DOE Office of River Protection: Shifting from construction to startup of waste treatment facilities

It has been a very busy few months since I joined the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of River Protection (ORP) as manager in November 2017, and I’m very excited to be leading this team during such a critical and important time.

ORP and our contractors, Bechtel National Inc. and Washington River Protection Solutions, are poised to achieve significant progress in 2018 in our critical cleanup mission to safeguard the Columbia River and safely process 56 million gallons of radioactive and chemical waste in Hanford’s 177 underground tanks.

We have a very talented and capable team of professionals at ORP, and I’ve been working with them to get up to speed on our tank farms and Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) projects. I’ve been consistently impressed with their knowledge as I’ve focused not only on the technical elements of our effort, but also on our strategy for moving the mission forward safely and efficiently.

Our focus continues to be on producing low-activity waste glass as soon as 2022 through an initiative called Direct Feed Low-Activity Waste (DFLAW). Vitrification is a process in which the waste is mixed with glass-forming materials, heated to 2,100 degrees Fahrenheit, and poured into stainless steel containers where it cools to a solid glass form for long-term storage or disposal.

For a long time, the ORP team has been focused on oversight of facility design and construction activities. Now, as systems and facilities are completed, we are making the important transition to startup and commissioning with the operations of DFLAW-related facilities at the WTP in sight. I think that many who do not visit the site regularly would be impressed to see how much progress has been made and how close we are to treating waste.

At Hanford’s tank farms, we recently completed retrieval efforts in the last of 16 C Farm tanks, and we are also preparing for future waste retrievals. Our tank integrity programs for Hanford’s set of double-shell tanks remain critical, and we will remain vigilant and engaged, actively assessing tank conditions to protect the workforce and the public as we make preparations to feed tank waste to the WTP.

ORP and its contractors will continue to have a strong commitment to the safety of our workforce. As I’ve observed work in the field, I’ve been impressed by the skill and experience of our team as they safely conduct important work in the tank farms and at WTP.

I appreciate the perspectives of our regulators – the Washington State Department of Ecology and the Environmental Protection Agency – and look forward to strengthening those relationships as we move closer to the startup of the WTP.

I also greatly value the engagement from members of our congressional delegation and our Tribal nationals, along with our local community leaders and the numerous other stakeholders who have an interest in our work at Hanford. These relationships are very important to the success of our mission and we will continue to work collaboratively as we move forward.

I’m joining the ORP team at a momentous point in its history, and I’d be remiss not to thank all who have worked for such a long time to create the opportunities that are now within our reach to deliver.Treating waste is not a future activity – it is near-term and it will be this team. I’m very glad to be here and I’m looking forward to a very successful 2018.

This story was originally published April 1, 2018 at 5:20 PM with the headline "DOE Office of River Protection: Shifting from construction to startup of waste treatment facilities."