Our annual Hanford special section includes lots of valuable information for our business community.
Readers will receive a timely overview of the cleanup status and current priorities, how colleges are working to prepare the next-generation Hanford workforce and how the Tri-Cities is positioning itself to be a global leader in clean-energy technologies.
We must address the concerns surrounding the aging workforce at Hanford. It’s essential to ensure that we have a skilled and prepared workforce to continue progress at the site.
It’s a theme that shows up in many of the columns submitted for our special section.
There’s no question the massive nuclear site in our backyard will continue to be a driver for our economy for years to come. Continued, measured progress must continue.
Cleanup efforts are crucial not only for the safety of our community and environment but also for the future growth and economic potential of the region.
With the global demand for clean-energy solutions and the potential for the Tri-Cities to lead in this field, it’s critical that we continue to prioritize cleanup and development efforts. It’s equally critical to prepare Hanford’s future workforce for the work.
A California-based occupational health, wellness and absence management company has acquired HPM Corp. (HPMC), the prime medical services contractor at Hanford.
WorkCare Inc. bought HPMC on April 1. Terms weren’t disclosed.
HPMC Occupational Medicine Services has been managing the health and medical-related safety needs of more than 8,000 U.S. Department of Energy and site contractor employees since 2012.
DOE announced plans in February to award a new contract for the work, which will be expanded to include occupational medical services to vitrification plant employees.
The new contract is expected to include a base period of three years, including a transition period of 60 days, and two option periods of two years each, for a total of seven years.
The current HPMC contract expires at the end of 2023 and includes an option to extend services through the end of 2025, though it doesn’t include coverage for Direct Feed Low-Activity Waste and future Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant operations.
WorkCare said its acquisition of HPMC aligns with its strategic business development strategy and involves plans to continue to provide best-practice occupational health services to the Hanford site workforce in compliance with DOE requirements.
“We’re excited to welcome HPMC and its team of proven experts to the WorkCare family of companies,” said Bill Nixon, WorkCare’s president and chief executive officer, in a statement. “Given our experience in occupational medicine and our company origins, WorkCare is exceptionally well-prepared to support continued delivery of essential medical surveillance and other clinical services to protect and promote employee health at the site.”
Bechtel National Inc. has named John Atwell as the acting project director for the Hanford site’s Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant, better known as the vit plant.
He is a principal vice president and for the past two years has served as project director for Bechtel’s Vogtle Units 3 & 4 Completion project for Georgia Power.
Atwell served as manager of functions and operations for Bechtel’s Nuclear, Security, and Environment business unit from 2020-21. During this time, he was responsible for operational oversight of the vit plant project on behalf of Bechtel.
He has more than 40 years of managerial experience leading engineering and project management activities across a range of projects.
He earned a bachelor of science in nuclear engineering from the University of Maryland and a master of business administration from National University.
Atwell moves into the role in an acting capacity after the recent death of Valerie
McCain, who was the project director from October 2018 until March 2023.
Experience the vastness of the Hanford site and take a crash course in how nuclear reactors produced plutonium by signing up for a free public tour.
The Manhattan Project National Historical Park tours, which include a narrated bus ride, are popular. In 2022, more than 5,600 people visited the B Reactor National Historic Landmark from all 50 states and 26 different countries.
This year’s free tours run through November.
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) offers two tours of the national park at Hanford.
On tours to the B Reactor, visitors can stand in front of the world’s first fullscale nuclear reactor. Built in 11 months, the reactor started operations in September 1944 and produced the plutonium used in the Trinity Test in July 1945 and the “Fat Man” atomic weapon dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, in August 1945 to help bring an end to World War II in the Pacific.
The second park tour explores the history of the Mid-Columbia Basin area of Eastern Washington prior to the government’s eviction of homeowners and tribes in 1943 as the Manhattan Project began. Both tours last about four hours and include bus transportation and short walking tours.
Registration is available online, at manhattanprojectbreactor.hanford.gov.
Rory Langdon was sending out his resume to possible employers, on the hunt for an internship.
But the junior in the cybersecurity program at Columbia Basin College got feedback that the document was too long.
So, he reached out to Elie Soderquist, director for career services. She helped him make some cuts and punch it up.
“That was the resume I submitted that got me the interview,” said Langdon, who ultimately secured an internship with Washington River Protection Solutions, a Hanford contractor.
“It’s been great. I love it,” he said, adding that he’s hopeful he’ll be hired permanently at WRPS after he graduates.
That’s the idea behind Pathways to Hanford, a new program at the Pasco college that aims to help students like Langford get their foot in the door at the Hanford nuclear site.
For many students, the Hanford site can be an enigma — they don’t have a sense of the varied career opportunities available there or how to go about exploring and pursuing them.
“We’re really excited about it,” Soderquist said of the program, which launched in the winter of 2022. “We want to accommodate our students and remove as many barriers as possible. We want to ensure they have a pathway.”
The program offers everything from a list of in-demand careers with promising futures at Hanford, to resume guides, Microsoft Suite trainings and certifications, in-person/virtual events with contractors, workshops and internship opportunities.
More than 130 students currently are taking part in Pathways, which has rolling admission. And about 17 students, including Langford, are getting work experience by completing internships with contractors in everything from project management to engineering and computer science.
While Pathways benefits students, it’s also a potential boon for Hanford contractors who are grappling with an aging and retiring workforce and increased needs for labor.
Last year, Hanford Mission Integration Solutions donated $150,000 toward Pathways with that in mind. “As a strong supporter of this program from its inception, we wanted to ensure students have the tools and resources they need to enter programs prepared, finish on time and be ready to enter the workforce,” said Amy Basche, the company’s chief operating officer, in a statement. “We know firsthand the importance of partnerships like this with our educational institutions, and we know this donation will help prepare future generations of Hanford workers.”
Michael Lee, vice president of instruction for CBC, said that was an important consideration in starting the Pathways program.
“Part of our mission at CBC is to develop the workforce in our area. Hanford and its contractors – they’re an important part of the community,” Lee told the
Valerie McCain, a Bechtel senior vice president and project director of the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant, better known as the vit plant, died March 26 after a short illness.
“The entire vit plant team mourns this loss. Val was an inspiration to so many people on project, across the Hanford site and Bechtel, and in the Tri-Cities community,” said Staci West, Bechtel communications manager at the vit plant.
McCain joined the vit plant in October 2018. She led a team of 2,250 employees in completing construction for Direct-Feed Low-Activity Waste; transitioning to commissioning and ramping up the workforce; and shifting to a 24/7 operational culture.
Her leadership culminated in the highest-ever rating for the project’s performance from the U.S. Department of Energy customer a week prior to her death.
Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Washington, called her death a loss for the Central Wash-
ington community. “Val was an incredible leader with over 30 years of industry experience across several continents,” he said.
McCain served on boards for the Energy Facility Contractors Group, Tri-City Development Council, the STEM Foundation and Columbia Industries.
The Tri-City Regional Chamber of Commerce said her leadership “positively impacted the region in immeasurable ways.”
Donations in McCain’s memory may be made to the 3 Rivers Community Foundation. The fund will establish scholarships and/or be distributed to nonprofits with missions that were important to McCain, according to her family’s wishes. Donations may be made online at threeriverscf. fcsuite.com/erp/donate.
West said McCain’s column for this Hanford special section (See page C8) will be “the last words printed that she approved and are about what we accomplish and what is important for us.”
CBC isn’t the only local higher education institution to be thinking about the classroom-to-Hanford pipeline.
While Washington State University Tri-Cities doesn’t have a similar program, it does offer degrees helpful for landing jobs at the site, including engineering, computer science, and environmental and ecosystem sciences, said Leslie Streeter, director of marketing and communication.
Plus, the university has partnerships, internships and research opportunities
with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, WRPS and others, Streeter said.
She also pointed to the Institute for Northwest Energy Futures, which “will bring another level of educating the future workforce, especially around energy transformation.” Gov. Jay Inslee announced last year that he was seeking $10 million in state funding for the research center at WSU Tri-Cities.
At CBC, the Pathways program is also about equity and trying to level the playing field. Soderquist said her office noticed an inequality in access and wanted to help students with no legacy connection to the Hanford site.
“We want to be that guiding light. We want to create the opportunity for equality to shine,” she said.
For Langdon, the WRPS internship has provided a chance to get relevant work experience, make connections and get a foot in the door. The 30-year-old, who lives in Richland, previously worked in lawn care and pest control before deciding to lean into his “computer nerd” tendencies.
He earned an associate degree in programming and software development from CBC and then opted to pursue a bachelor’s in cybersecurity. A job at a place like Hanford is the goal, and he’s grateful for Soderquist and the Pathways program.
“If anyone is interested or curious, definitely reach out,” he said. “It’s not as scary as you think.”
I’m proud of the work the One Hanford Team has done over the last year and of the ambitious plans we’re putting into action to continue safely progressing our important cleanup mission in 2023.
The Department of Energy (DOE) federal team and our contractor partners make up the One Hanford Team. It’s a “one site, one mission” enterprise philosophy that enhances our communications, collaboration, efficiency and teamwork so we can work seamlessly and safely across our 580-square-mile site.
Together, we will continue to drive our mission with a sense of purpose and deliberate urgency while never losing focus on our top priority, the health and safety of our workforce and our community.
In January 2022, Hanford achieved an important transformational moment when we began treating radioactive and chemical tank waste on a large scale for the first time. Waste processed through the Tank-Side Cesium Removal System is being staged until it can be fed directly to the nearby Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant for vitrification, or immobilization in glass, when the plant comes online.
As of the end of 2022, we had treated nearly 380,000 gallons of tank waste, and
we’ll continue to work toward our goal of more than 800,000 gallons by the end of calendar year 2023. Throughout the year, crews at the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant progressed commissioning activities, which includes continuously enhancing operator proficiency on major systems that will vitrify tank waste in two large melters in the plant’s Low-Activity Waste Facility.
An important indication of our progress was achieved in October when workers started heating up the first of two large, 300-ton melters. During the heatup, a system abnormality was identified. The operators reacted correctly and conservatively in accordance with their training, and safely shut down the operation.
While the startup heater power supply issue that caused the melter heatup to be stopped has been corrected, similar systems also were analyzed as part of the robust
causal assessment process. We found the need for additional analysis and testing of a few other similar systems to ensure safe and successful future operations.
Melter heatup will resume after testing those systems to continue moving the plant and operations team through the rigorous commissioning process toward the start of tank waste vitrification in 2024.
In parallel with commissioning operations at the Waste Treatment and Immobilization plant, site personnel continued to expand and upgrade other Hanford facilities that are part of the highly interdependent and integrated Direct-Feed Low-Activity Waste program to ensure they are ready when the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant goes online.
Workers built a fourth 8 million-gallon holding basin at the Liquid Effluent Retention Facility to prepare for receiving contaminated wastewater from the plant and our disposal facility for vitrified low-activity tank waste.
The wastewater is transferred from holding basins to the nearby Effluent Treatment Facility, where workers are completing upgrades to several systems that remove contaminants for safe disposal.
While significant progress is being
made for the transformational tank waste treatment era at Hanford, several important projects to safely mitigate or eliminate risks also advanced in 2022.
Just over a year after breaking ground, crews finished building a protective enclosure, or “cocoon,” around the former K East plutonium production reactor ahead of schedule and under budget. Its completion is a significant accomplishment in our risk-reduction cleanup effort along the Columbia River.
Workers also have begun to remove debris from the basin in the nearby K West Reactor where spent reactor fuel was stored during the national security mission of the site. They are preparing the basin to be drained and demolished over the next three years, further reducing the risk to the Columbia River, and setting conditions for the K West Reactor to be placed in a protective enclosure.
At Hanford’s 324 Building, workers continued preparations to excavate contaminated soil under the building. Important activities progressed to stabilize the foundation around the area where workers, behind thick radiation shielding, will eventually operate equipment remotely to cut through
uVANCE, Page C6
We’ve seen a full year of success, collaboration and progress at the Hanford site.
This year will mark 34 years of cleaning up one of the most contaminated nuclear sites on the planet. Alongside our two Tri-Party Agreement partners – the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) –we’ve made some significant progress.
This type of work isn’t cheap or easy. In fact, a lot of the work being done at Hanford is the first of its kind in the world.
As I reflect on a busy 2022, I’m also looking to the year ahead and the challenges still to tackle.
As one of the regulators obligated to ensure the federal government completes the nuclear cleanup at Hanford, some of the most important work we do comes in the form of permitting.
The permits we issue ensure that cleanup and eventual closure of the Hanford site is protective of human health and the environment.
To that end, our Nuclear Waste Program issued about 45 permits and permit modifications supporting ongoing work at the site. A majority of these permits support the startup over the next year of Direct-Feed Low-Activity Waste (DFLAW), which will get dangerous radioactive and chemical waste out of aging tanks and immobilized in a glass form for permanent disposal.
Our team also made considerable progress on the site’s most important permitting
action, the renewal of the Hanford Dangerous Waste Permit, Revision9A. The sitewide permit is one of the state’s most important tools for overseeing DOE’s cleanup at Hanford. We’re on track to open the draft Rev. 9A renewal for public comment in early 2024. We anticipate a robust public involvement effort from our team to adequately engage and hear from everyone impacted by Hanford.
We spent a lot of time on Hanford’s budget in 2022.
With major operational and capital construction projects on the horizon, an already underfunded cleanup is going to need higher funding appropriations to keep cleanup on track.
Throughout the year, we met and worked with the Washington congressional delegation and the presidential administration on getting Hanford a much-needed raise.
A number of entities including tribes, Washington, Oregon, business interests, nonprofits, labor groups, and more came together throughout the year and wrote letters to President Joe Biden.
These letters emphasized the need for ad-
equate funding now so that we don’t see the overall cost skyrocket by tens of billions, cleanup extend into the next century, and environmental risks continue to mount.
Toward the end of the year, Congress passed a record budget for Hanford in Fiscal Year 2023 – $2.84 billion – an increase of more than $141 million.
This is a major accomplishment worth celebrating, but it’s still nearly a billion less than what’s truly needed.
We plan to take this momentum into budget discussions this year as we keep fighting for the budget needed regardless of the treatment methods applied at Hanford.
In 2022, we saw Covid-19 health restrictions wind down. Many members of the team returned to the office and are working in a hybrid mix of in-person and teleworking, often referred to as the modern work environment.
In-person direct communication is definitely my preference.
Our education and outreach activities returned in full-swing with in-person presentations and events last year that exceeded pre-Covid numbers. In cities across the Pacific Northwest, we were at schools, community colleges, professional association meetings, five service clubs and the Nez Perce STEM Fair this year.
We also continued both attending and hosting virtual outreach opportunities, such as our Let’s Talk About Hanford livestreams, where we present on Hanford topics
and take questions from the public.
Our team saw 31 vacancies last year from a mixture of retirements, career changes and various health situations.
As of today, we are just four positions short of our typical staffing level with the ability to get ahead of the work rather than scrambling to catch up.
Our office, just like the broader Hanford workforce, is beginning to see a generation of those working on cleanup beginning to retire. As we look to the next 30 years and beyond of cleanup, it’ll be critical to maintain a diverse, well-trained, innovative workforce that will keep the work on track.
Our team also met our inspection commitments to EPA. These compliance activities are another critical part of the work we do in making sure facilities on site comply with state and federal regulations.
A few other accomplishments across the site included:
• The announcement of an Agreed Order on leaking tanks with DOE, which addresses how to respond to two actively leaking tanks on site in addition to any future single-shell tank leaks.
• DOE completing waste retrieval from three aging single-shell tanks in the AX Tank Farm.
• After 12 years of groundwater remediation in the 100 D/H Area near the Columbia River, we are evaluating completion of groundwater remedy for that area.
On Jan. 24, 1994, just over 29 years ago, John Wagoner, then manager of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Richland Operations Office, provided the welcoming remarks to the inaugural meeting of the Hanford Advisory Board (HAB).
Mr. Wagoner said, “DOE, along with our Tri-Party colleagues, the Washington Department of Ecology and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, will look to the board to bring unique perspectives and values to deliberations and decisions on major Hanford cleanup issues.”
With those words, at that meeting, the citizens of the Pacific Northwest began a journey to actively engage with the leadership of the Hanford site and provide advice on one of the most complex nuclear cleanup jobs in history.
There are 38 seats on the board today representing a diversity of constituencies –from tribal nations, local interests, environmental perspectives, business groups, public health representatives, state of Oregon officials, university professionals, publicat-large representatives, and the Hanford workforce.
These board members meet throughout the year to learn about the challenges the Tri-Party agencies currently face at the
Hanford site and provide informed recommendations and advice to the three agencies on major policy issues related to the cleanup of the Hanford site.
This past year has seen the HAB, like much of the country, return to in-person meetings while continuing to embrace the benefits hybrid options, thereby increasing the reach to representatives across the Pacific Northwest and to the public overall. One other enhancement was to hold meetings of the full board in the evening to be more available to those members of the public.
Through the full board meetings and associated committee meetings, there were numerous opportunities for board members to learn about a variety of Hanford issues through presentations and conversations with representatives from the Tri-Party agencies to become better informed about cleanup issues and plans that affect or impact policy decisions on cleanup actions.
A notable success in 2022 was an in-person orientation for new board members that included a Hanford site tour. The orientation provided an invaluable opportunity for new and old members to meet in person for the first time. HAB leadership created a unique orientation plan geared towards welcoming new members and getting them up to speed on Hanford and the Board.
Lastly, in accordance with the mission to provide policy level advice to the agencies, in 2022, the HAB adopted consensus advice on three topics:
• Advice #311, Hanford Advisory Board membership changes: bit.ly/HABLetter311.
• Advice #312, Fiscal Year 2024 Hanford cleanup priorities: bit.ly/HABLetter312.
• Advice #313, Responding to Leaking High-Level Radioactive Waste Tanks: bit.ly/HABLetter313.
The HAB has issued more than 300 pieces of consensus advice since its inception on myriad topics related to the Hanford site cleanup, such as beryllium, traffic safety and tank leaks. All 313 pieces of advice, including TPA responses, can be found on DOE’s website at hanford.gov/page.cfm/ hab/AdviceandResponses.
The HAB’s advice has historically impacted cleanup decisions and contributed
to cleanup progress. Many of the components from last year’s leaking tanks advice were reflected in the leaking tanks Agreed Order announced by DOE and Ecology last August.
The upcoming year will involve hearing about the operational challenges underway at the Hanford site including: the commencement of operations of the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) and the various activities that must occur to ensure safe and efficient operations; the continued cleanup of the 324 Building; the continued discussion of whether grout is an effective solution to managing the site’s supplemental low activity waste; and the operations of the tank side cesium removal (TSCR) system, to just name a few, so that board members are better equipped to provide high-level policy advice when necessary.
In addition to understanding the operational challenges, the board will be working on how to better engage with their organizations and the public at large, and revising the board’s foundational documents that describe how the HAB operates.
The board recognizes that there has been both significant progress and setbacks at
The largest environmental cleanup in the western hemisphere is located at Hanford north of Oregon on the Columbia River. The processes that produced the plutonium used in America’s nuclear weapons program resulted in the disposal of vast quantities of radioactive and chemical waste at the site, and historic releases to the Columbia River and the Pacific Northwest’s air.
Today, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is midway through a century-long cleanup of Hanford which will cost hundreds of billions of dollars. The pace of the cleanup, its cost and effectiveness are a critical concern to the residents and taxpayers of Oregon, as is our highest priority for cleanup actions at the site – the protection of the Columbia River.
The Oregon Hanford Cleanup Board is a state-appointed board with a mission to ensure that the cleanup of the Hanford site is conducted in a way that protects the environment, safeguards public health and safety, and promotes economic vitality in the region.
The board’s members include representatives from the state Legislature, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, industry, academia and public interest groups.
Members serve three-year terms and are chosen for their expertise in areas such as environmental science, public health, engineering and community affairs. Members
of the public are appointed by the governor of Oregon. Together with the Oregon Department of Energy, the board meets regularly to review progress, identify issues and make recommendations to ensure that the cleanup is conducted in a manner that is safe, effective and sustainable for the long term.
The board also works closely with DOE, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Washington State Department of Ecology to provide advice on the cleanup of the Hanford site.
Oregon’s representatives recognize the vital importance of the health of the Columbia River ecosystem, including the recreational and commercial fisheries in the Columbia River and the Pacific Ocean.
The Hanford site, with its proximity to the river, has the potential to impact these fisheries, which are critical to the economy and the cultural heritage of the region. Although the river flows downstream to the Pacific, migrating steelhead and salmon move back upstream into tributaries and streams across Oregon.
Any activity or pollution in the Columbia River has the potential to impact most of Oregon’s major rivers including the Snake, John Day, Deschutes, Owyhee and Willamette.
And we are mindful that the interests and concerns of the Native American tribes in the region who have deep cultural and historical ties to the land are linked to the health of this larger Columbia River ecosystem.
In addition to its environmental and cultural significance, the Hanford site is also a major economic driver in both Washington state and northeast Oregon.
The site employs thousands of workers and supports a vast network of local businesses and industries, providing much-needed economic stability to the region.
Oregon is committed to working with stakeholders to ensure that the cleanup is conducted in a way that maximizes the benefits to the regional economy and minimizes any potential negative impacts.
The health and safety of the workers at Hanford and residents for hundreds of miles around depends on sufficient funding and competent management of the cleanup.
Oregon strongly supports the permanent removal of high-level nuclear and transuranic waste from Hanford to ensure the long-term safety of the environment and the surrounding communities.
Most of this waste will eventually be
transported across the state of Oregon, and it is imperative that it is done safely with all due precautions in place to prevent and, if needed, respond to accidents or releases. Where this high-level waste will eventually go is an open question.
The Oregon Hanford Cleanup Board encourages all Hanford stakeholders to work with the federal government to identify and develop a permanent geologic depository for Hanford’s legacy nuclear waste.
The Oregon Hanford Cleanup Board emphasizes the need for collaborative efforts from all stakeholders to achieve a successful cleanup of the Hanford site.
To accomplish the mission of the cleanup in a safe, effective, and timely manner and protect the Columbia River for future generations, it is imperative that the agencies meet their agreed-upon milestones and secure necessary funding from Congress.
We acknowledge that the cleanup of Hanford is complex and challenging work, which requires significant financial resources from U.S. taxpayers. We will continue to urge Oregon’s congressional delegation to increase funding for the Hanford cleanup to a level that is expected to be necessary to complete the cleanup mission on schedule, to ensure that this vital work can continue without delay.
As Hanford’s cleanup progresses, the Tri-Cities is again positioned to be a part of history by leading the nation’s transition to a net-zero economy.
This cleanup effort toward a clean energy future is decades in the making. And in 2015, Port of Benton, city of Richland and Tri-City Development Council (TRIDEC), supported by local utilities, industry and other stakeholders, reaffirmed that economic development vision for repurposing Hanford land transferred back to the community.
As the Pacific Northwest’s clean energy hub, the Tri-City region has unlimited potential.
With our diverse power portfolio, including wind, hydro, solar and nuclear energy, the Tri-Cities is already leading the state in meeting carbon emission targets.
Today, 73% of Washington’s energy comes from clean power sources, and the Tri-Cities’ numbers are even more impressive at 91%, with nearly 89% carbon-free.
But our community and region need more clean baseload power to meet residential and industrial growth.
The Tri-Cities’ extensive energy expertise and workforce, available land for industrial and transportation infrastructure
BOWEN, From page C4
Looking forward to 2023, we will continue to support the startup of DFLAW, and are excited to see low-activity tank waste properly treated and disposed of. We also support the Test Bed Initiative
COLEMAN, From page C5
the Hanford site since the shift from an operational mission to the current cleanup mission. While the board works to recognize and provide advice on the incidents or challenges at Hanford, we also try to recognize and celebrate the progress that has been made.
As one board member said at a recent meeting, a lot of what was done at Hanford during the site’s early years was done under the best science of the day. They didn’t have the knowledge or expertise that we do today. Looking ahead 50 years from now, the work we are doing today might be con-
VANCE, From page C4
the floor and remove the contaminated soil, ultimately establishing conditions for the facility to be safely demolished.
On the Central Plateau, workers made progress on preparing to transfer nearly 2,000 highly radioactive capsules containing cesium and strontium from underwater storage in the Waste Encapsulation and Storage Facility to a nearby dry storage pad. Transferring the capsules to dry storage places them in a safe and stable configuration for long-term storage.
In September, we topped the 2 billion-gallon mark in treating contaminated groundwater for the eighth consecutive fiscal year, demonstrating our ability to consistently deliver impactful cleanup
make this the place to innovate, manufacture and deploy next-generation clean energy technologies for domestic and global markets.
Port of Benton’s primary focus is on industrial development and economic diversification.
The importance of the environmental cleanup work at Hanford is hard to overstate. But diversifying our economy beyond Hanford is critical for our community’s future. Creating sustainable, good-paying careers will help us maintain and grow our nuclear- and energy-skilled workforce now and in the decades to come as Hanford transitions from cleanup.
The port receives regular Hanford briefings from Hanford Communities and Energy Communities Alliance. This insight helps us plan and engage with our regional economic development partners on ways to drive new energy missions, leverage assets and support the workforce.
Last year, Port of Benton established the
(TBI) and are working with DOE to see Phase 2 of the project through.
TBI Phase 2 involves the retrieval, pre-treatment, grouting, and offsite disposal of 2,000 gallons of Hanford’s tank waste and requires a Research, Development and Demonstration permit from Ecology. We
sidered rudimentary. That’s how progress goes. We should be focusing on the progress of cleanup today and our ability to influence the future at Hanford.
However, this doesn’t mean that we don’t or won’t continue to address the challenges that impact the progress of the cleanup mission or protection of the workers on the Hanford site.
Board members bring different perspectives on Hanford cleanup to the board and don’t always agree on everything. The beauty of a consensus board is members must work together through differing perspectives to reach consensus and pass poli-
progress. This brings the total to more than 30 billion gallons treated and 700 tons of contaminants removed since we began treating groundwater in the mid-1990s.
The cleanup effort across the site would not be possible without utility services that provide water, power, sewer, information technology, and roads for our work and workforce. Workers are constructing a new Central Plateau Water Treatment Facility that will provide all potable water to the cleanup hub of the Hanford site, the Central Plateau, to support a broad range of activities, including future tank waste treatment operations.
The DOE and our contractor partners remain committed to consistent engagement and constructive relationships across a very
Washington VERTical innovation cluster with a grant from the Washington State Department of Commerce.
VERTical is a coalition of experts from industry, organizations and public agencies collaborating to accelerate the deployment of next-generation nuclear and other advanced clean energy systems.
VERTical is one of nine clusters in Washington state implementing a proven international model to drive innovation, solve challenges that limit industry growth and pursue market opportunities.
VERTical project teams are working to facilitate next-generation reactor projects, grow the advanced clean energy market, ready the nuclear-skilled trades and professional workforce, attract capital for advanced nuclear, establish a nuclear quality management National Center of Excellence, link grant partners to leverage state and federal funds, and educate and advocate for nuclear energy.
A key VERTical project is the Clean Energy Supplier Alliance, established in 2022, to help deliver new nuclear energy facilities on time and within budget. Establishing a new domestic supply chain for these first-of-a-kind reactors which does not exist today. The Clean Energy Supplier
hope the project will demonstrate a valid path to final appropriate disposal of some of Hanford’s tank waste at an out-of-state facility.
On top of these efforts, we have a variety of education and outreach activities in the works, will continue a focused recruiting
cy-level advice. We try to balance both our history and what we, and our constituencies, believe is now in the best interest of the Hanford site and all those impacted by it.
With cleanup not expected to conclude until at least the 2070s, you can expect the board to be around and be involved at Hanford until the job is done.
Consider this as your call to action!
If you or your organization are interested in the status of activities at the Hanford site, attend a public HAB meeting. Each full board meeting is available during both day and evening hours, and if you have something you would like to say, each meeting
diverse landscape of local, state, regional, national stakeholders and tribal nations.
Our effort to increase awareness of the impressive work being done today at Hanford, as well as the significant body of cleanup work completed by our exceptional team of dedicated professionals over the last 30 years, is focused on facilitating collaboration to enhance the department’s ability to make the best possible decisions to safely progress our very complex mission.
We also remain committed to strengthening alignment with our regulators, the state of Washington, and Environmental Protection Agency, to support our collective obligation to deliver impactful cleanup progress on behalf of the nation’s taxpay-
Alliance will close this gap by engaging industry to implement advanced manufacturing technologies that deliver the promise of next-generation nuclear: safer, simpler, cheaper and faster to deploy.
Community surveys and recent statewide polling demonstrate strong support for our focus on new nuclear as part of an all-of-the-above clean energy strategy to advance state and national clean energy initiatives.
The Tri-Cities has a history of stepping up at a time of national need. The need is great, and the time is now.
Let’s lead the transition to a net-zero economy by innovating, manufacturing and deploying next-generation clean energy technologies for markets here and around the world.
Our new energy mission will help address the climate challenge, meet the looming demand for additional clean baseload power, create jobs, achieve greater energy security and strengthen the economy. This is the place, and we are ready.
Diahann Howard is executive director of Port of Benton.
effort, and look forward to supporting Hanford site cleanup through proactive permitting, conflict resolution, and technical assistance.
David Bowen is manager for the Washington State Department of Ecology’s Nuclear Waste Program.
has time set aside for public comments.
If you or your organization feel strongly about the Hanford site cleanup and you want to be part of the process, then become a member of the HAB. Each year, there are positions available.
For information contact:
• Gary Younger, DOE, at 509-372-0923.
• Ryan Miller, Ecology, at 509-537-2228
• Roberto Armijo, EPA, at 509-376-3749. Learn more about the HAB and the work we do on USDOE’s website: hanford.gov/ page.cfm/hab.
Susan J. Coleman is the chair of the Hanford Advisory Board.
ers.
The One Hanford Team is building our part of the Hanford story every day, through our commitment to safe and efficient environmental cleanup focused on maximizing every dollar invested by Congress in hazard and risk reduction.
In that way, we create the safest possible workplace for our workforce, efficiently reducing the hazards of our site to protect our community and continuing to provide a strong foundation for the economic prosperity of the Tri-Cities and the Pacific Northwest.
Brian Vance is the manager of the U.S. Department of Energy Office of River Protection and Richland Operations Office.
At Tri-City Development Council (TRIDEC), we are excited to celebrate 60 years of promoting economic strength and diversity. In addition to regional economic development activities, our core mission includes advocating for the funding and policies needed to support the cleanup of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Hanford site.
When it comes to Hanford cleanup, safety is the top priority. Beyond that, it is critical that the work continues to be adequately funded, and that every effort is made to execute cleanup effectively and efficiently. On the funding front we have been blessed with a congressional delegation, led by Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, and Rep. Dan Newhouse, who work extremely hard to ensure there are adequate resources every year.
Notably, the importance of funding Hanford cleanup seems to be getting through to the administration as well. For the first time in recent memory, last year’s President’s Budget request for Hanford cleanup was more than the previous year’s enacted level. This recognition, from Congress and the administration, will be especially critical over the next few years as significant additional funding will be needed for work on the High-Level Waste facility, in addition to ongoing cleanup efforts across the site.
While having adequate resources is important, it is also imperative that we look for opportunities to reduce long-term costs
David Reeploeg TRIDECand expedite cleanup. One particularly compelling opportunity is to grout the supplemental low activity waste in Hanford’s underground tanks and ship it to licensed facilities outside of Washington state for permanent disposition. Supplemental waste is approximately 50% of Hanford’s tank waste that is not currently intended to be vitrified in the Low Activity Waste facility.
In addition to removing the waste from these underground tanks sooner, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) estimates that grouting Hanford’s supplemental waste could save up to $26 billion. The next step in proving out the viability is to complete Phase 2 of the Test Bed Initiative, which would grout and ship 2,000 gallons of supplemental tank waste. We are hopeful that Phase 2 will be completed this calendar year.
Hanford is economic driver
While our primary focus at Hanford is on the successful cleanup effort, with over 12,000 employees, the site is a significant economic driver for our community. As TRIDEC and our community partners continue working to reduce the Tri-City
economy’s dependence on federal spending, we are looking at clean energy and technological innovation as key opportunities for economic diversification.
Dubbed “Clean Up to Clean Energy,” by Washington State University Tri-Cities Chancellor and TRIDEC Board Chair Sandra Haynes, this vision harnesses the Tri-Cities’ unique capabilities to further establish our community as a global leader in the research, development, manufacturing and deployment of clean energy technologies.
These capabilities include a highly skilled craft labor force, extensive science and engineering expertise, available land, and robust transportation infrastructure.
The Tri-Cities are also extremely fortunate to have the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), whose scientific and technical expertise will be a tremendous asset in fulfilling this vision.
New advanced reactor
Since the days of the Manhattan Project, the Tri-Cities’ historic roots have been in nuclear, and we believe that nuclear energy will be a key part of our future. There is a profound sense of pride about our community’s role in helping the United States win World War II and the Cold War.
We also have been leaders in nuclear innovation at the N Reactor and the Fast Flux Test Facility (FFTF). Moreover, the Tri-Cities are home to the Pacific Northwest’s only commercial nuclear reactor, the
Columbia Generating Station operated by Energy Northwest.
Our goal is to double-down on this nuclear legacy by building a new advanced reactor here in the Tri-Cities area.
In addition to the new jobs created by the construction and operation of the reactor, it would provide our region with much needed carbon-free baseload electricity. The new generation of advanced reactors also will require a robust supply chain including advanced nuclear fuels, and the Tri-Cities is extremely well suited to be a hub for nuclear manufacturing.
Nuclear is just one piece of the puzzle, however. There are many additional opportunities on our horizon. These include hydrogen technology development and generation, biofuels, battery manufacturing, carbon capture, thought leadership driven by Washington State University Tri-Cities’ Institute for Northwest Energy Futures, and much more.
Progress at Hanford opens the door for many of these new opportunities, including the transfer of additional lands and facilities to the community as the cleanup footprint shrinks. As we look to the future, TRIDEC remains deeply committed to supporting Hanford cleanup, along with the continued growth of the Tri-City community.
David Reeploeg is vice president for federal programs at Tri-City Development Council (TRIDEC).
The Central Plateau Cleanup Company (CPCCo) is well into its third year of operations at Hanford, and our team is proudly making substantial strides in achieving our cleanup priorities at the site. Our overarching strategic plan, VISION 2028, provides a five-year roadmap that defines our key objectives to support the sitewide cleanup effort, engage with other Hanford contractors and achieve mission success.
Since joining CPCCo last spring, I’ve witnessed our experienced and talented employees make significant cleanup advancements on the Central Plateau and along the Columbia River corridor. These achievements are even more noteworthy considering the shift we’ve seen in our post-pandemic workforce profile.
For the past two years, Hanford contractors have observed attrition rates not previously experienced at the site, an aging workforce retiring en masse and increasing demand for talented individuals throughout all industries. With these challenges comes an exciting opportunity to cultivate the next generation of mission-driven nuclear workers.
We are actively recruiting the best and
brightest in the Tri-Cities region and beyond to tackle the challenging work before us. In fact, we welcome a new group of energetic and enthusiastic employees every other week, many of whom are hired from outside of our industry because of their interest in the nobility of our mission. We’re committed to attracting, retaining and developing the very best team at CPCCo to deliver safe, efficient and cost-effective solutions to support our U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) customer’s long-term cleanup mission.
Over the past year, our team transformed the skyline along the river corridor, the largest cleanup territory on the Hanford site.
Last fall, we celebrated the completion of the K East Reactor “cocoon,” marking a significant accomplishment in our mission
to finish cleanup near the Columbia River. Just over a year after breaking ground, the project was completed ahead of schedule and under budget.
The steel structure – rising more than 120 feet tall and 150 feet wide – protects the facility while radioactivity in the deactivated reactor core decays over the next several decades, making it safer and easier to complete disposition in the future.
The K East Reactor is the seventh of Hanford’s eight former reactors to be placed in safe storage. The ninth – B Reactor – is the world’s first full-scale plutonium production reactor preserved as part of the Manhattan Project National Historical Park.
CPCCo continues to manage this historic facility for public access as part of DOE’s National Park Program. In 2022, more than 5,600 people visited the reactor from all 50 states and 26 different countries.
At the nearby K West Reactor, the final reactor destined for cocooning in the coming years, crews are isolating and stabilizing radioactive debris in the 1.2 mil-
Editor’s note: Valerie McCain submitted this column before she died on March 26 after a short illness.
It has been an exciting and challenging year at the Hanford Waste Tank Treatment and Immobilization Plant, also known as the vit plant, as we move closer to turning low-activity waste from Hanford’s large underground tanks into glass. Our team works tirelessly to achieve milestones and address the questions and challenges that arise when commissioning a plant of this size and complexity.
The plant remains in operational status with our team monitoring and managing equipment and systems 24/7.
In the fall, we initiated the process to heat up the first of two melters inside the Low-Activity Waste Facility. Considered the heart of the vitrification process, the 300-ton low-activity waste melters will be used to heat the waste and glass-forming chemicals to 2,100 degrees Fahrenheit. The mixture will then be poured into stainless steel containers to cool and solidify.
During heat up, we paused the process when we encountered technical challenges with the peripheral equipment. I am proud of our team’s response. They demonstrated that we have matured
our operations culture, just as the plant and documentation have progressed to demonstrate readiness to perform our mission. We look forward to re-establishing the conditions to resume melter heatup. Once heated up, the melter will remain at temperature through long-term operations.
Our team’s accomplishments last year include the following:
• Completed tests in the Low-Activity Waste Facility and Effluent Management facilities using water to demonstrate that tank waste and other liquids can be transferred safely throughout the plant.
• Completed tests to move containers that will hold vitrified waste remotely with a mechanical handling system.
• Completed test runs on replacing melter parts such as bubblers used to mix the waste and heated glass forming materials during vitrification.
• Completed testing of the exhaust, or off-gas, treatment system for the Low-Activity Waste Facility.
• Set up the autosampling system in the Analytical Laboratory, which is key to ensuring a consistent and quality glass product during operations.
• Loaded and staged nearly 10,000 pounds of glass-forming materials.
• Completed testing the 18 bubblers installed in the top of the low-activity waste melters. Bubblers are used to mix molten glass mixture with air during operations.
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We continue to work hand in hand with the U.S. Department of Energy, One Hanford contractors, and the Central Washington Building Trades in our collective commitment to the cleanup mission.
Last year, we simulated our first transfer of waste between the tank farms
Hanford Mission Integration Solutions (HMIS) continues to improve upon our role as the Hanford sitewide integrator, providing what is in the best interest of the government and taxpayers. This past year, we capitalized on opportunities to continue providing the fundamentals and foundation that enable the cleanup mission to move forward by evaluating both what is needed now, and what will be needed in the future.
As Hanford prepares to transition back to 24/7 sitewide operations for the first time since the plutonium production mission ended in the 1980s, the site’s culture has transformed. Decision-making on strategic cleanup initiatives and resolution on day-to-day field activities have become the standard across two DOE field offices and six prime contractors.
HMIS is proud to execute One Hanford initiatives to integrate all Hanford contractors to further the Hanford cleanup mission, including leading the Hanford Governance Model that establishes an enhanced operational culture for round-theclock treatment of waste from Hanford’s large underground tanks, developing the first fully integrated baseline and providing direct support to DOE to communicate Hanford cleanup progress.
The HMIS mission as the site’s essential services provider is to enable cleanup
across Hanford.
The commissioning of the Direct-Feed Low-Activity Waste (DFLAW) program for treating tank waste will mark the beginning of many firsts for Hanford, and HMIS is actively preparing the site’s infrastructure as we embark on this new era in cleanup.
Over the past year, HMIS supported more than 6,000 pieces of documentation on 2,800 projects supporting DFLAW, ranging from design and construction documentation to procedures and test plans. Modernized telecommunications now allow emergency radio use between our first responders and the Waste Treatment Plant campus, while recently installed fiber cables provide additional network services.
HMIS teams also repaired several miles of roadway to stabilize DFLAW waste transportation routes, and we continue to upgrade Hanford’s electrical infrastructure by modernizing miles of transmission and distribution lines and removing and replacing aging utility poles and conduc-
tors. HMIS also has developed contingency plans to minimize any potential disruptions to facilities, assets, power and water services.
Construction continues at the new Central Plateau Water Treatment Facility, which will replace a 1940s-era water treatment plant. When completed, the 10,000-square-foot facility will support the water needs of Central Plateau operations, including DFLAW, and will provide a minimum of 3.5 million gallons of water a day, utilizing an innovative microfiltration
method.
Ensuring safety and security is also a top priority as HMIS plays a key role in protecting Hanford’s workforce, the environment and sitewide assets. We ensure Hanford’s roads are safe for travel in the winter while protecting the site’s 580 square miles of land and 10,000 workers, providing best-in-class service with more than 400 employees in our protective forces. We have a keen understanding of the
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What a year! I joined the Washington River Protection Solutions team in March 2022. I was told before I accepted the position that the WRPS team is second to none – and I’ve found that to be true. I’m honored to play a very small role on the stellar team that safely overcomes challenges every day to move the cleanup mission forward on behalf of our U.S. Department of Energy client.
The near future of the Hanford site is the Direct-Feed Low-Activity Waste Program (DFLAW), where interdependent projects and infrastructure improvements, managed and highly integrated, will operate together to vitrify, or immobilize in glass, low-activity waste from Hanford’s large underground storage tanks.
WRPS has an integral role in that.
Right now, we have about 440,000 gallons of waste prepared for vitrification through the Tank-Side Cesium Removal System. This is the site’s first industrial-scale tank waste treatment, and represents the crucial, first-step of the tank waste treatment mission. We will continue to treat and stage waste for vitrification, but treating and staging tank waste is only a small part of WRPS’ role in the DFLAW mission.
Our talented construction subcontractors played a critical role in upgrading the Effluent Treatment Facility (ETF). We now have a modern facility, with a capacity doubled to more than 8 million gallons a day, to treat the liquid waste generated during vitrification at the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) and other facilities.
We will spend the rest of this year testing and exercising the upgraded systems, making certain they are integrating and operating correctly before needed for vitrification.
lion-gallon spent fuel storage basin. These are among the final steps needed to safely dewater, grout and demolish the basin.
Closer to town, workers at the 324 Building are preparing to remove contaminated soil under the building. Advancing this key risk-reduction project continues to be a high priority for the CPCCo team.
The center of the Hanford site, known as the Central Plateau, contains hundreds of legacy structures and waste sites. At one of our high-priority projects in this area, we are developing specialized equipment and techniques to safely transfer approximately 2,000 radioactive capsules from an underwater basin at the Waste Encapsulation and Storage Facility to a nearby dry-storage area.
Cleaning up contaminated groundwater is also a priority for CPCCo. Our six pump-and-treat facilities operate 24/7 to remove hazardous chemical and radioactive constituents from the groundwater, reducing risk across the site. We’ve treated more than 2 billion gallons of contaminated groundwater annually for eight consecutive
The DFLAW program requires site-wide integration. We are transitioning to a dynamic mode of 24/7 operations to provide a steady supply of treated tank waste to WTP for vitrification and accept liquid waste at ETF. We are developing and implementing strategies to improve our capability to increase tank waste transfers, operate multiple systems simultaneously, and respond to or recover from emergent operational issues that impact feeding waste to DFLAW. We will rely on our company’s safety culture (and the Hanford site safety culture) to ensure safe, compliant operations.
This will involve every one of our 2,600 employees and subcontractors safely responding to challenges with a sense of urgency, in a disciplined manner, and at a deliberate pace. Our safety culture is strong, and I know our engaged workforce is ready for this next chapter of the Hanford cleanup mission.
A 24/7 operations culture will allow us to support the DFLAW mission, while simultaneously executing other critical tank waste management activities.
The WRPS mission also consolidates radioactive and chemical tank waste from older, single-shell tanks (SSTs) to newer, double-shell tanks (DSTs), then eventually to treatment. Earlier this year, we began emptying the site’s 21st SST. Once that tank is declared retrieved, we will have retrieved the waste from two tank farms, or groups of underground tanks, representing 21 of the site’s 149 single-shell tanks. In
years and continue to add to our total of nearly 700 tons of contaminants removed from soil and groundwater over the life of our site-wide treatment program.
These efforts have not gone unnoticed. Earlier this year, several members of our team and their DOE counterparts were honored with a Secretary of Energy Achievement Award, the Department’s highest form of employee recognition, for their contributions to the ongoing success of our groundwater treatment operations program.
Our work in the Central Plateau is also critical to the success of Hanford’s tank waste cleanup mission. Specifically, we are taking the final steps to complete the Integrated Disposal Facility (IDF) to support the site’s Direct-Feed Low-Activity Waste program, a key DOE priority.
This engineered landfill provides permanent, environmentally safe disposal for containers filled with vitrified (immobilized in glass) low-activity tank waste from the nearby Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant and mixed low-level waste from other Hanford operations.
Earlier this year, crews completed con-
parallel, we are making substantial progress preparing the next tank farm for retrieval.
The 242-A Evaporator is a facility critical to our tank waste management mission; it removes water from tank waste, creating more available tank space in the 27 DSTs. We refurbished the boiler ahead of schedule and upgraded transfer lines from a nearby tank farm. Like ETF, the Evaporator system underwent significant maintenance and upgrades, so restoration and operability of this system will require deliberate focus.
All the construction, upgrades, infrastructure improvements and progress mentioned above wouldn’t have been possible without our small business partners. Since 2008, we’ve exceeded our small business subcontracting goals, awarding more than $1.6 billion to small businesses.
As we bring the upgraded and new facilities online and prepare for vitrification, we must grow a workforce that will see us through this new era of the Hanford Site mission. That’s why we are working closely with Washington State University
struction of two 400,000-gallon wastewater storage tanks at IDF by installing the domed covers. The tanks will hold runoff from rain, snow and dust-suppression activities. The runoff will be monitored and sent to a nearby treatment facility to ensure the protection of groundwater. IDF is expected to be operational by the end of 2023.
While our on-site impacts are noteworthy, we are a mission-driven workforce and our interests expand beyond the boundaries of the Hanford site. We’re focused on efforts that will create lasting impacts for a Tri-Cities community that will be enjoyed for generations and make a difference through responsible environmental stewardship, strategic partnerships and community collaboration.
Here at CPCCo, the name of the game is environmental remediation. To that end, it’s our policy to be responsible stewards of the environment while meeting our mission. We’re working to shrink our carbon footprint over the next decade by reducing our electrical and infrastructure demands, our reliance on field vehicles and efficiency upgrades.
Tri-Cities, Columbia Basin College, and local school districts to develop the next generation Hanford workforce.
We are also proud to partner with several Tri-City organizations that make our region a great place to live so we can attract and retain a workforce that wants to raise families here. We have a lot to offer people of every age. We are fortunate that WRPS parent companies Amentum and Atkins are committed to investing in this community.
This is a dynamic time for WRPS and the One Hanford community. Our collective commitment allows us to overcome unique challenges and achieve tremendous performance at the highest standards while we advance some of the most technically complex and hazardous work on the planet, ultimately improving the community and region for our families. We couldn’t do it without the support of the community and business community, so thank you.
Wes Bryan is president and project manager at Washington River Protection Solutions.
Partnerships with local small businesses are critical to the success of our cleanup mission. Since the inception of CPCCo’s contract, we’ve partnered with 150 small businesses throughout the Tri-Cities region, investing nearly $180 million in subcontracts.
CPCCo is investing in local educational institutions and programs, like the Washington State STEM Education Foundation, to support the next generation workforce. We are working with Washington State University and Columbia Basin College to establish a pipeline of high-caliber local candidates for potential employment.
To CPCCo, excellence means safely and efficiently achieving cleanup mission milestones on the Hanford site while supporting our workforce and the community we all call home. It’s a responsibility we take seriously, and we continue to work hand in hand with other site contractors as part of the One Hanford team to make that vision a reality.
To learn more, go to: cpcco.hanford.gov.
John Eschenberg is president of Central Plateau Cleanup Co.
HPMC Occupational Medical Services (HPMC OMS) is managed by HPM Corporation, a local, woman-owned business that provides specialized services to federal government clients and their contractors at the Hanford site.
Founded in 2001, HPM Corporation is a multi-disciplinary organization that provides programs in occupational medicine, environmental safety and health, risk communication, health data analysis and trend tracking, health education and promotion, industrial rehabilitation, ergonomics, as well as behavioral health services and project management.
HPMC OMS is one of the largest occupational medicine programs among all U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) sites. As a prime contractor to DOE, HPMC OMS provides comprehensive occupational medicine and health-related services to more than 9,000 Hanford workers serving in professional, technical, administrative and craft occupations.
To achieve our mission, HPMC OMS continuously is improving services to our patients, using best practices and evidence-based medicine while collaborating with our stakeholders, and providing staff with the necessary tools for the provision of safe and effective care of the highest quality and value.
HPMC OMS is accredited by the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC).
AAAHC accreditation distinguishes HPMC OMS from many other ambulatory care facilities through adherence to rigorous national standards of care and safety. AAAHC accreditation reflects our dedication to high-quality patient health care. HPMC OMS staff constantly reviews and improves our services to meet our patient needs at the highest level.
The HPMC OMS Health and Wellness team is aligning our content in 2023 to reflect the current needs and interest of our workforce. Throughout the year, we will offer a variety of services geared toward education and personal improvements. Our team will offer monthly presentation spotlights, lunch and learn series, interactive WorkFit trainings, a variety of digital resources, on-demand and live presentations, and continue to
Roles:
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Prime Subcontractor
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offer our individual services.
In addition to these regularly scheduled services, there were several additional accomplishments in the past year.
Mayra Ojeda, health education specialist, attained her health coaching certification credited by the American Council on Exercise.
Laura Carpino, clinical exercise physiologist, presented an educational webinar to the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA), entitled, “The Effects of the Pandemic on Physical Activity and Strategies to Prevent MSDs.”
It was chosen by the AIHA board as a presentation for its annual conference and included in their webinar series.
Audrey Wright, health education specialist, presented, “Total Worker Health at Hanford,” at the Energy Facility Contractors Group (EFCOG) Training Group Annual Meeting as a breakout speaker.
Customer surveys are utilized to assess patient satisfaction with our staff, services and overall facility. The survey results allow our staff valuable feedback which we use to continually manage and improve the quality of our services. Again in 2022, we exceeded national averages for patient satisfaction achieving 99.6% across the clinic. Satisfaction
•
• 25 Years Experience at Hanford & Tank Farms.
• 2,000,000 + Hours Worked at Hanford without a lost time accident. EMR <1.0 for past 5 years.
• Successfully Completed 18 Releases on original BOA
• Currently working 27 Releases on new BMA.
• WRPS, CHPRC, and MSA Approved NQA-1 Program and Time Keeping Program.
• Currently Performing work IAW RPP, ISMS, VPP, CBDPP and IWC including Integrated Systematic Risk Management.
• American Electric currently has over 150 trained and experienced craft and non-craft personnel ready to perform any task requested at the Hanford Site.
rates were also 99.8% for flu clinics, and 100% for presentations and training that are provided on-site to other contractors.
HPMC OMS continues to offer and provide workers with flu vaccines, as well as Covid-19 boosters.
Small business and collaboration
HPMC OMS supports local and regional small businesses interested in providing their products and services to the federal government. Our contract managers utilize business development and networking opportunities, including collaboration with the local Washington Procurement Technical Assistance Center (PTAC) for recruitment and training of the small businesses to help them learn as they prepare to enter the government contracting arena. Events such as these helped HPMC increase our outreach and sub-contracting opportunities for local small businesses.
Every day we at HPMC OMS are here to serve the employees of Hanford. Our team is proud to be the prime resource and provider of a range of occupational, medical, educational and behavioral health services in 2023.
Thomas Bui is program manager for HPMC Occupational Medical Services.
It’s been about two years since Hanford Laboratory Management and Integration LLC (HLMI) took over as a new prime contractor for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) in April 2021. To support DOE’s Hanford cleanup mission, HLMI assumed sole responsibility for the operation of the 222-S Laboratory, a full-service accredited analytical radiochemical laboratory.
The laboratory is in the center of the Hanford site and has served the Hanford mission for more than 70 years. Its original purpose was to provide process control analytical services in support of Hanford’s plutonium production mission. It then transitioned in the 1980s to the primary radiochemical lab supporting the Hanford site cleanup mission.
New workforce
The lab has been modernized over the years through multiple infrastructure upgrades; however, many more renovations are needed and are planned over the next five to 10 years. Many of the 222-S staff are also new, as workforce attrition has resulted in a turnover of nearly 40% of our staff.
To address this unprecedented transition in the workforce, HLMI has incorporated rigorous new employee training programs to ensure the staff is fully qualified to safely handle the highly radioactive materials the lab is responsible for analyzing.
HLMI is a limited liability corporation formed by two small businesses, Navarro Research and Engineering Inc., and Advanced Technologies and Laboratories
and the vit plant using water, an exciting milestone as we move toward treating waste.
Bechtel recently celebrated its 125th anniversary, which includes the more than 40 years we have been part of the Tri-Cities community. We remain
scale and types of services needed across the entire Hanford enterprise. In 2022, our support of tank waste cleanup efforts included building multi-level scaffoldings at the Effluent Treatment Facility to support facility modifications for future DFLAW treatment. Additionally, HMIS assisted with the testing of innovative cold spray technology which could be used to reinforce double-shell tank walls and improve tank integrity during cleanup.
We also supported several Central Plateau remediation efforts, including demolition work at the Plutonium Finishing Plant (PFP) where our teams disconnected water, sewer, power and communication lines, transported a massive excavator from PFP to the Environmental Restoration Disposal Facility, and drained more than 16,000 gallons of water from potable water lines. In addition, drones with our small, unmanned aircraft system program
The combination of these companies provides HLMI with the human resources and capital to ensure we consistently provide high-quality data to other Hanford contractors in support of the site cleanup mission.
HLMI is committed to continuing to make updates to the 222-S Laboratory, so that it is available to support the Direct-Feed Low Activity Waste (DFLAW) Program to treat and dispose of tank waste, a sitewide mission and top DOE priority. The laboratory must also be ready and able to support the overall High-Level Waste (HLW) cleanup mission for at least the next 50 years.
To be ready for these challenges, we are planning several capital improvement projects and facility renovations that will allow the laboratory to continue to provide state-of-the-art facilities and equipment to the scientists and technicians that provide these vital analytical services.
We plan on retrofitting the 11A hot cells (shielded nuclear radiation containment chambers) with new glass, providing improvements in maintainability, visual acuity and reliability.
HLMI is also revamping laboratory spaces to improve safety and operability,
committed to investing in the community where we live and work. In 2022, our project team donated nearly $300,000 to charitable organizations like the United Way of Benton-Franklin Counties, Toys for Tots, Bikes for Tikes, Special Olympics and Second Harvest. We also made corporate donations to the Boys and Girls Club, Grace Clinic and Junior
inspected Hanford’s cocooned reactors, as well as the K East reactor which was just transitioned to interim safe storage in October.
HMIS offers hundreds of unique services many probably don’t realize we provide. For example, our Treasury Office processes weekly payroll for more than 6,000 Hanford workers. Our Fire System Maintenance team and Hanford Fire Department partnered on critical repairs and upkeep of aging fire protection systems at Hanford, resulting in more than $2 million in cost avoidance. In addition, our Mission Service Desk typically responds to more than 5,000 requests a month, assisting Hanford employees with computer, email, phone and software issues.
On top of that, DOE’s Emergency Support Function #12 energy response team, based at the HMIS-managed Volpentest HAMMER Federal Training Center, coordinated life-saving support and emer-
and to provide chemists with state-of-theart infrastructure to do their work.
In addition, new advanced analytical measurement equipment will be installed and purchased, which will upgrade the lab to the latest technology and will increase reliability and availability.
The Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS), the data collection and management workhorse of the operation, will be replaced this coming year with a modernized data management system.
Finally, infrastructure systems (e.g., electrical distribution, HVAC) will continue to be updated to ensure reliable operations continue at the 222-S Laboratory.
Achievement, as well as more than 20 other charities, and served as premier sponsor for events for the United Way and Children’s Reading Foundation of Mid-Columbia.
We have an incredible team of craft and staff professionals who are committed to effectively managing challenges, progressing our work safely and with
gency response efforts during this year’s hurricane season, including deployments to response centers in Puerto Rico and Florida.
HMIS continues to implement solutions to attract, develop and retain a diverse and skilled workforce to carry out the cleanup mission. Our VALOR (Veterans Advocacy for Learning, Opportunities and Resources) program was launched in 2022 to assist veterans transitioning from military service to civilian careers. HMIS also donated $150,000 to Columbia Basin College’s Pathways to Hanford program to support students interested in careers at Hanford. In addition, HMIS partnered with DOE and One Hanford contractors to host a pair of One Hanford virtual job fairs designed to promote the site as an employer of choice.
The well-being of our community is vital to our HMIS family and the One Hanford mission. It’s why HMIS is committed
Since contract inception, HLMI has supported critical Hanford operations with timely laboratory analysis and reporting, operated the facility in full compliance with environmental regulatory and permit requirements, and implemented improvements and efficiencies in waste minimization processes that have resulted in cost savings and reduced worker and environmental risks.
HLMI looks forward to continuing to support the DOE cleanup mission and is proud to be a part of the One Hanford team.
Ray Geimer is general manager for Hanford Laboratory Management and Integration LLC.
quality, and being good stewards of taxpayer dollars. I look forward to a historic 2023 in partnership with our customer, collaborators, and the community as we advance this national mission.
Valerie McCain was Bechtel’s senior vice president and project director. She died March 26 after a short illness.
to creating a company culture of giving that spreads beyond our workforce to positively affect the community around us. Through volunteerism and corporate donations, as well as workforce investment, we are committed to improving the quality of life in the Tri-Cities and surrounding areas.
Looking to 2023 and beyond, we will continue to deliver mission integration, introduce new innovations and technologies, and drive improvement of essential service delivery in support of the One Hanford cleanup mission. As the site prepares for expanded waste treatment and 24/7 operations, HMIS will continue developing efficiencies and improvements across Hanford. Our success is only possible with the partnership, support and success of DOE, our fellow contractors, and the community, and we look forward to serving all of you for years to come.