodate tests related to DOE’s Weapons Ordnance Program. Specific tests have included air drops of simulated weapons, gun firings, ground-launched rockets, air-launched rockets deployed from aircraft, traditional, non-nuclear explosives testing and static rocket tests.  

   Following inspections that found the rocket to be free of explosive hazards, Nevada Field Office personnel are making plans to remove it this year. Full cleanup activities at Clean Slate III are scheduled for the 2017-2024 timeframe.

   More information on Sandia activities at TTR can be found here. To view a map of Nevada Field Office remediation sites, click here.

Coffee Can Time Capsule Found at Hanford Site

RICHLAND, Wash. – Two workers supporting the Richland Operations Office at the Hanford site got quite a surprise while preparing a building for demolition.  

   Sean O’Neal and Randy Young, who work for EM-funded contractor Washington Closure Hanford, were removing asbestos-board panels from inside an old electrical substation near Hanford’s D and DR reactors when they discovered a green MJD coffee can tucked inside a wall.

   “We had no idea what was inside. We treated it the same way as we do any anomaly,” Young said.

The time capsule and its contents will be brought before a DOE Hanford artifact committee that determines what to do with historic Hanford items.

   They immediately contacted their craft supervisor, Dustin Cooper. Wearing a pair of white coveralls and a respirator, Cooper entered the building to inspect the can. He unpeeled the electrical tape that secured a metal lid and found several newspapers wedged inside. He gently pulled them out just enough to notice they were dated September 1955.

   “The first thing that came to my mind was, ‘Cool … a time capsule,’” Cooper said.

   Tom Marceau, a senior cultural resources specialist for Mission Support Alliance — the Hanford contractor responsible for collecting artifacts and historical items discovered across the 586-square-mile site — quickly made his way to the work site to examine the time capsule. With Marceau looking on, Cooper put on latex gloves and delicately removed the newspapers from the can. With them came a note written on a “Don’t say it … Write it!” memo form used for decades at Hanford. The form was dated “9-26-1955 A.D.” and was addressed “to whom it may concern.”  There was no message, only the signatures of K. Edward Thomas, Monte D. Dickinson, and what appears to be Henry L. Matear.

   The stash included copies of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, the Spokesman Review and Columbia Basin News, a competitor to the local Tri-City Herald in the 1950s. There also was a copy of the GE News, a publication for Hanford workers while General Electric managed the project.

Columbia Basin News ran a photo of President Dwight Eisenhower waving at the dedication of nearby McNary Dam in 1954.

   The big news story of Sept. 26, 1955, was President Dwight Eisenhower’s heart attack. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer’s top headline was “President Satisfactory; Heart Attack Moderate.”

   The lead story of the Sept. 24, 1955 edition of the Spokesman Review was a reproduction of a hoax ransom note asking for $5,000 in five, 10 and 20 denominations. The GE News featured a story about workers winning money for their cost-savings ideas.

   Marceau is hoping to track down the workers who left the note or someone who can provide more information. So far, he’s had no success.

   “The fact that these workers put this together is really neat,” he said. “We’d love to talk with the workers and find out more about it.”

   D Area was home to two of Hanford’s nine reactors built to produce plutonium for the nation’s defense program. D Reactor operated from 1944 to 1967, and DR Reactor operated from 1950 to 1964. The reactors were placed in long-term storage, a process known as “cocooning,” in 2004 and 2002, respectively. The substation where the newspapers were found served as the primary source of electrical power for all facilities associated with reactor operations.

   Cleanup of D Area is part of the River Corridor Closure Project, one of the largest environmental cleanup projects in EM complex and the nation. Washington Closure manages the project for EM’s Richland Operations Office.

Hanford Site Creates One-Touch Wonder for Groundwater Treatment Systems

RICHLAND, Wash. – Engineers and operators supporting the Richland Operations Office at the Hanford site found a way to start and stop groundwater treatment along the Columbia River with literally the push of a button.

   “Our workers are constantly looking for ways to improve the way we do business. This new advancement helps us maximize our cleanup productivity,” said Bob Popielarczyk, vice president of the soil and groundwater remediation project for EM-funded contractor CH2M HILL Plateau Remediation Company.

The interior of a pump-and-treat system along the Columbia River at the Hanford Site. With the push of a button, workers can now power the site’s five systems along the river that are working to extract and treat contaminated groundwater.

   The engineers and operators found a way to control a series of groundwater treatment systems with one set of controls. Rather than turn on each machine — five systems tied to networks of wells across several miles — workers can power and monitor the systems at once. The systems can require powering up and down for maintenance activities and other events such as electrical outages.   

   A video with more information about the change and Hanford’s overall groundwater treatment is available here. 

   The systems are one of several solutions in place to treat contaminated groundwater beneath the site. In Hanford’s plutonium production era for the nation’s defense, 450 billion gallons of liquids were discharged to the soil, resulting in large plumes of contamination deep in the soil. 

   Since 2008, workers have expanded the groundwater treatment capacity at Hanford by five times and treated nearly 4 billion gallons of contaminated groundwater.

   For more about Hanford Site groundwater, including the Hanford Story Groundwater Chapter, click here and here.

Idaho Cleanup Contractor Surpasses Significant Safety Milestones

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho – For the second time in a little over a year, employees with DOE contractor CH2M-WG Idaho (CWI) supporting EM at the Idaho site have achieved 1 million hours without a recordable injury. They also worked more than 1.7 million hours without a lost work-time injury.

   “Our focus is working with employees to keep each other safe,” said CWI Environmental, Safety, and Health Vice President Kevin Daniels. “We purposely made a point of not letting employees know we were getting close to the million hours and did not advertise that there would be any rewards for getting there.”

CWI employees discuss safety procedures before they remove a spent nuclear fuel shipment from a shipping container.

   Due to the dedicated work of the employees to prevent injuries, 2012 was the company’s safest year and the safety pinnacle for the cleanup program in its 24-year history.

   CWI was awarded a 3-year, $730 million contract that runs from October 2012 to September 2015. Like its initial 7.4-year contract, the cleanup mission focuses on reducing risks to workers, the public, the environment and the Snake River Plain Aquifer. 

Contributors

Karen Bass, Idaho site

Dean Campbell, Savannah River Site

Maren Disney, Hanford site

Jim Giusti, Savannah River Site

Rick Kelley, Savannah River Site

Mark McKenna, Hanford site

Angela Ramsey, Nevada National Security Site

Susan Scott, Waste Isolation Pilot Plant

David Sheeley, EM headquarters

Erik Simpson, Idaho site

Ben Williams, Oak Ridge site

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