Washington River Protection Solutions: Tank farms team overcomes challenges while safely working and making progress

By Mark Lindholm

President and Project Manager

March 23, 2017 12:00 AM

WRPS workers sampling chemical vapors from inside Hanford’s tanks to update analyses of the types of chemicals found. Courtesy WRPS

As the Tank Operations Contractor for the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of River Protection, Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) manages one of the nation’s most challenging environmental projects: 177 underground tanks in 18 “farms” containing 56 million gallons of radioactive and chemical waste from nuclear defense production during World War II and the Cold War.

The key to our success is teamwork. WRPS has one of the strongest teams in our industry, and engaging our workforce is critical to working to safely reduce the risk to the environment.

Keeping workers safe

Safety is the cornerstone of everything we do. WRPS employees worked nearly 2.5 million safe hours last year, placing the company’s safety performance at the top of all environmental cleanup contractors working on DOE nuclear projects nationwide.

WRPS also enhanced its safety reputation over the past year by maintaining its Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) Star of Excellence rating with an injury rate 96.5 percent better than the industry average. We have also initiated a better communication tool on the status of the sensors and mitigation methods being employed at the tank farms, HanfordVapors.com.

Protecting against chemical vapors

Hanford’s unique work environment presents a number of hazards, including potential exposure to chemical vapors. DOE has invested $50 million in the past two years to increase staffing, implement engineered controls to move and keep vapors away from workers, test technologies to detect and monitor vapors, and further evaluate respirators and other protective equipment.

We are also working with labor union leadership and increasing communications with employees and stakeholders on the steps we are taking to continue to protect workers.

Accomplishing the mission

The tank farms mission consists of five strategic priorities:

• Complete retrieval of waste from C-Farm tanks

• Maximize usable storage space in Hanford’s double-shell tanks

• Improve tank farm infrastructure

• Begin the next round of single-shell tank retrievals

• Continue to integrate with the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP).

Waste retrieval

WRPS has retrieved waste from 15 of 16 tanks in C Farm while preparing to retrieve waste from single-shell tanks in the A and AX tank farms. WRPS has completed retrieving more than 800,000 gallons of waste from AY-102, a double-shell tank leaking waste between its inner and outer tank shells.

Maximizing storage space and improving infrastructure

WRPS created more than 2 million gallons of double-shell tank storage space for waste from single-shell tanks in the past 18 months by operating the 242-A Evaporator, which removes water and concentrates liquid waste.

We also upgraded infrastructure, restarted the Effluent Treatment Facility, installed exhausters and other safety-related equipment and continued upgrades to Hanford’s 222-S Laboratory – the site’s only full-service laboratory that can handle high-level radioactive waste.

Integrating with the Waste Treatment Plant

DOE, WRPS and Bechtel National formed One System as an integrated project team to manage the effort to treat and disposition tank waste as soon as practicable. A major milestone is the recent 60 percent design certification of the Low-Activity Waste Pretreatment System (LAWPS). LAWPS will pretreat tank waste so it can be solidified into glass at the WTP’s Low-Activity Waste Facility.

Investing in our community

WRPS is an invested partner in the Tri-Cities community. Our support of community initiatives is broad, focusing on education, business support and enriching the quality of life. Since 2008, WRPS has contributed $5.8 million to community programs.

WRPS also awarded $139 million to small area businesses.

Managing Hanford’s tank farms is an unprecedented challenge. With our dedicated and experienced workers, backed by some of the world’s preeminent engineering firms, AECOM, Atkins and principal subcontractor AREVA, I am confident our tank farm team will continue to make safe and productive progress at Hanford.

This story was originally published March 23, 2017 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Washington River Protection Solutions: Tank farms team overcomes challenges while safely working and making progress."