Hanford Treatment Plants Process 2.2B Gallons of Water in FY17
The six groundwater treatment plants at the Hanford Site cleaned 2.2 billion gallons of water in the fiscal year just ended, reinjecting the processed water back into the ground, the Department of Energy announced Thursday. More than 145,000 pounds (72.5 tons) of contamination were removed.
The former plutonium production complex in Washington state has five plants along the Columbia River that remove hexavalent chromium from groundwater. The chemical is particularly toxic to aquatic life, and the Hanford Reach of the Columbia River is a prime spawning location for chinook salmon.
The other plant, the 200 West Pump and Treat facility in central Hanford, treated groundwater for multiple contaminants, including radioactive carbon tetrachloride and uranium.
Although more water was treated in the budget year ended Sept. 30 than the 2.1 billion gallons cleaned in fiscal 2016, the amount of contaminants removed was lower. In fiscal 2016, 90 tons of contaminants were stripped from the water. A spokesperson for cleanup contractor CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co. said uranium, a new treatment capability of the central Hanford plant, accounted for the decline because of the smaller mass of uranium in groundwater than some other contaminants.
Workers focused on maintenance of the treatment plants in the last year, according to DOE. “It’s been impressive to see the ideas workers put into practice to keep our facilities operating efficiently,” said Michael Cline, DOE project director for soil and groundwater at the Richland Operations Office. Specialized pumps were installed at some of the plants along the Columbia River, increasing their treatment capacity by up to 300 gallons per minute.
Since treatment facilities began operating in the mid-1990s, they have processed nearly 18 billion gallons of contaminated groundwater.
Workers Pass Up Medical Tests for Vapors
Six Hanford Site workers who smelled suspicious odors consistent with chemical vapors Wednesday afternoon declined medical evaluations, according to waste tank farms contractor Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS). None had symptoms, such as headaches and coughing, that have been associated with possible exposure to vapors from tank waste at the Energy Department facility in Washington state.
They reported an onion-like smell at a change trailer outside the TX Tank Farm. Workers are required to wear supplied air respirators for most work within tank farms, but these workers were outside the tank farm fence line. They were preparing to perform routine electrical maintenance and no waste-disturbing activities were happening in the tank farm, which can cause chemical vapors from tank waste to be released into the air.
The last report released by WRPS of suspicious odors near a tank farm was on June 13, when five workers received medical evaluations as a precaution. All were medically cleared to return to work. They were outside the boundary of the A Tank Farm doing work at a new water and air service building.
Reports of possible chemical vapor exposures have dropped since WRPS, under pressure from Hanford unions, began requiring that workers wear supplied air respirators for most work inside tank farm fence lines. In 2016, more than 50 Hanford workers received medical checks for possible exposure to chemical vapors. A lawsuit filed by Washington state, the nongovernmental Hanford Challenge, and the Plumbers and Steamfitters Local Union 598 in federal court is continuing, with settlement talks underway for most of this year.
Hanford 324 Building Cleanup Subcontract Issued
CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co. has awarded an $11.3 million subcontract to prepare for installation of remotely operated equipment to clean up the highly radioactive spill beneath the Hanford Site’s 324 Building.
The subcontract went to Apollo Mechanical Contractors, headquartered in Kennewick, Wash., near Hanford. Apollo is expected to begin work in the next few weeks and continue through most of 2018.
Removal of the soil contaminated by the spill is scheduled to begin in 2019.
“We’ve advanced the project to the point we’re actually about to begin making the necessary modifications to the building to allow us to install equipment that will be used to remove the radioactive soil under the building,” said Mike Douglas, acting vice president for CH2M’s 324 Building Disposition Project.
Workers were preparing to demolish the former Chemical Materials Engineering Laboratory in 2010 when a spill of concentrated cesium and strontium was found underneath. The contamination likely was from hot cell operations in the 1980s, when waste from Hanford tanks spilled within the building’s B Cell and passed through a cracked lining of a sump at the bottom of the cell.
Officials revised plans to leave the building standing to shield against radiation and prevent water from infiltrating the waste beneath it while contaminated soil was dug up with remotely operated equipment mounted in B Cell. The soil will be placed in boxes in other hot cells in the 324 Building for grouting.
The Apollo Mechanical Contractors subcontract includes removing old equipment and wiring from the walls of the hot cells and drilling holes in the walls for later installation of remotely operated equipment. Apollo also is preparing the hot cells to be filled with grout after contaminated soil is removed. It is covering and sealing holes in the walls where wires and piping passed through. The holes must be filled to keep grout from leaking out of the hot cell. The contract also includes designing, building, and demonstrating a remote-operated tool for cutting piing in the hot cells, as well as modifying the building’s foundation to ensure stability during soil removal.
Hanford Subcontractor Denies Wrongdoing After Settling Fraud Lawsuit
While it has settled the case, Hanford Site subcontractor Sage Tec on Oct. 13 vigorously denied allegations made in a federal fraud lawsuit.
The company released a statement a week after the Department of Justice said Sage Tec had agreed to pay a $235,000 settlement.
Sage Tec was accused of using its status as a small, disadvantaged company to serve as a front company to win subcontracts valued at about $20 million from former Energy Department cleanup contractor Washington Closure Hanford, with Federal Engineers & Constructors then doing much of the work.
The Sage Tec statement said owner Laura Shikashio had decades of experience on environmental remediation projects, including those involving nuclear waste, when she founded Sage Tec in 2009. She used her experience to help Sage Tec win not just the Washington Closure contracts, but work from Hanford’s Mission Support Alliance and on the Plateau Remediation Contract, according to Sage Tec. Sage Tec and “a strong team of subcontractors” performed the work on the two subcontracts at issue and there were no allegations the work was deficient, according to Sage Tec. The lawsuit had alleged Shikashio was the only employee of Sage Tec and that it owned no equipment.
Sage Tec had a strong position in the lawsuit, but the cost of litigation against the government led to the decision to settle, according to the company statement.
Federal Engineers & Constructors also settled for $2 million, admitting no liability. “While FE&C believes that it complied in all material respects with the applicable regulations, we are glad to put these costly and complicated legal proceedings behind us so we can focus all of our energies on providing the high-quality construction and remediation work that has been our hallmark since the company was founded in 2001,” said Richard French, FE&C’s chief executive officer, said in a prepared statement.
Washington Closure, which previously held the Hanford River Corridor cleanup contract, is still scheduled for trial in the case on Feb. 12, 2018. It has also admitted no wrongdoing.
