Oak Ridge Crews Complete Facility Demolition Ahead of Schedule; Office of River Protection's Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant Passes Major Landmark; and Much More!

Having trouble viewing this email? View it as a Web page. EM Update | Vol. 10, Issue 17 | May 1, 2018 Oak Ridge Crews Complete Demolition of Central Neutralization Facility Hanford Waste Treatment Plant Hands Over First Facility for Commissioning Los Alamos Field Office Announces Completion of Contract Transition Oak Ridge Cleanup Contractor Hits $2 Billion Contract Mark SRNL Lab Modifications Reduce Footprint, Costs EM, Stakeholders Engage Community on Portsmouth Site Future Use SRNL Honors Top Staff for Scientific, Technical Achievements Metal Palm Trees Protect WIPP Infrastructure Rarely Seen Idaho Wildlife Focus of Earth Day Booth Students Near West Valley Site Test Environmental Knowledge Oak Ridge Crews Complete Demolition of Central Neutralization Facility The Central Neutralization Facility demolition team finished the project five weeks ahead of schedule. OAK RIDGE, Tenn. – Workers have finished demolition of the East Tennessee Technology Park's (ETTP) Central Neutralization Facility, which once treated the site's industrial wastewater.     EM and Oak Ridge Reservation cleanup contractor URS | CH2M Oak Ridge LLC (UCOR) wrapped up the project five weeks ahead of schedule. Crews had started demolition of the structures that comprised the facility in early January.    Constructed in the mid-1980s to treat wastewater from operations at the former uranium enrichment complex, the facility consisted of tanks, trailers, and other treatment systems used to filter and remove radioactive materials, metals, and suspended solids from wastewater at the site.     All operations at the facility ceased in 2013, and a new wastewater treatment facility, the Chromium Waste Treatment System, began operating in its place.      "We are very pleased to complete this demolition project ahead of schedule," said Karen Deacon, acting ETTP portfolio federal project director for DOE's Oak Ridge Environmental Management Office. "Now, we are excited to be able to move forward with our next demolition project to continue towards our ultimate vision for the site." The Central Neutralization Facility is shown before demolition began in January 2018. The Central Neutralization Facility after demolition was completed this month.    The former wastewater treatment plant is the latest building to come down in pursuit of Vision 2020. Oak Ridge's EM program is working to complete major cleanup and land transfers at ETTP by 2020, providing the community an asset to attract major industry and enable economic development for the region.    The goal for EM and UCOR is to transform the old government-owned uranium enrichment complex into a thriving privately-owned industrial park. To date, EM has torn down more than 400 facilities and transferred more than 1,000 acres.     The next facility slated for demolition there is the Toxic Substances Control Act Incinerator. That work will begin in coming months. -Contributors: Wayne McKinney, Ben Williams Back to Top Hanford Waste Treatment Plant Hands Over First Facility for Commissioning Hanford Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant workers review procedures as they prepare for the transfer of the Non-radioactive Liquid Waste Disposal System building to commissioning. RICHLAND, Wash. – The EM Office of River Protection's (ORP) Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) passed a major landmark last month toward completion when the first building was transferred to plant management for commissioning, the last step before beginning vitrification of Hanford tank waste.    While dozens of systems have been turned over from construction to startup across the project, the handover of the Non-Radioactive Liquid Waste Disposal System (NLD) marks the first transfer of an entire building for commissioning.     "This occasion reinforces the progress being made at WTP and progress toward successfully demonstrating hot commissioning by 2022," said Brian Reilly, WTP project director for ORP contractor Bechtel National, Inc.      The NLD system consists of sumps, pumps, pipes, valves, and instruments, and a 540,000-gallon tank, all of which are designed to collect non-radioactive, non-hazardous effluent from the Low-Activity Waste (LAW) Facility, Analytical Laboratory, and other ancillary support facilities.      NLD is one of many facilities required to achieve EM's Direct Feed Low-Activity Waste approach to feed waste directly from the Hanford tank farms to the LAW Facility in advance of the court-ordered milestone date of 2023.     "We are continuing to make the shift from construction to startup on many of our systems and facilities," said Delmar Noyes, ORP assistant manager for WTP startup and commissioning. "The transfer of the NLD system to commissioning is another great example of that." -Contributor: Staci West  Back to Top Los Alamos Field Office Announces Completion of Contract Transition Environmental Management Los Alamos Field Office Manager Doug Hintze (right) and Newport News Nuclear BWXT-Los Alamos, LLC Program Manager Nick Lombardo sign final transition documents. LOS ALAMOS, N.M. – DOE's Environmental Management Los Alamos Field Office (EM-LA) has announced that Newport News Nuclear BWXT-Los Alamos, LLC (N3B) has successfully completed transition for the Los Alamos Legacy Cleanup Contract (LLCC).    N3B will perform legacy cleanup, inclusive of environmental restoration and waste management, at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). Transition to the LLCC from the Los Alamos Legacy Bridge Contract, executed by Los Alamos National Security (LANS), completed on April 29.     "This was a unique transition within the entire DOE complex — not just in the history of Los Alamos National Laboratory. Close collaboration between N3B, LANS, EM-LA, and our federal partners at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Los Alamos Field Office ensured it completed safely," EM-LA Manager Doug Hintze said. "Every organization and individual involved in the transition was fully committed to its success."    The members of N3B are Stoller Newport News Nuclear, Inc. and BWXT Technical Services Group, Inc. They are joined in the LLCC with two critical subcontractors, Tech 2 Solutions and Longenecker & Associates.    "EM-LA and N3B have established a strong working partnership since the award of the contract, and we appreciate their dedication and support to help us succeed on this project," N3B Program Manager Nick Lombardo said. "We have also been working closely with LANS to accomplish this historic and challenging transition, and we appreciate the cooperation, efforts, and good work of everyone who has had a part in this conversion. With the workforce we've assembled, the N3B team companies, and the DOE knowledge base we bring, we are ready and eager to get underway with this important mission."    Legacy cleanup services that N3B provides under the LLCC include:  Protect, characterize, and monitor legacy contamination in surface water and groundwater;  Clean up contaminated media and contaminated legacy waste sites at LANL to levels appropriate for the intended land use;  Decontaminate, decommission and demolish inactive, contaminated, and non-contaminated facilities that impede the execution of environmental restoration activities;  Retrieve, characterize, prepare, and ship off-site legacy mixed-low level radioactive waste and transuranic waste; and,  Clean up sites and return to the landlord organization (NNSA) for long-term surveillance and monitoring as needed, in order to continue to protect workers, the public, and the environment.     LANS, LANL's management and operations contractor, is a consortium of firms that includes Bechtel, AECOM, BWXT Technologies, and the University of California.    "Our collective team approach was successful in overcoming countless challenges on short notice," LANL Deputy Director Rick Kacich said. "The successful transition of legacy cleanup activities to N3B is a testament to the skill and commitment of our workforce, our partners at both the EM and NNSA field offices, and the new team at N3B." Back to Top Oak Ridge Cleanup Contractor Hits $2 Billion Contract Mark URS | CH2M Oak Ridge has achieved its work safely, becoming a DOE Voluntary Protection Program Star site at the East Tennessee Technology Park. OAK RIDGE, Tenn. - The lead environmental cleanup contractor for DOE's Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management recently celebrated a significant milestone, surpassing the $2 billion mark on its $2.9 billion cleanup contract.    URS | CH2M Oak Ridge (UCOR) is primarily responsible for cleanup of the East Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP), former home of the Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant. The EM contractor also performs cleanup projects at the Y-12 National Security Complex and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), and operates the onsite Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act disposal facility, known as the Environmental Management Waste Management Facility.    UCOR has been at work on the Oak Ridge Reservation since 2011, and its contract continues through 2020.      UCOR President and Chief Executive Officer Ken Rueter says much of this work was done ahead of schedule and under budget, representing a considerable cost savings to taxpayers. He credits the savings to the efforts of the company's employees and close collaboration with EM and labor unions. UCOR performed about $1.07 worth of work for every $1 of funding, Rueter added.     Among the contractor's biggest accomplishments to date is the successful completion of Vision 2016 — the first-ever demolition and cleanup of a complete gaseous diffusion complex. To reach this goal, crews finished tearing down the world's former largest building and undertook the largest demolition project ever attempted in the DOE complex.     To achieve Vision 2016, UCOR helped tear down three of the five massive gaseous diffusion facilities — K-25, K-27, and K-31— that accounted for 2.7 million square feet.  Since its contract began in 2011, URS | CH2M Oak Ridge has helped tear down three massive gaseous diffusion uranium enrichment buildings, including K-27, pictured above. URS | CH2M Oak Ridge crews extract thousands of pounds of mercury from old equipment at the Y-12 National Security Complex, preventing large releases into the environment.    UCOR crews have been instrumental in other demolition and remediation projects across Oak Ridge. They stabilized highly contaminated former reactor and isotope research facilities at ORNL and removed high-risk facilities at Y-12 while preventing thousands of pounds of mercury from entering the environment.    Now EM and UCOR are working together to achieve the next ambitious goal, Vision 2020. This endeavor will complete major cleanup at ETTP by the end of UCOR's contract in order to finish converting the site into a private sector industrial park.  The contractor has been instrumental in numerous cleanup and remediation projects across Oak Ridge.    Still on the docket are dozens of facilities and continued soil remediation across the site. The major facilities remaining at ETTP include the Poplar Creek Facilities, Toxic Substances Control Act Incinerator, K-1037, K-1200 Complex, and K-1600.    Return of the restored site to the community will attract new industries to the region, creating jobs and growing the economy. -Contributor: Mike Butler, Ben Williams Back to Top SRNL Lab Modifications Reduce Footprint, Costs Savannah River National Laboratory employees work on nuclear measurements. From left, Chelsea Gaillard, Shirley Riley, Mira Malek, Gina Robbins, and Doris Williams. AIKEN, S.C. – The EM program and Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) are consolidating the F/H Analytical Laboratory into SRNL space, a cost-savings move that realigns resources at the Savannah River Site (SRS) for future missions.    SRNL's F/H Analytical Laboratory is located several miles away from most SRNL operations at the 310-square-mile site. The laboratory serves EM by evaluating radiological and non-radiological samples for process, product, accountability, and criticality safety analyses.    "As the site's missions have changed, the analytical capabilities needed have also changed," SRNL Deputy Director Sharon Marra said. "This move will allow SRNL to still fulfill all needs for analytical capabilities but will allow us to reduce the lab footprint, modernize our equipment, and realize life-cycle cost savings."    Marra noted the consolidation also will give SRNL personnel a chance to grow in their careers while providing them more cohesion as colleagues.    Removing F/H Laboratory operations from the F Area facility allows SRS to place that building in a low-cost surveillance and maintenance mode similar to the F Canyon chemical separations facility, which was deactivated in 2005. This mode allows for a minimal number of employees in the area to perform periodic activities to ensure the facility is safe and poses no risk to the environment.    "The plan is to eventually move all F Area facilities to a cold, dark, and dry state," F Area Closure Program Manager Michael Gilles said. "This will allow us to lower our environmental footprint, and lower risk and cost by moving F Area employees to other areas onsite where they are needed."    During the move, SRNL employees will remove and replace obsolete equipment and eliminate out-of-date procedures to increase efficiency.     "It is important to us that those who rely on us for analytical needs notice no difference in the quality, quantity, or efficiency of our work," said Marra.  -Contributor: Lindsey MonBarren  Back to Top EM, Stakeholders Engage Community on Portsmouth Site Future Use Area residents examine a tabletop model of the Portsmouth Site at one of the recent community open houses conducted by EM and stakeholder organizations.  SOUTH CENTRAL OHIO – EM recently hosted four open houses, joining several stakeholder organizations in discussing with local residents the various community reindustrialization efforts being coordinated with the Portsmouth Site cleanup in southern Ohio.    The events occurred April 17 at the Scioto County Welcome Center in Portsmouth, April 19 at the Pike County YMCA in Waverly, April 24 at the Riverview Conference Center in Chillicothe, and April 26 at Jackson High School.    Besides EM and contractor personnel, representatives from Ohio University, the Southern Ohio Diversification Initiative (SODI), and the Portsmouth Site Specific Advisory Board also met with participating citizens during the events.    "This was a great opportunity to talk about our collaborative efforts to satisfy the community's desire to transition this Cold-War-Era site into an economic engine for future generations," said Joel Bradburne, deputy manager for the Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office and the Portsmouth Site Lead. WKKJ Radio's Kevin Coleman (left) discusses the Portsmouth On-Site Waste Disposal Facility project with EM's Jud Lilly (center) and Johnny Reising at the community open house last week in Chillicothe, Ohio. EM's Greg Simonton (left) talks with Lee Blackburn of the Sierra Club during one of the community open houses in southern Ohio last week.    With initial transfers of federal property nearing final approval, citizens were invited to engage representatives of the various entities involved in planning and implementing future use of the Portsmouth reservation. Topics also included deactivation and decontamination efforts, the on-site waste disposal facility, workforce training initiatives, and technological advancements.    "We had these four open houses so citizens could participate close to home," said SODI Executive Director Steve Shepherd. "We appreciated hearing from area residents and being able to share information on what's being done to transform the Piketon Site into a modern job-creating industrial and energy park." -Contributors: Rick Greene, Michelle Teeters.  Back to Top SRNL Honors Top Staff for Scientific, Technical Achievements AIKEN, S.C. – More than 40 staff members were recognized for their scientific and technical excellence at the 2018 Savannah River National Laboratory Research and Technology Recognition Reception. Held annually, this event honors recipients of patents, copyrights, commercial licenses, cooperative research and development agreements, and laboratory director awards for early career achievement and exceptional scientific and technical achievement, as well as other local, regional, and national awards, and fellowships. "The ability of the Savannah River National Laboratory to deliver on its important national missions relies on the intellectual curiosity and the drive for innovation of its staff," said Dr. Vahid Majidi, SRNL director. "This is our opportunity to recognize the contributions of our talented researchers to science and engineering and celebrate their achievements." Among the honorees were Dr. Ragaiy Zidan, who invented a thermal energy storage system that was licensed by United Sun Systems for its "solar battery;" Drs. Jake Amoroso and Chris Dandeneau, who signed a cooperative research and development agreement to collaborate on waste forms with the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization; and Tracy S. Rudisill, who was given the Glenn T. Seaborg Actinide Separations Award for his contributions to the science of processing nuclear materials. -Contributor: Jamacia Jimerson Back to Top Metal Palm Trees Protect WIPP Infrastructure These metal palm trees, also known as hemisphere arrays, provide tropical flavor to EM's Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) and generate many questions by people on WIPP tours. CARLSBAD, N.M. – Aloha!    A little bit of the tropics has planted itself firmly at EM's Waste Isolation Pilot Plant.    Palm trees sway gently in the breeze…well, OK, they're not really palm trees. They just look like them, and they're essential to protecting vital parts of the WIPP facility.    The metal "palms," known as hemisphere arrays, are part of the WIPP lightning protection system. They are high in the air at five locations: Two at the exhaust filter building, one at the salt shaft, one at the air intake shaft, and another at the water tanks used to fight fires.     The distinctive structures generate more questions than any other on WIPP tours.    The system is needed because of the immense power carried in a lightning bolt. As a comparison, an average home's electrical system is 120 volts and 100 amps. A negatively charged lightning bolt from a New Mexico summer storm can contain 1 billion volts and up to 200,000 amps. A direct strike can cause fires and severely damage electrical circuits.    The system protecting WIPP turns the technology of Ben Franklin's kite-and-key days on its head. Instead of putting a metal lightning rod high in the air to channel the inevitable strike and then dissipate it into the ground, the goal of the system at WIPP is to eliminate lightning strikes altogether.     In Franklin's day, the objective was to keep lightning from burning down a wood building. Today's buildings, packed with sensitive electronic devices such as computers, could suffer great harm if the lightning was merely nearby.    There have been no strikes on WIPP buildings since the structures were installed in 1987. That's 31 years in an area awash in summer thunderstorms, and after the upcoming season, the aging system will be retired and replaced with a new one in 2019.    "We have had a few close calls, but no confirmation of a direct strike. The system appears to be working exactly as intended," said Hector Jimenez, an electrical and system engineer for Nuclear Waste Partnership, WIPP's management and operations contractor.    In the event of a strike, the charge would still be routed to the site grounding grid, an in-ground copper grid beneath the entire facility.    Made by Lightning Eliminators & Consultants of Boulder, Colo., the Dissipation Array System is loosely based on a patent filed in 1913 by inventor Nikola Tesla. Tesla's patent paperwork even shows something resembling palm fronds.     Lightning occurs when negative electrical charges (electrons) at the bottom of a cloud are attracted to positive charges (protons) on the ground and on buildings. As the earth attempts to balance the electrical field and the two forces pull on each other, "streamers" coming up from the ground and "step leaders" coming down from the cloud connect, creating a path for a lightning bolt.    The WIPP array disrupts the upward stream through a phenomenon known as "point discharge," where the multiple points on the "palms" use the earth's increased positive particles during a storm to create a charged ion cloud over WIPP and prevent the streamers.  -Contributor: Roy Neese Back to Top Rarely Seen Idaho Wildlife Focus of Earth Day Booth Trent Armstrong takes a quiz on clean transportation at the Fluor Idaho bicycle booth at Earth Day.  IDAHO FALLS, Idaho – To a casual observer, the landscape of DOE's Idaho National Laboratory Site in the eastern Idaho Arco Desert is a typical mountain desert, but two above-average water years have altered that view.     EM cleanup contractor Fluor Idaho sponsored a booth at this year's Earth Day celebration in Idaho Falls to educate the public about the unique wildlife that has appeared as a result of the surplus of water in the Big Lost River basin.    One of the species, the Spadefoot Toad, burrows underground and can live up to 10 years before returning to the surface, reproducing, and laying eggs when there is enough water. Tadpole Shrimp can survive in the dry environment because the eggs they lay are coated in a thick skin allowing the eggs to survive for at least 20 years in the desert heat, freezing temperatures, and drought. When the water returns, the eggs hatch and the young grow into full-sized adults in one to two weeks. They become a food source and increase the population of other animals, such as the Western Terrestrial Garter Snake and Long-Billed Curlew.     Wendy Savkranz, pollution prevention coordinator for Fluor Idaho and organizer of the Earth Day booth, said the focus on the reemergence of the Big Lost River and reappearance of rarely seen, seasonal wildlife seemed like a good fit for this year's Earth Day theme — "The Wonder of Water."  Big Lost River sinking into the Spreading Areas on Idaho's Arco Desert.    "These species haven't been spotted for several years at the site, so it made sense to bring them to the public's attention in light of this year's Earth Day focus," Savkranz said. "People were amazed at the amount of water that we currently have on the desert, and in particular, the wildlife that flourishes within the Spreading Areas."    The Spreading Areas, in the south-central portion of the site, are ancient dry lake beds that once attracted camels, bison, and other Pleistocene-era animals. Until 2017, the Spreading Areas hadn't seen water in about a decade, but as the Big Lost River began to flow again, these ancient lakes began to fill.    Hundreds of parents and children stopped by Fluor Idaho's booth during the Earth Day celebration. Children were encouraged to sign up for the Green Kids Club to learn about animals and environment.    Fluor's partner company, North Wind Inc., also participated in the booth, sponsoring a toad-themed scavenger hunt for children and a hands-on activity planting wildflowers.  -Contributor: Erik Simpson Back to Top Students Near West Valley Site Test Environmental Knowledge SALAMANCA, N.Y. – A team of high school students takes a practical exam at a wildlife station during last week's Cattaraugus County Envirothon. Teams of students tested their knowledge of aquatic ecology, forestry, wildlife, soils, and management of public rangelands. Randolph Central School, the winner of the competition, will represent the county at the state's Envirothon May 23-24 in Seneca Falls. EM West Valley Demonstration Project (WVDP) cleanup contractor CH2M HILL BWXT West Valley was a sponsor of this local outdoor environmental competition on April 25. -Contributor: Joseph Pillittere Back to Top Like EM on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DOEEnvironmentalManagement                    STAY CONNECTED WITH EM:   QUESTIONS? Contact Us This email was sent using GovDelivery Communications Cloud on behalf of the U.S. Department of Energy - 1000 Independence Ave., SW Washington, DC 20585