CH2M HILL Plateau Remediation Co.: Building on our Successes and Challenges

CH2M HILL Plateau Remediation Co. (CHPRC) is committed to safe, efficient and compliant performance. This year, we will learn from our challenges, build on our past successes, and demonstrate our ability to safely reduce risk on the Hanford Site on behalf of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).

The safety of our employees and the protection of the environment is our top priority, and one of our company’s primary focuses this year is to recover from contamination spreads that occurred during demolition of the Plutonium Finishing Plant (PFP).

In mid-December 2017, radiological contamination spread outside controlled areas at PFP, and we halted operations to ensure the safety of our workers. CH2M is committed to completing recovery actions, identifying and understanding the root causes, and implementing measures to ensure the safety of Hanford employees, protection of the environment, and that we can prevent any additional issues. We will not conduct any further PFP demolition work until we receive DOE approval

Our parent company, Jacobs Engineering Group (Jacobs) is taking the lead to manage recovery activities at the PFP demolition site. John Fulton, former CHPRC president, is leading the corporate recovery team. The PFP team is the best in the business, and I have no doubt they will succeed with additional safeguards in place that will allow them to finish demolishing one of the most hazardous buildings in the DOE complex.

Soon, we will start removing highly-radioactive sludge away from the Columbia River. We will begin this important work well ahead of our current schedule, due to the workforce’s extensive use of “mock-ups” (a test facility) to ensure the sludge removal equipment works as designed before installation and use.

Work crews are in the final stages of testing that equipment at the 100K West Reactor, where the sludge currently sits, and at T Plant, where workers will receive the sludge for safe, interim storage.

A similar mockup strategy is helping to improve safety and reduce project risk at the 324 Building. Crews are testing remote-operated equipment at a mock-up structure and refining processes and procedures before installing equipment in the 324 Building later this year. The building sits just north of the City of Richland, and the highly radioactive soil beneath the building must be removed before the building can be demolished.

In 2017, our workforce responded safely and rapidly to a complex challenge – the partial collapse of PUREX Tunnel 1. Our workers developed mockups and engineered, tested and developed processes to use engineered grout to safely stabilize the tunnel and eliminate risk to workers, the environment and public.

Our commitment to our community is also an important goal. I enjoy participating annually with members of our team in the Special Olympics Polar Plunge and have been thrilled with the workforce’s active support of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math educational experiences for area children. We support many other community efforts. In 2017, 734 employees gave more than 2,680 hours to our community.

Our team is making tremendous progress cleaning up the Hanford Site. We have exciting work ahead of us, and I know we can complete it safely, efficiently and compliantly. I cannot fully express my appreciation to the CHPRC workforce for their continued dedication to the protection of the Columbia River and the community in which we live.

This story was originally published April 1, 2018 at 5:26 PM with the headline "CH2M HILL Plateau Remediation Co.: Building on our Successes and Challenges."