Training while using COVID-19 safety protocols has kicked off for the final class of 27 technicians who will help prepare Hanford’s massive vitrification plant to start converting millions of gallons of radioactive tank waste into glass for safe disposal. When they complete the rigorous five-month training program, these workers will join more than 100 other technicians who will commission the plant over the next few years for its critical role in Hanford cleanup.
RICHLAND, Wash. – Training recently kicked off for the final class of commissioning technicians who will prepare Hanford’s massive Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) for round-the-clock operations in the next few years to vitrify millions of gallons of radioactive tank waste.
An in-depth classroom and on-the-job training program is preparing the final class of 27 new commissioning workers to bring more than 200 separate systems online in two main facilities, including the Low-Activity Waste Facility where the radioactive waste will be blended with glass-forming materials and heated to 2,100 degrees Fahrenheit, and 14 support facilities.
At the end of the five-month training program, a total of approximately 140 commissioning technicians will be readying the plant for round-the-clock operations to treat a large volume of Hanford’s waste leftover from producing plutonium in the 1940s through the late 1980s.
“A lot of people have put in years of work and effort to get us to where we are today,” said Tom Fletcher, EM federal project director for the plant. “It’s an exciting time to be working at Hanford as our team moves closer to treating tank waste.”
Using appropriate COVID-19 safety protocols, commissioning technicians train at a 17,000-square-foot building that contains a full-scale, fully functional replica of the control room at Hanford’s Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant. From the plant’s real control room, technicians will eventually operate more than 200 systems in two large facilities and 14 support facilities in a 24/7 operation.
Training the technicians supports EM’s 2020 priorities, which include completing Direct-Feed Low-Activity Waste (DFLAW) construction for turnover to commissioning. Direct-feed means waste will be pretreated at a tank farm, which is a group of tanks, to remove radioactive cesium and solids. The resulting less radioactive, low-activity waste will be fed via pipelines directly to the Low-Activity Waste Facility for vitrification.
The Bechtel National, Inc.-led WTP contractor team began hiring technicians in 2016 to prepare, or commission, the WTP to start treating tank waste in the next few years. Workers are observing COVID-19 safety protocols while training at a 17,000-square-foot building that contains a full-scale, fully functional replica of the Low-Activity Waste Facility control room, where they will eventually work. In early 2019, the plant began 24/7 commissioning shift work, as the control room is already operational and staffed by qualified commissioning technicians.
“Our rigorous training program prepares and qualifies them to bring the plant online as we complete commissioning and for eventual around-the-clock operations,” said Valerie McCain, Bechtel National, Inc. project director. “I’m excited to welcome them to our team.”
Commissioning technicians also learn about conduct of operations; process systems; integrated system response; alarm response; normal, abnormal, and emergency procedures; and human performance improvement fundamentals.
-Contributor: George Rangel
Progress Moves Hanford Closer to Dry Storage of Radioactive Capsules
RICHLAND, Wash. – Work is progressing on many fronts toward transferring 1,936 highly radioactive cesium and strontium capsules to safer, dry storage at the Hanford Site.
Check out this video to learn more about the advancements on this critical risk reduction project.
Workers with EM Richland Operations Office (RL) contractor CH2M HILL Plateau Remediation Company (CHPRC) recently broke ground at the site of the future dry cask storage area. And at the nearby Maintenance and Storage Facility, construction continues on a mock-up designed to replicate conditions at the Waste Encapsulation Storage Facility (WESF), where the capsules are currently in a safe configuration in an underwater basin. The mock-up will allow workers to safely train and test equipment before performing the work in a radiological environment.
“The project team came together to take this idea and advance it from a conceptual design to final design, and now we’re to the point where the project’s coming to life,” said Kalli Shupe, CHPRC vice president for the waste and fuels management project.
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A conceptual illustration depicts a large concrete cask designed to hold radioactive capsules. Between 16 and 20 casks will be placed in a safe, compliant configuration in an outdoor storage area, similar to how spent commercial nuclear fuel is currently stored. |
The capsules have been stored at WESF since the mid-1970s. Cesium and strontium were removed from waste tanks at Hanford to reduce the temperature of the waste inside the tanks. Transferring the capsules to dry storage in stainless steel and concrete casks reduces the risk of a radioactive release in the unlikely loss of water from the basin.
The cask storage system is designed for “passive cooling” by the airflow within the cask. Cool, clean air is drawn into the cask and warm air goes out, without the need for fans or mechanical equipment. Since the capsules are sealed within the cask, they do not come into contact with the cooling air. The same passive cooling approach is used for dry storage of used nuclear fuel at other locations. These concrete and steel casks also provide robust radiation shielding to protect workers and eliminate the possibility of a release of radioactive material.
Transferring the capsules to dry storage will also enable the planned deactivation of the WESF facility and a significant reduction in operating costs.
“DOE estimates moving the capsules to dry storage will save more than $6 million per year in operating costs,” said Gary Pyles, RL project director for the WESF project. “The estimated cost of dry storage at the cask storage area is less than $1 million per year.”
-Contributor: Joan Lucas
EM Advances Next Major Cleanup Phase in Oak Ridge
OAK RIDGE, Tenn. – While cleanup at the East Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP) is coming to an end this year, the Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM) is continuing progress in another chapter of its mission at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and Y-12 National Security Complex (Y-12).
OREM recently received authority to conduct work inside five buildings at ORNL and Y-12, enabling trained, experienced crews from ETTP to transition to ORNL and Y-12 to begin characterization and deactivation projects to prepare those facilities for demolition.
Challenging tasks await OREM in the years ahead at ORNL and Y-12. Together, those sites have more than 200 excess, contaminated facilities that no longer serve national security or science missions. This inventory also includes the highest number of high-risk facilities in the DOE complex. Their removal will eliminate significant risks and open land for future DOE missions.
Two of the five buildings where OREM recently received authority to conduct cleanup work —Buildings 3034 and 3036 at ORNL — will join a number of facilities already undergoing deactivation by OREM and cleanup contractor UCOR.
Buildings 3034 and 3036 previously supported isotope research and production and are situated in ORNL’s central campus area. Both were constructed in the 1950s. Building 3034 housed the central electrical distribution station. Building 3036 was used as a decontamination facility for trucks and equipment, and served as a general storage site.
Alpha 2 is a former Manhattan Project building that supported uranium enrichment efforts for the first nuclear weapons developed in the Manhattan Project. EM will conduct deactivation efforts inside the building to prepare it for eventual demolition.
Beta-1 is also a former Manhattan Project building that supported uranium enrichment efforts for the first nuclear weapons created during the Manhattan Project. It was decommissioned in 1947 and subsequently transitioned to support Oak Ridge National Laboratory missions in 1950 until 1995.
The remaining three buildings are Alpha-2, Beta-1, and Building 9401-1 at Y-12. Alpha-2 and Beta-1 are large, former Manhattan Project buildings that supported uranium enrichment efforts, using an electromagnetic separation process, for the first nuclear weapons created during the Manhattan Project.
The 325,000-square-foot Alpha-2 housed operations that ended in the 1950s. The more than 210,000-square-foot Beta-1 was decommissioned in 1947 and was later used to support ORNL missions. Research and development and operational activities ended there in 1995.
Building 9401-1, a former steam plant for the site, was built in 1943. It served Y-12 missions in the 1960s and 1970s, and ORNL later used the facility to test non-radiological fuels such as ethanol and car and jet fuels.
-Contributor: Susanne Dupes
EM Names Nicole Nelson-Jean as Associate Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Field Operations
EM has selected Nicole Nelson-Jean to serve as EM’s associate principal deputy assistant secretary for field operations, effective at the end of this month.
Nelson-Jean comes to EM from the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), where she last served as the NNSA manager at the Savannah River Site (SRS).
At
SRS, Nelson-Jean led the site-level effort to establish a plutonium
pits capability, surplus plutonium disposition activities, and the
operations of the nation’s only tritium plant that supports the nuclear
stockpile. Prior to SRS, Nelson-Jean served as the NNSA manager at the
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
Over her 28 years in the
DOE complex, Nelson-Jean has served as a U.S. diplomat representing the
Department in two posts, the U.S. Mission to International Organizations
in Vienna, Austria as the Nuclear Attaché and the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo
as Energy Attaché. As a leader in the Global Threat Reduction
Initiative and International Material Protection Program, Nelson-Jean
led multi-million-dollar international programs to protect, remove, and
secure high-risk nuclear and radiological materials, including over 50
nuclear storage sites in Russia. Nelson-Jean has received the
Distinguished Presidential Rank Award and the Service to America Medal.
For
the past two months, Tom Mooney has served as EM’s acting associate
principal deputy assistant secretary for field operations while
continuing to serve as chief of staff. During that time, Mooney
coordinated and oversaw activities in the field, including EM’s
continued response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mooney will continue
to support EM’s Office of Field Operations by serving in a new position
as chief operating officer. In that role, he will assist Nelson-Jean in
managing the Office of Field Operations mission. Mooney will also
continue to serve as chief of staff until a replacement is named.
Virtual and Onsite Summer Internships Support EM Cleanup
Alexis Plum, an environmental sciences major at the University of Idaho, is interning onsite at Fluor Idaho this summer. In this photo, Plum is touring the Materials and Fuels Complex Landfill, which was recently covered with native soils. Fluor Idaho is EM’s cleanup contractor at the Idaho National Laboratory Site.
Despite limitations due to the COVID-19 pandemic, students have been interning across the EM complex this summer with the help of creativity, technology, and a desire to learn.
The EM Minority Serving Institutions Partnership Program (MSIPP) successfully hosted and mentored 32 student interns virtually. The interns from minority serving institutions participated in several areas of research, engineering, and environmental science projects.
Research scientists and engineers from the Idaho, Los Alamos, and Argonne national laboratories, minority serving institution professors, and the DOE Idaho Liaison Office assisted with the internships.
The MSIPP Summer Intern Program has two components: research and educational. The virtual research activities addressed cybersecurity issues and explored technology focused on wind energy. The virtual educational interns took courses in environmental sciences and engineering. Activities in those courses ranged from creating simple technology to improve water quality to planning individual engineering projects using remote environmental sensing.
Pictured
are some of the Savannah River Site environmental sciences virtual
interns, professors, and directors, as well as the Minority Serving
Institutions Partnership Program (MSIPP) manager, during virtual
end-of-summer presentations. Pictured top row, from left, Frank
Heckendorn, remote sensing instructor, Venetia Lyles, director, Titan
Paul, materials instructor, Joniqua Howard, environmental science
instructor, Bahaa Alhaj, intern; second row from top, from left, Bill
Pirkle, South Carolina Universities Research and Education Foundation
program manager, Volpe Vo, intern, Vivian Holloway, MSIPP program
manager, Ken Stephens, engineering instructor, Natalie Ferguson,
Savannah River National Laboratory; third row from top, from left,
Luciano Jimenez, intern, Mallorie Prandy, intern, Steven Showalter,
intern, Shanika Scott, intern, Jim Marra, engineering instructor; fourth
row from top, from left, Woodrow Moses, intern, Kayla Gorden, intern,
Cameron Bedenbaugh, intern, Allen Valdovinos, intern, Grace Gonzalez,
intern; and fifth row from top, from left, Ruth Davis, intern and
Tye’sha Fields, intern.
Florida International University’s DOE Fellows participated in internship programs at national laboratories and DOE contractors across the U.S. Eight DOE Fellows took part in remote or hybrid — which means remote and onsite — internships, working with mentors on topics related to robotics, environmental monitoring, high-level waste, and machine learning and artificial intelligence.
Following are summaries of the eight DOE Fellows 2020 summer internships:
- Jeff Natividad is participating in a hybrid internship at Hanford Site contractor Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS). He is working on developing and validating semi-automated and automated robotic systems for safe and efficient monitoring of key equipment and structures.
- Michael Thompson is taking part in a hybrid internship at Idaho National Laboratory (INL), working on flight control systems for autonomous indoor drones. The goal of the internship project is to help develop and deploy a robotic system capable of reading and recording data from analog gauges.
- Gisselle Gutierrez-Zuniga is participating in a remote internship at the EM Carlsbad Field Office. Gutierrez-Zuniga is developing a web-accessible public database for meteorological data for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) with the objective of releasing a climatological summary report for WIPP.
- Edward Nina is working on computational fluid dynamic modeling to investigate the condition of high-level waste at Hanford’s Tank Farm in a hybrid WRPS internship.
- Juan Morales is participating in a remote internship at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. The objective of his research is to assess the impact of heavy metals in surface waters utilizing transcriptomic gene signatures.
- Aurelien Meray is taking part in a remote internship with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, working on a computer application for analyzing groundwater contamination data.
- Roger Boza is working on a computer vision project in a remote internship at INL. The project is focused on the implementation of artificial intelligence networks for image processing and object detection. This project will streamline the data collection procedure for sensors around the nuclear facility.
- Christopher Excellent is participating in a hybrid internship at INL. He is working on the development of a mobile hot cell system to better store and process radioactive sources. This project utilizes robotics and sensors to create a system that can complete tasks in minimal time through robotic automation.
Florida International University’s DOE Fellows participating in summer internships across the DOE complex include, top row, from left, Jeff Natividad, Aurelien Meray, and Gisselle Gutierrez; middle row, from left, Juan Morales, Michael Thompson, and Christopher Excellent; and bottom row, from left, Roger Boza and Edward Nina.
At INL Site cleanup contractor Fluor Idaho, some of the 24 student interns supporting projects across the 890-square-mile DOE site are working remotely.
The interns attend colleges and universities primarily in the northwest U.S. and are seeking degrees in information technology (IT), engineering, health and safety, and radiological protection.
The interns support the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit, which is preparing to treat 900,000 gallons of radioactive liquid waste; the Radioactive Waste Management Complex, which is retrieving, characterizing, and shipping Cold War weapons waste to WIPP; the Idaho Nuclear Technology and Engineering Center, which manages spent nuclear fuel and high-level waste; and other facilities that provide services such as human resources, accounting, and communications.
Fluor Idaho assigns interns to technically challenging cleanup projects to support veteran scientists and engineers. Students welcome the challenges and become valuable resources to the projects.
“We strive to provide an effective, hands-on learning environment for the interns,” Fluor Idaho human resources representative Brandi Nelson said. “The feedback we get from both the interns and our project personnel indicates that we have an effective program.”
The interns prepare presentations at the end of the summer that detail the types of support they provided, what they learned, and how their experiences have benefited their education or potential future employment opportunities. The majority of students who have interned with the cleanup program have said they desire to work at the INL Site upon graduation.
“Of course that’s always the goal,” said Nelson. “The intern program allows us as a contractor to determine if the interns have the necessary skills we need to eventually hire them full time. It also gives the students an opportunity to test-drive us, so to speak, as their potential employer.”
Nelson said Fluor Idaho generally hires a few employees each year who have gone through the intern program.
“What we find is those who have worked here as an intern hit the ground running as an employee,” she said. “They have formed working relationships with our employees and know the ins and outs of working at a nuclear cleanup facility.”
This year, some IT interns provide computer support remotely. Other interns working at the Idaho Falls and INL Site facilities have their temperatures checked with a thermal camera daily upon entering Fluor Idaho facilities. They also must wear masks if they can’t adhere to social distancing guidelines.
Emerson Brazile, a Nuclear Waste Partnership (NWP) summer intern, measures pressure across the bulkhead in the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) underground. The bulkhead is WIPP’s main doorway underground. NWP is WIPP’s management-and-operations contractor. Brazile's internship was mostly onsite.
At WIPP, management-and-operations contractor Nuclear Waste Partnership (NWP) hired 11 summer interns this year. NWP President and Project Manager Sean Dunagan had pushed to keep the program in place while ensuring the interns would perform meaningful, challenging work. Some changes to the program were unavoidable, such as a reduction in program duration from 12 weeks to nine weeks.
Most NWP internships focused on engineering, including mechanical, chemical, electronics, and computer engineering. Other internships involved business administration disciplines for training and procedures, and emergency management departments. A cyber operations student was chosen for NWP’s information systems department, and an intern with an occupational safety and health discipline worked in NWP’s safety, industrial, health, and site environmental management department.
In-person social activities, meetings, and tours were not held due to COVID-19. A luncheon for the interns was held in a large auditorium and required face masks and social distancing.
“Many have also taken the initiative to take work home so they are able to work offline on items in the event that it becomes difficult to telecommute,” said Logan Shores, NWP’s facility operations engineering manager. The students also presented virtual presentations on their internships.
Pictured is Jeff Natividad and the Vector Waypoints robot. Natividad is working on a project to perfect an autonomous mobile robot for use in the Hanford tank farms. The robotic vehicle will reduce worker entries into high-risk areas, improving worker safety. Nearly three dozen student interns are continuing their distance-learning experience at Hanford’s tank farms. WRPS, EM Office of River Protection contractor, has 34 interns this year, providing participants with valuable real-world experience and networking opportunities. This year is a very different, however, with interns serving in a teleworking capacity and spending minimal, if any, time onsite. Meetings are held using Microsoft Teams, and collaboration abounds. “It’s a really good experience, and I have great support from my mentors,” said Natividad, a WRPS intern and one of the eight DOE Fellows who have participated in internships across the DOE complex this summer. “In the classroom, you build a product; being on the consumer side is a different experience altogether.” “We are striving to be an employer of choice to attract the next diverse generation of talented professionals to help us deliver our mission,” said Santos Ortega, DOE Hanford Equal Employment Opportunity manager. |
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INL Site Cleanup Contractors Collaborate on Spent Nuclear Fuel Project
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Fluor Idaho Fuel Handling Operator Tyler Lane, right, and Senior Radiological Control Technician Tristan Shurtliff conduct a leak test on a storage vault containing Three Mile Island Unit 2 spent nuclear fuel and debris at the Idaho National Laboratory Site.
Council Honors EM Contractors as Leaders in Safety
Savannah River Remediation pipefitters Africona Washington, left, and Brandon Bly support a job safely in H Tank Farm at the Savannah River Site.
Two EM contractors recently earned national recognition for being leaders in safety.
Savannah River Remediation (SRR), EM’s liquid waste contractor at the Savannah River Site, and Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS), the Hanford Site tank operations contractor, won the 2020 Industry Leader Award from the National Safety Council.
The award recognizes the top five percent of member companies and facilities that have met the criteria and qualified for the 2020 Occupational Excellence Achievement Award, which is based on 2019 calendar year data, from the council.
Winners are selected based on North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code; lowest total incident, or employee accident, rate; and a high total of employee safe work hours. NAICS is the standard used by federal statistical agencies in classifying companies for the purpose of collecting, analyzing, and publishing statistical data related to the U.S. business economy.
SRR President and Project Manager Phil Breidenbach said earning external safety awards helps gauge if the company is doing the right thing.
“Safety is an SRR core value that sits above the rest,” Breidenbach said. “Safety isn’t a game, but if it was, the statistics help tell you which companies are winning. We use these statistics to measure our safety performance, but we never forget that the numbers represent co-workers, teammates, and friends.”
The SRR workforce worked 5.9 million safe hours in 2019. SRR has won the Industry Leader Award for the past five years.
John Eschenberg, WRPS president and CEO, said the award speaks to the dedication of WRPS employees and their vigilance of making safety a priority.
“Our people make the difference,” Eschenberg said. “This is one of the finest workforces I have had an opportunity to work with over my tenure.”
Rob Cantwell, WRPS environment, safety, health, and quality manager, said it is exciting that WRPS employees are being recognized at the national level for working safely every day.
“This award is a testament to our dedicated workforce and the accomplishments of the challenging work they perform in a safe manner,” Cantwell said. “The award winners exemplify excellence in safety performance.”
-Contributors: Colleen Hart, Denise Mellene
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