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| Vol. 25 No. 36 | Sep 19, 2014 |
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Reviews Find Need for Additional Resources at Several Sites to Address Maintenance Concerns
Mike Nartker and Kenneth Fletcher Contractors at several Department of Energy sites are facing growing maintenance needs that could disrupt cleanup efforts if not addressed, according to a set of assessments DOE recently provided to WC Monitor. The assessments were conducted as part of a complex-wide extent-of-condition review of deferred maintenance across the DOE cleanup program. While none of the assessments found immediate safety concerns, several contractors, such as at the Portsmouth D&D project and the Savannah River Site, noted the need for additional resources to help address maintenance backlogs that could pose safety or operational risks in the future. Some contractors, though, such as at Oak Ridge and some of DOE’s smaller cleanup sites, reported few maintenance concerns. The extent-of-condition review was launched in mid-April by then-DOE cleanup chief David Huizenga in the wake of two incidents at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant that result in the ongoing shutdown of the facility. One of the incidents involved a haul truck catching fire, with a subsequent investigation attributing the cause, in part, to a lack of preventative maintenance. “It is imperative that maintenance and engineering programs are effective in keeping critical structures, systems and components in a high state of operational readiness. This is a key component of ensuring the safety of our workers and facilities,” Huizenga wrote in an April 16 memo ordering the review. EM Reviewing Results of Assessments DOE’s Office of Environmental Management is in the process of reviewing the assessments, a Department official said late this week. “EM headquarters is expected to complete its initial analysis this fall, which will likely result in the identification of common issues and lessons learned that may be applicable across the complex,” the official said in a written response. One Congressional staffer noted this week the importance of EM having a complex-wide view of its potential maintenance needs. “You can see the challenge in EM in having the total picture, but a total complex-wide picture is going to be really important. Obviously we fund everything by site, but being able to target the really critical areas is going to be really important,” the staffer told WC Monitor. “WIPP became a crisis and we are dealing with that one right now. But if we want to avoid a situation where there are other WIPPs that could be prevented by some targeted investments in the near term.” The Congressional staffer also said that the results of the assessment may result in EM shifting some of its priorities. “In some of these places the deferred maintenance issue has to factor into the cleanup priorities in a way. Do we rehab this building or do we just decommission it? If it’s cheaper to decommission it than it is to rehab it, maybe it moves up in the queue?” the staffer said. Resources Need to be ‘Significantly Increased’ at Portsmouth At the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant, while “the required safety envelope has been maintained,” a substantial increase in resources is needed to address deferred maintenance activities and improve infrastructure reliability, wrote Bill Murphie, head of DOE’s Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office, in a June 17 letter to EM headquarters. “Although the required safety envelope has been maintained, the efficacy of safety management programs (SMPs) and the associated defense-in-depth for site nuclear facilities has eroded due to age-induced problems with safety-related systems and increasing reliance on compensatory measures in lieu of restoration. Mission risks remain elevated as corrective and preventative maintenance backlogs continue at a high level and essential infrastructure systems become impaired,” Murphie wrote. “Resources currently committed to infrastructure and maintenance activity and support must be significantly increased to stabilize and ultimately reverse these negative trends.” In its assessment, Portsmouth D&D contractor Fluor-B&W Portsmouth, LLC, cited what it described as “chronic budget deficit” for areas such as site utilities, infrastructure and surveillance-and-maintenance activities. “Deficient facility and equipment conditions have diminished operational readiness of some facilities and systems, including ones on which other site tenants rely for utility service,” the FBP assessment says. “Required safety margins have been preserved through various actions including suspension of the operation protected by the impaired SSC, implementation of compensatory measures, and reduction/control of relevant hazard(s). Additional actions to improve safety and reduce vulnerability to equipment failures include contingency planning, identifying and correcting single-point failures, and re-directing resources to address highest priority system deficiencies. Nevertheless, defense-in-depth has been weakened, reliability issues persist, and the capability and reliability of critical systems has diminished,” the assessment adds. Lack of Maintenance Resources Could Affect ‘Mission Capability’ at SRS Similarly, while equipment at the Savannah River Site is currently being adequately supported, both of the site’s major contractors have warned of growing maintenance needs that, without increased resources, could impact operations. In a June 24 letter to EM headquarters, DOE Savannah River Operations Office Manager David Moody wrote, “The analysis reviewed by my staff concludes that DOE-SR contractors have observed equipment degradation, fluctuating trends in maintenance backlogs and challenges maintain aging equipment at its current level of performance.” He went on to write that “equipment and processes are being adequately supported; however, based on our current funding levels for maintenance activities, the risk of interruption or loss of mission capability increases over time.” In its assessment, SRS managing contractor Savannah River Nuclear Solutions warned of the potential longer-term impacts of an increasing backlog of corrective maintenance activities. “This adverse trend results in operational risk for completion of future missions within planned budgets/schedule and could become a safety risk should this trend continue long-term,” the assessment says. “Safety risks can be defined as additional safety basis LCO entries, putting the facility at an extended risk level, as well as living with compensatory measures to ensure the safety posture is maintained. In addition to reducing operational margin, the increasing maintenance backlog can undermine a strong nuclear Conduct of Operations culture if the workforce were to become complacent with abnormal conditions.” Maintenance backlogs could also grow to impact the tank waste cleanup mission at Savannah River if additional resources are not provided, according to the site’s liquid waste contractor Savannah River Remediation. “Resources are sufficient to meet requirements, but may not be sufficient in the future,” SRR’s assessment warns. “Preventive maintenance is being performed on schedule to adequately maintain operating equipment. Large scale reduction of the corrective maintenance backlog is anticipated to require a multi-year improvement campaign. Corrective maintenance backlogs have been consistently larger than target (with a modestly positive trend) and work group staffing supporting maintenance has reduced. This situation is fully understood and is being effectively managed, yet continued focus and improvement will be required to meet increased operational demands and extend equipment life.” The SRR assessment goes on to state, “The gap between currently available and required resources must be addressed to work off the corrective maintenance backlog. Aging equipment and a growing list of technically obsolete equipment, coupled with increased production goals to support a fully integrated salt waste disposition program, will present a challenge that current resource levels will not be capable of meeting. The corrective maintenance backlog may impact cleanup targets because operations are curtailed if requisite safety equipment is not available.” Hanford Utilities Operating ‘Well Beyond’ Originally Anticipated Life At Hanford, Mission Support Alliance raised the need for resources to either replace or upgrade site utility systems to ensure continued smooth operation. “Resources have been adequately applied to maintain a high service delivery rate for Electrical Utilities, Water Utilities, and Sewer Utilities. Resources for maintenance program requirements have been reduced to only minimum safe operations (Min Safe), related to critical components. Systems have numerous components which are operating well beyond their originally intended life and will require replacement/upgrading to maintain reliable operations,” Doug Shoop, acting manager of DOE’s Richland Operations Office, wrote in a June 13 letter to EM headquarters. Shoop wrote that because of “funding limitations,” system upgrades to prevent degradation of reliable operability, as well as upgrades to non-critical systems, have not been made. He went on to write that “utility systems exist that have numerous components which are operating well beyond their originally intended life and will require replacement/upgrading to maintain reliable operations. The age of these systems and components presents an increased risk of failure, which could result in impacts to the Hanford site remediation/site cleanup mission. Foregoing necessary upgrades will only increase future maintenance costs due to emergent repairs.” Full List of Maintenance Assessments: LANL Director Emphasizes Advantages of Keeping Cleanup Work in Contract New Mexico Has Called for LANL Cleanup to be Taken Out of NNSAKenneth Fletcher and Todd Jacobson Following a call from New Mexico’s environmental regulator to break out the cleanup work at Los Alamos National Laboratory, LANL Director Charlie McMillan this week emphasized the advantages of keeping cleanup in the current contract. Earlier this month, New Mexico Environment Department Secretary Ryan Flynn said the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management should take over management of the legacy waste cleanup at LANL, currently overseen by the National Nuclear Security Administration. The lab’s director this week offered the first response from LANL to that call, which the state says is a condition for restarting operations at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. “I think there are some real advantages to the government in the integrated management the laboratory can bring to the work that we do both on the science and the EM, but ultimately this is going to have to be a decision the government makes, so until I hear something official I know nothing,” McMillan told WC Monitor following a speech this week at George Washington University. McMillan said that he had not been approached about such a move officially and has not taken a position on it, but noted the positive aspects of keeping the cleanup activities within the current structure. “The key advantages are the waste management issues we’re dealing with at Los Alamos are tightly integrated into the site, into an operating site, so being able to manage that integration as a whole is one of the key issues I see,” he said. “Not to say it couldn’t be solved other ways, other sites have solved it other ways, but that to me is the issue to be solved.” Cleanup at the lab is currently being performed by management and operating contractor Los Alamos National Security, a consortium led by Bechtel and the University of California that manages LANL’s NNSA missions. However, LANL cleanup suffered a setback when a drum of transuranic waste processed at the lab was linked to the February radiation release at WIPP. This month NMED outlined its conditions for restarting WIPP, which include breaking out the cleanup work at Los Alamos among a host of other steps needed to begin operations at the facilities. NMED: EM Needs Control of Legacy Waste Cleanup NMED’s Flynn said that numerous issues encountered at the LANL cleanup could be resolved by moving that mission under EM. “NNSA should not be in the business of cleaning up the legacy waste at the sites,” he said in remarks at this year’s RadWaste Summit, held earlier this month outside of Las Vegas. “The money is already coming from the EM program, so EM sends NNSA the money but they don’t get to determine how to spend the money for the cleanup. I believe very strongly that EM needs to be given control of legacy waste cleanup because it’s part of their core mission and because they are already funding the cleanup.” McMillian: ‘We Have A Strong Working Relationship’ The state also has warned of “significant penalties” coming to the Department, citing specifically concerns at Los Alamos including communications problems, permit violations and safety issues. “Right now it is looking more and more like the problems from a regulatory perspective are much greater… at Los Alamos,” Flynn told WC Monitor earlier this month. He added later: “At LANL there has been really poor communication with the regulator. It is damaging DOE’s credibility. It’s not only damaging DOE’s credibility, but it’s increasing their potential liability.” Responding to questions about the Lab’s relationship with NMED, McMillan said this week: “We have a strong working relationship with the secretary and we continue to work that. As you can well imagine, we are deeply committed to ensuring that we live in a clean state and our part of it is clean so we’re working closely with the Department to ensure that.” When asked about lessons learned, he added: “It’s the standard lesson, communication and relationships. There is nothing new in that. That’s what we have always done and what we will continue to do.” SPRU Schedule Slips Once Again Four-Year Project Now to Take More Than 10 Years to FinishMike Nartker Efforts to complete the long-troubled Separations Process Research Unit (SPRU) D&D project appear to have hit a new hurdle, with the Department of Energy now projecting the need for an additional three years from previous estimates to complete the work. While DOE had previously stated a goal of having the SPRU D&D project completed by the end of Fiscal Year 2015, the Department now is planning for the work to be done by September 2018, according to a presentation Thomas Johnson, associate deputy assistant secretary for acquisition and project management in DOE’s Office of Environmental Management, gave at a meeting of the EM Site-Specific Advisory Board chairs this week. A DOE official late this week attributed the extended schedule to contractor URS’ “current pace of work” and monthly spending rate of approximately $3 million. “The completion date includes finalization of all documentation required to close the project. Physical work on the site is projected to complete during 2017,” the Department official said in a written response. In July, DOE acknowledged that it was at risk of missing the FY 2015 goal, expressing concern over URS’ performance of the SPRU D&D project’s contractor. When asked this week how the Department would gauge URS’ work at SPRU, the DOE official said, “URS is working safely and continuing to make steady progress at SPRU. The pace of work activities is completely within the control of URS. DOE currently plans to complete the project under the current contract.” For its part, URS declined to comment this week on DOE’s new schedule for the SPRU D&D project, referring questions back to the Department. Contamination Incidents in 2010 Derailed Work The SPRU D&D project entails the removal of two buildings used in the 1950s to research chemical processes for separating plutonium and uranium from irradiated materials. In late 2007, URS won a four-year contract—then worth $66.9 million—for the project, which was to have been completed by the end of 2011. In the fall of 2010, though, a set of contamination incidents occurred during open-air demolition activities at one of the two SPRU buildings that resulted in the spread of low levels of contamination to the broader Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory, where SPRU is located, as well as to a local river. The contamination incidents helped to stall work at SPRU for approximately two years, and led to changes in how D&D would be performed at the site, chiefly through the addition of enclosures constructed around the buildings with ventilation systems. DOE’s Total Estimated Cost Less Than URS’ Estimates Johnson’s presentation this week also raises new questions over how much it will ultimately cost to complete the SPRU D&D project—an issue that could have significant financial ramifications for URS. Also in response to the 2010 contamination incidents, DOE subsequently moved to modify its contract with URS to set up a cost-sharing approach for completing work. That approach entails DOE being responsible for all project costs up to $105 million; DOE and URS splitting all costs incurred from $105-145 million; and URS being fully responsible for covering all costs exceeding $145 million. Since the contract modification was finalized, though, URS has been pushing back against being held responsible for significant portions of the costs to date incurred at SPRU, which have included, among other issues, addressing the impacts of bad weather at the site. In an earnings report released in August, URS said the total project cost for the SPRU D&D project has increased to $280 million as of July 4. “In April 2013, WGI Ohio submitted claims against the DOE pursuant to the Contracts Disputes Acts seeking recovery of $118 million in unfunded requests for equitable adjustments (“REAs”), including additional fees on expanded work scope. Through July 4, 2014, the DOE has approved one of the REAs for $1 million and has authorized $34 million of additional funding primarily related to the hurricane-caused impacts,” the earnings report states. The report adds, “As of July 4, 2014, WGI Ohio has recorded $99 million in accounts receivable for project costs incurred to date in excess of the DOE contracted amount that may not be collected unless and until the claims are favorably resolved. In addition, due to continuing delays and disagreements about the responsibilities for the scope of the remaining project completion costs, WGI Ohio is unable to determine its portion of the remaining project completion costs, which may exceed $300 million.” In contrast, though, Johnson’s presentation lists the “EAC”—estimate at completion—for the SPRU D&D project at $254.5 million. “The revised Estimate at Completion (EAC) of $254.5M is the DOE Federal Project Director’s estimate for completion. The DOE EAC includes DOE costs to date, estimated to-go costs and some project contingency associated with remaining project risks,” the Department official said this week. The official went on to say, “Discussions are ongoing in attempt to resolve current requests for equitable adjustment that have been submitted by URS. Costs above the contract cost cap are the responsibility of URS consistent with the contract.” URS Says ‘Much D&D Progress’ Being Made While DOE is pushing out the schedule for completing work at the SPRU site, URS said late this week that “much D&D progress” has been made. “Approximately 50% of contaminated pipe has been removed from cell #2 in building G2. G2 cells hatch cover size reduction activities are complete and openings of cells 1 through 5 have all been fitted with temporary hatch covers. In Building G2, vent and drain activities in cells 3, 4 and 5 are complete and we have completed pipe and equipment removal in cells 3 and 4,” URS spokesman Keith Wood said in a written response. Outlining the work that has been completed at Building H2, Wood said, “In building H2, we have completed the radiation surveys and floor cleaning in cells 4 and 5. HEPA ventilation has been installed in cells 3 and 4 and asbestos tile removal in an elevated area. Packaging and removal of equipment and material from the basement to allow for safe access to cells is competed and contaminated pipe removal starts early next week.”
DOE Approves New SWPF Baseline, Cost Increase Nears $1 Billion South Carolina: ‘Treatment Delay Is Unacceptable’Kenneth Fletcher The Department of Energy has approved a new baseline for the Savannah River Site’s Salt Waste Processing Facility that includes a nearly $1 billion cost increase from previous official estimates and pushes back plant startup by as much as five years. The baseline change became necessary after lengthy delays in delivery of 10 key vessels for the plant and has been in the works for since early 2012, when construction contractor Parsons submitted a revised estimate at completion for the project. The new baseline puts the total project cost at $2.3 billion with a startup by early 2021, with an early target to complete commissioning by December 2018. The previous baseline set in 2009 totaled $1.34 billion and would complete startup by an October 2015 regulatory commitment. The SWPF is 75 percent complete and is designed to exponentially increase processing rates at Savannah River’s tank farms in an effort to close out the site’s high-level waste tanks. In March 2012, Parsons completed its new estimate in light of the component delays, which totaled $1.78 billion for construction and startup by the 2015 date. However, discussions on an agreement for completion of the project stretched out for over a year. In April 2013, Parsons and DOE reached an agreement in principle to complete construction of the project by the end of 2016 that totaled $1.7 billion, which did not include commissioning and startup. DOE approved the baseline update this August. The new baseline increased construction costs by $674.4 million, commissioning costs by $186.9 million, design costs by $2.4 million and other project costs by nearly $118.9 million, DOE Savannah River spokesman Jim Giusti said in a written response this week. “All technical issues related to the SWPF design have been resolved,” Giusti said in a release. “A recent independent construction project review identified no major issues to indicate the current construction schedule cannot be met. That review team’s analysis validated EM’s schedule to complete commissioning and recommended moving forward with the newly revised baseline.” South Carolina: ‘Treatment Delay is Unacceptable’ The question remains as to how the state of South Carolina will take into account the new schedule when it comes to either renegotiating regulatory commitments or enforcing penalties. Ongoing daily penalties of $105,000 could be levied for failure to start up the SWPF by 2015. “The SC Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) milestone for startup of the Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF) is still October 2015. This milestone exists to drive risk reduction for the 37 million gallons of high level waste in aging tanks. Waste treatment is key in reducing that risk and closing tanks,” DHEC Federal Facilities Liaison Shelly Wilson said this week in a written response. “In addition to delay of SWPF, the Department of Energy (DOE) has slowed even existing treatment to half to a third of capacity. Treatment delay is unacceptable to DHEC. DHEC believes that DOE should be maximizing all treatment to position themselves to meet milestone commitments. The Department of Energy has not requested an extension to the 2015 milestone.” In June, South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control Director Catherine Templeton sent a letter to DOE warning of the penalties for SWPF and tank closure milestones if the Department does not request sufficient funding. For DOE’s part, Giusti said this week: “The Department will continue to keep SCDHEC informed on our liquid waste system planning efforts and looks forward to continued discussions on the results, and on the development of a path forward to best address our mutual concerns.” Parsons: Baseline ‘Positive Step Forward’ Parsons says it will continue to work with DOE to complete the facility. “Parsons sees the Department of Energy’s recent approval of the $2.3 billion revised total project cost baseline for the Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF) as a very important and positive step forward for the program,” Parsons spokeswoman Erin Kuhlman said in a statement. “We look forward to working with the DOE to resolve all outstanding items and to completing construction, testing, commissioning, and hot operations of the SWPF. We continue to focus on safely delivering a first-of-its-kind facility that will efficiently process salt waste at the Savannah River Site.” Senate Confirms New DOE Deputy Secretary Mike Nartker The Senate late this week confirmed the Obama Administration’s choice of Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall to serve as the next Deputy Secretary of Energy. Sherwood-Randall last served as Special Assistant to the President and White House Coordinator for Defense Policy, Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction, and Arms Control. Among her previous positions, she served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for European Affairs at the National Security Council from 2009 to 2013; and as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasia from 1994 to 1996. At the Department of Energy, she will replace Dan Poneman, who is stepping down as DOE’s No. 2 official after serving in the position for five years. Sherwood-Randall, largely seen as an uncontroversial choice, breezed through her Senate confirmation process, with a full vote occurring on her nomination only a week after she was approved by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Other DOE nominees, however, have not been as lucky, with several still awaiting action by the full Senate, including, Under Secretary for Science nominee Franklin Orr, Chief Financial Officer nominee Joseph Hezir, Director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy nominee Ellen Williams and Director of the Office of Science nominee Marc Kastner. In addition, the White House’s choice as the next head of DOE’s cleanup program—Monica Regalbuto—has also hit a roadblock in the Senate process. While Regalbuto has been reported out of committee, Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso (R) has placed a hold on her nomination over concerns related to DOE’s uranium transfer policies and their potential impact on the domestic uranium industry. Unless lifted, the hold would prevent the full Senate from easily approving Regalbuto’s nomination by unanimous consent, and instead increase the time needed to move forward. Congress Completes Work on FY 2015 Stop-Gap Funding Measure Mike Nartker Congress late this week completed work on a stop-gap measure intended to continue to fund the federal government at the start of Fiscal Year 2015 in the absence of completed individual spending bills. The Continuing Resolution will fund most Department of Energy and National Nuclear Security Administration programs at annualized Fiscal Year 2014 levels through Dec. 11. The bill also includes provisions intended to help address funding needs at the Portsmouth D&D project and the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. The CR is necessary due to Congress’ failure to complete individual appropriations bills prior to the start of FY 2015, including the bill that funds DOE. Under the CR, DOE’s Office of Environmental Management would largely be funded at a total of approximately $5.830 billion on an annualized basis. That’s about $200 million more than EM’s budget request for next fiscal year, which is approximately $5.6 billion. CR ‘Bridge’ to Omnibus Appropriations Bill, Senator Says Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) said late this week that she views the CR as laying “the groundwork” for an omnibus appropriations bill for the remainder of FY 2015 once Congress returns for a lame-duck session following the November elections. “I see this CR as a bridge to an omnibus. It sets the stage for Congress to come together after the election to do an omnibus funding bill for fiscal year 2015,” Mikulski said in a statement. “We held 60 hearings in six weeks and had all 12 of our bills ready to go to the floor. If we don’t pass an omnibus in December, we lose the chance to get value for the taxpayer dollar. Every one of the Appropriations Subcommittee chairs and ranking members made reforms to toughen oversight and eliminate waste. We don’t want to waste the work of the Committee. Instead, tonight’s vote should empower the Appropriators to start negotiating the Omnibus.”
CH2M Hill Announces ‘Restructuring’ Plan, Including Workforce Reductions Mike Nartker CH2M Hill is looking to reduce its workforce by approximately 1,200 people out of 26,000 employees as part of a new restructuring plan that the company said last week is intended to generate approximately $100 million in “operational efficiencies.” The restructuring will entail “a voluntary retirement program, workforce reductions and facilities consolidations,” and is set to be implemented through early 2015, CH2M Hill said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. “These activities are expected to result in pre-tax charges of up to $120 million in the aggregate. In addition, as a result of rationalization of certain lines of business in connection with these restructuring efforts, CH2M HILL also expects to record impairments of goodwill and/or other intangible assets ranging from $30 to $80 million in the aggregate. CH2M HILL expects these restructuring efforts will result in annualized cost savings of $100 to $120 million,” the filing states. The restructuring is necessary, according to a CH2M Hill announcement, because “over the past several years, the corporate structure and overhead of the company has grown in anticipation of a future state that did not materialize. In response, the company is right-sizing its overhead structure in all global operating units to align with the company’s strategy.” In the announcement, CH2M Hill CEO Jacqueline Hinman said, “From time to time, good companies adjust their businesses to the needs of their clients, their markets, and their aspirations. We’ve done this ourselves many times over the years.” She added, “We’re staying true to our values, and channeling the courage and passion our founders had for building a unique company, run by its employees, into the work ahead so we can continue to deliver on our purpose: to lay the foundation for human progress by turning challenges into opportunities.” WRPS Challenges Dept. of Labor Order to Reinstate Former Employee Who Alleged Retaliation DOE Silent on Potential Actions Against ContractorMike Nartker Hanford tank farms contractor Washington River Protection Solutions is challenging a preliminary order from the Department of Labor to reinstate a former employee who has charged she was terminated for raising concerns. Late this week, close to the end of a 30-day deadline, WRPS asked for an administrative law judge to review DOL’s preliminary order that Shelly Doss, a former environmental specialist, be reinstated to her position with back pay and compensatory damages. WRPS confirmed that it has asked for the administrative law judge review, but declined to provide further comment late this week. Doss worked at Hanford from 1988 until the fall of 2011, when she was let go by WRPS. While the contractor said Doss was laid off as part of a workforce restructuring prompted by changing work scope and funding, Doss charged that she her job lost in retaliation for reporting permit violations, recordkeeping errors, and lack of adherence to regulations. In its preliminary order, issued in August, the Labor Department agreed with Doss that she was terminated as an act of retaliation. “There is reasonable cause to believe that Complainant’s protected activities were a motivating and contributing factor in the adverse actions taken against her,” the order said. In its preliminary order, DOL directed WRPS to reinstate Doss with the same pay and benefits she would be receiving had she not been terminated. The Department also directed WRPS to provide Doss with back pay beginning in October 2011 based on her hourly wage of $38.43, as well as compensatory damages of $20,000 for emotional distress, $4,381.32 for out-of-pocket expenses and damages of $10,000 “for the callous disregard of the Complainant’s protected rights.” Since the order was issued, WRPS has not moved to reinstate Doss, and now that the contractor has asked for an administrative law judge review, the preliminary order will be suspended. During the review, both WRPS and Doss will present their cases to the judge. The schedule for the completion of the review is unclear. Lead Contractor in WRPS Subject of Other Retaliation Allegations at Hanford Notably, URS, the lead contractor in WRPS, has been the subject of multiple allegations of retaliating against employees who have raised safety or technical concerns at Hanford. In 2010, Walter Tamosaitis, a URS employee who served as manager of research and technology at the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant, charged he was removed from working on the project after raising safety concerns. Tamosaitis was later laid off altogether by URS last fall. Early this year, URS terminated Donna Busche, who held the position of WTP Environmental and Nuclear Safety Manager and who also has charged she faced retaliation and harassment for raising concerns. Both Tamosaitis and Busche also have whistleblower complaints pending with the Department of Labor. URS, though, has repeatedly denied Tamosaitis’ and Busche’s allegations. DOE Says It Will ‘Continue to Follow This Matter’ In recent years, the Department of Energy has placed an increased emphasis across the complex on the topic of safety culture and whether workers feel comfortable raising safety or technical concerns. Last fall, Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz and Deputy Secretary Daniel Poneman went so far as to issue a memo stressing their “personal commitment” to ensuring a strong safety culture throughout the Department. “Federal, laboratory, and contractor workers have the right to identify and raise issues that affect their safety and health or that of their co-workers openly, and without fear of reprisal. We must not deter, discourage, or penalize employees for the timely identification of safety, health, environmental, quality or security issues, the reporting of illnesses or injuries, or the use of Employee Concerns or Differing Professional Opinion Programs,” Moniz and Poneman wrote. In the wake of another federal agency finding that one of DOE’s contractors had engaged in retaliation against an employee that raised concerns, it remains to be seen what action DOE will take in response. When asked if DOE was considering taking action against WRPS, such as through a fee reduction, a DOE spokesperson said late this week, “The Department was notified that WRPS has objected to the Department of Labor’s Preliminary Order and has requested a hearing in this matter. The Department will continue to follow this matter in the DOL process closely.” ‘War on Whistleblowers’ Continues at Hanford, Watchdog Group Charges DOE’s stance, though, prompted strong criticism this week from Tom Carpenter, executive director of the watchdog group Hanford Challenge and an attorney for Doss. “DOE continues to declare zero-tolerance against reprisal against whistleblowers, but where’s the action to back those words? A sister agency, the Labor Department, conducted a three-year, comprehensive investigation and issued one of the strongest decisions in its history, but DOE has [not] said a word. As usual,” Carpenter said in a written response. Carpenter also criticized WRPS’ decision to appeal the Department of Labor’s order regarding Doss. “At issue here is not only the fate of Shelly Doss, but the ongoing war on whistleblowers at Hanford being waged by Hanford contractors, and countenanced by DOE,” Carpenter said. “Further delay in this case in getting Ms. Doss back to work, after three years of waiting for OSHA to issue a decision, is a further injustice to Ms. Doss and a doubling-down on the messaging to the work-force at Hanford. That message is, ‘Don’t report safety violations, or you might lose your career.’ In light of other recent and highly-publicized firings of Donna Busche and Dr. Walt Tamosaitis, workers at Hanford certainly are getting that message.” Oak Ridge Working Around Storage Issues During WIPP Shutdown Kenneth Fletcher Limited storage capacity is a major hurdle for Oak Ridge’s transuranic waste program during the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant’s current shutdown, and though the site is taking steps to continue progress, it is at risk of missing regulatory milestones. With storage nearing its limit at the site’s TRU Waste Processing Facility, drums are being moved across site to the legacy transuranic waste storage facilities at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Another issue is storage of remote-handled waste, as it is currently at capacity and processing of that waste has stopped for the time being. “We have put together a response plan that maximizes continued progress towards meeting our enforceable regulatory milestones and utilizes the existing resources at the TWPC including the facilities and trained personnel to minimize the lifecycle cost of processing and certifying waste,” Laura Wilkerson of the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Operations Office said earlier this month at this year’s RadWaste Summit. The suspension of operations at WIPP in February happened right at the end of a multi-year pause in shipments at Oak Ridge, during which waste drums piled up in a backlog. Due to funding constraints, in the spring of 2011 WIPP’s Central Characterization Project suspended activities in Oak Ridge. In the meantime, DOE and the contractor took over field characterization activities and prepared packages for shipment. When CCP returned to TWPC in October 2013 there were about 3,000 contact-handled waste drums in storage awaiting certification and shipment. ‘We Have a Need to Renegotiate Those Milestones’ Due to the WIPP shutdown, DOE has notified Tennessee regulators that it may not be able to meet all the regulatory milestones related to processing and certification of transuranic waste under the Oak Ridge Reservation Site Treatment Plan. That includes accomplishing by September 2017 final WIPP certification of all remaining contact-handled and remote-handled waste inventory. “As a result of the WIPP impacts we have a need to renegotiate those milestones. We believe that we have a strong position for good cause for renegotiation and we have begun discussions with the regulators and have notified them both formally and informally of our intent to pursue renegotiation of the milestones,” Wilkerson said. For contact-handled waste, out of an original inventory of 1,500 cubic meters, 96 percent is processed and 68 percent has been shipped offsite for permanent disposal. Remaining waste includes difficult streams. To clear room for additional processing, about 350 drums have been moved so far to the storage facility at ORNL, with more on the way. “We are fortunate that the waste before it is processed at the TWPC is stored at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in facilities that are able to take this waste back if need be, and that’s what we are going to do,” Wilkerson said. RH Will Be Moved to Overpacks For remote-handled waste, DOE is looking to procure concrete overpacks to store the material. “There is approximately 50 percent of the RH inventory that remains that is associated with high neutron dose and we need to use the 72-B canisters with poly shield to be able to control those doses and store the material,” Wilkerson said. “But we are continuing to evaluate a hybrid option for the other 50 percent of the inventory that is associated with gamma radiation by using shielded overpacks to be able to treat the material as contact-handled because this would allow flexibility when we start up for us to be able to resume shipment of RH in case they have limitations in that regard.” The financial impact will depend on the length of the WIPP outage. “In the near term the most significant impact, which we believe is relatively low compared to the annual operating cost at the TWPC, is the deployment of the new RH storage capability,” Wilkerson said. “In order to mitigate that we have structured the response plan to have minimal impact in ’14 and ’15.” The storage containers will be procured on an as-needed basis to avoid procurement of more than are needed. DOE Looking at Baseline Changes in TWPC Procurement DOE is also in the midst of a new procurement for running the TWPC, as the contract for incumbent Wastren Advantage ends in January. “We are implementing changes to the current baseline and possibly contracting response to the WIPP suspension,” Wilkerson said. “So the challenge here is we are going to have to transition to a new contractor at a critical time of change and uncertainty for the new program.” ‘Unique Combination’ Of Materials in Breached WIPP Drum Found in Second Container Kenneth Fletcher A second transuranic waste drum in the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant underground contains a “unique combination” of materials, including a discarded glove, that is believed to have contributed to a reaction and radiation release at WIPP, a Los Alamos National Laboratory official said this week. Only two remediated drums have that combination: the breached drum in WIPP’s Panel 7 thought to be the source of the Feb. 14 radiation release, and another undamaged drum currently stored in WIPP’s Panel 6, LANL WIPP Recovery Leader Terry Wallace said this week at a New Mexico Radioactive and Hazardous Materials Committee meeting. But the two drums are not completely identical in makeup and may vary in pH, officials say. The breached drum was one of a group of drums remediated at LANL for disposal at WIPP. The Department of Energy has not been able to identify the root cause of the radiation release that has shut down operations at WIPP, though a DOE investigation board is spearheading that effort using analysis from LANL. The suspect drum, which was processed at LANL, includes a mix of organic kitty litter that could act as fuel and sodium nitrate that could be an oxidizer, along with a “unique combination of acids, salts, metals and organics,” according to a copy of Wallace’s presentation. But the reaction would need temperatures as high as 300 Celsius to lead to a reaction, and so far LANL has not been able to pinpoint what may have triggered the event. “We can explain energetic reactions, but not initiation,” the presentation states. A total of 678 remediated drums have a mixture of nitrate salts, organic absorbent and metal impurities, though that large group has been narrowed down, according to Wallace’s presentation. Out of that group, 16 have absorbed liquid with a low pH, eight of those have absorbed organic liquid neutralizer and two of those contain a discarded glovebox glove. The initial large group is stored at various locations: 508 are in WIPP Panels 6 and 7, while 57 are still at LANL and 113 drums had been moved to the Waste Control Specialists’ facility in Texas for temporary storage before LANL drums were suspected of contributing to the release. DOE: Second Drum Not a ‘Sibling’ However, the second drum in Panel 6 is not a “sibling” drum to the breached drum, according to a DOE statement. “We are still investigating the cause of the reaction in Panel 7 and evaluating the potential risks posed by other drums,” DOE said in a statement. “DOE continues to focus on implementing the Nitrate Salt Bearing Waste Isolation Plan to avoid potential risks of any drums from the waste stream currently under investigation. Safety of the WIPP workforce is our highest priority and all safety measures are being taken to protect them.” DOE-LANL Implementing Isolation Plan The isolation plan was developed in response to an Administrative Order by the New Mexico Environment Department, which required the expedited closure of WIPP Panels 6 and 7 in order to isolate the suspect drums. For the waste at WCS, officials are “pursuing alternatives for processing and disposition,” according to Wallace’s presentation. The 57 drums at LANL will undergo additional processing at the Lab’s Waste Characterization, Reduction and Repackaging Facility. There are several options for those drums, which all involve adding zeolite, a mineral that absorbs the contaminants, and grouting the material in place to prevent any potential reactions. The drums would need to be repackaged to make room for the cement grout, which would ultimately result in a higher number of total drums. As investigations continue, NMED has made clear that the root cause of the event must be identified before operations can resume at WIPP. While officials have not painted a clear picture of how the reaction occurred, Wallace noted in the presentation that “LANL did not consider the chemical reactions that unique combinations of radionuclides, acids, salts, metals, liquids and organics might create.” DOE Moving Forward With New Contract to Manage NRC-Licensed Facilities at Idaho Jeremy L. Dillon The Department of Energy announced this week that it plans to issue in the next 15-to-45 days a draft Request for Proposals for a new contract to manage Nuclear Regulatory Commission-licensed facilities at the Idaho site, as well as the Fort St. Vrain facility. The new contract would cover the Fort St. Vrain facility; the Three Mile Island-2 (TMI-2) ISFSI facility at the Idaho Nuclear Technology and Engineering Center (INTEC) in Idaho; and the Idaho Spent Fuel Facility (ISFF) license. DOE also announced tentative plans to hold a pre-solicitation conference, site tour and industry one-on-one sessions for the new contact the week of Oct. 13. The new contract is being set-aside for small businesses, and is expected to run for up to five years, consisting of a four-year base period and one one-year option period. The new contract is set to be a Firm-Fixed-Price contract that includes a Cost Reimbursable contract line item (CLIN), according to DOE. DOE said it plans to issue the final RFP in the first quarter of the 2015 government fiscal year, with an award date of the fourth quarter of 2015.
Senate Absent From Strategic Forces ‘Pre-Conference’ NDAA Talks Todd Jacobson With work on the Fiscal Year 2015 Defense Authorization Act pushed back until after the November Congressional elections, House and Senate Armed Services Committee members began meeting this week for “pre-conference” talks, but Senate authorizers were absent when House members of the Strategic Forces subcommittee gather for discussions. According to Congressional aides, Senate authorizers didn’t participate in the Strategic Forces “pre-conference” talks Sept. 18 because of a scheduling conflict. House Armed Services Committee spokesman John Noonan declined to comment on the talks, and the office of Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.), the chairman of the Senate Strategic Forces Subcommittee, did not respond to a request for comment. The House passed its version of the FY 2015 NDAA this summer, but the Senate hasn’t acted despite hope that the chamber could take up the bill this month. That leaves the lame duck period after the elections for lawmakers to conference on the bill, and this week’s “pre-conference” talks were designed as a way to engage lawmakers as the conference process begins. The talks are just preliminary, aides said, and the idea is not to have members commit to anything in particular. “Ideally you want to have everyone but either way it’s an opportunity for members to participate and be engaged and focus on issues that are important to them,” one Congressional aide told WC Monitor. The Strategic Forces talks are expected to draw House Republicans and Democrats, but without Senators there, it’s unclear how valuable the discussions will be. Congressional aides said the idea for the talks germinated with House members, and any effort to get them engaged early would prove valuable during formal conference discussions. ConverDyn Moves for Summary Judgment in Uranium Transfer Case Kenneth Fletcher Uranium conversion services company ConverDyn late last week filed a motion for summary judgment in a case that aims to limit the Department of Energy’s ability to transfer stocks of excess uranium to help pay for activities such as D&D work at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant. ConverDyn has argued that DOE’s transfers violate requirements that the Department prevent significant impacts to the domestic uranium industry. In its motion for summary judgment, ConverDyn is asking the U.S. District Court for D.C. to vacate the May 15, 2014, DOE Secretarial determination on the sale and transfer of uranium, as well as to block any transfers that would go above the Department’s previously self-imposed cap of 10 percent of the annual domestic nuclear fuel requirement. ConverDyn’s motion would also vacate DOE’s 2013 Excess Uranium Inventory Management Plan. CoverDyn’s latest motion comes after the Court denied in July its request for a preliminary injunction to prevent DOE from moving ahead with the transfers while the suit was pending. DOE’s recent decision to boost its uranium transfers to up to 15 percent of the domestic fuel market from a self-imposed cap of 10 percent will challenge ConverDyn’s long-term viability, according to the company, which believes that under federal law DOE is required to ensure that its uranium transfers will not have an adverse material impact on the U.S. nuclear industry. ConverDyn said its business is crucial as the only domestic supplier of uranium conversion services, which prepares mined uranium “yellowcake” into a form suitable for nuclear fuel. ConverDyn: DOE Transfers Damage Industry Earlier this year, ConverDyn filed a lawsuit claiming that its business will suffer “irreparable harm” if transfers go forward. “The USEC Privatization Act (the “Act”) bars DOE from selling or transferring uranium if the sales or transfers would materially harm the domestic uranium mining, conversion, or enrichment industries,” states last week’s motion. “Yet, contrary to the Act, DOE has authorized and is making uranium transfers that are damaging the already-fragile domestic conversion market by displacing sales, depressing prices, increasing costs, and eliminating jobs.” UPA Supporting ConverDyn Motion The Uranium Producers of America, which represents uranium miners, has also weighed in support of ConverDyn’s motion for summary judgment. “By ignoring critical facts and actually worsening the uranium price decline, the Secretarial Determination violated DOE’s statutory duty to protect the domestic industry from an ‘adverse material impact,’” the UPA wrote in a brief of amicus curiae filed Sept. 12 in the Court. The UPA said DOE’s Secretarial Determination is “arbitrary and capricious” in determining that the transfers won’t negatively impact the industry because it contradicts evidence, such as a study DOE commissioned by the firm Energy Resources International. “This evidence includes the ERI’s 2014 economic study on the impacts of DOE’s proposed transfers, input provided by UPA and other industry stakeholders, and past pronouncements from the Department itself,” the UPA brief states. DOE: Case Would Effectively Halt Portsmouth, HEU Work DOE has previously said that if the transfers were halted there would be a big impact on cleanup work at Portsmouth and nonproliferation work such as the Highly Enriched Uranium downblend program, which are funded in part by the transfers. “Plaintiff has not provided sufficient financial information for the court to make an informed determination of whether ConverDyn’s lost profits are a significant injury in light of its total revenue,” DOE said in a July 7 filing. “By contrast, the injury to DOE’s programs, will be immediate and severe.” Both the Portsmouth and HEU work would “effectively come to a halt” if the transfers were stopped, DOE said. In the May Secretarial Determination, DOE said its transfer plans would not have a material impact on the domestic uranium industry—a position the Department has continued to stand by. “Plaintiff has not offered any reason to question the reasonableness of that conclusion or the analysis that informed it,” DOE said in its July 7 filing. “The relatively small size of DOE’s proposed transfer compared to global uranium supply was an important element of DOE’s ultimate conclusion that the transfers would not have a ‘material’ impact.” DOE Submits Plan to DNFSB to Upgrade Tank Farm VentilationWC Monitor The Department of Energy has submitted reports on upgrading ventilation for Hanford’s double-shell tanks and new examination technologies in response to a Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board recommendation on flammable gas safety at the tank farms. “This report proposes using portable exhausters with self-contained generator units to provide the necessary air flow when the flammable gas hazard exists and the DST primary tank ventilation system is inoperable,” DOE said in a Sept 10 letter to the DNFSB. The portable exhauster units would cost $10.8 million and take 20 months to implement, according to a rough order of magnitude estimate included in the report. The Department also submitted a report on several types of non-destructive examination technologies. “The report also includes advantages and disadvantages of the technologies in view of the configuration of the ventilation ducts and lengths of duct runs in the various double-shell tank (DST) primary ventilation systems,” states a Sept. 10 letter accompanying that report. However, DOE’s Office of River Protection has not yet completed its evaluation of the proposed approach and proposed inspection technologies, which both are slated for completion in early Fiscal Year 2015, according to the letter. DOE also recently delayed completion of seven deliverables in its implementation plan for a time period of between 6 and 18 months. More Contractors Shift to Four-Day Work WeekWC Monitor Two more of the major Hanford contractors switched to four-day work weeks starting this week. Employees are working 10 hours a day Monday through Thursday with Fridays off at Washington River Protection Solutions and Mission Support Alliance. Together they employ about 3,300 workers. CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co. went to the four-day work schedule in February and Washington Closure Hanford has been on that schedule for years. The remaining large Hanford prime contractor, Bechtel National, uses a combination of the same schedule for construction workers, but many office workers based in Richland, Wash., continue to work a schedule that comes to 80 hours over two weeks with every other Friday off. Washington River Protection Solutions polled its workers and then switched to the new schedule that was their preference at the Hanford tank farms. Mission Support Alliance switched to the schedule to be available when most other workers were at Hanford. It provides support services across the site. Leak in ORNL Research Reactor Fuel Pool Still Under InvestigationWC Monitor More than a week after a leak was discovered at an old research reactor at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the investigating team is still trying to pinpoint the location and come up with a plan to fix it. The Department of Energy’s Office of Environment Management and URS-CH2M Oak Ridge, LLC, the site cleanup contractor, are heading the team evaluating the conditions at the Oak Ridge Research Reactor, which has been shut down since the 1980s. DOE spokesman Mike Koentop said this week that the leak—earlier estimated at 100 drops per minute—remains constant and does not pose a threat to the public or the environment. “Several” subject-matter experts are part of the team coordinating day-to-day activities and dedicated to finding the problem and fixing it, Koentop said. “They are conducting facility walk-downs every two hours to monitor the leak, and in the coming days plan to lower an underwater camera into the pool to collect video of the physical condition of the pool liner and contents,” Koentop said in an email response to questions. He added, “Staff are evaluating current leak-detection technologies and repair alternatives, including underwater construction repairs and self-seeking sealant repairs, and will also submerge a dose-rate meter into the reactor pool to obtain current dose rates of the irradiated components, wall liners, and pool floor.” On Sept. 18, Koentop said chemical operators had restarted a recirculation loop in the reactor pool which had earlier been shut down to better evaluate the changes under a “static condition.” He added: “The pool recirculation loop keeps the water moving and mixing in the pool to maintain uniform water chemistry.” Koentop also said a “technology evaluation team” had been established to review alternatives for repairing the seep at the reactor pool or removing the irradiated metals stored in the pool, which would eliminate the need for the reactor pool to be kept filled with water. He said a camera and radiation monitor will be lowered into the pool over the weekend to better assess conditions. Other Facilities to be Examined The problem at the Oak Ridge Research Reactor has also prompted UCOR to take a look at other facilities with potentially similar issues, including the nearby Bulk Shielding Reactor – another reactor that has been shut down for decades. Koentop said UCOR also is looking at liquid storage tanks, because of their age, to make sure such leaks don’t develop there. WC Monitor IN DOE The Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board will meet in late October in Augusta, Ga. to discuss the Department of Energy’s activities at the Savannah River Site. “Topics that will be discussed at the meeting include issues related to storage of DOE SNF at the L Basin at SRS, alternatives for dry storage of DOE SNF at SRS, processing of DOE SNF, and issues related to aging of the facilities involved in these operations,” the NWTRB said in a release. “The Board will also discuss vitrification of HLW and the storage of the vitrified waste, including production rates for HLW canisters and plans for a new vitrified waste storage facility.” IN THE INDUSTRY All pending legal challenges to AECOM’s planned acquisition of URS have been dismissed, according to a URS filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission this week. Beginning in late July, seven class action lawsuits were filed against the planned acquisition, and by Aug. 5, six of the suits had been voluntarily dismissed, according to the filing. On Sept. 3, the plaintiffs in the last pending case—Sheet Metal Workers Local No. 33 Cleveland District Pension Plan v. URS Corp—also filed a notice of voluntary dismissal. AECOM and URS expect to complete the acquisition in October, with the new combined company to begin operations in early 2015.
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Wrap up: EM removes uranium mill tailings near Moab; SRPPF new gloveboxes; Holtec pauses fuel loading at Palisades
The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management has removed 17 million tons of uranium mill tailings from the banks of the Colorado River near Moab, Utah, the agency said in a newsletter this week. Since 2009, crews have transported the tailings by rail to an engineered disposal cell about 30 miles away in Crescent […]
