Wooley Leads Hanford Demolition Project by Watching, Learning, Guiding

Kelly Wooley at the Plutonium Finishing Plant Closure Project.

RICHLAND, Wash. – Watching teams work. Learning what issues they face. Guiding them to solutions or to different outcomes. That’s how Kelly Wooley helped lead one of the most challenging demolition projects across the EM complex.

Wooley works for EM Richland Operations Office contractor CH2M HILL Plateau Remediation Company (CHPRC) as the deputy project manager for the Plutonium Finishing Plant (PFP) Closure Project on the Hanford Site.

Wooley quotes John Wayne to describe PFP challenges: “Courage is being scared to death but saddling up anyway.” That sums up the approach by PFP workers to recognize and prepare for hazards, and understand their experience and skill makes them the right team to perform the work safely.

“My job is to help evaluate the project, determine how to safely execute it, and help the leadership team and work teams resolve issues and challenges. PFP was once top secret. Not a lot of people knew what happened here. This was essentially a radio-chemical processing plant containing significant residual radiological hazards. There are a lot of unknowns, a lot of hazards, and a lot of concern that we have to work through on a daily basis,” Wooley said.

Hanford workers recently finished tearing down the Plutonium Reclamation Facility, the processing canyon in the Plutonium Finishing Plant (PFP) complex. Demolition on the last building — the main processing facility — is scheduled for completion in 2018.

Outside work, Kelly Wooley volunteers in the community, including a local summer day camp focusing on children with disabilities.

Past and present PFP employees have overcome challenges as they near the end of demolishing the complex, left heavily contaminated from 40 years of producing nearly two thirds of the nation’s Cold War plutonium.

According to Wooley, the past two years working at the PFP have been the most challenging of the 25 years he has worked in the industry.

“When we restarted demolition after implementing additional safety controls to prevent an airborne contamination spread, I didn’t sleep the night before and was on pins and needles the entire day,” Wooley said. “The team implemented the work controls and safely executed the work.”

Wooley’s leadership at PFP and elsewhere at CHPRC recently earned him the CH2M CEO Excellence Award recognizing emerging leaders.

“My job is to put the right people in the right position, give them the necessary resources to do the job safely and help them resolve issues,” he said. “Then, trust and allow them to meet the challenges and execute the work.”

With just a few weeks of PFP demolition remaining, Wooley reminds teams of the need to work slowly and methodically.

“We have a lot of self-motivated employees here, but we can’t get ahead of ourselves,” Wooley said. “We need to keep doing our jobs safely, so we can finish strong.”