The Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office updated an audience at the 2019 Waste Management Symposia on progress being made on cleanup.
Office of Environmental Management
March 12, 2019
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PHOENIX – The Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office (PPPO) updated an audience at the 2019 Waste Management Symposia on progress being made on cleanup at the Ohio and Kentucky gaseous diffusion plants.
PPPO Manager Robert Edwards opened the session by acknowledging seven senior leaders from the Portsmouth and Paducah sites on the discussion panel, and the group’s mantra of “One PPPO” that exemplifies a commitment to cleanup progress.
Joel Bradburne, PPPO Deputy Manager, discussed how the sites worked interdependently and how the collaboration allows them to take advantage of the current administration’s focus on reduction of overhead costs and fluid application of lessons learned to progress to an end state status.
New PPPO Portsmouth Site Lead, Jeff Bettinger, said the site will be poised for significant skyline changes over the next five years, with the massive X-326 Uranium Enrichment Process Building in the final stages of becoming demo ready, the first On-Site Waste Disposal Facility cell moving toward completion, and with solidifying for X-749 plume excavation. Bob Smith, Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth Program Manager, detailed recent accomplishments and upcoming actions to ensure actions are in step with cleanup plans.
Jennifer Woodard, PPPO’s Paducah Site Lead, outlined ongoing strategy to clean up the C-400 Cleaning Building Complex. An important component of this strategy will allow DOE to reach the primary source of groundwater contamination at the site, while accomplishing a small but significant D&D activity early in the project.
Woodward also discussed how Paducah is using lessons learned from the Portsmouth site to evaluate deactivation strategy. Jeff Bradford, Program Manager for Four Rivers Nuclear Partnership, the cleanup contractor at the Paducah site, followed with site accomplishments over the past year and with upcoming projects.
Reinhard Knerr, PPPO’s Depleted Uranium Hexafluoride (DUF6) Conversion Lead, and Zack Smith, Mid-America Conversion Services Program Manager, celebrated the success of running all seven conversion lines for the first time in several years, allowing for increased processing of DUF6 cylinders. The two leaders felt as though this success could open the door for future performance-based incentives that will further solidify sustainable operations at the DUF6 plants at Portsmouth and Paducah.