RICHLAND, Wash. – EM’s Office of D&D and Facility Engineering (D&D/FE) hosted decommissioning professionals from Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL) — Canada's premier nuclear technology and engineering organization — for two days at EM’s Hanford site in November this year. CNL was formerly known as Atomic Energy Canada Ltd.

   Despite fog and below-zero temperatures, the visitors from the CNL sites at Chalk River, Ontario and Whiteshell, Manitoba toured Richland Operations Office’s deactivation and decommissioning (D&D) projects, such as the 618 10-11 Burial Ground and Building 324.

   The burial ground contains waste generated by activities in Hanford’s 300 Area, which was used for developing and manufacturing reactor fuel and conducting laboratory research during Hanford’s plutonium production mission. The 618-10 Burial Ground operated from 1954 to 1963. It covers approximately 5.2 acres, and contains 12 trenches and 94 vertical pipe units. Remediation of trenches is scheduled for completion in 2015.

   Building 324 in the 300 Area contained radiological and non-radiological laboratories, support facilities, and administrative areas. In January, work began on the engineering and design for cleanup of the waste site underneath this building. Remediation of the waste site will involve removing the highly contaminated soil using remotely operated equipment, and processing the material for packaging and disposition.

   The CNL tours were supplemented with discussions on critical aspects of the D&D process, including;

      • Effective decommissioning planning and site walk-downs;       • Selection and application of decontamination agents and fixatives;       • Characterization technologies and methodologies;       • Site operating practices; and       • Personal protective equipment selection and application.

   EM considered the visit an excellent step toward developing the relationship between DOE and CNL under the Statement of Intent between the two organizations, signed in February 2013.

   EM officials said the Richland Operations Office, its River Corridor contractor, Washington Closure Hanford (WCH), and D&D/FE coordinated their efforts to develop an agenda that exceeded CNL’s expectations.

   Don Howlett, section head of Decommissioning Projects with CNL, noted that the organization had already started using commercially available latex paint as a fixative for contamination after receiving guidance from WCH during the visit. 

   Following the visit, Brian Wilcox, director of CNL’s Project Delivery Division, sent EM a note of appreciation.

   “I want to express our sincere thanks for allowing the CNL team to visit Hanford for the benchmarking trip,” he wrote. “The hospitality and cooperation from DOE and Washington Closure Hanford staff was outstanding and our team really benefited from the tours and discussions, and have brought back real best practices and advice.”