 
A waste
transport delivery truck
destined for EM’s Waste
Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP)
safely travels down the
road. In 2023, WIPP saw its
best shipment performance in
10 years.
EM team
looks to continue success
into 2024
CARLSBAD,
N.M. — During the
calendar year of 2023, the
team at EM’s
Waste
Isolation Pilot Plant
(WIPP) had its best shipment
performance in 10 years,
continuing the cleanup of
sites in New Mexico and
across the country.
In 2023, WIPP
received 489 waste shipments
from generator sites
throughout the country,
compared to 272 shipments in
2022. It’s the best shipment
total since the facility
received 724 shipments in
2013.
Several factors
enabled the increase in
shipments, including:
- Increased
coordination with
generator sites, which
make the waste available
for packaging and
certification through the
DOE-established Central
Characterization Program;
- More
transportation support
with mobile loading unit
teams at generator sites
and shipment drivers;
- WIPP
operational efficiencies
gained by opening a new,
uncontaminated set of
underground storage rooms,
known as a panel. Waste is
disposed of in a set of
panels located nearly
one-half mile below the
surface.
WIPP’s highest
shipment total was 1,142 in
2006, with the lowest being
44 shipments in 1999 when
the underground waste
repository opened.
Since it began
operations in 1999, WIPP has
received more than 13,790
shipments, totaling over
75,480 cubic meters of waste
emplaced. Per the U.S. Land
Withdrawal Act, WIPP is
limited to 175,000 cubic
meters of waste over its
lifetime.
While legacy
waste from the EM
Los Alamos Field Office
remains a high priority,
EM's Idaho
National Laboratory (INL)
Site has traditionally
been the most prolific
generator, with more than
7,000 shipments so far over
the course of its cleanup
mission. See a related story
in this EM Update issue on
the cleanup program's
significant progress in
reducing the transuranic
waste inventory at the INL
Site.
WIPP is the
nation’s only repository for
the disposal of transuranic
waste generated by nuclear
defense activities. Salado
Isolation Mining Contractors
manages and operates the
WIPP site for EM.
-Contributor:
Roy Neese
From left, UCOR
President and CEO Ken
Rueter, EM Senior Advisor
William “Ike” White, Oak
Ridge Office of
Environmental Management
Manager Jay Mullis, Zeno
Power CEO Tyler Bernstein
and NASA Chief Technologist
Len Dudzinski celebrate a
partnership that is reusing
legacy radioactive material
previously stored at Oak
Ridge National Laboratory
for national security and
science missions.
OAK
RIDGE, Tenn. –
Partnerships were a major
theme when EM Senior Advisor
William “Ike” White traveled
to Oak
Ridge last week.
White and
others from EM
headquarters visited teams
from other DOE programs,
federal agencies and private
companies working with EM to
advance cleanup.
His first day
included multiple stops at Oak
Ridge National Laboratory
(ORNL), giving him the
opportunity to meet with top
leadership, scientists and
researchers supporting
cleanup, and staff advancing
important DOE Office
of Science missions.
White began his
tour at the Aquatic
Ecology Lab where he
observed research that will
be pivotal for future
mercury remediation
projects. ORNL has assembled
a diverse team that is
making headway on
world-leading technology
development, modeling and
research to understand how
mercury moves and changes in
the environment.
Their findings
are helping inform and shape
how crews address areas with
heavy
mercury contamination
at the Y-12
National Security Complex
in the years ahead. With
mercury advisories for fish
in all 50 states, their work
will also be beneficial
nationwide.
Teresa Mathews,
a senior scientist and group
leader for the Biodiversity
and Ecosystem Health Group
at Oak Ridge National
Laboratory (ORNL), shows EM
Senior Advisor William “Ike”
White a map of where her
team is conducting research
to better understand how
mercury moves and changes in
the environment. Photo
courtesy of Carlos Jones,
ORNL.
White also
stopped at the Radiochemical
Engineering Development
Center (REDC) and the
Manufacturing
Demonstration Facility
(MDF).
Experts at the
REDC produce unique
radioisotopes for
applications in research,
national security, medicine,
space exploration and
industry. Employees at the
MDF are focused on reducing
the carbon footprint of the
manufacturing sector,
efficiently utilizing
abundant and available
domestic energy resources,
and supporting the
production of clean energy
products that boost the
nation’s economy.
In addition to
learning more about existing
partnerships, White also
announced a new
innovative public-private
partnership while in
Oak Ridge. That partnership
with Zeno Power has
eliminated legacy
radioactive material
previously stored at ORNL,
and the company will recycle
the material into a source
of clean energy.
Supported by
environmental cleanup
contractor UCOR, the Oak
Ridge Office of
Environmental Management
(OREM) transported a
radioisotope thermoelectric
generator containing
strontium-90 to an
out-of-state commercial
nuclear facility last week.
Zeno will recycle the
material to power its
radioisotope power systems.
The technology in these
systems is capable of
converting heat generated by
the decay of radioisotopes
into a reliable source of
electricity in remote and
challenging environments.
“Doing
something like this requires
an enormous amount of
integrated collaborative
work across several
different organizations,”
said White. “In this case,
it was two different
government organizations,
multiple contractor
organizations, several
different sites across DOE,
all designed around a great
idea — which is taking a
liability that had no clear
disposition path and being
able to do something with it
that will benefit the
broader community and the
government in the future.”
Bill Peter,
program director for
Advanced Manufacturing at
Oak Ridge National
Laboratory (ORNL), discusses
the laboratory’s
Manufacturing Demonstration
Facility with EM Senior
Advisor William “Ike” White
during a tour of the
facility. Photo courtesy of
Carlos Jones, ORNL.
Zeno has
contracts in place to
develop innovative
radioisotope power systems
for the U.S. Department of
Defense. The company is also
developing this technology
with NASA and other
companies to enable
long-term lunar
applications.
The transported
equipment was built in the
mid-1980s at ORNL, but it
was never deployed. It had
been stored there for nearly
40 years, and before this
new partnership, it was
expected to remain in
storage for another 30 years
before EM could dispose of
it.
“This transfer
highlights another unique
approach our team has taken
to accelerate environmental
cleanup in Oak Ridge,” said
OREM Manager Jay Mullis.
“This is a win-win scenario
that’s removing a
significant source of
radioactivity at a savings
to taxpayers, while also
supporting nuclear
innovation.”
When it comes
to partnerships, White says
EM is always looking for
more to make more progress.
“If there are
folks out there who see this
and who have ideas, I really
encourage them to bring them
forward,” said White. “We’re
always looking for folks who
have creative and innovative
ideas about better ways of
doing things. We have a lot
of problems to solve around
the country and having
partners who can work with
us and find better ways of
doing business is something
we always look forward to.”
-Contributor:
Ben Williams
Drums
containing transuranic waste
are shown in a storage
facility at the Idaho
National Laboratory Site's
Advanced Mixed Waste
Treatment Project.
IDAHO
FALLS, Idaho — EM
has made significant
progress in reducing the
transuranic (TRU) waste
inventory at the Idaho
National Laboratory (INL)
Site’s Advanced Mixed
Waste Treatment Project
(AMWTP), fulfilling a
commitment to the State of
Idaho.
Over the last
year, EM and INL Site
cleanup contractor Idaho
Environmental Coalition
(IEC) successfully reduced
the overall TRU waste
inventory at AMWTP
by 22%, or 9,331 waste
containers. They sent more
TRU waste shipments to EM’s
Waste
Isolation Pilot Plant
(WIPP) in New Mexico in
calendar year 2023 than at
any point over the last
decade.
“The Idaho
Cleanup Project and the
State of Idaho are grateful
for the efforts of the WIPP
team to enable this pace of
shipments from Idaho,” Idaho
Cleanup Project Manager
Connie Flohr said. “This
kind of success would not be
possible without their
committed support.”
EM crews at the
Advanced Mixed Waste
Treatment Project prepare
transuranic waste containers
for shipment to the Waste
Isolation Pilot Plant in New
Mexico.
When IEC’s
contract began in 2022, the
remaining TRU waste
inventory at AMWTP was
stored in over 39,000
containers onsite. As of
this month, the inventory is
just below 30,000
containers.
“This would not
have been possible without
the dedication of a
workforce committed to
getting this work done,”
said AMWTP Operations
Director Dave Martin. “Each
TRU waste shipment that
leaves Idaho represents
meticulous planning, careful
collaboration with our DOE
and state partners and safe
execution on the part of our
workforce.”
While much work
remains, Martin sees the AMWTP
workforce as uniquely
positioned to address the
challenge.
“The number of
remaining containers seems
daunting, but nowhere else
in the DOE complex will you
find the skilled workforce
and specialized equipment
used to carry out the
mission at AMWTP,” Martin
said. “Their diligent
efforts will continue
reducing risk to the
environment.”
TRU
waste is comprised of
debris, residues, soil and
other items contaminated
with radioactive elements —
largely plutonium — that
have atomic numbers greater
than uranium.
This year, EM
and IEC will continue to
treat, characterize and ship
TRU waste stored at AMWTP.
They expect to continue
sending as many as 12 TRU
waste shipments per week to
WIPP.
-Contributor:
Carter Harrison
A monitor in
the control room of the
Hanford Site’s Tank-Side
Cesium Removal (TSCR) System
shows workers performing
maintenance inside the TSCR
facility.
RICHLAND,
Wash. — The EM
Office
of River Protection
(ORP) and contractor
Washington River Protection
Solutions (WRPS) have
completed the first waste
processing campaign through
the Tank-Side Cesium Removal
(TSCR) System at the Hanford
Site.
TSCR is a
demonstration project which
removes radioactive cesium
and solids from tank waste
and delivers low-activity
waste to a nearby
underground storage tank.
Richland
Operations Office and Office
of River Protection Manager
Brian Vance congratulates
Tank-Side Cesium Removal
(TSCR) System workers
following completion of
TSCR’s first waste
processing campaign.
The treatment
system hit a milestone in
December, processing more
than 800,000 gallons of
radioactive liquid waste
since the campaign began.
The TSCR team reached that
goal after a record-short
maintenance outage of only
three weeks. In addition,
TSCR removed over 99.99% of
radioactive cesium from the
processed liquid waste.
The waste is
staged until it can be fed
to Hanford’s Waste
Treatment and
Immobilization Plant
for vitrification,
or immobilization in glass.
TSCR is a key component and
the first step in Hanford’s
Direct-Feed
Low-Activity Waste
Program to treat tank waste.
-Contributor:
Joan Lucas
Members of a
Japan delegation from the
Nuclear Damage Compensation
and Decommissioning
Facilitation Corporation and
Tokyo Electric Power Company
are pictured at the Hanford
Site in Washington state
recently with EM team
members, including employees
from EM headquarters and
Richland Operations Office.
EM
recently hosted leaders from
Japan’s Nuclear Damage
Compensation and
Decommissioning Facilitation
Corporation (NDF) and Tokyo
Electric Power Company
(TEPCO) in the Oak
Ridge, Tennessee, area
and at the Hanford
Site in Washington
state.
The Japanese
officials met with the EM
teams to learn more about
developing end states for
cleanup sites, involving
stakeholders in the
decision-making process,
growing partnerships and
designing contracting
models. NDF and TEPCO are
looking at the lessons
learned from their U.S.
counterparts as they address
the cleanup needs at the
Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear
Power Station (NPS).
“These types of
visits create the
opportunity for information
exchange,” said Brian Vance,
manager of the Office
of River Protection
and Richland
Operations Office at
Hanford. “Over time we
develop working
relationships with other
experts in the industry and
we learn from them just as
much as we share.”
Leaders from
Japan’s Nuclear Damage
Compensation and
Decommissioning Facilitation
Corporation (NDF) and Tokyo
Electric Power Company
(TEPCO) are shown inside the
Hanford Site Low-Activity
Waste Facility at the Waste
Treatment and Immobilization
Plant at the Hanford Site in
Washington state. From left:
Kenta Okano, NDF general
manager; Yumiko Kumano, NDF
general manager; Tatsuji
Yoshioka, NDF general
manager; Noriyuki Saito,
TEPCO deputy general
manager; Yasutaka Denda, NDF
managing director; and
Kazuyuki Kato, NDF managing
director.
At Hanford, the
team covered a variety of
topics, including tribal
engagement, stakeholder
involvement, land use
planning and an overview of
the Hanford Comprehensive
Land Use Plan, and
decommissioning and
remediation activities. The
final day of the visit
concluded with a site tour.
Inclement
weather at the Oak Ridge
Reservation prevented the
delegation from visiting the
site.
However, the visitors
connected virtually with the
site team for the day’s
meeting and discussions. The
Oak
Ridge Office of
Environmental Management
provided an overview of the
environmental cleanup
activities at the site,
presented on the East
Tennessee Technology Park
site reuse, and discussed
contracting and assurance
models and public
involvement and community
outreach.
“Our time
meeting with the DOE
Environmental Management
team was very valuable. We
appreciate all our
discussions and will return
to Japan with knowledge that
will benefit our country,”
said Kazuyuki Kato, NDF
managing director. “The
opportunity to see the
nuclear legacy cleanup sites
with our own eyes provided
the context of how to apply
lessons learned and best
practices from a practical
lens, not just textbook.”
Leaders from
Japan’s Nuclear Damage
Compensation and
Decommissioning Facilitation
Corporation (NDF) and Tokyo
Electric Power Company
(TEPCO) gather at the K-25
History Center at Oak Ridge,
Tennessee. From left: Kenta
Okano, NDF general manager;
Kazuyuki Kato, NDF managing
director; Yasutaka Denda,
NDF managing director;
Noriyuki Saito, TEPCO deputy
general manager; Yumiko
Kumano, NDF general manager;
and Tatsuji Yoshioka, NDF
general manager.
It goes both
ways, too. In August, Senior
Advisor William “Ike” White
and others from EM traveled
to Japan to attend the
7th International Forum on
the Decommissioning of the
Fukushima Daiichi NPS. EM
provides technical expertise
and support to Japan in
addressing the environmental
challenges resulting from
the Fukushima Daiichi NPS
accident.
EM coordinates
the Network
of National Laboratories
for Environmental
Management and Stewardship,
supporting TEPCO in modeling
radionuclides dispersion in
the ocean from discharged
water, in connection with
the radiological impact
assessment of discharge of
the Advanced Liquid
Processing System treated
water from the Fukushima
Daiichi NPS.
-Contributors:
Karen Edson, Ana Han
Joy
James-Foster, Waste
Isolation Pilot Plant
Education Outreach lead,
left, visits Kim Mitchell,
Savannah River Nuclear
Solutions Education Outreach
Program lead, to learn how
to establish a DOE Regional
Science Bowl in Carlsbad,
New Mexico. Her three-day
visit to the Savannah River
Site included a mock science
bowl demonstration with
buzzers, scoreboards and
timers.
AIKEN,
S.C. – An EM
Waste Isolation Pilot Plant
(WIPP)
employee recently visited
the Savannah River Site (SRS)
to benchmark its successful
science, technology,
engineering and math (STEM)
outreach programs, which
have been in place with
local schools since 2008.
Joy
James-Foster, WIPP
Education Outreach lead, has
followed SRS Education
Outreach online for years,
learning from various STEM
related programs. After
connecting with Kim
Mitchell, Education Outreach
Program lead for Savannah
River Nuclear Solutions, the
SRS
management and operations
contractor, Foster traveled
more than 1,400 miles from
Carlsbad, New Mexico, to
Aiken to learn from SRS.
“The SRS
Education Outreach Program
caught my eye after WIPP’s
new contractor, Salado
Isolation Mining
Contractors, aimed to host
the first Regional Science
Bowl in our area as part of
our community commitment
plan,” said Foster. “After
multiple virtual meetings
with Kim, I decided to take
the chance and travel to
South Carolina in hopes that
this program would
positively impact the
underserved and rural
populations of Carlsbad.”
In addition to
conducting education
outreach in their host
communities, SRS and WIPP
work together on EM’s
cleanup mission, as
defense-related transuranic
waste shipments from
SRS are shipped to WIPP for
safe disposal.
Foster and
Mitchell spent three days
analyzing mock science
bowls, listing the materials
and labor needed to launch
the Regional Science Bowl
and touring the University
of South Carolina Aiken,
which has hosted DOE
Savannah River Site
Regional Science Bowls
for over 15 years.
“It is the
sincerest form of flattery
to have someone take note of
our accomplishments and aim
to mirror our community
initiatives in another
state,” said Mitchell. “Joy
is very dedicated to her
program and this was the
next step in taking her
program to the next level
while establishing a strong
relationship with SRS.”
The 2023 DOE
Savannah River Site Regional
Science Bowl Competition’s
winner. Lakeside High
School-Team 1, of Evans,
Georgia, advanced to the DOE
National Science Bowl in
Washington, D.C.
The Regional
Science Bowl tests high
school students’ knowledge
in science and offers them a
chance to be nationally
recognized. SRS is one of
only three sites to
participate annually at the
regional level since the DOE
created the National
Science Bowl in 1991.
“I am
determined to connect our
organization with the next
generation of scientists,
engineers and
mathematicians,” said
Foster. “This benchmarking
session helped pave the way
for WIPP to establish a
strong education outreach
program and regional science
bowl and that is all thanks
to the mentorship I received
from Kim.”
Mitchell and
Foster plan to continue
future workforce development
and education outreach
initiatives at both EM
sites.
In addition to
the Regional Science Bowl,
SRNS Education Outreach
programs include STEM
that Travels, CSRA
College Night, CSRA
Regional Science and
Engineering Fair, Innovative
Teaching Mini Grants,
various workshops and site
tours. CSRA stands for
Central Savannah River Area.
-Contributor:
Mackenzie McNabb
The
Low-Activity Waste Facility
houses the Hanford Site
Waste Treatment and
Immobilization Plant’s two
300-ton glass melters used
in the vitrification
process. Hanford and the
Savannah River Site are
among the recipients to
receive grants to support
energy conservation
measurues.
Two EM sites
are among the recipients of
grants totaling more than
$104 million for 31
projects across the
country to support energy
conservation measures,
saving taxpayers $29 million
in the first year of
operations and drastically
reducing the federal carbon
footprint.
The Savannah
River Site (SRS) and Hanford
Site will receive
grant funding from the Assisting
Federal Facilities with
Energy Conservation
Technologies (AFFECT)
program managed by DOE’s Federal
Energy Management Program.
AFFECT helps agencies cut
energy consumption through
building electrification,
geothermal heat pumps,
onsite solar generation and
battery energy storage,
among other initiatives.
The SRS and
Hanford projects are among
10 DOE projects selected for
more than $18.6 million in
grants.
As part of the
Biden-Harris
Administration’s Investing
in America agenda, the
grants represent the first
of three disbursements from
the historic $250 million in
funding for AFFECT in
President Joe Biden’s
Bipartisan Infrastructure
Law. The 31 federal energy
conservation and clean
energy projects align with
Biden’s 2021 executive
order that calls for a
65% reduction in
greenhouse-gas emissions
from federal operations by
2030, 100% zero-emission
vehicle acquisitions by 2035
and a net-zero building
portfolio by 2045.
Following are
the projects at SRS and
Hanford that will receive
AFFECT grants:
Savannah
River Site
The grant
funding will address an
aging chilled water system
at SRS, analyzing energy
conservation measures and
pursuing an energy savings
performance contract to
replace outdated chillers
supporting critical
buildings. With a focus on
replacing traditional
chillers with modern,
water-cooled, variable flow
magnetic bearing chillers,
the project aims to reduce
electricity consumption,
aligning with DOE's net-zero
goals and enhancing the
site’s impact on achieving
net-zero across the DOE
complex.This project will
help SRS implement a
critical project —
installing a 10-megawatt
photovoltaic solar array and
battery energy storage
system on about 70 acres.
This initiative
supports DOE's net-zero
goals and commitment to
net-zero building projects.
Plans for the solar array
have been in place since
2019, but funding
constraints have hindered
progress. SRS plays a
pivotal role in achieving
DOE's net-zero objectives.
The project, a precursor to
a larger 100-megawatt
photovoltaic solar array,
requires funding for utility
energy service contract
expertise and direct project
execution.
Hanford
Site
This Hanford
Site project aims to replace
evaporator diesel-powered
boilers with electric
boilers in the Waste
Treatment and
Immobilization Plant
(WTP). Hanford has one of
DOE's largest, most complex
and energy-intensive
missions — treating 56
million gallons of legacy
tank waste stored in 158 of
the 177 underground waste
tanks across the site. DOE
will use AFFECT funding to
partially fund the addition
of a new electric steam
plant to supply steam for
the WTP vitrification
processes.
When the WTP
begins operating, it will
roughly double Hanford's
energy demands. Addressing
emissions at these
facilities is key to
Hanford's net-zero approach
and helps create a waste
treatment process less
impactful to global climate
change. This project has the
potential to save DOE $15.6
million in fuel costs per
year in full operations,
saving $904 million in fuel
costs over the life of the
mission — at 2023 fuel
prices with no escalation.
Further, this proposal would
help Hanford reduce its
future greenhouse gas
footprint by 43.3 million
kilograms of carbon dioxide
equivalent per year and 2.5
billion kilograms of carbon
dioxide equivalent over the
60-year mission life.
-Contributor:
David Sheeley
Oregon State
University engineering
students, center, not in
order, Corbin Anderson, John
Domjan-Yuhas, Jose
Cortez-Segura, Michael
Acosta and Benjamin Porter
are pictured with Waste
Treatment and Immobilization
Plant staff inside the
plant’s Analytical
Laboratory.
RICHLAND,
Wash. — Teams of
engineering students from
Oregon State University
(OSU) and Washington State
University (WSU) recently
partnered with engineers at
the Hanford
Site’s Waste
Treatment and
Immobilization Plant
(WTP) for their senior
projects.
Each team
worked closely with the WTP
engineers on designs and
analyses of actual WTP
systems, providing the
students with real-world
experiences as they wrap up
their undergraduate studies.
“Supporting
projects like these helps
forge important connections
with universities,” said Mat
Irwin, EM
Office
of River Protection
acting assistant manager for
the Waste Treatment and
Immobilization Plant
Project. “Not only do they
give the students great
learning experiences, but
they also establish
recruiting pipelines that
will help build the future
of the Hanford workforce.”
Oregon
State Students Get
Hands-on at Analytical
Laboratory
The team of
students from OSU partnered
with engineers from WTP’s
Plant Engineering group and
were tasked with redesigning
the carrier splitter
assembly for the auto
sampling system (ASX) inside
WTP’s Analytical
Laboratory. The
assembly separates sample
vials from the carriers that
transport them through the
ASX. They were tasked with
redesigning the carrier
splitter because the
original design experienced
technical challenges that
impacted reliability.
“Working with
these engineering students
on their senior project
provides a win-win
situation," said Pete
Benson, plant engineering
manager for Waste Treatment
Completion Company, a
subcontractor to WTP lead
contractor Bechtel National
Inc. “The students gain
valuable real-world
experience working on actual
engineering challenges, and
our engineers get outside
assistance and perspective
on important engineering
design."
The students
began their project in
September and met with WTP
engineers weekly via video
conference to discuss the
project and review design
iterations. They also
visited WTP in November to
get hands-on experience with
the carrier splitter. Based
on observations from their
trip to the plant, the team
finalized their design,
updated their drawings and
began procuring parts for
the redesigned device. The
team will complete the
assembly of the prototype
and conduct testing in
February.
Corbin
Anderson, one member of the
OSU team, was wowed by WTP
during his visit.
“I was
impressed by the complexity
of the plant and the number
of moving pieces necessary
to get it operational,”
Anderson said. “I was also
excited to see that our
project will have an actual
impact on operations.”
During future
operations, the ASX will
safely retrieve radioactive
waste samples from the Low-Activity
Waste (LAW) Facility
and deliver them to WTP’s
Analytical Laboratory for
analysis. There, chemists
and technicians will analyze
the waste's radionuclides,
metals and organic materials
and will confirm the correct
“recipe" of glass-forming
materials to mix with the
waste before it is added
into one of the 300-ton
glass melters
inside the LAW Facility.
Washington
State University engineering
students, center, from left,
Anthony Cromwell, Maksim
Karazhbei, and Braxley
Meyers are pictured with
Waste Treatment and
Immobilization Plant
engineers Dan Harris, far
left, and Bryan Dunlap, far
right.
Washington
State Students Get
Analytical With High-Level
Waste Design
The Washington
State team is partnered with
engineers for WTP’s High-Level
Waste Facility and
conducting a fatigue
analysis. Bryan Dunlap,
senior mechanical engineer
for Bechtel, mentors the
students with support from
Dan Harris, engineering
group supervisor for
equipment analysis for WTP
and a WSU alum.
“Fatigue
analysis is a common and
valuable skill within the
mechanical engineering
field,” said Harris. “These
students are taking the
theories they’ve learned in
school and applying them in
the real world, while
building their resumes and
making them more attractive
to potential employers.”
Fatigue
analysis involves
calculating how a design
will withstand repeated use.
The students’ fatigue
analysis is being conducted
on a high-level waste vessel
that will hold five-ton
canisters after they are
filled with glass at the end
of the vitrification
process. When complete, the
analysis will identify how
many times the vessel can
compress and decompress
during the load and unload
of the container, and still
return to its original state
without breaking, bending or
cracking.
“Being on this
side of a senior project
allowed me to come full
circle on my own career,”
said Harris, who did his own
senior project with WTP 20
years ago. “I learned a lot
from my own senior project,
and I was excited to find
the right opportunity for
these students, something
that would provide both of
us value.”
-Contributor:
Tyler Oates
Portsmouth/Paducah
Project Office (PPPO)
Manager Joel Bradburne,
center, and other PPPO and
Paducah Site personnel
participate in a
ribbon-cutting to mark the
commissioning of the Paducah
Site’s Large Item Neutron
Assay System.
Unique
facility to support
preparations for future
C-333 Process Building
demolition
PADUCAH,
Ky. — EM’s
Paducah
Site recently
celebrated the startup of a
first-of-a-kind scanning
facility to ensure equipment
removal from massive process
buildings are properly
prepared for safe and
compliant disposal.
After
undergoing a thorough review
and demonstration, the Large
Item Neutron Assay System (LINAS)
is now operational. The
project team successfully
scanned and measured the
first process gas equipment
removed from the C-333
Process Building in
the LINAS chamber last month
to prepare the C-333
facility for future
demolition.
Technicians
position a process gas
converter bundle in the
Large Item Neutron Assay
System for measurement.
The LINAS
facility allows workers to
collect accurate
measurements of deposits
left over from uranium
enrichment operations within
process gas equipment. The
project team will continue
to measure this equipment
until its removal is
complete and the C-333
Process Building is prepared
for demolition.
“The ability to
collect precise measurements
of process gas equipment is
critical as we continue to
move forward with work in
the C-333 Process Building
to maximize the efficiency
of the deactivation
project,” Portsmouth/Paducah
Project Office (PPPO)
Manager Joel Bradburne said.
“Our team at the Paducah
Site continues to
advance technologies to help
us maintain safety for our
workers, the public and the
environment, while
continuing to advance
deactivation of the C-333
Process Building.”
During startup
of LINAS, the scanning
technology produced test
data demonstrating it is the
most accurate measuring
system in the world for the
large equipment removed from
the C-333 Process Building.
Aside from the accuracy of
the scanning technology,
measurements of deposits can
be completed in a fraction
of the time compared to
other large component
measurement methods,
resulting in greater
efficiency.
“Throughout the
design and commissioning of
LINAS, our team has
prioritized safety and
maintained the goal of
creating a world-class
system to support
deactivation at the site,”
said Myrna Redfield, the
program manager for Four
Rivers Nuclear Partnership,
EM’s Paducah Site
deactivation and remediation
contractor. “I am proud of
our team’s dedication and
commitment as they continue
to identify new methods and
technologies.”
-Contributors:
Dylan Nichols, Aidan
Walker
Snow falls on
the Environmental Management
Waste Management Facility.
UCOR workers there shipped
leachate, or water that
collects from rain, prior to
the snowstorm to minimize
the site inventory of
landfill wastewaters and
maximize available storage
capacity.
OAK
RIDGE, Tenn. —
The biggest snowstorm in
more than three decades here
amid single-digit
temperatures presented
several challenges to EM’s
operations on the Oak
Ridge Reservation.
Thanks to
pre-storm preparation,
response and coordination
with cleanup contractor
UCOR, the Oak
Ridge Office of
Environmental Management
was able to continue
critical operations and made
it through the recent storm
and its aftermath without
incident.
“We knew that
cold weather preparation is
always the key to recovery
from a storm, especially at
the scale we experienced,”
said Sam Dolynchuk, UCOR’s
deputy chief operating
officer.
Prior to the
storm, employees shut off
water supplies, drained
plumbing, verified heat
trace and added more
insulation at sites across
the reservation. Heat
tracing is used to maintain
or raise the temperature of
pipes and vessels.
An example of
those efforts was when
workers drained a water
treatment system for the Beta-1
building at the Y-12
National Security Complex.
At the East
Tennessee Technology Park
(ETTP), teams cleared the
site and developed a
response team, which
included mechanics to assist
with equipment issues
related to extreme
temperatures.
UCOR crews with
heavy equipment clear roads
at Oak Ridge National
Laboratory.
At the
landfills, crews verified
that key systems were
operational; drained hoses,
pumps and other equipment
prone to freeze damage; and
staged heavy equipment for
anticipated snow clearing
and salt spreading. Workers
also shipped leachate — or
water that collects from
rain — from the Environmental
Management Waste
Management Facility
prior to the storm to
minimize the site inventory
of landfill wastewaters and
maximize available storage
capacity.
“I think the
biggest avenue to our
success was preparation and
making the conscious
decision to dedicate
resources ahead of time to
prepare and make tools and
essential items available
for response,” said Jimmy
Hughes, area project manager
with Heritage Center, which
is the former ETTP site.
“So, when we did respond it
was more about following a
plan, rather than creating
one and then trying to
implement simultaneously.”
 |
|
An
Isotek employee on
the Oak Ridge
Reservation moves
snow and ice from
steps to ensure
safe access for
co-workers.
|
At Oak
Ridge National Laboratory
(ORNL), equipment
maintenance and pathway
clearance helped ensure the
safety of those onsite.
Crews prepared parking lots
and entrances around ORNL
nuclear operations
facilities, focusing on the
Process Waste Treatment
Center, which is a 24/7
operation.
The Emergency
Services Watch Office
monitored weather conditions
and provided updates to
officials for appropriate
site closure decisions. It
also worked closely with the
communications team to keep
employees informed about
impacts and changes to work
locations and schedules.
Employees with
EM’s contractor Isotek also
took steps to keep their
employees safe. Maintenance
teams helped break up ice on
roads and walkways at ORNL.
Such efforts
helped ensure employees
could access their work
areas when they returned,
and enabled them to safely
transport uranium-233
material between buildings.
Processing operations
resumed without a hitch.
-Contributors:
John Gray, Wayne McKinney
|
