EM News Flash | Nov. 2, 2017 |
The
Project Management Institute's Project of the Year for 2017 —
completion of waste retrieval from Hanford Tank AY-102 — was featured on
the cover of the November issue of the institute's monthly magazine.
The project team was led by, from left, Doug Greenwell with Hanford tank
farms contractor Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS), Reggie
Eakins Jr. of the EM Office of River Protection, and Sebastien Guillot,
WRPS.
EM Wins Top Project Management Institute Recognition, Two Awards for Excellence
The Project Management Institute (PMI) named a Hanford Site tank recovery effort its international Project of the Year for 2017 after EM’s Office of River Protection (ORP) completed the work ahead of schedule and $8.7 million under budget.
PMI’s top annual award goes to large, complex projects that cost more
than $100 million and best deliver superior performance of project
management practices, superior organizational results, and positive
impacts on society.
The institute’s two 2017 project excellence awards for North America
also went to EM: upgrades to a Hanford AP Tank Farm exhauster and a Savannah River Site (SRS) underground liquid-waste tank closure, the site’s eighth. PMI honored the three EM projects at its recent Global Project Management Conference in Chicago.
“I am proud that the Project Management Institute chose to recognize
the important work underway to address one of our largest environmental
challenges — radioactive tank waste,” Acting EM Assistant
Secretary Jim Owendoff said. “These awards are a recognition of the
dedicated and talented workforce we have at the Hanford and Savannah
River sites, and across the entire Environmental Management program. Our
ability to perform projects, such as those recognized by PMI, ahead of
schedule and under cost demonstrate our commitment to performing our
mission in a safe and efficient manner while serving as a good steward
of taxpayer resources.”
ORP completed the retrieval and transfer of high-level radioactive
waste from tank AY-102 in February, 17 days ahead of a deadline to meet a
Settlement Agreement milestone signed in September 2014 between ORP,
Washington State Department of Ecology, and ORP’s tank farms contractor
Washington River Protection Solutions.
“The AY-102 project not only significantly reduced potential threats
to the environment, but also provided plenty of lessons learned,” said
Reggie Eakins Jr., ORP project manager for AY-102. “The team at Hanford
is sharing our experience with other nuclear storage sites across the
country about how to save time, money, and resources on future
projects.”
AY-102, the first of the 28 double-shell tanks built at Hanford that
began operating in 1970, was taken out of service in 2012 after it was
discovered that a small amount of waste leaked from the inner tank into
the annulus between the inner and outer tank shells. The waste was
contained in the annulus and there is no indication it leaked into the
environment.
Waste retrieval operations began in March 2016, with two sluicers
spraying high-pressure liquid to mobilize the waste and pump it from the
tank. About 725,000 gallons of radioactive and chemical waste – 98
percent of the tank’s original waste volume – was retrieved in March and
April 2016.
PMI recognized the AP Farm Ventilation Upgrades Project for designing,
fabricating and installing a new ventilation system for the eight AP
tanks. ORP and contractor AECOM completed this work in 2016 to enable
the AP Farm to receive, stage, and transfer millions of gallons of waste
to Hanford’s Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant for
vitrification.
Savannah
River Remediation (SRR) Chief Operating Officer Mark Schmitz, left, and
SRR President and Project Manager Tom Foster accept the Award for
Project Excellence at the Project Management Institute’s Global Project
Management Conference in Chicago.
The institute honored EM and the SRS liquid waste contractor Savannah
River Remediation (SRR) for closure of the 1-million-gallon Tank 12. DOE
declared the tank operationally closed in April 2016, about a month
ahead of the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental
Control and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency deadline.
DOE-Savannah River Manager Jack Craig said remediating waste tanks at
SRS is critical to EM’s cleanup mission, including risk reduction.
“Closing Tank 12 was an important milestone in furthering the
Department of Energy's environmental cleanup mission at the Savannah
River Site,” said Craig. “I commend SRR for their work on Tank 12 and
receiving this award.”
Workers filled Tank 12 with more than 900,000 gallons of grout.
Workers removed the tank’s sludge and salt waste, which was then
immobilized through the site’s Defense Waste Processing and Saltstone
Production facilities. Crews cleaned the tank and filled it with more
than 900,000 gallons of grout.
SRR President and Project Manager Tom Foster said the contractor’s
work to clean up legacy waste has tremendous value for the community,
state, and nation.
“It will continue to have an impact for generations to come,” Foster
said. “This award is further proof of the crucial work the SRR team
completes for our nation.”
|
Michele Kearney's Nuclear Wire
Major Energy and Environmental News and Commentary affecting the Nuclear Industry.
Thursday, November 2, 2017
2017 PMI Project of the Year Winner
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