approval from usdoe is allowing bechtel to move forward

On August 19, 2014, the U.S. Department of Energy (USDOE) gave approval to Bechtel National, Inc., to resume all engineering work for the High-Level Waste (HLW) Vitrification Facility at the Tank Waste Immobilization and Treatment Plant (WTP). This approval will allow BNI to finalize the design for the HLW Facility and begin limited procurement and construction.

“Bechtel has made significant progress in resolving technical issues and establishing work processes to align the HLW Facility design and safety basis,” according to the letter granting approval to move forward.

Fall 2014Newsletter

Richland • Kennewick • Pasco • Franklin County • Benton County • Port of Benton

Volume 20 www.ci.richland.wa.us/richland/hanford Edition 3

In This Issue

This Page• Waste Treatment

Plant’s High-Level Waste Facility to Move Forward

Inside• WTP Testing Pulse

Jet Mixers

• Pump and Treat Facilities Celebrate Record Years

Speakers’ BureauIf you would like to have a member of the Hanford Communities Speakers’ Bureau address your organization, please call (509) 942-7348.

Approval from USDOE is allowing Bechtel to move forward with engineering work on the HLW Facility at the WTP.

The HLW Facility is one of four nuclear facilities within the WTP. There, high-level waste from Hanford’s 177 underground tanks will be mixed with glass-forming materials and heated in two 90-ton melters. The mixture will then be poured into stainless steel canisters approximately 2 feet in diameter and 14.5 feet tall, weighing more than 4 tons. When fully operational, the HLW Facility will produce an average of 480 canisters each year.

Work at the HLW Facility was suspended in August 2012 to resolve technical concerns such as mixing and erosion and corrosion based on

continued on back page

Waste Treatment Plant’s High-Level Waste Facility to Move Forward

Meetings

October 8Public Meeting on Proposed Updates to the Hanford Dangerous Waste Management Units Permit

6:00pm Richland, Richland Library

Contact Kristen Skopeck (509) 376-5803

November 4-5Hanford Advisory Board Meeting

8:30am to 5:30pm Richland, location TBD

Contact Kim Ballinger (509) 376-6332

WTP Testing Pulse Jet Mixers One of the key pieces of equipment at Hanford’s WTP is the pulse jet mixer, which will be used to ensure the radioactive and chemical waste from the tanks remains adequately mixed while being processed. Although the mixers have been tested at a smaller scale, now Bechtel is conducting full-scale testing of the mixer control system at a specially designed facility in north Richland. The nonradioactive, full-scale tests are designed to provide the data necessary to demonstrate control of the mixers over the range of conditions expected at the WTP.

The pulse jet mixers contain no moving parts and operate by suctioning and expelling the liquid waste using compressed air, keeping the waste thoroughly mixed. They operate much like a turkey baster.

In collaboration with the USDOE, Bechtel and its subcontractor URS developed a plan to provide the data necessary to make technical decisions about WTP mixing technologies. Full-scale testing of the control system is the first of three test campaigns. The second and third campaigns will focus on finalizing a standard design for vessels that will be used to process the most challenging of Hanford’s tank wastes. All tests will be conducted using nonradioactive simulants, with the first two phases completed in 2015 and phase three to be completed several years later.

All tests are being conducted at the EnergySolutions Engineering Laboratory, which was donated by EnergySolutions to Washington State University-Tri-Cities. The laboratory comprises a main building that houses a full-scale vessel and an adjacent control-valve tower. Its piping layouts and elevations mimic actual WTP nuclear facilities.

Demonstration of the ability to control the mixers is one aspect of the technical decisions required before proceeding with production engineering of the Pretreatment Facility, one of the WTP’s major facilities. It is where Hanford’s tank wastes will be separated into low-activity and high-level waste streams for processing in separate facilities. n

The pulse jet mixer, a key piece of equipment at Hanford’s WTP, will be undergoing full-scale testing at a specially designed facility in north Richland.

USDOE’s pump and treat facilities in Hanford’s 200 West and 100 Areas boasted a record year in fiscal year 2014, in part as a result of new efficiencies.

The 200 West Pump and Treat Facility can now treat an additional 42 million gallons of groundwater a year. The system uses filters, biological processes, and other technology to clean groundwater contaminated with chemicals and radioactive elements before injecting the clean water back into the ground. Until recently, the facility used about 80 gallons of potable water a minute in this process. Seeking a way to minimize the use of potable water and maximize efficiency, engineers, pipefitters, and instrument technicians for contractor CH2M HILL worked together to reconfigure pumps, piping, and valves. Their efforts resulted in the facility replacing potable water with treated groundwater. The facility will now be able to process about 1 billion gallons of water a year. For more information on the accomplishment, see the video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bqr2WrpI4eg&feature=youtu.be.

In the 100 Areas along the Columbia River, CH2M HILL met one the USDOE’s annual goals for groundwater treatment four months ahead of schedule. Between October 2013 and the end of July 2014, CH2M HILL removed approximately 680 pounds of hexavalent chromium from Hanford’s groundwater. USDOE’s goal was to remove 550 pounds by September 30, 2014. Through September, the contractor also met the annual goals for removing carbon tetrachloride, nitrate, and technetium-99.

“Our contractor removed more chromium than forecasted this year by pulling more groundwater from the areas of highest contamination,” said Briant Charboneau, Soil and

Groundwater Division Director for USDOE’s Richland Operations Office in the press release announcing the accomplishment. “Having extraction wells in the right place and adding new treatment systems over the past few years were critical to our success in removing contamination from groundwater and protecting the Columbia River.”

The contamination resulted from the use of chromium in Hanford’s plutonium production reactors. The chemical was used to prevent corrosion in the reactors. Much of the contaminated soil has been removed, and CH2M HILL is operating treatment facilities along the river to address the remaining chromium in groundwater.

“Our workers have found efficiencies that allowed us to maintain safe and optimum operations of our treatment technologies and to surpass USDOE’s groundwater cleanup goals again this year,” said Karen Wiemelt, CH2M HILL’s Vice President of the Soil and Groundwater Remediation Project.

To remove the chromium contamination, CH2M HILL operates five groundwater treatment systems supported by a network of approximately 150 wells. The system extracts contaminated groundwater through the wells and transfers it to facilities for treatment. The treated water is injected into upstream portions of the aquifer to help drive the contaminated groundwater toward the extraction wells. As cleanup progresses, CH2M HILL monitors performance of the wells and installs new wells as necessary to follow the contamination plumes as they shrink.

Altogether, USDOE – through its Hanford contractors – has removed nearly 3 tons of hexavalent chromium from groundwater since treatment systems for the contaminant began operations in the mid-1990s. n

A new design at the 200 West Pump and Treat Facility is helping to eliminate the use of potable water, increasing throughput of contaminated groundwater.

Pump and Treat Facilities Celebrate Record Year

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bqr2WrpI4eg&feature =youtu.be.

Hanford Communities P.O. Box 190 Richland, WA 99352

the nature of the waste to be treated. In late 2013, USDOE chartered an independent study of the HLW Facility design and operability of key HLW mechanical and process systems. The study identified potential risks that, if left unmitigated, could preclude achieving satisfactory and sustainable operations of the HLW Facility in compliance with mission goals. Since then, BNI has developed a suite of actions to address these recommendations. Both the study and action plan were key components in moving the project forward.

USDOE will continue its oversight as Bechtel advances the design, construction, and commissioning of the WTP Project to ensure it will operate safely and efficiently. While USDOE had previously given BNI approval to resume “limited production engineering” activities at the HLW Facility this spring, the new approval makes way for procurements and construction work, a significant step forward. n

Waste Treatment Plant’s High-Level Waste Facility to Move Forward, continued

USDOE Urged to Move Capsules into Dry StorageThe U.S. Department of Energy’s (USDOE) Office of the Inspector General has urged the Richland Operations Office (RL) to deal with long-term storage of cesium and strontium capsules as soon as possible. The audit report, published March 26, 2014, follows a year-long review of operations at the Waste Encapsulation and Storage Facility (WESF).

From 1974 to 1985, cesium and strontium recovered from Hanford’s high-level waste storage tanks were packed in corrosion-resistant capsules and placed in underwater storage at WESF. The facility currently holds more than 1,900 capsules containing over 50 million curies of radioactivity. USDOE’s 2007 baseline plan for disposing of the capsules calls for “direct disposal” to the Yucca Mountain repository. Plans to complete that facility are now on hold.

Prompted by the March 2011 tsunami and nuclear disaster in Japan, USDOE has been examining all its nuclear facilities for “beyond design basis” threats, such as a severe earthquake. USDOE’s Office of Environmental Management considers WESF the greatest risk of any facility in the USDOE complex from a natural event that is beyond its design capacity to sustain. USDOE has identified movement of the capsules to dry storage as a potential interim measure to mitigate the risk.

“Such action appears prudent in that continued storage of the capsules in WESF is not cost effective and may pose additional risks to the environment associated with beyond design threats at the Hanford Site,” the report concluded.

The auditors found that wet storage was more costly to operate than dry storage, even

Spring/Summer 2014Newsletter



In This Issue

This Page• USDOE Urged

to Move Capsules into Dry Storage

Inside• Hanford Making

Progress in Cleanup

• Massive Reactor and Vault Sent to ERDF

• Hanford Communities Celebrates 20 Years


More than 1,900 cesium and strontium capsules currently reside in underwater storage at Hanford’s Waste Encapsulation and Storage Facility.

considering the cost to build a dry storage facility. They also found that, at more than 9 years past their design life, key structures and systems relied on for safety at WESF are degrading. The Plateau Remediation Contractor, which is responsible for facility remediation, is adjusting the placement of the capsules within each pool cell to reduce radiation exposure to the concrete, reducing heat, and increasing the amount of time it would take for capsules to fail in the unlikely event that pool cell water is lost and the capsules are uncovered. If pool cell water is lost, the contractor is also planning to add water to the pools from tanker trucks.

continued on page 3

Meetings

June 4-5Hanford Advisory Board Meeting

8:30am to 5:30pm Richland, Red Lion Hotel


September 4-5Hanford Advisory Board Meeting

8:30am to 5:30pm Pasco, Red Lion Hotel


Hanford Making Progress in CleanupAfter more than two decades of cleanup, Hanford has made considerable progress toward reducing the risk the site poses to the health and safety of the public and the environment. The work has also helped bring the site into compliance with federal and state environmental regulations. The USDOE recently published a summary of achievements as of March 2014:

Before Cleanup Began in 1989 Examples of Work Completed

586-square-mile footprint of active cleanup

107-square-mile footprint of active cleanup

2,300 tons of spent nuclear fuel stored near the Columbia River All spent fuel moved to dry storage

20 tons of leftover plutonium in the Plutonium Finishing Plant

Plutonium stabilized and shipped offsite

1,012 waste sites, 522 facilities, and 9 plutonium production reactors

near the Columbia River

864 waste sites remediated, 407 facilities demolished,

15.8 million tons soil/debris removed, and 6 reactors cocooned (associated

facilities demolished), with 1 underway and 1 preserved

More than 100 square miles of groundwater contaminated

10 billion gallons treated, 98 tons of contamination removed

56 million gallons of waste in 177 underground tanks; 67 presumed

to have leaked

Pumpable liquids and 2 million gallons of solids transferred to newer,

double-shell tanks; 11 tanks retrieved and 5 more underway

One tank waste retrieval technology available 10 retrieval technologies available

No treatment capability for underground tank waste

Waste Treatment Plant under construction – 68% complete

15,000 cubic meters of plutonium-contaminated waste

buried or stored onsite

12,417 cubic meters of waste retrieved; 649 shipments of waste

sent offsite

Hard work and innovation led to two massive structures being removed from the 300 Area and transported to the ERDF.

Massive Reactor and Vault Sent to ERDFHanford’s River Corridor contractor, Washington Closure Hanford (WCH), recently met two cleanup challenges by removing key facilities from the 300 Area. In January, WCH removed a 1,082-ton nuclear test reactor in the largest lift ever performed at Hanford at over 1,500 tons of transport weight. Workers used wire saws and concrete cutting tools up to three stories underground in highly contaminated areas that required full protective gear and respiratory protection.

“Removing the reactor was one of the most complex and hazardous projects WCH has faced since beginning work on the Columbia River corridor in 2005,” said Scott Sax, WCH president. “It took months of detailed planning and extensive preparatory work to reach the point where the reactor could be removed.”

The Plutonium Recycle Test Reactor was the largest of Hanford’s experimental reactors used for developing and testing alternative fuels for the commercial nuclear power industry. The reactor operated from 1960 to 1969 and was housed underground beneath the dome of the 309 Building. WCH toppled the iconic dome’s 100-foot exhaust stack in 2010 before removing the 67-ton dome in 2011.

February saw the removal of another important facility, the massive 340 Vault, in the second largest lift ever performed at the site. Weighing in at over 1,150 tons, the concrete vault once housed two 15,000-gallon stainless steel tanks used to collect highly contaminated waste from 300 Area laboratories. The vault measured 40 feet long, 29 feet wide, and 25 feet high.

Each facility was secured and packaged on a high-payload-capable Goldhofer trailer and transported for disposal at the Environmental Restoration Disposal Facility (ERDF), central Hanford’s landfill for low-level mixed waste. n

“Given funding constraints,” the report states, “we did not find this perspective to be unreasonable. We suggest that the Manager, Richland Operations Office, expeditiously proceed with plans to pursue a dry storage alternative to support transfer of the capsules out of WESF at the earliest possible timeframe.”

A 2017 milestone in the Tri-Party Agreement calls for determining a disposition path for the capsules. The contractor has already heard from firms interested in developing a dry storage facility. The current schedule is for design and procurement to take place in fiscal year (FY) 2017-2018, with construction to follow in FY 2019 to FY 2022. RL would like to accelerate this schedule.

Based on the current progress toward a national repository, USDOE is planning on holding the capsules for up to 150 years. n

USDOE Urged to Move Capsules into Dry Storage, continued from page 1

Hanford Communities Celebrates 20 YearsHappy 20th anniversary to the Hanford Communities! The intergovernmental cooperative organization, made up of representatives from Benton and Franklin counties, the Port of Benton, and the cities of Richland, Pasco and Kennewick, was originally formed in 1994. The Hanford Communities joined forces to concentrate their efforts and provide advice and support to the USDOE on important environmental cleanup issues. They also keep the community informed through television programming, a speakers bureau, a newsletter, a website, and other advocacy. Pam Larsen has served as Executive Director since 1994. Pasco City Manager Gary Crutchfield was one of the founding board members and still serves as a member of the Administrative Board. n


The U.S. Department of Energy (USDOE) outlined a new framework for the retrieval, treatment, and ultimate disposal of tank waste at Hanford in a document released in September. This document, called the Hanford Tank Waste Retrieval, Treatment, and Disposition Framework, comes on the heels of a number of other documents that have defined the current approach to remove the waste, which came from processing activities at Hanford and is stored in 177 underground tanks. Among these documents are the Hanford Site Cleanup Completion Framework (2013), Tank Closure and Waste Management Environmental Impact Statement (2012), Integrated Waste Feed Delivery Plan (2012), and Hanford Site Tank Waste Remediation System Environmental Impact Statement (1996). These last four documents fit within the regulatory decision process set forth in the Hanford Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order (originally signed in 1989 and amended since), also known as the Tri-Party Agreement.

Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz suggested an alternative approach when he visited Hanford in June 2013. Since then, the USDOE Office of River Protection has been sketching out this approach in hopes of creating a starting point for discussions with the Department of Ecology and the State of Washington.

“The approach would start immobilization as early as practicable while moving forward with resolving technical issues,” said Ben Harp,

Winter 2014Newsletter



In This Issue

This Page• USDOE

Considering New Framework for Tank Waste

Inside• PFP Moving

Toward Full Demolition by 2016

• Local Organizations Offer Concept for Future Public Access to Hanford


The Waste Treatment Plant’s Balance of Plant facilities would be completed and commissioned first under a new framework USDOE is discussing with regulators.

USDOE Considering New Framework for Tank Waste

Startup Manager for the Waste Treatment Plant (WTP) for the Office of River Protection. Harp explained the current status of the framework to members of several committees of the Hanford Advisory Board in November.

The framework categorizes the waste into three types: low-activity waste (LAW) that is predominately liquid; potential transuranic waste that can be handled (contact-handled TRU); and high-level waste (HLW). The last is divided into waste that is easier to process and harder to process. In all cases, waste acceptance criteria must be defined for whatever facility will be processing and disposing of the types of waste.

USDOE is considering a phased implementation of this approach. Phase 1 includes the following activities:

• Completing and commissioning the Balance of Facilities and Analytical Laboratory at the WTP

continued on back page

http://www.hanford.gov/files.cfm/Comp_Framework_Jan_%201-23-13-lfm.pdf

http://www.hanford.gov/page.cfm/FinalTCWMEIS

http://www.hanford.gov/page.cfm/FinalTCWMEIS

http://www.hanford.gov/page.cfm/IWFDP

http://www.hanford.gov/files.cfm/EIS-0189-FEIS-1996.pdf

http://www.hanford.gov/files.cfm/EIS-0189-FEIS-1996.pdf

http://www.hanford.gov/page.cfm/TriParty

http://www.hanford.gov/page.cfm/TriParty

Meetings

March 6-7Hanford Advisory Board Meeting

8:30am to 5:30pm Tri-Cities, location TBD


Late April, Early MayState of the Hanford Site Meetings

Tri-Cities, Seattle, Portland, and Hood River, location TBD


May 1-2Hanford Advisory Board Meeting

8:30am to 5:30pm Tri-Cities, location TBD


Workers at the Plutonium Finishing Plant have disposed of more than 200 of the 238 gloveboxes where plutonium was once processed.

PFP Moving Toward Full Demolition by 2016Cleanup of the Plutonium Finishing Plant (PFP) is continuing despite challenges to funding, the workforce, and equipment, Mike Swartz, the Vice President for the PFP Closure Project, recently told the Hanford Advisory Board.

The PFP complex once included more than 60 buildings that housed equipment to accomplish the final step in plutonium production at Hanford. Operations ran from 1949 to 1989. USDOE contractor CH2M HILL Plateau Remediation Company is currently decontaminating, dismantling, demolishing, and disposing of all materials, equipment, and facilities. The goal is to bring PFP down to “slab on grade,” leaving only the decontaminated concrete floors of the various structures, by 2016.

Workers removed all plutonium-bearing material from PFP by December 2009. Two of the more contaminated remaining components of the facility are the gloveboxes, where workers manipulated the plutonium, and pencil tanks, which supported plutonium processing. Of the 238 gloveboxes, 202 have been successfully disposed, along with 115 of the 196 pencil tank units. Another concern was the asbestos insulation in the ventilation ducts; 73% of the asbestos has been removed.

The next step in PFP cleanup includes the open-air demolition and dismantlement of several more facilities including a large stack. CH2M HILL chooses techniques that will mitigate industrial safety risks to personnel, minimize radioactive emissions outside the work boundary, and eliminate potential emissions to the public and the environment.

Maintaining the current safety systems at PFP costs between $30M and $50M per year. CH2M HILL continues to look for ways to reduce preventive maintenance costs, such as replacing the large legacy ventilation system with a streamlined portable system, combining fire alarm tests, and halting maintenance on equipment and buildings soon to be demolished.

“PFP is one of the most challenging and complex cleanup projects in the USDOE complex today,” said Swartz. “Stabilizing the funding so we could accelerate project completion could save the government up to $1B in maintenance and other costs.”

The stability of the craft workforce, which has seen layoffs, as well as the difficulty of keeping demolition equipment working in the acidic environment present challenges. CH2M HILL is working with USDOE to update the Remedial Action Work Plan based on lessons learned and current regulatory requirements. The updated plan is scheduled for completion by September 2014. n

In early November, the Tri-City Development Council (TRIDEC) and the Tri-Cities Visitor and Convention Bureau unveiled a concept for future public access to the Hanford Site. This concept grew out of previous public comments that suggested economic development, recreational use with public access, and conservation as the community’s most desired future uses of the site. While a number of proposals have been put forward for economic development, and portions of the site are already being reutilized, the concept presented in November is among the first to address recreational usage of land and sites under USDOE management.

“With the strong possibility that parts of Hanford will become important elements of the Manhattan Project National Historical Park, the community needs to plan for increased visitor traffic,” said Kris Watkins, President of the Visitor and Convention Bureau.

“Opening even small parts of Hanford to public access will complement the National Park, become a tremendous asset to the community, and grow into a tourism magnet.”

The concept, which was developed by local firm Mackay Sposito under contract to the Visitor and Convention Bureau and TRIDEC, lays out potential areas along the river that could provide campgrounds, boat launches, overlooks, parking, wildlife viewing, trails, and interpretative kiosks. One of the first projects that could be developed is a hiking trail along the river linking the old Hanford townsite to the White Bluffs townsite and ferry landing.

Both TRIDEC and the Visitor and Convention Bureau stressed that the concept is intended as a beginning point for

conversations among the community and other stakeholders on possible future recreational and conservation uses of Hanford as the river corridor and the majority of the Hanford Site are cleaned up in the next 2 to 3 years.

“The genesis of this effort really began in March 2010 when a community letter signed by mayors, county commissioners,

port directors, and others was sent to the USDOE asking to be more involved in planning Hanford’s future,” said Carl Adrian, TRIDEC’s President. “TRIDEC along with Benton County, the Port of Benton, and the City of Richland have requested that over 1,600 acres of the Hanford site be transferred to the community for economic development purposes. This concept plan addresses the communities’ other interests in the Hanford Site and future public access to the Site.”

Funding for the concept was contributed by TRIDEC, the Visitor and Convention Bureau, and a grant provided by URS Corporation. In November, the two organizations held a series of community meetings around the Tri-Cities to present the concept. Concept sponsors will incorporate input from the community

into the final concept plan, then request that local organizations and governments endorse the concept. At that point, the concept will be formally presented to the USDOE as the Tri-Cities’ vision for the future use of Hanford. For more information on the concept, see the community presentation on the TRIDEC website at http://tridec.org/images/uploads/Hanford%20Land%20Vision_MacKaySposito_Nov13.pdf or provide input directly at [email protected] or [email protected]. n

Local Organizations Offer Concept for Future Public Access to Hanford

The old Hanford School is one of the structures proposed for public access under the plan.

TRIDEC and the Tri-Cities Visitor and Convention Bureau are proposing that the Columbia River shoreline through Hanford be opened to recreation.

http://tridec.org/images/uploads/Hanford%20Land%20Vision_MacKaySposito_Nov13.pdf




• Retrieving waste from the C Tank Farm

• Building the infrastructure to feed the LAW from the tanks to the WTP, starting up the LAW Facility to process the waste at the WTP, and obtaining permits for an Integrated Disposal Facility for LAW at Hanford

• Retrieving contact-handled TRU waste from the single-shell tanks and shipping it to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico (assuming waste can be categorized appropriately)

• Characterizing the HLW to support its processing

• Resolving technical issues associated with HLW processing.

Phase 2 would involve dealing with HLW based on how the technical issues were resolved. Phase 3 would see full WTP completion and usage for all waste types with built-in redundancies that prevent bottlenecks to processing.

The USDOE Office of River Protection has requested that its contractors develop a proposal to implement such a framework and has submitted a justification of need statement to USDOE headquarters for a tank waste characterization system. USDOE has also requested a permit modification for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant to accommodate contact-handled TRU waste.

The Department of Ecology stresses that the framework is a white paper for discussion and no decisions can be made without considering the requirements of the Tri-Party Agreement. The types of activities laid out in the framework require extensive integration, which is not currently described in the phased approach being shared with regulators. The framework also does not address cost estimates or potential impacts to cleanup completion schedules. n

USDOE Considering New Framework for Tank Waste, continued

approval from usdoe is allowing bechtel to move forward

Documents