July 21, 2023
A 53-foot tanker from the K Basins was the first tanker truck at the renovated and expanded Effluent Treatment Facility load-in station on the Hanford Site, to ensure the facility is ready for operation.
RICHLAND, Wash. – EM Office of River Protection (ORP) tank operations contractor Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) recently began testing the renovated load-in station at the Effluent Treatment Facility (ETF) to ensure operational readiness. This is another step in preparing to treat tank waste on the Hanford Site.
“Expanding and modernizing the load-in station is a key part of our Direct-Feed Low-Activity Waste (DFLAW) Program for treating tank waste,” said Bibek Tamang, ETF program manager for ORP. “The station prepares us for and will support 24/7 operations on the Hanford Site.”
DFLAW is a collection of interdependent projects and infrastructure, managed as a program, that will operate together to vitrify, or immobilize in glass, low-activity waste for disposal. The ETF is vital to the DFLAW process by removing contaminants from wastewater generated by tank waste activities, groundwater projects, solid waste disposal facilities and other Hanford cleanup activities.
During tank waste treatment operations, the load-in station will handle increased wastewater shipments. Most of the additional wastewater — an estimated 1.2 million gallons a year — will be leachate, or water from rain, snowmelt and dust suppression activities from the Integrated Disposal Facility on the site.
“The building overhaul was expansive,” said Rob Wood, ETF load-in station project manager at WRPS. “We spent six months gutting the old station and installing all new piping, electrical and mechanical equipment. The upgrades nearly double the building’s treatment capacity and will improve efficiency.”
Workers also extended the building by 30 feet to allow room for larger tanker trucks. Crews added new heating, ventilation, and air conditioning components and power and fire suppression systems. They also constructed a new offloading platform to allow tanker drivers to better communicate with facility operators. This modification will also enable an additional tanker to prepare for unloading while another tanker is being emptied.
The next steps for the load-in station include inspections and permitting, with readiness and turnover to operations planned for later this summer.
-Contributor: Joan Lucas
-Source: EM News
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July 21, 2023
 Constructed in 1944, the 231-Z Building served several missions during its 50-year operational lifetime. The building was once among the most heavily secured facilities in the nation when it was used to store refined plutonium for national defense operations.
RICHLAND, Wash. – Crews with EM Richland Operations Office (RL) contractor Central Plateau Cleanup Company (CPCCo) are making progress preparing one of the Hanford Site’s oldest buildings for demolition.
Constructed in 1944, the 231-Z Building served several missions during its 50-year operational lifetime. Its original mission was to refine plutonium as part of national defense operations. It later supported operations at Hanford’s Reduction-Oxidation and Plutonium Uranium Extraction plants.
In 1957, 231-Z was modified to support the plutonium metallurgical program for weapons development, before it was repurposed again in the late 1970s and early 1980s to decontaminate radioactively contaminated equipment. The building was used for office space until it was taken out of service in 1995.
“The historic 231-Z Building is a multifaceted facility, and demolition preparation is an equally complex project,” said Andy Wiborg, RL team lead for Hanford’s Central Plateau Cleanup Project. “Our experienced workforce continues to make safe, steady progress on the building as part of our sitewide effort to reduce risk on Hanford’s Central Plateau.”
For a time, the 231-Z Building was also one of the most secure buildings in the nation, when it housed a heavily guarded vault for storing refined plutonium before it was shipped to Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico for weapons production.
The two-story, 51,500-square-foot building contains numerous laboratories, process cells, ventilation and exhaust systems, distilled water and compressed air systems, as well as storage rooms, change rooms, and offices that need to be cleaned or removed before demolition. The project also involves extensive radiological characterization, removing asbestos and hazardous materials, and disconnecting electrical and mechanical equipment.
“The key to project progress has been excellent teamwork and communication,” said Gary Hix, CPCCo demolition manager for 231-Z. “It’s critical that our field crews and support organizations — engineering, industrial hygiene, radiological controls, safety — are all on the same page. It takes a tight team to make a project like this successful.”
Demolition of the building is expected in 2025.
-Contributor: Mark McKenna
-Source: EM Newsletter
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July 21, 2023
A technical crew member collects a groundwater monitoring well sample, which is screened for hexavalent chromium and other contaminants of concern.
LOS ALAMOS, N.M. – The EM Los Alamos Field Office (EM-LA) and cleanup contractor Newport News Nuclear BWXT Los Alamos (N3B) recently marked the five-year anniversary of the first EM contract dedicated to legacy cleanup at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL).
During that time, EM-LA and N3B achieved a number of important accomplishments in protecting water quality, cleaning up Manhattan Project and Cold War sites and shipping waste off-site for permanent disposal.
“N3B has made significant progress in supporting EM-LA’s mission to complete the cleanup of legacy contamination and waste, including controlling the hexavalent chromium plume, increasing the amount of transuranic (TRU) waste shipped to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) and remediating recently discovered legacy waste at Middle DP Road — a vital part of Los Alamos County’s economic development efforts,” EM-LA Manager Michael Mikolanis said.
Mikolanis said N3B has also been instrumental in partnering with EM-LA to implement regular, ongoing stakeholder and public engagement, which is key to the EM-LA cleanup mission and one of his top priorities.
“I look forward to a continued collaboration with N3B to address new challenges and achieve success for the next cleanup phase,” Mikolanis said.
N3B has operated the chromium interim measures to prevent migration of the hexavalent chromium groundwater plume, which has retreated approximately 500 feet away from LANL’s boundary with the Pueblo de San Ildefonso. As of March, 445 million gallons — approximately 674 Olympic size swimming pools — of contaminated groundwater has been treated. As a secondary benefit of the interim measures, about 700 pounds of hexavalent chromium has been removed from the regional aquifer.
Additionally, under the Aggregate Areas Campaign, a program to address historical contamination across canyons and drainages throughout LANL, N3B has investigated, and remediated as necessary, more than 50% of the contaminated legacy waste sites, collecting more than 19,800 soil and sediment samples.
That effort is central to remediating historical contamination and protecting water quality. In the last five years, N3B has completed 79 of 80 regulatory milestones under the cleanup agreement between DOE and the state of New Mexico, with three fiscal year 2018 milestones having been met prior to the start of the contract.
Another long-term priority for EM and the state of New Mexico has been shipping waste off-site for permanent disposal. Over the last five years, EM-LA and N3B have made 152 shipments of TRU waste to WIPP. Additionally, the equivalent of 55,147 55-gallon drums of low-level and mixed low-level radioactive waste have been shipped off-site to approved disposal sites, much of this waste from Middle DP Road and the Aggregate Areas.
“The removal, transport and disposal of 634 shipments of low-level and mixed low-level waste to approved disposal sites is central to protecting water quality near LANL, including the Rio Grande, which is a vital water source for local communities,” N3B President and General Manager Brad Smith said.
Smith also noted that in addition to its responsibilities under the legacy cleanup contract, “N3B also made significant contributions to the northern New Mexico economy, including awarding $331 million in business opportunities to subcontractors, 78% of which were small businesses, and donating nearly $2 million to regional non-profit organizations and scholarship programs.”
-Contributors: Estevan Lujan, David Abelson
-Source: EM Newsletter
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July 21, 2023
 The K East Reactor operated from 1955 to 1971 and is the seventh of Hanford’s nine former reactors to be protected in an enclosure, or cocooned. The Columbia River Basin Chapter of the Project Management Institute recently honored the cocooning project as its 2023 Project of the Year. At left is the reactor building in October 2020, and at right is the reactor building in its protective enclosure in October 2022.
RICHLAND, Wash. – An EM priority project in 2022 continues to earn accolades in 2023.
The Columbia River Basin Chapter of the Project Management Institute (PMI) honored the Hanford Site project at its annual awards gala.
The PMI chapter presented the Project of the Year award to contractor Central Plateau Cleanup Company (CPCCo) for a project to construct a protective enclosure over the former K East Reactor building. The project was completed last October ahead of schedule and under budget.
“The safe, efficient, and cost-effective completion of this project marks a significant accomplishment in the DOE’s mission to reduce risk to the nearby Columbia River and moves us one step closer to completing all cleanup along the River Corridor,” said Office of River Protection and Richland Operations Office Manager Brian Vance in a letter endorsing the winning nomination. “I am proud of our One Hanford team’s performance, as we continue to deliver taxpayer value by safely completing projects like this that reduce risks to our workforce, our community, the Columbia River, and the environment of the Pacific Northwest.”
CPCCo crews finished constructing the protective enclosure, or cocoon, around the former K East Reactor building just a year after breaking ground on the project. The huge steel structure is more than 120 feet tall and 150 feet wide. The cocoon will protect the reactor building while the radioactivity in the deactivated reactor core decays over the next several decades.
“This is another well-deserved recognition for the entire K East cocooning project team,” said John Eschenberg, CPCCo president. “This project was a true collaborative effort, and to do it all with a spotless safety record speaks to the skill, focus and dedication of our project managers at all levels.”
The K East Reactor operated from 1955 to 1971 and is the seventh of nine former reactors to be cocooned at Hanford. The nearby K West Reactor will be the eighth. The ninth, the B Reactor, the world’s first full-scale plutonium production reactor, has been preserved and is part of the Manhattan Project National Historical Park. Hanford’s other six reactors were cocooned between 1998 and 2012.
PMI is a global nonprofit organization with more than 300 local chapters dedicated to supporting project management. The organization is committed to providing individuals and organizations with opportunities to be successful through education, resources and networking. The Columbia River Basin Chapter’s annual gala recognizes and honors local project teams for superior performance and exemplary project management.
-Contributor: Dieter Bohrmann
Source: EM Newsletter
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July 21, 2023
An aerial view of the Direct-Feed Low-Activity Waste Facility on the Hanford Site. A new $30 million investment by EM will fund research and technology development to advance the tank waste mission at the Hanford Site.
A new $30 million investment by EM will fund research and technology development led by DOE’s national laboratories aimed at better addressing tank waste at the Hanford Site.
“With tank waste at sites like Hanford driving EM’s environmental risk and liabilities, we have a responsibility to evaluate options that could shave decades off the current schedule, reduce project risks and save billions — without sacrificing safety or effectiveness,” EM Senior Advisor William “Ike” White said.
The investment in the Hanford tank waste mission is based on priorities outlined in the Hanford Tank Waste R&D Roadmap developed by the Network of National Laboratories for Environmental Management and Stewardship. EM incorporated input from the EM Advisory Board in the implementation of the roadmap.
The $30 million will be used for research activities to evaluate options and add new tools that could be used to advance the tank waste mission.
“As we keep moving towards immobilizing some Hanford tank waste in glass via the Direct-Feed Low-Activity Waste system, we are also looking at how to develop breakthrough technologies that will improve efficiency, reduce lifecycle cost and accelerate the schedule for the Hanford tank waste mission,” said Ming Zhu, EM senior advisor for laboratory policy.
The targeted investment is consistent with recommendations made by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, National Academy of Sciences, DOE national laboratories and others. It represents one of several steps EM is taking to identify and analyze technologies and other opportunities to get waste safely out of tanks, treated and disposed of sooner, driving down risks to workers, the public, and the environment.
EM has solicited proposals from the national laboratories on ideas that could help advance the Hanford tank waste mission in the near term and solutions that could impact the long-term cost and schedule.
Focus areas of proposals are to include:
- waste retrieval, transport and tank closure;
- pretreatment;
- immobilization and disposal;
- secondary waste treatment; and
- crosscutting research with the potential to substantially reduce the total cost and duration of the mission.
The national laboratories are encouraged to partner with universities and colleges, including minority serving institutions, and industry in their proposals.
EM anticipates awarding funding to selected national laboratory teams by the end of September.
Source - EM Newsletter
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July 10, 2023
 The K East Reactor operated from 1955 to 1971 and is the seventh of Hanford’s nine former reactors to be protected in an enclosure, or cocooned. The Columbia River Basin Chapter of the Project Management Institute recently honored the cocooning project as its 2023 Project of the Year. At left is the reactor building in October 2020, and at right is the reactor building in its protective enclosure in October 2022.
RICHLAND, Wash. – An EM priority project in 2022 continues to earn accolades in 2023.
The Columbia River Basin Chapter of the Project Management Institute (PMI) honored the Hanford Site project at its annual awards gala.
The PMI chapter presented the Project of the Year award to contractor Central Plateau Cleanup Company (CPCCo) for a project to construct a protective enclosure over the former K East Reactor building. The project was completed last October ahead of schedule and under budget.
“The safe, efficient, and cost-effective completion of this project marks a significant accomplishment in the DOE’s mission to reduce risk to the nearby Columbia River and moves us one step closer to completing all cleanup along the River Corridor,” said Office of River Protection and Richland Operations Office Manager Brian Vance in a letter endorsing the winning nomination. “I am proud of our One Hanford team’s performance, as we continue to deliver taxpayer value by safely completing projects like this that reduce risks to our workforce, our community, the Columbia River, and the environment of the Pacific Northwest.”
CPCCo crews finished constructing the protective enclosure, or cocoon, around the former K East Reactor building just a year after breaking ground on the project. The huge steel structure is more than 120 feet tall and 150 feet wide. The cocoon will protect the reactor building while the radioactivity in the deactivated reactor core decays over the next several decades.
“This is another well-deserved recognition for the entire K East cocooning project team,” said John Eschenberg, CPCCo president. “This project was a true collaborative effort, and to do it all with a spotless safety record speaks to the skill, focus and dedication of our project managers at all levels.”
The K East Reactor operated from 1955 to 1971 and is the seventh of nine former reactors to be cocooned at Hanford. The nearby K West Reactor will be the eighth. The ninth, the B Reactor, the world’s first full-scale plutonium production reactor, has been preserved and is part of the Manhattan Project National Historical Park. Hanford’s other six reactors were cocooned between 1998 and 2012.
PMI is a global nonprofit organization with more than 300 local chapters dedicated to supporting project management. The organization is committed to providing individuals and organizations with opportunities to be successful through education, resources and networking. The Columbia River Basin Chapter’s annual gala recognizes and honors local project teams for superior performance and exemplary project management.
-Contributor: Dieter Bohrmann
-Source: EM Newsletter
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June 09, 2023
 WASHINGTON, D.C. – EM Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Jeff Avery attended the second annual House Nuclear Cleanup Caucus reception at the U.S. Capitol last week. Attendees heard from U.S. Rep. Susie Lee and U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleishmann, who are co-chairs of the caucus, as well as U.S. Rep. Bill Foster, among others. In his address to attendees, Avery emphasized the important role technology plays in EM's vital cleanup mission. Following a panel discussion highlighting exciting technological advances, attendees were treated to hands-on demonstrations of various technologies that EM and its contracting partners have developed. A huge thank you to the event's co-hosts—Energy Facilities Contractor Group; Energy, Technology and Environmental Business Association; and the Nuclear Energy Institute—for their help in making the reception an outstanding success.
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June 09, 2023
An operator uses an excavator with a hydraulic hammer to dismantle the Chemical Process Cell, as part of the deconstruction of the Main Plant Process Building at EM’s West Valley Demonstration Project.
WEST VALLEY, N.Y. – EM and its cleanup contractor at the West Valley Demonstration Project continue to dismantle a cell of the Main Plant Process Building, one of the site's last remaining major facilities whose successful demolition will further reduce environmental risks.
The work at the Chemical Process Cell is expected to be completed over several months and will include removal of racks used to store high-level waste canister decades ago.
An EM 2023 priority is to dispose of 9,000 tons of Main Plant demolition waste. The demolition is expected to take approximately 30 months to complete.
Earlier this year, crews used a heavy-duty excavator with a hydraulic hammer to take out the outermost 3 feet of the cell’s 5-foot-thick reinforced-concrete walls. This lower-risk work allowed crews with CH2M HILL BWXT West Valley (CHBWV) to perform other deconstruction activities in parallel, helping accelerate the project’s schedule and lower cost.
“Starting this specific sequence in the deconstruction of the Main Plant is the result of our planning, preparation and decontamination efforts,” said Stephen Bousquet, EM West Valley federal project director for the Main Plant Deconstruction. “Our approach also incorporates best practices and lessons learned, including the rate and sequence of the deconstruction, and the use of engineered and robust safety controls.”
Located at ground level on the west side of the plant, the more than 2,000-square-foot cell was designed to dissolve sheared spent nuclear fuel and to reduce the volume of high-level waste generated in fuel reprocessing. The floor and the lower portion of its walls are lines with stainless steel.
Between 1985 and 1987, workers performed remote decontamination activities to support the conversion of the cell into a facility for the interim storage of vitrified high-level waste canisters. Crews installed storage racks for the 10-foot-long canisters.
In 2017, EM workers removed 278 high-level waste canisters from that storage facility and safely relocated them to a temporary onsite storage pad until a permanent repository is available for their disposal.
-Contributor: Joseph Pillittere
-Source: EM Newsletter
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June 09, 2023
 This image of the Hanford Site’s Plutonium Uranium Extraction Plant demonstrates how a 3D laser scanning tool is used to capture the layout of facilities being prepared for demolition.
RICHLAND, Wash. – A team of designers with EM Richland Operations Office contractor Central Plateau Cleanup Company (CPCCo) is using 3D laser scanning technology to gather data to help workers prepare some of the facilities on the Hanford Site for demolition.
The process uses laser light to capture information about the surface and shape of an object from different perspectives. The system collects millions of data points and blends that information with high quality photos to create scans capable of highlighting the smallest surface detail.
The amount of detail collected allows designers to build the most accurate 3D computer models possible. The models provide an exact layout of a facility and its contents, including flanges, pipelines, tanks, and valves, all the way down to the nuts and bolts.
“Anytime we can capture comprehensive layout and configuration data in hazardous areas, some of which have not been explored in decades, that’s a big win for worker safety,” said Mark French, EM division director for Hanford’s Central Plateau Cleanup Project. “When workers are required to make physical entries, knowing system layouts and configurations allows for robust planning, which reduces risk and makes the job more efficient.”
CPCCo is deploying the 3D technology at cleanup projects across Hanford’s Central Plateau, including at the Plutonium Uranium Extraction Plant (PUREX), Waste Encapsulation and Storage Facility (WESF) and Reduction-Oxidation Plant (REDOX). The data not only helps with the development of work packages, sampling plans and demolition preparation, but it can also be used to conduct virtual walk-throughs of facilities.
At PUREX, crews are using digital models of the tanks, structures, pipelines and ancillary equipment to support ongoing cleanup activities. For crews at WESF, 3D scanning assisted with design modifications to the building to prepare for installation of equipment that will transport nearly 2,000 radioactive capsules from underwater pools in the aging facility to a new dry-storage pad. At REDOX, 3D scans were used to establish locations for workers to cut into a concrete wall to install a new roll-up door, which will enable the removal of contaminated equipment as the facility is being prepared for demolition.
“We want to show our crews what the facilities look like right now; we want to eliminate the unknowns,” said Stephen Papenfuss, CPCCo designer and engineer with the Inner Area End States team. “In the past, the projects have had to rely on old pictures and drawings that can take a long time to find and might not best represent conditions inside the facilities today. With the 3D images and models, everybody can be working off the same, up-to-date information.”
-Contributor: Mark McKenna
-Source: EM Newsletter
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June 09, 2023
 For the first time in 26 years, EM crews performed sampling of gases produced as byproducts at the Molten Salt Reactor Experiment at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. This work could not occur until new piping and safety features were installed at the facility. They have performed five samples since December.
OAK RIDGE, Tenn. – EM crews are slated to take down hundreds of old, contaminated buildings at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and Y-12 National Security Complex.
Many of them will remain standing for years to come due to the large amount of work required to demolish them. The Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM) is tasked with keeping them safe until then.
That sometimes requires improvements to maintain safe conditions and prepare the structures for deactivation. A precursor to demolition, deactivation is the process of placing an excess facility into a stable condition to minimize existing risks and protect workers, the public and the environment.
The Molten Salt Reactor Experiment (MSRE) facility at ORNL is a prime example of a structure requiring such improvements, and OREM cleanup contractor UCOR is taking several steps to address associated challenges.
Upgrades to the high bay — where the critical systems reside — are underway, and employees have improved infrastructure through work such as installing electrical upgrades and an emergency generator.
For the first time in 26 years, workers recently conducted sampling at the reactor. They measured the amount of fluorine generated in gases produced as byproducts from salt tanks.
Plans had long been underway to sample the gases but concerns over brittle pipes and safe access presented challenges difficult to resolve. Following installation of new robust piping and enhanced safety features, the team was able to safely perform the work.
OREM and UCOR’s plans for the reactor’s eventual deactivation and demolition are progressing.
Crews have prepared for that work by removing components in the facility. That project led to a downgraded radiological level in a work area there.
They also installed a new portable maintenance shield that enables workers to use long-reach tools, reducing risk of injury and radiological exposure. That system is scheduled to go operational next year. It replaces the current gas removal system, minimizes failure points in the facility, and reduces hazards and required maintenance and oversight.
A study is underway to develop cleanup alternatives for MSRE. The study evaluates alternatives that incorporate one or more basic types of remedial actions, including grouting and removal of contaminated equipment.
MSRE came to prominence when it achieved criticality for the first time in June 1965. That achievement led to a four-year campaign of research and development to prove the viability, safety and efficiency of molten salt reactors.
-Contributor: Shannon Potter
-Source: EM Newsletter
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