Schedule Slips in DOE Plan for Flammable Gas Safety at Tank Farms
WC Monitor
9/12/2014
The Department of Energy’s schedule has slipped for completion of several aspects of a plan responding to a Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board recommendation on flammable gas safety at the Hanford tank farms. The DNFSB’s 2012 recommendation, Hanford Tank Farms Flammable Gas Safety Strategy 2012-2, calls on DOE to move forward with upgrades to the ventilation systems at Hanford’s double-shell tank farms. DOE released its implementation plan in June 2013, but has since changed the schedule. “This revised schedule is necessary due to unexpected budgetary and operational impacts. In particular, sequestration and the continuing resolution for a portion of fiscal year 2014 significantly impacted funding for the underlying actions related to these deliverables and the contractor’s ability to achieve the associated dates,” states and Aug. 29 letter from DOE Secretary Ernest Moniz to the DNFSB.
In its recommendation, the DNFSB emphasized the safety risk of a flammable gas accident. ”A significant flammable gas accident would have considerable radiological consequences, endanger personnel, contaminate portions of the Tank Farms, and seriously disrupt the waste cleanup mission. Further, the Board believes that actions are necessary to install real time monitoring to measure tank ventilation flow rates as well as upgrade other indication systems used to perform safety-related functions,” the recommendation states.
In the recent letter DOE delayed completion of seven deliverables in its implementation plan for a time period of between 6 and 18 months. For example, completing the upgrade of four tank level indicators and 84 annulus level indicators was pushed back from January 2015 to July 2016. A safety basis amendment revising flammable gas controls was delayed from December 2015 to January 2017. And a report on upgrades to improve double-shell tank ventilation systems was due in June 2014 and is instead expected to be delivered in September.
The Department will try to make up the lost time if possible, Moniz wrote in the letter. “We understand the advantages that having the defense-in-depth that the real-time ventilation exhaust flow monitoring would provide. We are exploring ways to accelerate the delayed schedule. In the meantime, we are aware of the safety risks and will continue to manage those risks,” he said.
First Time Card Fraud Trial Set for End of September
WC Monitor
9/12/2014
Five defendants accused of aiding timecard fraud at Hanford are scheduled to go to trial Sept. 29, in what is expected to be the first of three trials. U.S. Judge Edward Shea said this week that the five former field work supervisors at the Hanford tank farms would go to trial first and that the second trial, for a former radiological control supervisor, would start Nov. 18. The third trial, for three former upper managers at the tank farms, has yet to be scheduled. The five former field work supervisors, also sometimes called “persons in charge” or PICs, were split on whether they wanted to go to trial this month or to delay. Attorney Bryan Hershman asked the court for more time to prepare the case for his client, Daniel Niebuhr, saying he was in the position of proving a negative–“that my client did not partake in the alleged practices.” “The governmental theory consists purely of the allegations of interested parties, lacking any corroborative documentary or physical evidence, and misguided inference from the ordinary practice of Hanford,” Hershman said in a court document. Attorneys for some of the other field work supervisors said their clients were ready to go to trial and have the allegations behind them.
The five former field work supervisors did not approve timecards of the workers they supervised, but they were responsible for getting work packages completed. The supervisors would lobby in afternoon meetings for labor resources, including overtime, needed to complete work, according to court documents. They also would secure volunteers for overtime, knowing that workers would only volunteer if overtime was offered in full shifts, which often were eight hours long, according to court documents filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Eastern Washington. The work to be done often would not require a full shift, and they would let workers know that they could go home when the work was completed, but knew a full shift’s overtime pay would be claimed, according to court documents. They not only fraudulently incentivized overtime for the benefit of former tank farm contractor CH2M Hill Hanford Group from 1999 to 2008, but also claimed overtime pay for themselves for hours not worked, according to court documents.
Overtime Claims High in Last Year of CH2M Hill Contract, Documents Say
Overtime claims were particularly high in the last year of the CH2M Hill contract at the tank farms, according to court documents. Defendant Kenneth Baird was paid more than $12,000 for overtime in 2008; defendant James Michael Hay was paid more than $64,000 for overtime in 2008; defendant Perry Mark Howard was paid more than $20,000 in overtime in 2008; defendant Mark Johnson was paid more than $20,000 in overtime in numerous years; and Niebuhr was paid more than $21,000 in overtime in 2003, according to court documents.
Hay was known for supervising short, easy jobs that workers called “Hay jobs,” which allowed for rampant timecard fraud, the prosecution alleged. The government plans to use evidence at trial from nine tank farm employees that defendants supervised, all of whom have pleaded guilty to charges related to timecard fraud, plus information from other tank farm employees and time card records. Initially, Shea had scheduled two former radiological control supervisors to go to trial in September. But one changed her plea to guilty and is cooperating with the prosecution and the other required more time before trial for personal and health reasons. Shea found that defendant Stephanie Livesey was competent to stand trial but agreed to hold her trial second. He did move back the first trial by one week from its original planned start date of Sept. 22. Potential jurors for the case already have been notified.
Diesel Generator Installed at Hanford Vit Plant
WC Monitor
9/12/2014
A backup diesel generator weighing more than 50 tons has been set in place to provide electricity for support systems during possible power failures at the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant. It will be installed over the next several months, according to Bechtel National. The generator is designed to start automatically within 60 seconds when electric service to the plant is interrupted. It can supply 2,250 kilowatts of electricity, enough to support 1,800 average U.S. households. It will be used in power outages to provide electricity to the plant’s main switchgear building for sitewide distribution for lights, signage and other support systems.
The generator is powered by a 3,570 horsepower, water-cooled engine, according to Bechtel National. It is 42 feet long, 12 feet wide and 14 feet tall. “The standby generator is one of the many systems incorporated into the vit plant design for safe operations,” said Wes Stone, area project manager for the plant’s balance of facilities and the Analytical Laboratory. The standby generator is part of the balance of facilities, about 20 facilities that will provide the infrastructure needed to support vitrification plant operations. About half of the support facilities have been completed. The generator was manufactured by Stewart and Stevenson Services Inc. of Houston.
