Assault Charge Dropped Against Co-Owner of Occupational Med. Contractor
WC Monitor
8/29/2014
An assault charge against Grover Cleveland “Cleve” Mooers, a co-owner of HPM Corp., has been dismissed in Franklin County District Court in Washington state. Mooers was charged with assault in the fourth degree with sexual motivation, a gross misdemeanor, after a woman accused him of groping her at a holiday party Dec. 15, 2013, in the Tri-Cities. HPM Corp. holds the Department of Energy contract to provide occupational medicine services at Hanford. Mooers is listed in Washington state incorporation documents as the vice president, secretary and treasurer of HPM Corp. Mooers paid an undisclosed amount of restitution to his accuser and a civil compromise was reached.
Washington state law allows for certain charges to be dismissed if a victim agrees and restitution is paid. The accuser’s attorney requested the case be resolved under a “compromise of misdemeanors” as authorized by state law, said Franklin County Prosecutor Shawn Sant. The attorney for the accuser, who was identified only by her initials in court documents, indicated the resolving the case through compromise was in his client’s best interest and the court granted the request, Sant said. Mooers was accused of approaching the woman at a Dec. 15 party and touching her under her dress after she pushed him away, according to court documents. She reported the incident to police two days later and a legal complaint was filed against him April 1.
Wash. Closure Prepares to Remove Debris From Demolition of Former Reactor Facility
WC Monitor
8/29/2014
Preparations are being made by Washington Closure Hanford to load out debris from the former underground housing for the Plutonium Recycle Test Reactor at Hanford after a controlled explosion of what remained of the building this month. About 212,000 cubic feet of underground concrete was demolished in the explosion, which released a small plume of dust just north of Richland, Wash. The Department of Energy and Washington Closure turned to Controlled Demolition Inc. to help turn the below-ground concrete structure with walls as thick as 13 feet into rubble. Around 300 holes were drilled vertically into the ground-level deck of the reactor building and its walls for charges that were set off in quick succession. The concrete rubble fell to the concrete floor of the structure, which is 32 feet below ground.
The dome of the Plutonium Recycle Test Reactor was one of the most distinctive features at Hanford just north of Richland until the 80-foot-high containment dome was lifted off in 2011. At the start of this year the 100-megawatt reactor was hoisted out of its below-ground housing and hauled to central Hanford for disposal at the Environmental Restoration Disposal Facility. What remained was the below-ground structure that housed the reactor, with a circular deck at ground level around a hole that allowed the reactor to be lifted out. None of the concrete was less than 5 feet thick in the three below-ground cells that remained. The most massive structure was a wall on the south end that was cast as a block 13 feet thick, 18 feet wide and 28 feet high to support the rest of the building. Other walls were poured thick to provide shielding from radiation, with concrete readily available and inexpensive when the structure was built in the late ’50s, said Chris Pearson, Washington Closure program manager for the project. Some of the concrete also was made not by mixing in rock, but steel kibble, or chunks of steel about the size of charcoal briquettes.
Demolition Preparations Took Months
While the explosion was quick, work to prepare for it took months. After the reactor was hoisted out in January, Hanford workers removed contaminated piping, stored items and equipment from the below-ground structure, including the moderator tank. A fixative was used on surfaces with radioactive contamination and areas that were difficult to access were filled with grout. Explosive demolition was picked as the safest method for workers, who would otherwise be down in the structure and exposed to hazards, and also for its substantial cost savings, said Mark French, DOE project director for the work. Using explosive demolition, rather than breaking up the concrete with an excavator equipped with shears or a jackhammer, is estimated save about $2.5 million. Cost savings include the greatly reduced time to destroy an estimated 70 percent of the below-ground structure and the savings on wear and tear of heavy equipment. Conventional demolition on such robust concrete “basically destroys the equipment,” French said. It also would be difficult to break up the below-ground concrete with equipment staged at ground level. To prepare for the explosion a blast mat was created to place over the opening where the reactor was lifted out. It was fabricated with double layers of chain link and poly material and then weighed down. It was planned to cut down on dust and as a precaution to prevent any flying debris.
The explosion knocked concrete away from rebar and left it in pieces that are manageable with heavy equipment. The debris will be taken to ERDF. The shell of the below-ground structure still will need to be removed and the concrete foundation, which is up to 14 feet thick, also remains. It will be sampled and, if it meets environmental cleanup standards, it could be buried in place. The slab is 32 feet below ground and would be left in an area expected to be used for future industrial use. But if it does need to come out of the ground, another explosive demolition could be done in December of January. Demolishing the remainder of the reactor building will allow access to areas around it for more cleanup, French said. That includes piping, tanks and soil contaminated by spills. Most cleanup of the river corridor, including the 300 Area, is expected to be completed next year.
