Contract management and technical expertise are the major reasons the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) will now report to DOE’s Office of Science, officials said Tuesday during a congressional hearing.
Energy Secretary Rick Perry announced EM’s move from the Office of the Undersecretary for Management and Performance to Science on Dec. 15 as part of a larger DOE reorganization. The House Energy and Commerce energy subcommittee discussed the restructuring during an extensive hearing on all-things DOE.
The Office of Science stands “head and shoulders” above many other federal entities in its ability to carry out contract management, Deputy Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette said in response to a question from Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.). The Office of Environmental Management oversees an annual $6.5 billion program for cleanup of Cold War-era nuclear sites within DOE, awarding contracts that can run into the billions of dollars.
“We believe the new alignment of SC and EM reporting to the Under Secretary of Science will create added momentum in environmental cleanup,” Brouillette said in his written comments to the panel. “By leveraging the expertise of the national lab complex, and exploring potential project management and contract approaches used by SC, we will be able to better manage costs and solve EM challenges, while ensuring the highest level of safety for our Federal and contractor employees, the public, and the environment,” he added.
Paul Dabbar, DOE undersecretary for science, said the technical expertise at the Office of Science is a natural fit for the complex issues that EM faces in remediation of radiologically contaminated sites. He specifically cited his office’s expertise in areas such as radiation and computer modeling.
Dabbar also told Walden progress is occurring on major projects at the massive cleanup at the Hanford Site in Washington state, which he recently visited. “Finally, we are moving down the road on making glass,” Dabbar said.
The Energy Department continues to make strides on sections of the Waste Treatment Plant (WTP) needed for the Direct Feed Low-Activity Waste (DFLAW) approach, Brouillette said. This is vital to beginning actual tank waste treatment of up to 56 million gallons of radioactive and chemical waste stored at the former plutonium production site, he noted.
Bechtel National is the prime contractor for building and commissioning the 65-acre WTP. DOE has planned WTP for decades, and changed the facility’s design multiple times.
The original plan was for the vitrification plant to treat high-level and low-activity radioactive waste at the same time. However, DOE suspended construction of WTP’s high-level treatment facility in 2012 following whistleblower concerns about the risk of explosion. In 2012, Hanford was still hoping to have WTP online in 2019. Bechtel and its customer agreed to modify WTP so it could treat Hanford’s less-viscous, briny liquid waste before treating the site’s sludgier, more-radioactive high-level waste.
The current approach emphasizes a phased approach to begin waste treatment as soon as 2022, with full operations required by 2036 under federal court order.
Walden lamented the history of high costs and problems in cleanup at Hanford, perhaps the largest and most expensive remediation project in the DOE complex. Brouillette agreed that “Hanford is very complex. Hanford is very complicated.” Promoting closer collaboration between DOE scientists and operations personnel with technical expertise should help expedite progress at Hanford, the DOE official said.
Brouillette also said DOE continues to make headway on the cleanup of its nuclear weapons complex. Sixteen active remediation sites remain in the EM portfolio.
“In 2018, we will continue to make progress on key facilities and capabilities,” Brouillette said.
The Energy Department also plans to ramp up shipments of transuranic waste (TRU) to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M. WIPP was offline for nearly three years following an underground fire and radiological release in February 2014. It was cleared to reopen in December 2016 and resumed waste disposal from other DOE sites in April 2017.
The federal agency also has advanced toward mercury cleanup at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn., breaking ground on a treatment facility in November, Brouillette said. The deputy secretary added that decontamination and decommissioning continue at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Ohio, led by a Fluor-BWX Technologies partnership.
Minority Hiring, Role of Labs Cited at Hearing
Also during the hearing, Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) urged Brouillette to continue efforts started during the Obama administration to increase minority hiring and promotion at the department, as well as use of minority-owned contractors.
Brouillette said that these programs are continuing under Energy Secretary Perry. Rush said many minorities have a tough time breaking into an “onerous good old boys network” when it comes to contracts and DOE leadership.
Dabbar agreed to provide the panel with details on minority hiring and minority contractor use.
