WRPS announces community contributions
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Small businesses benefit from WRPS subcontracts
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MARS Begins Operation
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WRPS Names New Project Operations Manager
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John Robinson named Management & Operations Procurement Director of the Year
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WRPS Receives DOE Environmental Award for Recovery Act Work
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Hanford Tank Farm Employees Work 3 Million Hours Without A Lost Workday Injury
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Improved Access to Hanford Single Shell Tank will Speed Radioactive Waste Removal
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Retrievals Begin on Another Hanford Single-Shell Tank C-111
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Hanford’s Evaporator Restarts
After a series of upgrades and improvements, Hanford’s only nuclear processing facility, the 242-A Evaporator, began an operating campaign this weekend...
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Washington River Protection Solutions donates $450,000 to WSU Tri-Cities
Washington River Protection Solutions, a prime Hanford contractor, donated $450,000 to Washington State University Tri-Cities to help maintain its science and engineering programs.
International Academy of the Visual Arts Honors WRPS
The International Academy of the Visual Arts has given its 2010 Communicator Award of Distinction to a magazine article written by Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) Senior Communications Specialist Mike Berriochoa.
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WRPS Donation Helps Hanford Patrol Curb Distracted Drivers
Washington River Protection Solutions, a prime contractor to the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of River Protection, will be donating its award-winning Safety & Health EXPO interactive display, Losing Traction by Distraction!, to the Hanford Patrol. For complete press release, click the link below:
Hanford Tank Cleanup Update April 2010
Reinvestment Act Funds Construction of Hanford’s Second Tank Farm Interim Barrier
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Retrievals Begin on Another Hanford Single-Shell Tank
Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS), a prime contractor for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of River Protection, has started retrieving radioactive and chemical waste from another of Hanford’s aging single-shell tanks, making it the 12th such tank to undergo waste retrieval.
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Arc of Tri-Cities Capital Campaign
WRPS donates $100,000The Arc is pleased to announce the generous donation from WRPS for $100,000.
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Washington River Protection Solutions donates $500,000 to WSU Tri-Cities, CBC
WRPS announced today $500,000 in contributions to benefit local higher education programs.
Local Small Business Benefit from WRPS Subcontracts, Recovery Act Work
News_Release_WRPS_small_business_subcontracts_11-19-09.pdf
Robotic Arm to Speed Hanford Tank Waste Removal
Hanford, Washington – Testing is under way at Hanford on a new piece of equipment that, for the first time, will give tank operations personnel a single tool that will remove waste from Hanford’s aging single-shell tanks.
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WRPS Completes Removal of Waste Transfer Lines in Two Hanford Tank Farms
Hanford, Washington – U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of River Protection (ORP) contractor, Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) has met its commitment to remove eleven waste transfer lines from two Hanford tank farms by Sept. 30.
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WRPS Year-End Safety Statistics Show Significant Improvement
WRPS year end safety statistics show significant improvementRichland, WA – Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS), the Hanford Tank Operations Contractor, has achieved a substantial reduction in worker injuries during its first year at Hanford.
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Hanford Tank Cleanup Update September 2009
Overview of Hanford Tank Operations Contractor Activities.
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Updated EMS policy
Department of Energy Praised for Protecting Hanford Workers
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John Britton, WRPS, (509) 376-5561
242-A Evaporator Campaign Creates 940,000 Gallons of Hanford Double-Shell Tank Storage Capacity
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Upgraded 242-A Evaporator Begins Processing Two Million Gallons of Hanford Tank Waste
Hanford's only nuclear processing facility, the 242-A Evaporator, has begun an operating campaign that will process more than two million gallons of high-level radioactive waste from two double-shell storage tanks. Processing the waste to remove excess water will create more than 900,000 gallons of additional storage space in Hanford's double-shell storage tanks for waste transferred from aging single-shell tanks.
The evaporator's last waste processing campaigns were in 2007, when it reduced the waste volume in the double-shell tanks by more than 1.2 million gallons. A series of upgrades to the evaporator have since been completed. Upgrades include modernizing the ventilation system, updating the monitoring and control system and rebuilding one of two main pumps.
"The 242-A Evaporator is critical to the safe and timely cleanup of the Hanford site," said Rebecca Raven, the 242-A Facility Operations Manager for Washington River Protection Solutions, the Hanford tank operations contractor. "It's our job to make storage space in the double-shell tanks. Without the evaporator, we would have no storage space and, without storage space, we can't retrieve waste from the old single-shell tanks. That's why it is so critical to upgrade and maintain the facility."
In the evaporator, liquid tank waste is heated under vacuum so it will evaporate at a temperature of about 125 degrees F. Water vapor from the boiling waste is captured, condensed, filtered, sampled and sent to the nearby Liquid Effluent Retention Facility for further treatment and disposal. The concentrated waste is returned to the double-shell tanks.
Since it began operating in 1977, the 242-A Evaporator has reduced the total volume of waste in Hanford's tanks by 66 million gallons - the equivalent volume of 66 double-shell tanks - helping avoid the cost of building new storage tanks at Hanford.
The evaporator was originally expected to operate for about 10 years, but several upgrades have kept the facility operating safely for more than 30 years. Major upgrades completed in 1987 extended the evaporator's life to 2010. Additional upgrades, completed between 1989 and 2004, further extended the facility's life to 2018. A series of additional upgrades now under way will keep the facility operational until 2035.
Alan Carvo (509) 373-3885
Environmental Management System
Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) has developed and is in the process of implementing the WRPS Environmental Management System (EMS). The EMS is a tool that will be used by WRPS for developing, maintaining, reviewing and improving its approach to addressing environmental issues. EMS is the structured approach which incorporates environmental considerations into day-to-day operations throughout WRPS and is designed to promote “continual environmental improvement.” View our EMS Policy here.
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Second Expert Panel Workshop on Single-Shell Tank Integrity
Single-Shell Tank Integrity WorkshopThe second Expert Panel Workshop on Single-Shell Tank Integrity was convened on January 26-28, 2009. Presentations are now available.
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Hanford Tank Cleanup Update
January 2009Hanford Tank Cleanup Update. PDF Brochure
Waste Retrieval Operations Resume In Eleventh Single-Shell Tank at Hanford
Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) has resumed removal and transfer of waste from another of Hanford’s aging single-shell underground waste storage tanks. Waste retrieval from tank C-110 halted in September 2008 to allow for modifications within and to the double-shell waste receiving/storage tank AN-106. Retrieval is restarting approximately six months ahead of schedule. This is the first waste retrieval campaign since WRPS assumed responsibility for the Hanford Tank Operations Contract on Oct. 1, 2008.
“Everyone involved in this project did an outstanding job preparing for it and are committed to the safe and efficient removal of the waste from this tank,” said Mark Lindholm, WRPS single-shell tanks retrieval and closure manager.
Tank C-110 is one of 16 tanks located in C Farm in the 200 East Area near the center of the 586- square-mile Hanford Site. It is a 530,000 gallon tank, built in 1946, and currently holds approximately 126,000 gallons of sludge and other radioactive and chemical waste materials.
Waste from C-110 is being transferred to storage in tank AN-106, a newer and safer double-shell tank. The waste is being moved through temporary, above-ground hose-in-hose transfer lines to the double-shell tank approximately 900 feet away. The above-ground transfer lines meet environmental regulations and avoid the high cost of installing permanent infrastructure.
Retrieval of waste from C-110 is expected to take approximately four months.
Retrieval resumed earlier than originally planned thanks to the innovative efforts of WRPS engineers. Sludges were building up on the bottom of AN-106 and threatening the ability of the pump to re-circulate liquids used in emptying C-110. A two-piece collar was devised to raise the pump above the solid material, which avoided the cost and time involved to replace it.
Retrieval is being conducted with a number of improvements intended to enhance safety and environmental protection. Changes include the installation of improved methods to detect small waste leaks along the waste retrieval transfer route. This includes not only detection but also being able to visually verify the post-leak conditions prior to sending people into the area.
Tank C-110 is the eleventh single-shell tank at Hanford to undergo retrieval, which is being accomplished using a technique known as modified sluicing. This technique uses high-pressure nozzles to spray the waste with liquid to dissolve it or otherwise break it up and move it to a pump for removal.
“This is a well-proven technique to retrieve waste from these tanks. Everything we do is focused on worker safety and protection of the environment and this job is no exception,” said Bill Johnson, WRPS president and project manager.
WRPS, a company owned by URS Corporation and EnergySolutions, is a prime contractor to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of River Protection and is responsible for reducing the risk posed by the waste stored in Hanford’s aging underground tanks. The waste is contained in 149 single-shell tanks, many of which date back to the beginning of the Hanford Site during World War II. There are also 28 newer, safer double-shell tanks.
“Removing the waste from the single-shell tanks and upgrading the aging infrastructure in the tank farms is a top priority for the Department of Energy, a necessary step to protect the Columbia River, and key to providing tank waste feed to the Hanford vitrification plant in 2019,” said Office of River Protection Manager Shirley J. Olinger. “In preparing to resume this important work at Hanford, our team demonstrated a commitment to safety, efficiency, innovation and cost effectiveness.”
To date seven single-shell tanks have been emptied. The Washington State Department of Ecology has determined that six meet the retrieval criteria established in the Tri-Party Agreement which governs Hanford cleanup. The other tank is under review. Waste retrieval operations have begun in three other single-shell tanks in addition to C-110.
Washington River Protection Solutions pledges $1 million to Hanford Reach Interpretive Center
RICHLAND , Washington – Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS), the company recently selected to take over remediation of underground waste tanks at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Hanford Site, has pledged $1 million to the Hanford Reach Interpretive Center (http://visitthereach.org/) to fund construction and educational exhibits for this world class facility to be built on Columbia Point.
The gift was announced at a ceremony in Richland this morning. The pledge will be paid over the next five years.
"Washington River Protection Solutions is excited about helping so grand a project as The Reach move closer to the day it opens its doors and begins to share stories of our community and region,” said WRPS President and Project Manager Bill Johnson. “The Reach’s integration of education, environmental stewardship and economic development activities is a great match with our company’s goals for investment in the community.”
Washington River Protection Solutions (www.wrpstoc.com) is a company formed by the Washington Division of URS Corporation and EnergySolutions with AREVA serving as a dedicated subcontractor. It was awarded the Hanford tank farm operations contract in May by the Department of Energy and assumes responsibility for the project Oct. 1. The WRPS team will be responsible for safely retrieving, treating, storing and disposing of Hanford ’s tank farm waste and closing underground tanks to protect the Columbia River.
The Reach is a $40.5 million, 61,000-square-foot facility designed to serve as a gateway to the Hanford Reach National Monument. It was designed by Seattle architecture firm Jones & Jones, who also designed the Seattle Children's Museum and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.
The Interpretive Center will contain exhibits and educational programs for adults and children. Construction will begin when the Reach has raised 80 percent of the money needed for construction. To date, the Reach has raised nearly $24.2 million toward its goal, with $2.3 million coming from Battelle, which operates the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, WA for the Department of Energy. “When Battelle gave a corporate gift to the Reach of $1.3 million in January of this year, it came with a challenge. That was to raise an additional $4 million through other corporate donors,” said Mike Kluse, Battelle Senior Vice President. “Washington River Protection Solutions’ gift is a major milestone in meeting that challenge. We appreciate Washington River Protection Solutions’ leadership and vision in making this important community asset a reality.”
“The history of the Columbia River basin and its people is centuries old and vitally important,” added CEO Kimberly Camp. “The Reach will show the unique land-to-people relationship – how it evolved from a region shaped by the Ice Age Floods, to a shrub-steppe environment inhabited by Native Americans, to its role in shaping the 20th Century. Our challenge is to encourage others to help us to bring the Reach to fruition and step up to the plate with their pledge of support.”
WRPS Assumes Corporate Sponsorship for Leadership Tri-Cities
Issued 08.2008
Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) has joined Leadership Tri-Cities as its corporate sponsor for 2008-2009. Leadership Tri-Cities is an educational program that provides a forum to examine issues that face our region and provides valuable experience and tools that develop knowledgeable leaders to serve our community with continued learning opportunities through its Alumni Association. The course is made up of nine sessions that focus on various issues and aspects of the Tri-Cities region.
“We are pleased to be a part of this exciting program that helps develop and enrich the skills and understanding of current and future leaders of the Tri-Cities,” said WRPS External Affairs Manager Jerry Holloway.
The Leadership Tri-Cities mission is to produce a cadre of skilled leaders who will be catalysts for positive change in the community and who will mentor others towards this end. It also seeks to facilitate an exchange of ideas and solutions for problems best addressed at local and regional levels.
WRPS is one of the newest contractors on the Hanford Site and has a strong commitment to support education and economic development in the Columbia Basin. “Giving something back to the community is an important aspect of our company, and this is one of the ways we can accomplish this goal,” Holloway said.
Leadership Tri-Cities participants are selected based on a published list of criteria and seeks applicants diverse in age, community, ethnicity, professional background and community volunteer experience.
Details about Leadership Tri-Cities can be found on their Web site at www.leadershiptc.org
Safety, Enormity of Cleanup Task Stand Out On First Visit to Site
Martin Schneider, Editor-in-ChiefFrom our office in Washington, D.C., we spend a lot of time writing about milestones and lawsuits, contracts and budgets, policy decisions and appropriations bills - and rightly so. But the view from inside the beltway doesn’t always provide the best vantage point for the Department of Energy’s cleanup program, as I saw first-hand during a three-day tour of Hanford in early April.
It was my first trip to the site and, setting aside for a moment my natural journalistic skepticism, I was truly moved by the work going on there. Many of our readers have spent a good part of their lives working at high-hazard nuclear sites like Hanford, but for someone who is much more comfortable navigating the halls of the U.S. Capitol than, say, walking the grating above the K-East Basin, several things jumped out at me. Most notably, I was impressed by how seriously safety is taken. As many times as I have heard Assistant Secretary Rispoli - and his predecessors - emphasize that working safely is the Department’s top priority, it is a topic that tends to get glossed over unless something bad happens.
Total recordable case rates and lost-time accident figures are hard to interpret from afar. But when it’s your turn to don coveralls, booties and three layers of gloves - all sealed with masking tape, of course - and head out into a contaminated area, those statistics start to hit home. I “dressed out” twice during my visit, once for an hour-and-a-half walkthrough of the C Tank Farm and once for a tour of the K-East Basin. I was struck by the rigorous planning that goes into even the smallest task, the safety briefings I received before I entered any facility and the numerous checks and double-checks required before I set foot in a radiation control area. If that level of preparation goes into merely having me walk around, I can only imagine the work needed to prepare a team to perform more invasive tasks. As I said, impressive.
During my time at Hanford, I was able to spend time examining a wide variety of projects at the site, including D&D work at the 300 Area, retrieval operations at the 618-7 burial grounds, groundwater remediation at 100-N, recent grouting work at K-East Basin, C tank farm, the Waste Encapsulation and Storage Facility, the Canister Storage Building, the Waste Receiving and Processing Facility, the Cold Test Facility, the Environmental Restoration Disposal Facility and the Integrated Disposal Facility. The visit was capped off by a two-hour walking tour of the Waste Treatment Plant, practically a small city unto itself. Throughout my time at Weapons Complex Monitor, we’ve published hundreds of articles cataloguing the ups and downs of these projects. But seeing them in the aggregate - and sometimes driving an hour in between projects - gave me a new perspective on the complexity of the cleanup task at Hanford.
First, it gave me a real sense of the progress that has been made at the site. The fact that the leak-prone K-East Basin has been emptied of fuel and is set be dismantled in the coming months is truly amazing. Equally significant is that, with the right funding, the River Corridor cleanup could be finished by 2015, allowing DOE to focus its energies on the center of the site. Most importantly, though, I walked away overwhelmed by the complexity and sheer size of the work yet to be done, especially when it comes to retrieving and vitrifying the liquid waste. Walking through the cavernous Pretreatment and Low-Activity Waste Facilities that are the most complete portions of the Waste Treatment Plant, I found it hard to get my head around the level of precision it will take over the next decade to install the thousands of miles of piping that will be necessary for the bulk of the vit plant’s operations. The challenge of tank retrieval also resonated with me, especially after getting a chance to walk inside a mock waste tank and see the actual tanks from above.
In these pages, you’ll find all manner of articles detailing procurement issues, disputes over funding cuts, regulator concerns, and Congressional criticism. You’ll read about new and innovative approaches to cleaning up the complex, projects that are behind schedule and projects that are being finished quicker than expected. But in the midst of all the back-and-forth, it’s nice to be reminded why everyone is so passionate. The mission at Hanford and across the complex is worth the attention.
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Jerry Holloway, WRPS (509) 372-9953, or (509) 619-3465 John Britton, WRPS (509) 376-5561, or (509) 308-1520
DOE Recertifies Tank Farm Operations VPP Star Status
Richland, Washington - - Tank Farm Operations was recognized today as an industry leader in safety by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), which has recertified the firm’s Analytical Technical Services group’s Voluntary Protection Program Star status.
DOE’s Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) encourages and recognizes excellence in occupational safety and health protection. The program emphasizes systematic and creative approaches involving cooperative action among government, industry and labor in the area of worker health and safety. Achieving Star status indicates outstanding performance.
The Tank Farm Operations Analytical Technical Services group operates and maintains Hanford’s 222-S Laboratory. The organization has about 190 employees who are responsible for sampling of high-level radioactive waste from Hanford’s tanks, testing waste samples, disposing of wastes from operations, and performing engineering, maintenance and upgrades at the nuclear laboratory. Hazards include radiation exposure, handling radioactive materials, chemical hazards and a full range of industrial hazards associated with an operating facility.
The Analytical Technical Services organization first received VPP Star status in 2003 and was recertified in 2005. A team of five experts from DOE’s Office of Health, Safety and Security conducted a review from January 7th to the 17th to determine if the organization is performing at a level deserving of VPP Star recognition. Based upon interviews with about 100 workers and managers, extensive observation of work activities, and inspection of worksites and facilities, the team determined that Tank Farm Operations “has maintained the exceptionally strong safety culture expected of a VPP site.”
The team concluded that the Analytical Technical Services team was “led by a proactive and energetic Vice President, managers and employees embody the principles of total teamwork, complete employee empowerment, and equal ownership of and participation in the safety and health program. A commitment to safety excellence and continuous improvement is evident from the Vice President himself, to the newest member of the workforce.”
The report also concluded, “It is evident that employees feel very strongly that upper management supports a strong safety culture, one which employees feel empowered to resolve health and safety concerns without fear of reprisal.”
Star status is the core of the DOE Voluntary Protection Program. By achieving Star status, a company demonstrates truly outstanding protection of employee safety and health.
Washington River Protections Solutions is a prime contractor to the Department of Energy’s Office of River Protection (ORP) and is responsible for safely managing 53 million gallons of radioactive and chemical waste stored in 177 underground tanks at the Hanford Site, located in south-central Washington State.
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