ECA Update: October 23, 2012
Published: Tue, 10/23/12
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Hanford Determines Double-Shell Tank Leaked Waste from Inner Tank
DOE Press Release
October 22, 2012
DOE Press Release
October 22, 2012
RICHLAND -- The Department of Energy's Office of River Protection (ORP), working with its Hanford tank operations contractor Washington River Protection Solutions, has determined that there is a slow leak of chemical and radioactive waste into the annulus space in Tank AY-102, the approximately 30-inch area between the inner primary tank and the outer tank that serves as the secondary containment for these types of tanks. This is the first time a double-shell tank (DST) leak from the primary tank into the annulus has been identified. There is no indication of waste in the leak detection pit outside the DST, which means that no waste has leaked out of the annulus and into the environment.
Since the material in the annulus was discovered in August, ORP has conducted a video surveillance of more than 95% of the walls and floor of the annulus through 10 risers, or pipes, that extend from within the interior of the tank annulus up through the tank dome to ground level. The surveillance video revealed material in two locations near Riser 90 and one location near Riser 83. In addition to the video surveillance, DOE has taken samples from all locations and performed sample analysis.
Through the sample analysis, DOE has confirmed that one of the areas of material located near Riser 90 is a 2 foot by 2 foot by 8 inch mound of soil, and is not waste. The Department suspects the soil fell into the annulus during construction repairs to the ventilation system. The additional analyses have also allowed DOE to confirm that the material in the remaining two locations in the tank's annulus is waste. The waste is primarily crystalline in form and does not include any pumpable liquid.
ORP is continuing to conduct regular visual inspections of the tank. Based on the most recent inspections located near Riser 83, there is indication that the inner tank is slowly leaking.
"We will continue to perform visual inspections twice a week of the material inside the annulus, using cameras. In addition, liquid levels inside the primary tank and annulus will continue to be monitored. Liquid level monitors, although they cannot detect small changes like those that have occurred in Tank AY-102, would record any significant changes in the liquid levels of the tank," said Tom Fletcher, Assistant Manager for the Tank Farms Project. "We are working collaboratively with Washington State Department of Ecology to determine the most effective path forward for AY-102 and ensure that we are effectively protecting the public and the environment."
The material was discovered in the tank annulus space during a regularly scheduled DST Integrity Inspection. The area of the annulus floor is approximately 600 square feet. DOE estimates that the waste near Riser 83 covers an area of about three square feet that is less than ½ inch thick. The waste located near Riser 90 covers an estimated 40 square feet and is less than ¼ inch thick.
The underground DSTs include built-in secondary containment, with the outer shell surrounded by steel-reinforced concrete. There is no indication of waste in the leak detection pit outside the DST, which means that no waste has leaked out of the annulus and into the environment.
Since the discovery of material, ORP has kept the Washington State Department of Ecology and other Hanford stakeholders updated on the status of tank AY-102.
Remote-controlled sampling devices were modified and deployed into the annulus to take several samples of the material. ORP completed analysis of the samples and the results were reviewed by a panel of experts and senior managers who made the determination that the inner shell of tank AY-102 had leaked.
There have been no indications of abnormal events or leaks detected in any of the other double-shell tanks through routine monitoring. ORP monitors liquid level indicators within the primary tank and the annulus of the DSTs and continuously monitors for airborne contamination within the annulus. In addition, DST Integrity Program inspections that already occur will be accelerated and expanded to perform visual inspections on six other tanks that have similar construction as well as operating and process histories. These tanks are located in the AY, AZ, and SY tank farms.
Tank AY-102 was the first double-shell tank constructed at Hanford and has been in operation for more than 40 years. It contains about 850,000 gallons of sludge and liquid waste from the past production of plutonium for the nation's nuclear arsenal.
Coming election could signal shift in opposition to Yucca Mountain
David McGrath Schwartz, Las Vegas Sun
October 21, 2012
Tarkanian's statements drew sharp responses from environmental groups and his opponent.
David McGrath Schwartz, Las Vegas Sun
October 21, 2012
For decades, Nevada's federal and statewide elected officials have had a seemingly uniform mantra on Yucca Mountain and nuclear waste in the state: Hell no. End of conversation.
But November's election could change that, both proponents of Yucca Mountain and those ardently opposed say. On the ballot this year are three Republican congressional candidates -- two of whom are in tight races -- open to some form of research or reprocessing at the site.
Republican Danny Tarkanian, running for Congressional District 4, said last week at a Las Vegas PBS debate that Yucca Mountain could be used for a reprocessing facility.
"We need to diversify our economy," he said. "We've spent $12 billion to do the studies and the infrastructure at Yucca Mountain. ... I've suggested we turn it into a reprocessing facility of nuclear spent fuel. That would bring in $1 billion in revenue."
Tarkanian's statements drew sharp responses from environmental groups and his opponent.
"It's really terrifying that we could have a voice in our congressional delegation that wants to bring nuclear waste to Nevada," said Bob Fulkerson, executive director of PLAN Action, a progressive group that has opposed the site on environmental grounds.
Former U.S. Sen. Richard Bryan, chairman of the Nevada Commission on Nuclear Projects, said Nevada's elected officials from both parties -- including Sen. Harry Reid, Sen. Dean Heller, Rep. Shelley Berkley and Gov. Brian Sandoval -- have strongly opposed storing nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain.
On reprocessing, Bryan is wary.
"I don't want that to be used as a trojan horse for us to accept nuclear waste," he said. "I have some concerns about what I'm hearing."
Horsford, the Democrat running against Tarkanian, said he would support using Yucca Mountain as a data storage site or for some other non-nuclear use.
"I strongly oppose shipping toxic material through our backyards, turning our state into the nuclear waste capital of the country," he said in a statement.
But those who support using Yucca Mountain in some nuclear capacity see in Tarkanian, as well as in Rep. Mark Amodei of Northern Nevada and Rep. Joe Heck, R-Las Vegas, a willingness to talk about the site.
Heck, in an interview, said he had considered reprocessing at the site but found it would need too much water. He believes Yucca Mountain should be turned into a research facility.
"Nobody wants a repository," he said. "But what are we going to do moving on? There's so much at the site that could be an economic benefit to Nevada."
Amodei, of Carson City, also has said he opposes the storage there. But, he said, the state needs to have conversations about what's next.
"Once people get over the, 'Oh my God, you said (Yucca)'s not dead,' part, I think the focus goes to, 'OK, if it's not dead, what is alive?'" Amodei said in April.
Yucca advocates applaud the shift.
Randi Thompson, executive director of Nevadans for Carbon-Free Energy, a collection of business leaders mostly in Reno, said the group supports using the site for research purposes.
But she said elected officials shut down when they hear the term Yucca Mountain.
"It's frustrating," she said. "All we're saying is, 'Can't we have a conversation? Can't we look at the economic impact of this project?' Having Danny at the table would be great."
Democratic spokesman Zac Petkanas said having the three Republicans open to talking about Yucca Mountain in Nevada's delegation "would begin the breakdown of Nevada's previously bipartisan firewall that has prevented the dump at Yucca Mountain from becoming a reality."
Indeed, Thompson acknowledged the most powerful force blocking Yucca Mountain is the Senate majority leader from Nevada.
"Until Harry Reid is no longer in power, it doesn't matter how many congressmen we elect who are pro- or anti-nuclear reprocessing," she said.
DOE IG Management Alert: The Department of Energy's Management of Foreign Travel
DOE Inspector General
October 16, 2012
The Department of Energy (Department) and its workforce of 116,000 Federal and contractor personnel have numerous international exchanges and interactions at different levels and for a variety of important programmatic and other purposes. According to the Department's centralized travel database, the Foreign Travel Management System (FTMS), Federal and contractor employees made approximately 109,000 individual international trips at a cost of about $360 million from Fiscal Year (FY) 2007 through FY 2012-- a 6-year period. Consistent with the Department's organizational structure and its significant reliance on contractor assistance, the vast majority of these taxpayer-funded trips, in fact about 85 percent, were taken by contractor employees. This equates to over 90,000 contractor employee foreign travel trips in the period with a cost to the government of just over $300 million. Despite the sizable expenditure of Federal funds, the Department had not made a concerted effort to reduce contractor international travel costs. In particular, we found that the FTMS was not being fully utilized to identify overall trends in foreign travel, potential wasteful practices, and possible strategies to reduce the Department's international travel expenditures. Further, while the Department implemented a mandatory 30 percent reduction in Federal employee travel, management officials informed us that parallel action had not been taken to manage or control foreign travel by contractors. Based directly on the information sourced from the FTMS, had the Department applied the 30 percent reduction criteria to the international travel costs incurred by its 100,000 contractor workforce, as much as $15 million could be saved each year. In response to our immediate concern, Department management concurred with our recommendations and proposed and initiated corrective actions to assess and reduce international travel expenditures.
Energy Department spent $360 million on foreign travel, vast majority by contractors
Carol D. Leonnig, The Washington Post
October 22, 2012
The Energy Department's inspector general has warned that the agency has not taken sufficient steps to control the travel costs of its contractors, which account for 85 percent of the $360 million the department spent on travel over the past six years.
Contractors have taken more than 90,000 international trips during that period,according to the audit, which comes as federal agencies have been under orders to cut back on all government travel. Department managers acknowledged to auditors they did not seek to limit contractor travel and generally let contractors decide which trips were justified for their work.
The cost and number of department trips rose each year since 2007 until this year, when travel costs dropped 10 percent.
Inspector General Gregory H. Friedman sent Energy Secretary Steven Chu a management alert on Friday warning him about the auditors' findings and recommending the agency scrutinize the large travel budget.
"Despite the sizable expenditure of Federal funds, the Department has not made a concerted effort to reduce contractor international travel costs," Friedman wrote. He added, "we concluded that contractor foreign travel costs are of such a magnitude to warrant inclusion in any Department strategy to reduce contractor costs."
Last year, President Obama began ordering steep cuts in federal agency travel expenses. At the time, the Department of Energy estimated it could save $15.7 million in travel costs for 2012 by imposing stricter cost-saving rules for federal employee travel.
"At a time when families have had to cut back, have had to make some tough decisions about getting rid of things that they don't need in order to make the investments that they do, we thought that it was entirely appropriate for our governments and our agencies to try to root out waste, large and small, in a systematic way," Obama said in November 2011.
But the cost-savings orders were not universally applied to contractors, the audit found. The department has a federal staff of 16,000 employees and 100,000 contractors in various department-funded labs, research centers and offices.
The administration's attention to federal agency spending was prompted by a public outcry over a 2010 General Services Administration conference outside Las Vegas that cost $823,000. That training conference, which featured a $31,208 catered reception and in-room parties at an opulent resort hotel, embarrassed the Obama administration, violated numerous government conference rules and led to the resignation of GSA Administrator Martha Johnson.
Friedman's report raises a red flag about the number of trips and people traveling to the same events. This July, for example, the Energy Department paid an estimated bill of $100,000 to $150,000 for 45 federal contract employees to attend a conference on engine combustion in Warsaw. Twenty-seven of the attendees worked at the same Energy Department-funded laboratory. One department contractor lab helped host and chair the symposium.
The conference featured lecturers and presentations on combustion research, which the department says is critical for improving fuel efficiency in vehicles. The six-day Warsaw event also offered a "gala dinner," Chopin concert and tours of Warsaw sights, the Polish royal castle and a day trip to the city of Krakow.
The Energy Department responded to Friedman's findings in writing, generally agreeing that it should work to reduce travel costs and reporting that the chief financial officer "will perform an in-depth analysis of contractor foreign travel" for potential savings.
The department stressed it has cut travel costs this year -- from $69 million to $62 million. But it added that some of its contractor travel is critical to reducing nuclear threats to national security, including $4.5 million it spent sending contractors to help in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear reactor disaster in Japan.
"The Department is committed to identifying and reducing travel expenses in a manner that balances our responsibility to protect our Nation's security with our commitment to be good stewards of taxpayer money," wrote Ingrid Kolb, director of the department's management office.
The Department of Energy's travel budget is large compared to some agencies, such as GSA, which estimates it spent $9 million on employee travel in four years. But its figure is dwarfed compared to the departments of Defense, State and others.
In the wake of the GSA scandal, President Obama announced even steeper cuts in agency travel this May, with a goal of reducing 2013 travel expenses by 30 percent from the 2010 figures. The Office of Management and Budget also said it would prohibit spending more than $500,000 on a government conference unless approved by a department secretary.
The Energy Department's Office of Inspector General flagged high figures in a 2007 audit that scrutinized travel at some department-funded laboratories. In that case, auditors reported that contractors' domestic and foreign travel in 2006 combined cost $154 million.
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