Environmental Management Update: News from around the former nuclear weapons complex
October/November 2006
Department of Energy facilities across the country have been creating notable news stories of late. Below, learn more about recent activities, accomplishments, and mishaps:
November 6, 2006
Hanford board questions tanks' capability, Tri-City Herald
HOOD RIVER, Ore. -- The Hanford Advisory Board is looking for scientific evidence that the nuclear reservation's newest underground tanks for radioactive waste will last long enough to see the waste turned into a stable glass form. The Department of Energy continues to work to move 53 million gallons of radioactive and hazardous chemical waste from leak-prone single-shell tanks to newer double-shell tanks. The waste will be held there until it can be treated.
http://www.tri-cityherald.com/tch/local/story/8382446p-8277736c.html
November 6, 2006
Columbia Business Journal/Achievements, The State.com (SC)
The Department of Energy announced that the Savannah River Site has stabilized the last of radioactive materials required to be cleaned up by the federal government. About 1,600 gallons of radioactive neptunium were the last of hundreds of thousands of gallons of materials the Energy Department needed to securely store as recommended by the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board.
http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/business/15939592.htm
November 5, 2006
Cleanup complete for former RMI plant, The Star Beacon
ASHTABULA TOWNSHIP - - Clean up is complete at the former RMI plant at 1601 E. 21st St., just east of Route 11, officials at Lata-Sharp Remediation Services and the Ohio Department of Health said Friday. Since 1998, about $139 million was spent to clean up this seven-acre site. RMI owns 13 of 25 buildings and the Department of Energy owns the remaining 12. The site supported titanium extrusion operations from 1962 to 1988 for the Department of Energy defense programs.
http://www.starbeacon.com/local/local_story_309173543
November 5, 2006
Savannah River Site may house champion tree, Tuscaloosa News
It was raining when Caleb Hickman, Tom Luhring and I left the Savannah River Ecology Lab last week on a field trip to a swamp along the river. We were on a mission: to find the biggest overcup oak tree in the state. Overcup oaks get their name because the cap of their acorns completely surrounds the nuts. These are among the larger species of oaks. Two in the Congaree National Park, near Columbia, S.C., are both about 51/2 feet in diameter and share the national size record. We walked for an hour after we reached the magnificent floodplain of Upper Three Runs Creek.
http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061105/NEWS/611050374/1027/EDITORIAL
November 4, 2006
Non-radioactive spill at SRS temporarily shuts down highway, The Ledger-Enquirer
NEW ELLENTON, S.C. - A non-radioactive spill at the Savannah River Site's waste processing facility caused a temporary shutdown Saturday of a highway that runs through the site, authorities said. An operational emergency was declared at 10:39 a.m. after 1,500 gallons of formic acid spilled at the Defense Waste Processing Facility, the Washington Savannah River Co. said in a release. The facility is where liquid radioactive waste is converted into solid glass for long-term storage and disposal, according to the SRS Web site. A concrete dike contained the spill. No injuries were reported, the company said.
http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/ledgerenquirer/news/local/15931162.htm
October 31, 2006
Fluor declares Fernald, Ohio cleanup complete, Fluor Press Release
CINCINNATI, Oct 31, 2006 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Fluor Corporation (NYSE: FLR) announced that Fluor Fernald, the contractor responsible for the environmental cleanup and restoration of the 1,050-acre former Fernald uranium production plant, presented the United States Department of Energy (DOE) with its declaration of physical completion on October 29, 2006. The DOE owns the site, which played a critical role in the U.S. nuclear weapons program, and is now reviewing the submittal to validate the reasonableness of Fluor Fernald's declaration. The massive environmental cleanup was carried out in accordance with Records of Decision developed by U.S. and Ohio EPA, DOE and local communities. The Records of Decision are legally binding agreements that directed site cleanup and established final remediation standards for each part of the project.
http://investor.fluor.com/releaseDetail.cfm?ReleaseID=216696
October 31, 2006
Fernald cleanup completed, Cincinnati Enquirer
CROSBY TWP. - The contractor in charge of cleaning up a Cold War-era uranium foundry said Monday that the 10-year, $4.4 billion project to clean up the site northwest of Cincinnati is done. The U.S. Department of Energy now has 14 business days to review the work to see if it meets standards, said Johnny Reising, who is overseeing the project for the federal agency. About 70 workers stapled anti-erosion netting to a 15-acre waste disposal cell to complete work Sunday, said Con Murphy, a project director for Fluor Fernald.
http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061031/NEWS01/610310397/1077/COL02
October 30, 2006
Energy Department still delaying; area citizens should get involved, The Columbian (Editorial)
Two years ago, state voters told the federal government to clean up the mess at Hanford Nuclear Reservation near Richland before making a potentially bigger mess by adding even more nuclear waste to the site. Unfortunately, despite overwhelming voter support, Initiative 297 lacked the legal clout to make the feds accountable for cleaning up what Heart of America Northwest calls "the most polluted place in the Western Hemisphere." So the government continues considering proposals to ship more waste to Hanford and to restart a nuclear reactor that was being decommissioned under the Hanford Clean-up Agreement. The agreement is about as good as the tanks that have leaked more than a million gallons of radioactive waste into our environment: completely broken.
http://www.columbian.com/printArticle.cfm?story=71755
October 29, 2006
Hanford cleanup plan timeline may be stalled, Tri-City Herald
Major deadlines for coming up with a cleanup plan for contaminated soil and ground water protection in the center of Hanford would be delayed three years under proposed changes to the legally binding Tri-Party Agreement. But that's a good thing, say Hanford clean-up advocates. The changes are being proposed because of public and regulator comments that more should be known about what chemicals and radioactive constituents contaminating central Hanford before clean up is done. "Basically it will allow more time to characterize some of the more complex waste sites to support clean up decisions," said Craig Cameron, an Environmental Protection Agency scientist.
http://www.tri-cityherald.com/tch/local/story/8356259p-8251747c.html
October 29, 2006
Rocky Flats museum could be opened by 2009, Rocky Mountain News
GOLDEN — Backers of a proposed museum on the site of the former Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant have begun collecting artifacts to fill the space, including a ''resistance'' teepee erected in 1978 over railroad tracks at the site. The teepee, which could become a centerpiece of the Rocky Flats Cold War Museum, was presented Saturday to about 75 people who gathered to discuss plans for the 15,000-square-foot building. Construction could begin in 2008, and the museum could open by 2009.
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5103369,00.html
October 26, 2006
Hanford workers vacuum up sludge, Seattle Times
RICHLAND — Workers at south-central Washington's Hanford nuclear reservation have finished vacuuming radioactive sludge from one of two basins near the Columbia River. The K East and K West basins were built in the 1950s to store spent nuclear fuel. Workers completed the removal of 2,300 tons of spent nuclear fuel from both basins in 2004 but found removal of radioactive sludge that was left on the basin floors more difficult. The pools have been prone to leaks, making cleanup a priority. "It's been a lot tougher going than anyone expected," said Colleen French, spokeswoman for the Energy Department. "So reaching this point is a major, major accomplishment." The work completed by Fluor Hanford meets an Oct. 31 commitment to the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, but that followed a string of missed deadlines.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003323602_hanford26.html
October 26, 2006
Worker complaints draw changes, Tri-City Herald
Washington Closure Hanford is making changes after an independent review found some workers were leery of raising safety issues or slowing work to correct safety problems. The Department of Energy hired a consultant to interview workers about the Hanford contractor's safety culture after it received about 50 worker complaints during the contractor's first 13 months of work to clean up the Columbia River corridor. More than half of the complaints were made anonymously. "We're troubled by what the investigation turned up, but we're encouraged Washington Closure has acknowledged the problems and is taking corrective actions," said Colleen French, spokeswoman for DOE at Hanford. "There is no project, no deadline, no milestone out here that is more important than the safety of the work force."
http://www.tri-cityherald.com/tch/local/story/8344316p-8240184c.html
October 23, 2006
DOE's Rocky Flats cleanup site named 2006 Project of the Year, DOE Press Release
WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced that the Project Management Institute (PMI) has awarded its 2006 Project of the Year to DOE’s Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site. The award was presented to DOE contractor Kaiser-Hill, LLC during the PMI Global Congress Dinner 2006 on Saturday, October 21st, 2006 in Seattle, Washington. “It is a great honor for the Department of Energy’s Rocky Flats safe cleanup and closure effort to be recognized with this prestigious award,” James Rispoli, Assistant Secretary of Energy for Environmental Management. “As the largest DOE nuclear weapons facility cleanup project completed to date, we are applying what we learned at Rocky Flats to more than a dozen other sites expected to safely close in the next three years.”
http://www.energy.gov/news/4398.htm
October 12, 2006
Contract awarded for Mound's final cleanup, Dayton Daily News
MIAMISBURG — The Energy Department has awarded a $25.9 million contract to an Idaho company for the final cleanup of the Mound plant in Miamisburg, the agency announced Thursday. Accelerated Remediation Co. of Idaho Falls, Idaho will clean up two contaminated areas on the former nuclear weapons plant, which is being converted to an industrial business park. "We are quite pleased that Accelerated Remediation Company is joining us for this project and look forward to the day this final piece of the cleanup is finished and we can declare victory," DOE Ohio Field Office Manager Bill Taylor said in a prepared statement.
http://www.daytondailynews.com/n/content/oh/story/news/local/2006/10/12/ddn101206moundweb.html
October 9, 2006
DOE hopes to save tainted pond, Knoxville News Sentinel
OAK RIDGE - To save a pond. The Department of Energy has proposed an unusual and elaborate strategy, loosely termed "ecological enhancement," to comply with environmental laws and reduce the risks at a 25-acre pond laden with polychlorinated biphenyls. The pond is on the outskirts of the East Tennessee Technology Park, the former K-25 uranium-enrichment plant, which is being converted to private uses. Before DOE turns over the deed to the sprawling plant site, the federal agency is obligated to clean up the place, and that includes the holding pond known officially as K-1007-P1. Instead of using a traditional "muck-and-truck" cleanup approach - draining, dredging and filling the pond with dirt - DOE wants to keep the pond and revise the aquatic habitat and inhabitants.
http://www.knoxnews.com/kns/local_news/article/0,1406,KNS_347_5052667,00.html
October 3, 2006
Agreement sets stage for Flats' upcoming life as wildlife refuge, The Pueblo Chieftan Online
DENVER - An agreement signed Friday declaring Rocky Flats ready to be removed from the Superfund sets the stage for the bulk of the former nuclear weapons plant to be turned into a national wildlife refuge. The $7 billion cleanup of the 6,200-acre site 16 miles northwest of Denver was completed last year, years and billions of dollars short of original projections. The record of decision signed by the Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency and Colorado officials signals that the area is considered cleaned up and not a danger to the public and environment, said Frazer Lockhart, manager of the DOE’s Rocky Flats office. The next steps are approval of a plan detailing the DOE’s long-term monitoring and management of the 1,600-acre core where plutonium triggers were produced for nuclear weapons and the transfer of about 4,900 acres to the Department of Interior to manage as a wildlife refuge. ‘‘This really marks the end of the regulatory process for the cleanup of the site,’’ Lockhart said.
http://www.chieftain.com/business/1159855200/4
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