Most work resumed Monday on the Hanford Site’s SX Tank Farm after a stop-work order was lifted.
One or more workers called a halt to work Friday in the radioactive waste storage area out of safety concerns that a hole discovered the day before could impair the integrity of a nearby underground tank. However, a camera lowered into the hole showed it was just 3-feet deep.
“It is believed the cause of the hole is poor soil compaction and water drainage around a rock in the ground,” Hanford tank farm contractor Washington River Protection Solutions said Monday. It concluded that a planned video inspection of the interior of the tank nearest the 2-foot-diameter hole was not needed and canceled it.
The hole was discovered after some initial work had been done to compact soil at the SX Tank Farm to prepare for laying an asphalt cover intended to keep precipitation out of the ground. Precipitation can drive contamination from past spills and leaks deeper into the ground at the Department of Energy cleanup site in Washington state.
Work had yet to resume as of Tuesday afternoon in a limited area, the 20-foot exclusion zone around the hole. Surveys have found no unexpected radiation or chemical vapors near the hole.
The Environmental Protection Agency has until Oct. 15 to take action on a Richland, Wash., man’s petition requesting it object to the Clean Air Act operating permit issued in June 2016 by the Washington state Department of Ecology for the Hanford Site.
Judge Salvador Mendoza Jr., of U.S. District Court for Eastern Washington, set the deadline in an Aug. 10 ruling.
Bill Green filed a civil lawsuit against the agency in March 2017, demanding the EPA administrator take action on a petition he had filed asking the EPA to object to permit revisions.
Green said in court documents his health has been harmed by the release of radionuclide pollutants from the Hanford Site, less than 5 miles from his home. He said he is unable to conduct his daily life free from concerns of exposure.
The EPA had a 45-day period in summer 2016 to object to the operating permit proposed by the Department of Ecology. When it chose not to object, Green exercised his legal right to petition the agency to file an objection. He said in court documents the EPA was required to grant or deny his petition by Nov. 1, 2016, but has yet to take action.
Both the EPA and Green agreed that the lawsuit could be resolved with the setting of the Oct. 15 deadline, according to the judge. The case is now closed.
Having already been removed at least temporarily from the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Rep. Chris Collins (R-N.Y.) is suspending his re-election campaign while he fights federal insider trading charges.
Collins said Aug. 11 he will use his remaining months in office to advocate both for his constituents and the agenda of President Donald Trump. “I will also continue to fight the meritless charges brought against me and I look forward to having my good name cleared of any wrongdoing,” he said in statement.
House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) suspended Collins from the committee on Aug. 9, the day after documents were unsealed charging the lawmaker with insider trading and lying to federal law enforcement agents.
Collins is being charged with using insider information to help people avoid large stock market losses at an Australian biotechnology company where the lawmaker sits on the board. The three-term congressman is accused of giving his son and others early notice the company had failed an important clinical trial on the effectiveness of its product to treat secondary-progressive multiple sclerosis.
No lawmaker has been appointed to replace Collins on the Energy and Commerce Committee, which has oversight of federal agencies including the Department of Energy and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
The Department of Energy is extending the public comment period for an evaluation that would allow remaining radioactive waste in the Hanford Site’s 16 C Farm single-shell tanks to be grouted in place after waste retrieval last fall was completed to regulatory standards.
The grouting could allow the underground waste tanks in Eastern Washington state to be closed in place and left in the ground permanently.
The comment period, which started June 4, has been extended from Sept. 7 to Nov. 7. Comments may be sent to [email protected].
The Energy Department authorized the extension amid strong opposition to the plan from watchdog organizations in the Pacific Northwest. It would allow reclassification of the waste remaining in the C Tank Farm as “waste incidental to reprocessing,” or residual waste. The goal laid out in the Tri-Party Agreement that guides cleanup at Hanford is to remove 99 percent of waste on average from all 149 single-shell tanks at the former plutonium production complex. About 96 percent of the waste has been removed from the C Tank Farm, with no further retrieval planned.
Seattle-based watchdog Hanford Challenge is calling for DOE to continue to monitor the leftover waste in the C Tank Farm in the hope that better retrieval technology will be developed in the next 10 to 20 years rather than grouting the material in the tank now. “The federal government is setting the stage to leave toxic and radioactive pollution in tanks, soils and groundwater close to the Columbia River,” it said.
Hanford Challenge is continuing to hold “happy hours” at its Seattle office with information and materials available for people to write comments on the matter. Upcoming happy hours are scheduled for 4-6 p.m. Aug. 23 and Sept. 27.
The Energy Department’s Carlsbad, N.M., Field Office is accepting public comments through Aug. 29 on the potential environmental impact of building a 3-mile-long bypass road near the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP).
The public comment period began July 31 for the draft environmental assessment, according to a recent notice from DOE. The subcontract for the North Access Bypass Road project is due to be awarded in early 2019, and construction should be completed before the end of that year, said Donavan Mager, spokesman for Nuclear Waste Partnership, the department’s prime contractor for the transuranic waste disposal facility.
“The purpose of the proposed NARB project is to improve traffic safety and reduce vehicle congestion on the roadway at the location where the traffic slows in order to turn into the area near the WIPP facility parking lot,” according to the notice.
The road will divert traffic away from construction projects scheduled at WIPP during the next couple years, including the sinking of a new 2,300-foot utility shaft that will augment the planned Safety Significant Confinement Ventilation System.
Written comments on the bypass road can be submitted to [email protected].
Meanwhile, DOE is also trying to gauge small business interest in a new transportation tracking and communication (TRANSCOM) contract at Carlsbad. The agency’s Office of Environmental Management on Wednesday issued a request for information/sources sought notice for work involving around-the-clock tracking of radioactive materials, including transuranic waste headed to WIPP.
While the transportation communication system is based at the Carlsbad, it does more than keep up on TRU waste bound for the site. It also uses transponders and satellite technology to monitor special nuclear material, spent fuel, and other DOE-authorized shipments across the nation.
The current contract is held by Elba, Ala.-based Ma-Chis LCITE (Ma-Chis Lower Creek Indian Tribe Enterprises). A retired tribal official said by phone Thursday he was not familiar with the current terms of the contract.
Responses to the notice should be made by noon Eastern time on Aug. 31. Capability statements for the TRANSCOM notice should be emailed to Contract Specialist Erin Kroger [email protected].
The Energy Department wants to hear from businesses and universities that could test air ventilation systems for nuclear facilities.
The department’s Office of Environmental Management issued a request for information (RFI)/sources sought notice Thursday seeking input from vendors that can evaluate high-efficiency particulate air filters for use in high-hazard DOE facilities. These filters help protect workers and the public from an accidental radiation release from sites managed by the DOE cleanup office and the National Nuclear Security Administration.
The Energy Department hopes to improve high-hazard containment ventilation systems by identifying potential vendors to provide independent research and testing.
The federal agency is seeking feedback and capability statements between now and Aug. 30 from potential contractors with the necessary skills. No actual proposals are being sought at this time, DOE said in its press release.
The Energy Department wants a contractor to perform basic and applied research, on issues including equipment aging and degradation, to ensure parts work properly. The contractor would also be required to provide reports to the agency at least once per year.
There is no incumbent contractor. The type, duration, and value of any potential contracts have yet to be determined, a DOE spokesperson said by email Friday.
The DOE contracting officer for the RFI is Lori Sehlhorst, [email protected].
