Well Decommissioning Project Completed
   Duratek helped completely decommission 70 high-risk Webster Wells by developing a specialized ‘jet shot’ technique after project personnel determined that the mechanical ripper used successfully in perforating single-casing wells would not be able to perforate the multiple casings of the Webster Wells (named for the person who had them installed in the 1970s and 1980s).
    The jet shot technique involved lowering explosives in the wells in strings up to 40 feet in length and detonating small “blasts” that perforated the sides of all three casings and reached into the surrounding soil. Starting at the bottom of the pipe, technicians perforated about 80 feet of piping at a time and grouted that section before working their way up to the top. (Grouting creates a seal that stops the flow of contaminants down the pipe and into the ground.) As each well was grouted, a concrete cap was placed on the well, and a brass stamp inscribed with the decommissioning date was placed on the cap. Over the course of the well decommissioning project—from January to August 2005—about 15,000 feet of well casings were perforated and sealed with grout.
    Every safety precaution was taken to guarantee the safety of crew in the vicinity of the ‘jet shots.’ Radiological control technicians and industrial hygienists monitored work areas and security officials escorted crews when explosives were transported and used. Explosives were secured in a special safe, and only one string was out of the safe immediately prior to use. Crews sounded horns before blasting as a warning and also afterward to signal the all clear. Strings of explosives were shortened to ten and five feet as they neared the surface. A blowout-prevention valve was used on top of the wells.
   “Decommissioning these wells is another significant step forward in reducing the threat to Hanford’s groundwater,” said Dick Wilde, Fluor Hanford V.P. of Soil & Water Remediation/Groundwater and Duratek employee. “The workers on this job proved that when extraordinary methods are required to complete work, extraordinary precautions can be taken to mitigate the hazards involved.”

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Waste Stabilization and Disposition Project Meets Crucial Milestone
   The Hanford Site’s Waste Stabilization and Disposition Project (WSD) met a crucial milestone requiring that 240 cubic meters of mixed low-level waste (MLLW) be thermally treated by September 30, 2005. This milestone—part of a Tri-Party Agreement (TPA) between the DOE, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the State of Washington—satisfied requirements set in The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), which gives the EPA authority control over waste management activities. Specifically, it provides for the management of hazardous wastes from the point of origin to the point of final disposal (i.e., “cradle to grave”).
   MLLW contains radioactive as well as hazardous constituents. The 247 cubic meters of MLLW thermally treated so far count toward a major TPA milestone requiring 600 cubic meters of MLLW required to be thermally treated by November 2007.
  Much of the waste is equipment, tools, protective clothing, and other items that have been contaminated by work with radioactive waste from Hanford’s huge tanks of underground waste. Thermal treatment destroys organic constituents of the MLLW (such as solvents and PCBs), ensuring safe and compliant disposal. Use of off-site commercial treatment facilities and transportation to and from these facilities was viewed as more cost-effective than building, operating, and decommissioning a waste treatment facility at Hanford. Waste residues are shipped back to Hanford for permanent disposal at three different locations: (1) Mixed Waste Trench-34, (2) the Duratek-operated Environmental Restoration Disposal Facility, and (3) Envirocare of Utah.
   Rhonda Connolly, Waste Services Director and Duratek employee said, “Workers deserve a lot of credit for their persistence on this long-term project, and for maintaining a team spirit characterized by a strong sense of safety. Some of our people have been working on this project since 1994. We have more work ahead to continue to ensure that Hanford’s mixed low-level waste is properly stored, transported, treated, and disposed.”

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Final Disposition of 183-H Basin Waste

The last of more than 12,000 drums of mixed low-level waste were shipped from Hanford’s Central Waste Complex (CWC) to the Duratek-operated Environmental Restoration Disposal Facility (ERDF) for treatment and disposal—marking the end of surveillance and operations costs associated with long-term storage and making room for TRU waste being prepared for disposal at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in Carlsbad, New Mexico.
   Finding a suitable pathway to disposal was a challenge for the 183-H waste stream since it was managed under a different regulatory agency (the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, or RCRA) than ERDF, which is managed under the Comprehensive Response Compensation and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA). A CERCLA determination removed the waste from RCRA management and allowed it to be managed under CERCLA.
Rhonda Connolly, Waste Services Director and Duratek employee, said, “We were able to reach our goal because we had cooperation among the regulators and contractors, and because of the dedication of our employees.”
   The MLLW Treatment and Disposal Project developed a shipping process that met all Department of Transportation requirements, and was efficient enough to allow for multiple daily shipments. “It was an enormous task to establish the path forward for shipping this waste to ERDF,” said Jodi Durfee, project lead and shipper. “We had to introduce ourselves to CERCLA requirements and find a way to make the process as efficient as possible while still meeting all of the regulations and requirements.”
With the shipping process in place, a dedicated crew on shift, and leased equipment on hand, the first of more than 300 shipments made the four-mile trek from CWC to ERDF in July 2003. “It is an amazing thing when a plan comes together,” Durfee said. “This project was projected to take three years and we completed it in less than two.”
   Disposal of the 183-H Basin Waste not only helps other site projects by freeing up storage space at CWC, but ultimately, and most importantly, it moves us one giant step closer to completing the Hanford Site’s cleanup mission.

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Milestone for Retrieving Transuranic Waste Met Five Months Early
   Duratek has assisted in the retrieval of more than 13,500 drums containing transuranic (TRU) waste, beating a Tri-Party Agreement milestone by five months. Workers met last year’s annual milestone for retrieving the equivalent of 6,000 drums four months early. “Your accomplishment in meeting another important TPA milestone ahead of schedule is outstanding,” said Ron Gallagher, Fluor Hanford President and CEO, in a message to employees. He commended the project for safety performance (zero OSHA-recordable injuries since retrieval operations began in 2003).
   The containers contain low-level radioactive waste, mixed low-level waste (also containing chemical contamination), and TRU waste in the form of contaminated debris, tools, clothing, and other materials. The containers were stacked on asphalt pads, covered with plywood, draped with tarps, and then covered with dirt. To ensure worker safety, crews follow a methodical process for retrieving the drums. As the drums are pulled one-by-one from the stack, each is visually inspected for corrosion, dents, or bulges, and storage records are reviewed to determine the kind of waste in each container.
   “Our employees have had to handle more and more degraded containers as they’ve progressed in retrieving material that has been in the trenches longer,” said Dale McKenney, Fluor Hanford V.P. of Waste Stabilization and Disposition and Duratek employee. Added Doug Greenwell, Director of the TRU Retrieval Project and Duratek employee, “As a result, they’ve developed several new techniques for moving these corroded drums without causing further damage.”
   Keith Klein, DOE’s Richland Operations Office Manager, said, “This is a critical risk-reduction milestone met well ahead of schedule. Pulling these containers out of the trenches eliminates the threat they pose to the surrounding environment and allows us to make an increasing number of shipments of transuranic waste out of Washington State for disposal.”