HANFORD TOUR REGISTRATION OPENS NEXT WEEK
WC Monitor
2/28/2014
Registration will open March 3 for all site-wide tours this year of Hanford, and a day later registration will open for tours just of Hanford’s historic B Reactor. Reservations are on a first-come, first-served basis, and seats for the tours, particularly of Hanford, go quickly. It is the only chance most tourists, Hanford-area residents, retired Hanford workers and workers’ families have to see the site. The 2014 site-wide bus tours include stops for briefings at the Cold Test Facility, the Plutonium Finishing Plant and the Environmental Restoration Disposal Facility. The visit also includes a brief walking tour inside B Reactor. New this year is a look at the outside of Hanford’s newest and most sophisticated groundwater treatment plant, the 200 West Groundwater Treatment System. Registration begins at 6 p.m. March 3 at www.hanford.gov. The tours are restricted to U.S. citizens and visitors must be at least 18. The tours are offered on certain weekdays from April 8 through Aug. 28.
Visitors who want an in-depth look at B Reactor may sign up for the separate tours that go only to the reactor. They include a guided tour and time to explore the public areas of the reactor, which look much as they did during the Manhattan Project. New this year for the B Reactor tours is a drive along the Hanford river route to learn more about the wartime creation of Hanford, when residents were forced to leave their homes to make way for the secret nuclear reservation. The route passes the old town sites of White Bluffs and Hanford. The in-depth tours of B Reactor do not have a citizenship requirement and children as young as 12 may visit with their families. Sign-up starts at 12:01 p.m. March 4 at www.hanford.gov or by calling 509-376-1647. The tours will be offered April 1 through Sept. 18 on various weekdays and Saturdays. Since DOE opened B Reactor to tours in 2009, almost 40,000 visitors from all 50 states and 68 countries have visited the reactor.
CHPRC SEEKS BIDS FOR NEW SUBCONTRACT
WC Monitor
2/28/2014
CH2M HILL Plateau Remediation Company is soliciting proposals for a small business subcontract for Liquid Waste and Fuel Storage Tank Integrity Inspections, releasing a request for proposals for the subcontract this week. CHPRC is expecting to award a firm fixed unit rate contract, and proposals are due by March 25. An award is expected by April 14. The work would include providing “tank assessment services, including corrosion inspection and analysis, to the LWFS as needed to support continued facility operations,” states the RFP. “The scope of work shall include both visual and non-destructive examination (NDE) of tanks and auxiliary equipment. Also included within the scope of work is the evaluation of the effects of actual or predicted operating conditions on equipment and development of appropriate recommendations for observation, testing, repair and/or replacement.”
TWO WHO PLEADED GUILTY TO ELK POACHING STILL EMPLOYED
WC Monitor
2/28/2014
Two Hanford workers who pleaded guilty to charges related to poaching elk that roamed Hanford continue to be employed at Hanford. Daniel Charboneau and Brock Miller were accused of shooting two trophy elk, with evidence of the kills found near the old Hanford town site on a portion of the Hanford nuclear reservation off-limit to the public. A third elk was shot in the same area along the Columbia River—an area that is closed to hunting, according to court documents and the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife. The Hanford Patrol told state investigators that the two men did not have permission to hunt or retrieve elk from Department of Energy property, nor would anyone ever be given that permission, according to Benton County District Court documents. The Rattlesnake Hills elk herd, which frequents Hanford, numbers about 700 and tends to move onto Hanford during hunting season. The two men had come up the Columbia River by boat, and signs are posted along the river warning not to trespass on Hanford land, according to court documents. Federal law allows trespassers to be punished by imprisonment and fines. Workers also are prohibited from carrying guns onto Hanford.
Charboneau, who pleaded guilty to hunting big game without a state tag, works for Washington River Protection Solutions at Hanford. The contractor said it was not aware of the incident until reading media reports in late January. It launched an investigation, which recently concluded. Charboneau continues to work for the contractor and is listed on a Hanford employee database as a safety specialist. Miller is listed as working for Wildlands Inc., a Washington Closure Hanford subcontractor, in the field of environmental safety, health and quality. Wildlands refused to comment on the case.
Miller pleaded guilty to unlawful hunting on another’s property, hunting big game without a tag and using a tag belonging to another person. Both received jail sentences but the time was suspended. In plea agreements, both agreed to pay a mandatory state penalty of $6,000. However, the fine is only listed on Miller’s court sentencing form. A state investigator said Charboneau also must pay the fine. DOE said in a statement that when the Hanford Patrol discovers illegal activities, they are reported to the appropriate local, state or federal authorities.
