Issued Nov. 14, 2010

DOE-ID Bi-Weekly Summary

For the Period Nov. 2-Nov. 14, 2010                 

EDITOR’S NOTE:  The following is a regular summary of operations at DOE’s Idaho Site. It has been compiled in response to a request from stakeholders for more information on health, safety and environmental incidents at DOE facilities in Idaho.  It also includes a brief summary of accomplishments at the site. The report is broken down by contractor:  Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project (AMWTP), Idaho Cleanup Project (ICP) and Idaho National Laboratory (INL).  This summary will be sent to everyone on INL’s regular news release distribution list every other week.  To be added to this distribution list, please call Brad Bugger at (208) 526-0833.

Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project

Nov. 10: A worker mistakenly allowed a waste drum to be supercompacted at the Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Facility without all the proper pre-checks. A non-conformance report was issued, a fact finding held, and all activities involving the Fissile Tracking System were suspended. After the drum was compacted, the assay data was validated and it was determined the drum was acceptable for compaction. (EM-ID—BBWI-AMWTF-2010-0025).

Operations Summary

Waste Shipments: Through Nov. 13, 2010, a total of 34,459 cubic meters of contact-handled transuranic waste, 96.37 cubic meters of remote-handled transuranic waste, and 3,710 cubic meters of previously-buried transuranic waste have been shipped from Idaho to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico for disposal.

Idaho Cleanup Project

Nov. 8: Water pressure in the fire water system at the Radioactive Waste Management Complex dropped well below normal when fire water systems were being used to fill the sewer lagoon at the Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Facility at the same time that RWMC personnel were isolating sections of their fire water system to support construction work.  Once the drop in water pressure was noted, the lagoon filling operations were suspended and water pressure returned to normal. A step-back on work involving the RWMC fire water systems was initiated. (EM-ID—CWI-RWMC-2010-0009).

Operations Summary

Buried Waste Exhumation Activities: Progress continues on the construction of two Accelerated Retrieval Project facilities located at the Subsurface Disposal Area.  At ARP-VI (Pit 4 West), air mover, propane and electrical installations continue.  At ARP-VII (Pit 10 West), North Wind Services continued construction activities by placing base beams and drilling the anchor bolt locations.

Idaho National Laboratory

Nov. 4: During an outage at the Advanced Test Reactor, it was determined that three valves that control the flow of some water into the spent nuclear fuel canal at the reactor had not undergone required maintenance surveillance. Additional safety requirements were placed on the canal until it was determined the valves were in the required (open) position. (NE-ID—BEA-ATR-2010-0022).

Operations Summary

The INL-developed Federal Automotive Statistical Tool helps government agencies monitor, track and improve performance of a 650,000-plus vehicle fleet that logs some 5 billion miles a year.

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Statistical Tool: The federal government owns 650,000 vehicles, and it uses the online Federal Automotive Statistical Tool (FAST) developed by Idaho National Laboratory to monitor, track and improve fleet performance. FAST data was used to help upgrade the federal fleet, increase overall fuel efficiency and reduce maintenance costs. A number of federal agencies rely on FAST to quickly produce annual reports and scorecards to track progress.