In this issue of EM Update, we're highlighting equipment and facilities that support EM cleanup as part of National Infrastructure Week, May 14-21. Infrastructure is a critical component of EM sites across the country. At the Hanford Site, EM Richland Operations Office contractor Mission Support Alliance (MSA) provides site infrastructure services such as water, sewer, electrical, road and railroad services to enable cleanup work to continue. MSA’s Public Works organization collaborates with other Hanford contractors and internal groups to determine future infrastructure and service needs. The current focus is on maintenance and modernization of the aging infrastructure and right-sizing systems for future cleanup needs.
OAK RIDGE, Tenn. - At DOE’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM), construction progresses on an important component of infrastructure to enable large-scale cleanup at the Y-12 National Security Complex. Crews are building two secant pile walls to support the new Mercury Treatment Facility. These walls will retain soils, control water seepage, and provide a deep, secure foundation for the water intake structure to divert Upper East Fork Poplar Creek waters into the headworks portion of the facility. The new facility is vital to OREM because it opens the door for demolition of Alpha-2, Alpha-4, Alpha-5, and Beta 4 - large, deteriorated, former mercury-use facilities dating to the 1940s. After their removal, OREM will remediate the soils beneath them. The facility will limit and control potential mercury releases as crews take down those buildings and address the soils that may disrupt the mercury-contaminated area on the west end of Y-12. When operational, the facility will treat up to 3,000 gallons of water per minute and include a 2-million-gallon storage tank to collect stormwater. The south secant pile wall will consist of 65 piles installed at depths of 20 to 40 feet, and it is scheduled for completion in November 2018. The north wall will consist of 19 piles drilled approximately 16 feet deep, and that work is scheduled for completion in July 2018. An artist rendering shows the completed secant pile walls to support the headworks portion of the Mercury Treatment Facility at Y-12.
AIKEN, S.C. -, the only operating production-scale nuclear chemical separation facility in the U.S., is a critical component of Savannah River Site infrastructure to address EM cleanup by processing legacy spent nuclear fuel from across the DOE complex. The more than 60-year-old facility can support a variety of missions.
LAS VEGAS - The connection between federal agencies and the communities in which they are located is vital in building meaningful community partnerships. That is why the EM Nevada Program funds a grant to support emergency response capabilities in communities near the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS). Through this grant program, which is based on $0.50 per cubic foot of classified, low-level and mixed low-level waste disposed at the NNSS, funding has been provided for local infrastructure projects such as the 7,000-square-foot ambulance barn in Beatty and the upgraded communications towers in Lincoln County. In total, more than $15 million has been provided to rural counties near the NNSS to enhance emergency response capabilities. More information on the grant assistance program can be found here.
MOAB, Utah - The pumping system for the Moab Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action Project 's settling pond provides an important fresh water supply to the Moab site. Some of its functions include groundwater injection, irrigation, and dust control.
WEST VALLEY, N.Y. - The Remote-Handled Waste Facility supports cleanup at the West Valley Demonstration Project. The estimated 11,000-square-foot facility can process low-level and transuranic waste, and is used for container opening, visual inspection, sampling, dewatering, waste segregation and size reduction, non-destructive assay, and packaging.
Source: U.S. Dept. of Energy, Office of Environmental Management
