DOE Richland Operations Office: Hanford cleanup moves forward thanks to engaged, motivated workers

Thanks to the dedication and hard work of federal and contractor employees, we have continued to significantly advance the cleanup of the Hanford Site. The work is very complex and hazardous. Yet site employees continue to set records for safety, and our contractors are industry leaders in safety, as recognized by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Voluntary Protection Program. These are good signs of a strong safety culture, one that is reinforced and strengthened even more by the training employees receive at the Volpentest HAMMER Training Center.

One significant sign of success in cleanup over the past year was the start of demolition of the Plutonium Finishing Plant (PFP) in November. We have so many people to thank for the years of hard work in very hazardous conditions to stabilize and package 20 tons of plutonium material, ship special nuclear material off the site and clean out and remove hundreds of pieces of highly contaminated processing equipment. Demolition is well underway, with the goal of completing demolition of the PFP to slab-on-grade by the end of September 2017.

Not far from PFP, our employees have upgraded the ventilation system at the Waste Encapsulation and Storage Facility and are preparing to move nearly 2,000 cesium and strontium capsules that contain more than a third of the radioactivity at Hanford from a water filled-storage pool to much safer and cheaper dry storage.

This year we will complete remediation of the very challenging 618-10 Burial Ground and two other nearby waste sites, which will culminate the River Corridor Project and cleanup of the vast majority of the 220-square-mile river corridor. The project will be completed more than two years ahead of schedule and millions of dollars under budget.

Two other important projects within the River Corridor include the K Area sludge removal project and removal of the very highly radioactive soil under the former nuclear fuels laboratory, the 324 building, in the 300 Area near the city of Richland.

The sludge removal project entails the transport of 35 cubic yards of highly radioactive sludge from the K Area, very near the Columbia River, to the Central Plateau, for future treatment and disposal. All the equipment needed to remove the sludge has been designed, built, tested and installed in the K Basins, and a facility to transport the sludge has been built. We expect to complete all of the readiness activities this year, nearly two years ahead of schedule and on-budget, which will allow the beginning of the sludge removal in 2018.

For the waste site under the 324 Building, this year we will complete the construction of the mockup facility and clean out the radiochemical engineering cell airlock, to reduce fire loading and allow access to two cells for equipment removal.

Both in the River Corridor and on the Central Plateau, we continue to operate and enhance our groundwater treatment systems. More than 2 billion gallons of groundwater were treated last year, and we expect to treat even more this year. Most of the groundwater treatment systems are working better than anticipated, due in large part to our employees who continually find better ways to do things. Our workforce continues to develop state-of-the-art systems to protect the Columbia River.

Another key to cleanup progress has been identifying critical infrastructure that needs upgrading, including electrical, water, sewer and other systems needed to sustain Hanford’s long-term cleanup mission. Some of the systems were constructed during World War II, and we will be devoting sustained and substantial resources over the next several years to various projects to modernize and improve our infrastructure.

Just as a reliable infrastructure allows us to move forward in our important mission for the nation, strong partnerships with other DOE offices, regulatory agencies, states, tribal nations, the community and stakeholders are essential to our mission. Our workforce and contractors have demonstrated they are more than up for the challenge, and I look forward to working with our many partners to reach our goals and fulfill our commitment to our community and the nation as we safely and effectively clean up the Hanford Site.

This story was originally published March 23, 2017 at 12:00 AM with the headline "DOE Richland Operations Office: Hanford cleanup moves forward thanks to engaged, motivated workers."