PHOENIX - Leaders from EM’s Hanford Site updated the 2017 Waste Management Symposium on progress and planned activity.
Tom Fletcher, deputy manager with the Richland Operations Office (RL); Bill Johnson, president of Mission Support Alliance (MSA); Ty Blackford, president and CEO of CH2M HILL Plateau Remediation Company (CH2M); and Alex Smith, manager of the nuclear waste program with the Washington state Department of Ecology, discussed their respective programs and projects.
While outlining the 2020 Vision for DOE-RL, Fletcher stressed the importance of safety as the thread running through all the work at Hanford.
“Work crews are progressing safely and deliberately," Fletcher said. “I can’t give enough credit to the workforce. Their number one priority is safety."
Much of the work is within the scope of Blackford’s CH2M projects.
“The 2020 Vision is a really good roadmap for us, from a risk-reduction standpoint," Blackford said, detailing successes such as the startup of demolition of the Plutonium Finishing Plant, remediation of hazards at the 618-10 Burial Ground, and preparations for moving highly radioactive sludge out of a reactor basin near the Columbia River.
Much of CH2M’s work relies on the support of MSA, the site-wide integrator responsible for supporting DOE and the other contractors’ infrastructure needs, a critical scope of Hanford work.
“If we are in the background, not creating a lot of noise, if things are working well, that’s a good day for us," Johnson said of the importance of his team offering seamless site-wide support.
Smith offered the audience a glimpse into the important role played by the Washington state Department of Ecology, one of the signatories of the Hanford Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order, known as the Tri-Party Agreement that guides Hanford Site cleanup.
Source: U.S. Dept. of Energy, Office of Environmental Management
