CH2MConnection
CH2M awarded subcontract to continue work on the Idaho Cleanup Project..........Page 6
In this issue... 1 Safety First 2 Listen In - Waste Management 3 It’s (Critically) Incredible 5 What’s Next? Major Milestones 6 C(H2M)ommunity
Leadership Perspective As this edition of CH2M Connection hits the streets, many in our industry will be converging at the annual Waste Management Symposium, one of the largest conferences on radioactive waste management and disposal, decommissioning, packaging and transportation, facility siting and site remediation. These are all topics we are involved in day-to-day throughout the Department of Energy Environmental Management Complex and the UK Nuclear Decommissioning Authority estate. WMS2016 is not only a place for us to network and connect with our peers and colleagues, it is an excellent opportunity to learn about the latest technology and trends from industry leaders around the world. But at CH2M, it is not enough for us to be the best nuclear program execution team in the world; we want to be the best nuclear program execution team for the world and the power of one word will help us to achieve that – AND. At CH2M we believe the difference between being a leader and a follower is the having the mindset of the power of And. We challenge ourselves to avoid tradeoffs and either/or decisions and always surround ourselves with employees, communities and clients who have the mindset of And. We don’t make choices between project delivery, safety performance and financial returns; we deliver projects on schedule AND on budget AND safely. This year, we will improve safety AND decommission the plutonium finishing plant AND grout the eighth radioactive liquid waste tank at the Savannah River Site AND move the high-level waste at West Valley AND prepare for the DOE procurement rush AND not just deliver these projects, but deliver more. Our partnership with the government and private industry has made significant progress in addressing the environmental legacy left behind from decades of nuclear weapons development and government sponsored nuclear energy research. The power of AND will help us to continue to address these challenges, more efficiently and safer than ever before throughout 2016 and beyond.
Dyan Foss CH2M Nuclear Sector Global Managing Director
Safety First CH2M started 2016 off right with outstanding safety performance through the month of January. Each of the six LLCs in the DOE Complex that CH2M is a part of (CH2M HILL Plateau Remediation Company, CH2M HILL BWXT West Valley, CH2M-WG Idaho, URS | CH2M Oak Ridge, National Security Technologies, and Washington Closure Hanford) was able to report zero Total Recordable Cases (TRC) and zero Days Away, Restricted and/or Transferred (DART) Cases for the whole month of January. All of these LLCs are also recognized as Voluntary Protection Program Star Status sites for their remarkable safety performance.
Volume 2 Issue 1 1 March 2016
In addition, CH2M HILL BWXT West Valley, National Security Technologies and Washington Closure Hanford maintain DART rates of 0.00. Washington Closure Hanford also has a TRC rate of 0.00 and celebrated 6 million safe work hours, for the second time over the course of the contract, near the end of 2015, continuing their outstanding safety performance.
Listen in.
Waste Management 2016 Speakers Monday, March 7: 11:20 am Groundwater monitoring and remediation progress at the Hanford Site - Mark Byrnes 3:45 pm Improving safety culture by strengthening leadership skills - Peter Diaz 4:10 pm Employee transition plan at Hanford’s Plutonium Finishing Plant - Connie Simiele Tuesday, March 8: 10:15 am* UK NDA - US DOE perspective on contracting approaches - Dyan Foss 10:15 am Emerging issues that challenge contractors at Federal sites worldwide - Greg DeWeese 1:15 pm US DOE featured site: Oak Ridge: community reuse - Sherry Browder 1:30 pm US DOE featured site: Oak Ridge: contractor’s perspective on Federal oversight - Ron Slottke 1:30 pm* Small business procurement and contracting opportunities - Bill Badger 1:35 pm Liquid waste cell decommissioning at West Valley - Scott Anderson 3:45 pm Developing/testing a first-of-a-kind process to commission a HC 2 facility - Ray Geimer 4:35 pm Progression of safe, compliant demolition of the Plutonium Finishing Plant - Mike Swartz 6:00 pm Women of Waste Management Panel - trailblazing women in leadership - Dyan Foss Wednesday, March 9: 8:30 am Dealing with problematic DOE mixed waste streams and policy changes - John Wrapp, Scott Anderson, Connie Simiele 10:45 am 200 West Pump and Treat: the first three years - Mark Carlson 1:35 pm Community Involvement: After School Matters program at the Hanford Site - Connie Simiele 2:50 pm Cost savings resulting from classified component disposal at NNSS - Jeanne Poling Thursday, March 10: 8:30 am Transition to GoCo at Canadian Nuclear Laboratories - Mark Lesinski, Kurt Kehler 8:30 am Waste Management EFCOG roundtable - John Wrapp, Connie Simiele 8:30 am The Richland Operations Office cleanup mission at Hanford - John Ciucci 1:30 pm Protecting the Columbia River during removal and packaging of radioactive sludge - Ray Geimer 1:30 pm Integration of human development & modeling for disposal/remediation decisions Moses Jaraysi 3:20 pm Endpoint evaluation for 200-PW-1 operable unit soil vapor extraction, Hanford - Mark Byrnes 4:10 pm Monitoring hexavalent chromium in the Columbia River hyporheic zone - Mark Byrnes * = these sessions are open to all conference attendees
It’s (Critically) Incredible CH2M is continuing work toward demolition and cleanup of a gaseous diffusion complex for the first time in history.
K-25
K-31
In 1943, the largest building in the world under one roof was built in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The mile-long, U-shaped K-25 Gaseous Diffusion Plant was constructed at the East Tennessee Technology Park to support the Manhattan Project by enriching uranium to produce the world’s first atomic bomb, and remained in operation until 1964.
Upon demolition of the K-25 former gaseous diffusion plant well under budget, our team was able to reallocate resources to the demolition of sister facilities K-31 and K-27, the last remaining gaseous diffusion plants at ETTP. The 130 crew members on the K-31 project rode the success from the K-25 project — demolition began in October 2014 and was completely demolished June 26, months ahead of schedule.
In 2011, CH2M, as part of the URS| CH2M Oak Ridge (UCOR) team, took over demolition of the K-25 building that had begun in 2008. In December of 2013, UCOR completed the demolition of K-25, the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) largest ever demolition project, well before the scheduled 2015 completion date. On March 11, 2014, the final truckload of debris was shipped from the K-25 demolition site. The final shipment of waste marked a total of more than 460,000 cubic yards of waste sent for disposal from the K-25 site. Finally, June 26, 2014, the K-25 project was officially declared complete, 6 months before the scheduled completion date of January 5, 2015 and $225 million under federal baseline budgets. To achieve official completion after demolition and waste shipments were complete, several difficult tasks were completed including removing all underground utilities and support facilities, removing the remaining retaining walls, and dispositioning the inventory in the segmentation shop.
Friday, June 26, 2015 was an exciting day in Oak Ridge, for CH2M and the UCOR team knocking down the final wall of the K-31 gaseous diffusion plant - concluding the 8-month demolition of the fourth GDP in the park. The majority of the massive 750,000-square-foot building had been demolished throughout the year, and the uranium-enrichment equipment was stripped from K-31’s innards a decade before that. The DOE also announced at the K-31 Demolition Event that our UCOR contract would be extended to complete the cleanup and demolition of the final building, K-27. Exercising the option years of our contract demonstrates our client’s confidence in us. Since 2011, the UCOR team has saved around $122 million for the federal government on projects related to cleanup and is around $26 million ahead of current project budgets.
K-27
Crit-Incredible
Demolition of the K-27 gaseous diffusion building began February 8, 2016. The start of demolition brings the DOE a step closer to fulfilling its Vision 2016—the removal of all gaseous diffusion buildings from the site by the end of the year.
“The government’s uranium-enrichment dinosaurs in Oak Ridge are gradually becoming extinct,” stated Frank Munger, Atomic City Underground. During the World War II Manhattan Project, the East Tennessee Technology Park was a host to several of these “dinosaurs” enriching uranium. These gaseous diffusion plants remained in operations to support nuclear power through 1987 before cleanup began at the site in 1989.
K-27 is the last of five gaseous diffusion facilities to be torn down at ETTP, the former Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant. Demolition of the 4-story, 383,000-square-foot building remains one of DOE’s highest cleanup priorities. UCOR completed deactivation of K-27 in January, including removing hazardous and radioactive materials to ensure protection of workers, the public and the environment; isolating utility systems; and ensuring structural stability to prepare for demolition. In addition to completing work ahead of schedule, crews have had outstanding safety performance, including five million hours without a lost time accident. In 2015, UCOR was awarded DOE’s Voluntary Protection Program Star status recognizing them as one of the safest sites in the nation.
There were five GDPs at ETTP, with only one remaining standing to date – K-27. These buildings were constructed as a part of the Manhattan Project in the 1940s and were used in the uranium enrichment process to create the atomic bombs that eventually ended World War II. Due to the activities that occurred in the buildings on the plant, there was a large amount of hazardous materials left to be cleaned up before demolition. With the deactiviation of K-27 completing earlier this year, all materials that could cause a nuclear criticality were removed, which allowed DOE to complete one of the final key steps before demolition—declaring that the building is in a Crit Incredible status. As UCOR works to make the last uranium enrichment building, K-27, fall, it will mark the first-ever demolition and cleanup of a gaseous diffusion complex anywhere in the world.
What’s next? Major Milestones
CH2M to Continue Decade-long History at the Idaho Cleanup Project
CH2M will continue to work at the Idaho Cleanup Project as a subcontractor on the recently awarded ICP-Core Contract, after leading the first two phases of the ICP project over the last ten years. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) selected Fluor Idaho, LLC, with CH2M as a pre-selected subcontractor, to support the department’s cleanup mission at the Idaho Site under the Idaho Cleanup Project (ICP) Core Contract, over 5 years. The 890-square-mile Idaho site is located in eastern Idaho, 38 miles west of Idaho Falls. “We are thrilled that DOE has selected this team to continue to work toward the DOE’s mission to reduce the Idaho Site footprint created by national defense and energy missions,” commented Dyan Foss, CH2M’s Nuclear Sector Global Managing Director. “This new contract will be a change for us, but it will be a privilege to continue this important work.” The consortium will focus on addressing the key elements of the ICP-Core – dispositioning transuranic waste (TRU), spent nuclear fuel storage, and high-level radioactive waste processing. This work will support multiple national and state regulatory agreements, including the 1995 Idaho Settlement Agreement, and will consolidate the ICP and Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project contracts. “CH2M brings ten years of on-site experience; we look forward to continuing delivery of safe and efficient progress with this new team,” said Foss.
Hanford Update
before
Waste Encapsulation and Storage Facility: Canyon decontamination and repainting activities allowed the canyon to be down posted from an Airborne Radioactivity Area (ARA) to a non-ARA for the first time since construction was completed in 1973. This allows for non-intrusive work to be safely performed in the canyon with reduced personal protective equipment requirements while still protecting our workforce. 5 March 2016
after
In the C(H2M)ommunity
Savannah River Remediation Awarded Large Business of the Year The Greater Aiken Chamber of Commerce presented SRR with the Large Business of the Year award.
Savannah River Remediation (SRR) was recently awarded the Greater Aiken Chamber of Commerce’s large business of the year. SRR was honored at the 98th annual Greater Aiken Chamber of Commerce awards dinner, chosen as the Chamber’s large business of the year for its “immense” contributions to the Aiken community and ability to “inspire others” by going above and beyond. SRR is the DOE Savannah River Site’s liquid waste contractor, employing about 2,100 people, responsible for the safe disposition of high-level radioactive waste created at the site during the Cold War era. SRR is a limited liability company made up of CH2M and partners URS, Bechtel and Babcock & Wilcox. Like CH2M, SRR has a knack for getting involved in the community. The Chamber commented, “Helping others is the heart of the company’s outreach, not because they have to, but because it is their culture to do what is right at every level. Giving to many community endeavors through funds and employee time and talents, the company is able to help raise everyone’s quality of life.” Last year, SRR and its employees raised more than $301,000 for the United Way of Aiken County, contributed to projects that provided needed home repairs to area residents and engaged in outreach at local schools. It has been recognized for its support of military veterans attending local education institutions, and commended for providing funding for STEM programs in schools, supporting the next generation of scientists.
Sludge removal: CHPRC workers began performing work in the K Basins to prepare for installation of lids on sludge containers for sludge removal equipment.
Hanford Plutonium Finishing Plant: Crews just completed cutting up and removing from the building the largest, and most heavily contaminated glove box at PFP (glovebox HA-9A), a critical piece of path to demolition.
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CH2M Environment & Nuclear Communications Team ENCommunications@ch2m.com +1.808.440.0210