Mike Nartker and Kenneth Fletcher
WC Monitor
9/19/2014
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:
DOE Richland Operations Office
DOE Office of River Protection
CH2M-WG Idaho (Idaho Cleanup Project)
Idaho Treatment Group (Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project)
DOE Oak Ridge Operations Office
URS-CH2M Oak Ridge, LLC
Isotek Systems (Uranium-233 Disposition Project)
Wastren Advantage (Oak Ridge Transuranic Waste Processing Center)
DOE Savannah River Operations Office
DOE Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office
Nuclear Waste Partnership (Waste Isolation Pilot Plant M&O Contractor)
West Valley Demonstration Project
Moab Uranium Mill Tailings Removal Project
Separations Process Research Unit (SPRU)
Energy Technology Engineering Center (ETEC)
