Plutonium Finishing Plant (PFP) 241-Z Liquid Waste Treatment Facility Deactivation and Demolition

Conference · Wed Jan 09 00:00:00 EST 2008

OSTI ID:922692

Johnston, G. A. ^[1]

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1. Fluor Daniel Hanford, Inc., Richland, WA (United States)

Fluor Hanford, Inc. (FH) is proud to submit the Plutonium Finishing Plant (PFP) 241-Z liquid Waste Treatment Facility Deactivation and Demolition (D&D) Project for consideration by the Project Management Institute as Project of the Year for 2008. The decommissioning of the 241-Z Facility presented numerous challenges, many of which were unique within the Department of Energy (DOE) Complex. The majority of the project budget and schedule was allocated for cleaning out five below-grade tank vaults. These highly contaminated, confined spaces also presented significant industrial safety hazards that presented some of the most hazardous work environments on the Hanford Site. The 241-Z D&D Project encompassed diverse tasks: cleaning out and stabilizing five below-grade tank vaults (also called cells), manually size-reducing and removing over three tons of process piping from the vaults, permanently isolating service utilities, removing a large contaminated chemical supply tank, stabilizing and removing plutonium-contaminated ventilation ducts, demolishing three structures to grade, and installing an environmental barrier on the demolition site. All of this work was performed safely, on schedule, and under budget. During the deactivation phase of the project between November 2005 and February 2007, workers entered the highly contaminated confined-space tank vaults 428 times. Each entry (or 'dive') involved an average of three workers, thus equaling approximately 1,300 individuals confined -space entries. Over the course of the entire deactivation and demolition period, there were no recordable injuries and only one minor reportable skin contamination. The 241-Z D&D Project was decommissioned under the provisions of the 'Hanford Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order' (the Tri-Party Agreement or TPA), the 'Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976' (RCRA), and the 'Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980' (CERCLA). The project completed TPA Milestone M-083-032 to 'Complete those activities required by the 241-Z Treatment and Storage Unit's RCRA Closure Plan' four years and seven months ahead of this legally enforceable milestone. In addition, the project completed TPA Milestone M-083-042 to 'Complete transition and dismantlement of the 241-2 Waste Treatment Facility' four years and four months ahead of schedule. The project used an innovative approach in developing the project-specific RCRA closure plan to assure clear integration between the 241-Z RCRA closure activities and ongoing and future CERCLA actions at PFP. This approach provided a regulatory mechanism within the RCRA closure plan to place segments of the closure that were not practical to address at this time into future actions under CERCLA. Lessons learned from th is approach can be applied to other closure projects within the DOE Complex to control scope creep and mitigate risk. A paper on this topic, entitled 'Integration of the 241-Z Building D and D Under CERCLA with RCRA Closure at the PFP', was presented at the 2007 Waste Management Conference in Tucson, Arizona. In addition, techniques developed by the 241-Z D&D Project to control airborne contamination, clean the interior of the waste tanks, don and doff protective equipment, size-reduce plutonium-contaminated process piping, and mitigate thermal stress for the workers can be applied to other cleanup activities. The project-management team developed a strategy utilizing early characterization, targeted cleanup, and close coordination with PFP Criticality Engineering to significantly streamline the waste- handling costs associated with the project . The project schedule was structured to support an early transition to a criticality 'incredible' status for the 241-Z Facility. The cleanup work was sequenced and coordinated with project-specific criticality analysis to allow the fissile material waste being generated to be managed in a bulk fashion, instead of individual waste packages. This approach negated the need for real-time assay of individual waste packages, greatly improving the efficiency of the cleanup operation. The cleanup and stabilization of the 241-2 Liquid Effluent Treatment Facility reduced radiological risks to the environment and Hanford site workers. It was recognized as a success by regulatory agencies, the media, the DOE-client, and stakeholders. The 241-Z D&D Project demonstrated management excellence in adapting to significant changes in project direction, fostered a safety culture that amassed impressive results on this high-hazard job, maintained excellent communications with the client and stakeholders, and developed and implemented unique cleanup techniques.

• Research Organization: Fluor Daniel Hanford, Inc., Richland, WA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP); USDOE Richland Operations Office (RO); USDOE Assistant Secretary for Environment Management
• DOE Contract Number: AC06-96RL13200
• OSTI ID: 922692
• Report Number(s): HNF-36313 Rev 0; TRN: US0801734
• Resource Relation: Conference: Project Management Institute (PMI) Columbia River Basin Chapter 2008 Project of the Year, Richland, WA (United States), 9 Jan 2008
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
96 KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AND PRESERVATION
CRITICALITY
DEACTIVATION
DEMOLITION
FISSILE MATERIALS
LIQUID WASTES
PHOSPHORS
PLUTONIUM
PROGRAM MANAGEMENT
SAFETY CULTURE
US SUPERFUND
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTE PROCESSING
WASTES
Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP)
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 (RCRA)
Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA)
Hanford Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order (the Tri-Party Agreement or TPA)
Non-Destructive Assay (NDA)
Vault Transition
Building Dismantlement
Site Stabilization