EM Hanford Site Manager Brian Vance led a Waste Management Symposia 2021 panel with leaders from the site’s major cleanup contractors to discuss transformative leadership during a period of dynamic change.
Office of Environmental Management
March 17, 2021
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The Effluent Management Facility (EMF) is the final major construction effort to support the Direct-Feed Low-Activity Waste approach at the Hanford Site. The EMF is needed to handle liquid secondary waste, called effluent, generated by the Low-Activity Waste Facility melters and offgas treatment system.
EM Hanford Site Manager Brian Vance led a Waste Management Symposia 2021 panel with leaders from the site’s major cleanup contractors to discuss transformative leadership during a period of dynamic change.
In the last year, the Hanford team led the site through the challenges of implementing a range of safeguards to ensure the safety and health of the workforce during the pandemic. They successfully transitioned two major contracts, continued to move site culture toward the start of treating low-activity waste, and delivered important progress on cleanup projects across the site.
“Even during a year of unprecedented challenges, the Hanford team demonstrated not only innovation and dedication, but also tenacity and flexibility,” Vance said. “Almost overnight, more than 6,000 employees transitioned from our traditional way of doing work to telework. While no change of that magnitude is ever perfect, the Hanford team worked through issues and corrective actions professionally and constructively while supporting the mission from home.”
Hanford was a featured U.S. site at the symposia, with three panel discussions focused on its work. To kick off the panels, Hanford team leaders discussed their recent cleanup accomplishments and strategies to safely progress activities and projects at Hanford.
“Hanford success has been tied to risk reduction since 1989,” said Brian Stickney, acting deputy manager for the Richland Operations Office. Stickney opened the site’s risk reduction panel by highlighting the significant progress cleaning up the reactor areas along the Columbia River.
Scott Sax, president of Hanford’s Central Plateau Cleanup Company, discussed his company’s plans to place two K Area reactors in interim safe storage — the last two of nine Hanford reactors to be placed into safe storage. Sax also highlighted risk reduction efforts in groundwater treatment and the planned transfer of cesium and strontium capsules to dry storage.
In the Low-Activity Waste (LAW) Facility, concentrated low-activity waste will be mixed with silica and other glass-forming materials and will be fed into the LAW Facility’s two melters and heated to 2,100 degrees Fahrenheit. The glass mixture will then be poured into stainless steel containers, which are 4 feet in diameter, 7 feet tall, and weigh more than 7 tons. The Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant startup team is currently testing mechanical equipment for the facility’s “bogie,” or cart transport rail system, pictured here.
Startup of the Direct-Feed Low-Activity Waste (DFLAW) treatment — the subject of the final of the three featured site panels — was a chance for Hanford leaders to show their close coordination to prepare the system for operations. The panel demonstrated how an integrated approach was necessary to achieve success in beginning the treatment process and how robust infrastructure and enhanced communications were critical for success.
“With collaboration and communication as the backbone, the DFLAW team is poised to pre-treat tank waste and heat up the world’s largest melter as early as the end of this calendar year,” said Tom Fletcher, the DFLAW program manager. “These two major accomplishments would not be possible without the dedicated and talented workforce who continue to make significant progress despite COVID challenges.”
In addition to Vance, Stickney, Sax, and Fletcher, Hanford team members who served on the panels included Office of River Protection Deputy Manager Ben Harp; Hanford Chief Financial Officer Greg Jones; Hanford Communications Director Carrie Meyer; Assistant Manager for Tank Farms Delmar Noyes; Assistant Manager for Technical and Regulatory Support Glyn Trenchard; Assistant Manager for River and Plateau Bill Hamel; Assistant Manager for Mission Support Jeff Frey; Washington River Protection Solutions President John Eschenberg; Hanford Mission Integration Solutions (HMIS) President Bob Wilkinson; HMIS Chief Operations Officer Amy Basche; and Hanford Vitrification Plant Project Director Valerie McCain.
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