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EM Update | Vol. 8, Issue 14 | July 28, 2016
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EM Headquarters Completes Reorganization
WASHINGTON, D.C. – EM
headquarters is moving forward with a new organizational structure
intended to further improve EM’s ability to effectively and efficiently
conduct cleanup activities across the DOE complex.
The new structure, finalized in late July, is expected to address
inefficiencies such as duplicative processes; disproportionate senior
leadership reporting ratios; and a critical lack of clarity in roles,
responsibilities and lines of authority.
“The recent reorganization of EM headquarters is intended to place
field operations at the center of our organizational structure. This
will help further improve our ability to aid the field, where our
mission execution occurs,” EM Assistant Secretary Monica Regalbuto said.
The core of the reorganization is the consolidation of EM
headquarters’ previous set of seven mission units and mission support
offices into three new offices led by a new set of Associate Principal
Deputy Assistant Secretaries.
“These new positions are critical to our plans for clarifying roles
and responsibilities and establishing clear lines of authority and
accountability,” EM Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Mark Whitney said.
The new Field Operations Office, led by Stacy Charboneau, oversees the
various EM field offices, as well as EM’s technology development
efforts; analysis and engineering for major capital projects; and
safety, security, and quality assurance programs. Charboneau last served
as the Manager of the Richland Operations Office
at Hanford, and has more than 20 years of experience managing projects
involving nuclear operations, construction, environmental remediation
and deactivation and demolition.
The new Regulatory and Policy Affairs Office, led by Frank
Marcinowski, supports complex-wide infrastructure management and
disposition issues; waste and materials management; and regulatory and
stakeholder engagement. Marcinowski last held the positions of acting
Associate Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary and Deputy Assistant
Secretary for Waste Management in the previous EM headquarters
organization. He has more than 27 years of experience ensuring the safe
use, management and oversight of radioactive and nuclear materials, and
has extensive expertise in environmental policy development and
governmental affairs on a national, regional and local level.
The new Corporate Services Office, led by Candice Trummell, oversees
acquisition and project management; budget and planning activities;
workforce management, information technology and communications.
Trummell last served as Deputy Chief of Staff for the Deputy Secretary
of Energy, and has nearly 15 years of experience managing critical
business functions, communications, stakeholder engagement and
Congressional relations.
Other significant changes at EM headquarters as a result of the reorganization include:
Workers Complete Highest Hazard Demolition Preparations at Hanford Site
Employees in the Americium Recovery Facility remove piping.
RICHLAND, Wash. – Workers at the Hanford Site have reached a significant point in EM’s deactivation work to prepare the Plutonium Finishing Plant’s (PFP) major processing facilities for demolition.
“Level B” suits — the highest level of protection in the form of
supplied air and pressurized protective suits — may no longer be
required for the remaining deactivation work prior to demolition, as
workers have completed the last activities scheduled to use the Level B
suits at the plant.
Meanwhile, one of the site’s most hazardous rooms is now a step closer
to demolition after workers finished cleaning a major portion of PFP's
Americium Recovery Facility.
Used during the Cold War to recover americium, that facility was also called the “McCluskey Room”
by workers for Harold McCluskey, who was injured in 1976 when a vessel
inside a glove box burst and exposed him to radioactive material.
McCluskey, who was 64 at the time, lived for 11 more years and died from
unrelated causes. The accident left the room severely contaminated,
with workers rarely entering it.
In 2014, EM Richland Operations Office (RL) contractor CH2M HILL
Plateau Remediation Company (CH2M) began final cleanup of the room after
extensive preparations to ensure worker safety. Due to chemical and
radiological hazards, workers took the initiative to research and train
on the use of Level B suits.
Since 2014, workers using the suits have removed glove boxes and other
processing infrastructure from the room and prepared large radiological
and chemical tanks for removal during demolition.
Crews also used the same suits to cut up and remove PFP's two most contaminated glove boxes.
With those tasks complete, Level B protection is not anticipated to be
needed for the rest of PFP’s demolition preparation work.
“The teams that used the Level B suits safely performed some of the
most hazardous work not only at Hanford, but across the DOE complex,”
said John Silko, RL’s 242-Z project lead. “Completing this work is a
significant accomplishment as we continue to prepare the plant for
demolition.”
A
rendering of the PFP complex. Demolition will start with the 236-Z
(Plutonium Reclamation Facility) in green, progress to 242-Z (Americium
Recovery Facility) in red, to 234-5Z (main processing building) in blue,
and finally to 291-Z, which is the fan house and ventilation stack, in
yellow.
Application of fixative inside 242-Z is one of the last steps of demolition preparation for the facility.
What’s next for demolition?
As crews finish PFP demolition preparations, including removal of
thousands of feet of contaminated ventilation duct and process piping,
they continue to wear protective clothing and breathe filtered air.
Removal of nearly all of these systems is necessary to protect workers,
the public and the environment during demolition.
“The PFP team has done some amazing work in preparing the building for
demolition, and they’ve done so safely,” said Tom Bratvold, CH2M vice
president of the Plutonium Finishing Plant Closure Project. “As we focus
on beginning demolition itself, our priority remains on working safely,
keeping each other safe, so we can reflect with pride on the progress
we’re making on this historic project.”
The PFP is the largest, most complex plutonium facility that has ever
been deactivated or will be demolished across the EM complex. More than
20 years of demolition preparations are expected to conclude in coming
months as demolition begins on the facility.
After coordinating with the Washington Department of Ecology and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, RL has announced a new milestone completion date of Sept. 30, 2017.
EM Marks 20 years of Cleanup Success at Hanford Disposal Facility
ERDF is known as the “hub” of Hanford cleanup.
RICHLAND, Wash. – July marked 20 successful years of environmental cleanup at one of EM’s largest disposal facilities — the Environmental Restoration Disposal Facility (ERDF) on the Hanford Site.
Since disposal operations began in 1996, 18 million tons of
contaminated soil, debris and solid wastes from the site’s cleanup
activities have been placed in the facility, which is specially
engineered with a liner and leachate collection system. ERDF covers 107
acres, roughly the same area as 52 football fields. Its operations have
supported the demolition of more than 800 facilities and remediation of
1,300 waste sites.
“ERDF has been and will continue to be a critical component of
Hanford’s cleanup,” said Doug Shoop, manager of EM’s Richland Operations
Office. “It’s a key part of EM’s overall cleanup strategy at the site
in order to remove contaminated material and provide for its safe
disposal as to prevent contaminants from reaching groundwater or the
Columbia River.”
DOE’s Office of Enterprise Assessments
recently recognized ERDF as a best practice onsite storage model,
providing significant reductions in costs, schedule and transportation
risks.
In addition to contaminated soil, debris, and solid waste, ERDF
receives other hazardous materials, such as mercury, asbestos,
beryllium, chromium and lead, which can be treated onsite before
disposal. The majority of the waste disposed at ERDF was generated in
Hanford’s River Corridor, a 220-square-mile stretch of land that borders
the Columbia River. The corridor was home to Hanford’s nine plutonium
production reactors, fuel development facilities and hundreds of support
structures. Waste from other Hanford projects is also disposed at ERDF,
which is currently managed by contractor Washington Closure Hanford
(WCH).
“The ongoing success of ERDF operations can be attributed to the
efforts of a workforce committed to working efficiently and working
safely,” said WCH President Scott Sax. “Their safety performance is
truly outstanding.” For example, ERDF truck drivers have logged nearly
30 million safe miles (approximately 1,200 times around the earth) since
the facility began operations.
A permanent cap will be placed over the facility when the Hanford cleanup is completed, or ERDF is no longer needed.
Hanford Site Facility's 20th Anniversary Marks Career Milestone for Engineer
Michael
Casbon’s first job for Hanford’s ERDF was helping with its conceptual
design. This month, he celebrated the 20th anniversary of the facility’s
operation as its resident engineer.
RICHLAND, Wash. – Engineer Mike Casbon has watched the Environmental Restoration Disposal Facility (ERDF) grow up.
He helped create the low-level waste disposal facility for EM’s cleanup operations at the Hanford Site,
joining the team working on its conceptual design in April 1993. He was
the ERDF field engineer when the facility took its first steps,
accepting its first truckload of waste on July 1, 1996. And, now, he is
proudly celebrating its 20th anniversary, as it has grown to become one
of EM’s largest disposal facilities, containing 18 million tons of
contaminated soil, debris and solid wastes.
“I have been very blessed to be on this project,” said Casbon, now the resident engineer for EM Richland Operations Office contractor Washington Closure Hanford, which currently operates ERDF. “It’s been a fun and productive project.”
Working with his colleagues over the years has been a highlight for
him. He brought his experience as a mining engineer, working in a highly
regulated environment, to the conceptual design effort, but he admits
he had much to learn about the challenges at Hanford.
“I knew nothing about working with radioactive materials. But I was
part of a small and dedicated team that relied on each other. Other
people on the team were experts on that. It was a great learning
opportunity” he said.
Casbon cited the importance of open, candid and collaborative
relationships with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, ERDF’s
regulator, and EM.
Casbon has enjoyed watching ERDF’s “maturation,” as he described it.
Within six months of operation, the facility was receiving 90
truckloads — at approximately 20 tons each — of waste material a day,
meeting initial planning estimates. By 2005, the daily average was
around 160 truckloads with single-day peaks of 200 truckloads.
Using American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
funds, a major expansion in 2009-2011 provided for new support
buildings, equipment and additional labor, which increased the
facility’s capacity and efficiency. ERDF hit a peak of more than 800
truckloads in a single day in 2012.
”Watching the operation safely and compliantly dispose of over 18,000
tons per day using three different truck fleets was like watching a
three-ring circus. It was amazingly busy while being well under
control,” Casbon said.
Workers Continue Progress in Installing Equipment for Vitrification Facility
A section of the thermal catalytic oxidizer is lowered into the LAW facility.
RICHLAND, Wash. – Workers recently completed installing two of the last major pieces of equipment for the EM Office of River Protection’s Low-Activity Waste (LAW) Vitrification Facility at the Hanford Site’s Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP).
Installation of the thermal catalytic oxidizer and ammonia dilution
skid is a major element in completing construction of the LAW facility.
Critical to the safe treatment of waste, the 60-ton thermal catalytic
oxidizer and 7-ton ammonia dilution skid are part of the system that
will remove toxic contaminants from the low-activity radioactive waste
glass melter exhaust.
Called the off-gas system, it is needed to ensure the exhaust meets regulatory requirements for release to the environment.
“The fabrication, delivery and installation of the significant pieces
of off-gas equipment are the culmination of several years of hard work
from a team of engineering, procurement and construction professionals
and marks a significant milestone toward completing the LAW Facility,”
said Scott Neubauer, Bechtel National, Inc.’s LAW area project manager.
Bechtel is ORP’s contractor for WTP.
Ionex Research Corp. fabricated and tested the thermal catalytic
oxidizer and ammonia dilution skid in its facilities in Lafayette, Colo.
The caustic scrubber, the final piece of the off-gas system and last
major piece of equipment to be installed in the LAW, will be received
later this year.
The off-gas system will convert volatile organic compounds to carbon
dioxide and water vapor, convert nitric oxide to hydrogen and oxygen,
remove acidic gases from the exhaust and cool the exhaust before
releasing it through the stack.
When the LAW facility is operational, it will convert into glass more
than half of the liquid, low-activity radioactive waste removed from
Hanford’s 177 underground tanks. The treatment process is called
vitrification and involves mixing the waste with glass-forming materials
and heating them in a melter to 2,100 degrees F.
The molten glass will be poured into containers, where it will be
allowed to cool, immobilizing the waste in solid glass, and sent to an
engineered landfill for disposal.v
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Much
news space has been devoted over the years to the prospects for new
reactors in the U.S. However, new reactors are not the only way the
nation’s share of nuclear-generated electricity can be increased — and
it doesn’t involve earth-movers, the construction of new buildings or
other changes visible to the casual observer.
The NRC does not proceed to a final decision until all such questions are answered to our full satisfaction.
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