The Department of Energy has yet to conclude an outage that began July 20 at the Tank-Side Cesium Removal project at the Hanford Site in Washington state, a spokesperson confirmed Thursday.
Since beginning operation in late January, the Tank-Side Cesium Removal (TSCR) project has pre-treated 380,000 gallons of radioactive tank waste and DOE expects to have 1 million gallons pre-treated before the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant starts converting some low-level tank waste into glass.
DOE wants to start processing lower-level radioactive tank waste at the plant by the end of 2023, although a legal agreement reached with the state in 2021 allows DOE to delay the opening until 2024.
During the planned multi-week TSCR outage, crews replace the ion exchange columns that have become saturated during operation, a process that occurs every few months. The outage also provides time to update safety paperwork and procedures and improve the monitoring capability for operators, according to DOE. TSCR operations will resume when the team, the equipment, and the revised procedures are ready, the DOE spokesperson said.
Tank management contractor Washington River Protection Solutions has submitted a draft evaluation of the safety of the situation for the pilot project during the outage, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board said recently.
The BWX Technologies-led prime for radioactive liquid waste cleanup at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina recently announced the award of four subcontracts for technical support that together are worth $20 million.
Savannah River Mission Completion said in an Aug. 30 press release that Amentum Technical Services, Edgewater Technical Associates, HukariAscendent, and Parvati Government Services have been retained to provide subject matter experts in areas such as engineering, nuclear safety, fire protection and technical support.
“These companies represented the best value to Savannah River Mission Completion and the U.S. government to perform our mission of safely reducing the risk to the community and the environment of radioactive liquid waste stored in aging waste tanks,” Dave Olson, the prime contractor’s president and program manager said in the release.
At the Savannah River Site, about 35 million gallons of liquid waste is held in 43 underground tanks. The liquid-waste cleanup contractor solidifies highly-radioactive waste into a glass-like form at the Defense Waste Processing Facility. The processed waste is placed in canisters for eventual disposal at a permanent geological repository.
Sen. Jacky Rosen (D), Nevada’s junior U.S. senator, announced Tuesday she was working from home with a mild case of COVID-19.
Rosen, who ousted former Sen. Dean Heller (R) in 2018 to turn the state’s upper-chamber delegation blue, is a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee that annually authorizes defense programs, including those at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). She also opposes any effort to revive plans for the stalled Yucca Mountain high-level waste repository.
Rosen announced her diagnosis on Twitter. “After experiencing mild symptoms, I tested positive for COVID-19 today,” Rosen said. “I’m thankful to have been fully vaccinated and boosted to protect against severe illness. Following CDC guidelines, I’ll be isolating and continue working remotely on behalf of Nevadans.”
Current guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and prevention would keep Rosen out at least until early next week.
The Department of Energy nuclear cleanup office at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee plans to issue a sole source contract to Eco Geosystems, a small technical advisory firm formed by Donald Bruce, “a subject matter expert” on groundwater control, according to a federal procurement notice posted Wednesday.
“Dr. Bruce is a widely known, respected expert serving as an independent consultancy in the specialty geotechnical aspects of the civil, mining, and tunneling engineering for multiple federal agencies including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers,” the DOE Office of Environmental Management said in the Notice of Intent to Award a Sole Source posted in SAM.gov.
Eco Geosystems is “the only source available to provide specialized consultant services within the schedule and availability required by the DOE OREM [Oak Ridge Environmental Management] Office,” according to the notice.
Firms seeking to challenge the decision should send an interest letter “that demonstrates their firm’s ability to provide an equivalent service and rationale as to why they should be considered,” by 12 noon Eastern Time on Sept. 12 to Carol Jennings, [email protected].
