UCOR, an Amentum-led project, is responsible for cleaning up the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Reservation. After completing the first-ever cleanup of a gaseous diffusion complex—the Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant—UCOR is now cleaning up select sites at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and the Y-12 National Security Complex (Y-12). UCOR is also completing remedial action activities at the former gaseous diffusion plant site, now called East Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP). With UCOR’s assistance, DOE is converting ETTP into a multi-use industrial park, national park, and conservation area.

When UCOR began cleanup activities in Oak Ridge in 2011, crews were faced with challenging, high hazard work as most of the buildings were dilapidated and contaminated. UCOR’s unique dispose-as-you-go approach kept projects moving more rapidly by immediately disposing of the demolition waste.

UCOR’s successful completion of the ETTP cleanup contract—under budget and ahead of schedule—led to the company being awarded a follow-on contract that expands cleanup across the Reservation. With cleanup work shifting to ORNL and Y-12, UCOR’s important work is freeing up valuable space for continued science and national defense missions.

UCOR’s successful work on the Oak Ridge Reservation has been highlighted by an exceptional safety record. UCOR has achieved DOE Voluntary Protection Program Star status, a designation only given to the safest sites in the DOE Complex. UCOR has also won multiple VPP Star of Excellence Awards and was named one of America’s safest companies by EHS Today magazine.

Project Highlights

• UCOR completed demolition of the Bulk Shielding Reactor, marking the the first-ever demolition of a reactor at ORNL. The facility was built in the 1950s for radiation shielding studies as part of the Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion Program.
• Crews demolished the Criticality Experiment Laboratory, a 1940s-era facility, at Y-12. During the first decade of its operation, scientists conducted more than 9,700 experiments. Beginning in the mid-1960s, the two-story facility was used to support the Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s High-Flux Isotope Reactor program. The building has been closed since 1992.
• Worker completed removal of the Biology Complex at Y-12, a former 11-building complex constructed for recovering uranium from process streams and later used for research on the effects of radiation on genetics. A new lithium processing facility is planned to be built on the cleared site.
• Soil remediation at ETTP will wrap up in 2024 as workers continue removing contaminated soil and replacing it with clean fill.
• UCOR joined DOE and regulators to break ground on the new Environmental Management Disposal Facility, an onsite disposal complex that will hold waste from ORNL and Y-12 cleanup.

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In 1979, Congress authorized the construction of WIPP as a research and development facility to demonstrate the safe disposal of defense-generated transuranic (TRU) radioactive waste from activities not regulated by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The facility, located 26 miles southeast of Carlsbad, N.M., was constructed during the 1980s. In 1998, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency certified WIPP for safe, long-term disposal of TRU wastes.

Generally, TRU waste consists of clothing, tools, rags, residues, debris, soil, and other items contaminated with radioactive elements, mostly plutonium. These man-made elements have atomic numbers greater than uranium, thus trans-uranic, or beyond uranium on the Periodic Table of Elements.

Amentum’s Historical Role at WIPP

Amentum’s long history at WIPP began in 1985 when the first in a long line of Amentum heritage companies served the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers with design, engineering, and technical assistance.  Three years later (1988) another heritage company, was named the WIPP management and operations contractor.  In all, Amentum and its heritage companies have managed and operated WIPP for more than 35 years.

Since the first Transuranic waste shipment arrived at WIPP on March 24, 1999, Amentum was a part of numerous milestones that helped shape DOE’s approach to nuclear waste management and disposal.

To date, Amentum has partnered with DOE to complete TRU waste cleanup at 22 DOE sites nationwide, including the Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site near Denver, Colorado in 2006.  As a result, Rocky Flats has been transformed into a wildlife refuge that is enjoyed by thousands of Coloradoans each year.

Since opening, more than 13,300 TRU waste shipments safely arrived at WIPP.  During more than 20 years of TRU waste transportation, drivers completed more than 15 million safe-loaded miles without serious incidents.  This feat is equivalent to a person driving the circumference of the earth 600 times without a significant accident.

In addition to cleaning up the environment and making America safer, Amentum and its heritage companies made huge contributions to the communities near WIPP. WIPP hosts communities of Carlsbad and Hobbs, New Mexico where corporate donations routinely eclipse $500,000 a year and grew to several million dollars over the life of the project.

WIPP Key Milestones

May 1986 – Amentum-led Westinghouse Waste Isolation Division oversees the redesign of the shipping container, the TRUPACT, adding double containment and eliminating a venting feature.

September 1989 – The Nuclear Regulatory Commission certifies the TRUPACT-II shipping container.

June 1990 – A record of decision by the DOE allows Amentum legacy company, Westinghouse, to continue with the phased development of WIPP.

October 1992 – President Bush signs into law the WIPP Land Withdrawal Act, designating the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as WIPP’s primary regulator.

December 1993 – U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issues radiation standards for waste containment criteria for WIPP.

May 1995 – Co-permittees DOE and Amentum-led Westinghouse Waste Isolation Division submit the application for a Hazardous Waste Permit to the New Mexico Environment Department.

May 1998 – EPA certifies WIPP, and the New Mexico Environment Department issues a draft Hazardous Waste Permit.

March 26, 1999 – First waste shipment arrives at WIPP and is emplaced underground later that day.

April 17, 1999 – Energy Secretary Bill Richardson welcomes dignitaries to WIPP grand opening.

October 2000 – The Nuclear Regulatory Commission certifies the RH-72B shipping container for remote-handled TRU waste.

December 2003 – Waste Panel 1 is filled.

May 2004 – Amentum-led Westinghouse’s Silver Mine Rescue Team is named overall champion at the National Mine Rescue Competition.

June 2005 – Rocky Flats sends final TRU waste shipment to WIPP, allowing the large quantity waste site to close ahead of schedule.

February 2007 – For the 21^st time in 22 years, Amentum-led Westinghouse is awarded the New Mexico Mining Association’s mine operator of the year for safety.

2009 – Amentum-led Westinghouse/WIPP celebrates 10 years of safe operations.

2010 – WIPP drivers surpass 10 million safe-loaded miles.

2011 – Amentum-led Nuclear Waste Partnership receives 10,000^th waste shipment.

2012 – Final shipments arrive from Sandia National Laboratories, which is the 22^nd site to be cleaned up.

February 2014 – WIPP temporarily suspends operations following a fire on a salt haul truck.  Days later, a radiological release occurs, which is later determined to have resulted from a Los Alamos National Laboratory waste container.

2016 – Amentum-led Nuclear Waste Partnership’s Blue Mine Rescue Team wins the National Mine Rescue Competition championship.

2017 – Waste emplacement operations and WIPP shipments resume following the 2014 events.

2018 – Mining resumes at WIPP and ground is broken for a new permanent ventilation system.

2019 – Amentum/WIPP celebrates 20 years of operations.

2020 – Amentum-led Nuclear Waste Partnership regains the DOE Voluntary Protection Program “Star” status; excavation for new Utility Shaft reaches 56-foot mark.

August 2021 – Amentum-led Nuclear Waste Partnership reaches a key milestone six weeks early by completing the foundation of the New Filter Building, a key component of the new permanent ventilation system.

November 2021 – WIPP receives its 13,000 TRU waste shipment marking an important milestone in DOE’s mission to clean up the country’s Cold War legacy.

April 14, 2022 – The final container of legacy TRU waste from the Savannah River Site arrives at WIPP for permanent disposal, capping the end of a journey for 239 shipments that began in 2011.

October 20, 2022 – Amentum-led Nuclear Waste Partnership reaches a major milestone as the last container of TRU waste is emplaced in Room 1 Panel 7 of the WIPP underground.

November 23, 2022 – WIPP employees begin emplacing waste in Room 7 Panel 8 marking a new beginning for workers who no longer need to wear respirators and protective clothing due to the radioactive contamination in Panel 7 caused by the 2014 radiological event.

December 2022 – Amentum-led Nuclear Waste Partnership receives shipments and emplaces waste at a rate not seen since prior to the 2014 radiological event, signifying the end of WIPP recovery and return to normal operations underground.

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The Central Plateau Cleanup Company (CPCCo) is an Amentum-led prime contractor at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Hanford Site in southeastern Washington state. The company is responsible for the environmental cleanup of select portions of the site, regarded as one of the most complex and challenging projects in the world. Hanford spans 580 square miles and is home to facilities that once produced materials to support nuclear weapons for World War II and the Cold War.

CPCCo’s cleanup vision aims to deliver headline-worthy changes by safely achieving meaningful near-term goals and reducing risk while accelerating the overall remediation schedule and minimizing lifecycle costs. The company’s work primarily focuses on:

• Facility deactivation, decommissioning, decontamination, and demolition
• Waste-site remediation
• Transuranic waste management
• Soil and groundwater treatment to protect the Columbia River, which runs adjacent to the site
• Development of decision documents to support regulatory requirements and oversight
• Preservation of select Manhattan Project National Historical Park assets at Hanford

CPCCo assumed the 10-year, $10 billion Central Plateau Cleanup Contract in January 2021. The company employs 1,700 experienced and talented workers committed to CPCCo’s vision of completing the cleanup work safely and efficiently.

Project Highlights

• • Completed demolition at Hanford’s historic Plutonium Finishing Plant, removing remaining structures and placing a protective soil cover over the top of the area.
  • Finished “cocooning” of the K East Reactor by constructing an innovative steel structure around the facility, which protects the building while allowing radioactivity in the core to decay over the next 75 years. The construction project – marked as a DOE Environmental Management fiscal year (FY) 2022 priority – was completed a year ahead of the original approved completion date and more than $4 million under budget.
  • Treated 2.3 billion gallons of groundwater, meeting an FY 2022 DOE Key Performance Goal and marking the eighth straight year the Hanford Site has treated more than 2 billion gallons of groundwater.
  • Preparing the Integrated Disposal Facility, an engineered landfill at the center of the Hanford Site, to receive vitrified low-activity waste produced at the Hanford Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant and other secondary solid wastes generated during the treatment process. The facility is a key component of the Direct-Feed Low-Activity Waste program to treat Hanford’s tank waste.
  • Operating the Environmental Restoration Disposal Facility (ERDF), Hanford’s engineered landfill for low-level radioactive and hazardous mixed waste. ERDF is the largest landfill in the DOE-EM complex, containing nearly 20 million tons of contaminated soil, debris, and solid waste from cleanup activities in Hanford’s Central Plateau and Columbia River corridor.
  • Removing debris and installing a dewatering system at the K West Reactor spent fuel storage basin in preparation for grouting and demolition. Both the K East and K West basins provided temporary storage of irradiated fuel discharged from reactors prior to shipment to fuel processing facilities.
  • Developing a system to transfer 1,936 cesium and strontium capsules from underwater pools at the aging Waste Encapsulation and Storage Facility to a nearby dry storage configuration. The capsules represent nearly one-third of the total radioactivity on the Hanford Site.
  • Completing several cleanup activities at two of Hanford’s former plutonium processing plants in preparation for eventual demolition.
  • Managing radioactive and mixed waste stored at Hanford’s Central Waste Complex, which stores transuranic waste and other waste types requiring processing before disposal.
  • Completed a series of upgrades to Hanford’s historic B Reactor, the world’s first full-scale plutonium production reactor, and part of the Manhattan Project National Historical Park. The upgrades to the reactor ensure safety and enhance visitor experience during the summer tourist season.

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Savannah River Mission Completion (SRMC), a team that includes Amentum, is responsible for immobilizing radioactive liquid waste and closing the underground, high-level radioactive liquid waste storage tanks at the Savannah River Site (SRS) near Aiken, South Carolina, U.S. Amentum, through its heritage companies, led liquid waste management operations at SRS beginning in April 1989 through the Savannah River Remediation Liquid Waste Disposition Contract, which concluded on February 27, 2022. The SRMC team is providing environmental solutions to eliminate the state of South Carolina’s number 1 environmental risk.

More than 50 years of Cold War production of nuclear weapons materials generated more than 165 gallons of liquid high-level waste (HLW), which has been concentrated to a present volume of approximately 34 million gallons of HLW. The waste is stored in single- and double-shell tanks in the SRS Tank Farms. Originally numbering 51 tanks, eight waste tanks are now operationally closed. The waste remains in 43 tanks, which are in various states of the waste removal, cleaning, and operational closure process.

The cornerstone of SRMC’s activities is the operation of the Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF), the nation’s only radioactive waste glassification plant. Since DWPF began operations in 1996, more than 4,300 canisters of vitrified waste have been produced, suitable for long-term storage and ultimate disposal. Amentum has operated waste vitrification facilities (in the US and UK) and is participating in the construction of a DWPF sister facility at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site.

Other major operations within SRMC include separating the liquid HLW, destined for vitrification, from very low-level radioactive liquid waste that constitutes most of the waste tank volume. SRMC decontaminates that liquid at the Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF), then sends it to the Saltstone Production Facility, where the waste is mixed with dry materials to create a cement-like grout, which is pumped into huge concrete disposal units for permanent on-site disposal. More than 26 million gallons of decontaminated salt solution from the tanks have been solidified.

The goal is to treat waste, then empty and grout aging storage tanks and support systems. Amentum, with its heritage companies, is the first company in the world to operationally close HLW tanks.

Amentum is one of the safest high-risk, high-hazard industrial contractors in the world. Amentum’s legacy company at SRS won the first-ever DOE Voluntary Protection Program Star for safety as a major DOE Cold War strategic materials production site and continued to be recertified every year since inception.

Significant Liquid Waste Program Accomplishments:

• Legacy Liquid Waste Contractor awarded DOE VPP Legacy of Stars (2010), Stars of Excellence (2020)
• Legacy Liquid Waste Construction accrued more than 36.4 million safe hours
• 2018 DOE Project Management Excellence Award for Saltstone Disposal Unit (SDU) 6 Project

Significant Salt Waste and Sludge Waste Accomplishments:

• 6 million gallons of salt transferred to SWPF
• 5 million gallons of sludge transferred to DWPF

Significant Waste Disposal and Tank Closure Accomplishments:

• 8 waste tanks permanently closed
• ~4,300 HLW canisters produced at DWPF
• ~1,200 canisters double stacked in Glass Waste Storage Building (GWSB) 1
• ~2,000 canister storage positions modified for double-stacking canisters in GWSB 1 and 2, avoiding the $130 million cost for construction of a new storage building
• 1 million gallons of decontaminated salt solution and other materials transferred to the Saltstone Production Facility
• 6 million gallons of grout (decontaminated salt solution and cementitious materials) permanently disposed of in SDUs

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Located along the Columbia River in the southeastern part of the Washington State, the 586-square-mile Hanford Site was created in 1943 as part of the Manhattan Project producing plutonium for nuclear weapons during World War II and the Cold War.

Today, on behalf of the U.S. Department of Energy, Amentum-led Washington River Protection Solutions is responsible for reducing the environmental risk posed by 56 million gallons of radioactive and chemical waste left over from plutonium production. Our commitment includes doing the job safely with a strong focus on innovation, employee involvement, and environmental protection.

Significant Accomplishments:

• Operating the Hanford Site’s first industrial-scale tank waste treatment system, with 440,000 gallons of chemical and radioactive tank waste staged and ready for vitrification.
  • Upgrading numerous facilities to support tank waste vitrification, or immobilization in glass.
  • Retrieving waste from the site’s 20th single-shell tank and transferring that waste to newer double-shell tanks for safer storage.
  • Installed pretreatment system to prepare tank waste for vitrification Completed waste retrieval from the first tank farm ever at Hanford
  • Treated about 440,000 gallons of tank waste through Tank Side Cesium Removal; it is staged and ready for vitrification.
  • Wrapping up upgrades at the Effluent Treatment Facility that are necessary for Direct Feed Low Activity Waste.
  • Retrieved approximately 35% of waste from Tank AX-101, the last of four SST in AX Farm to be retrieved. Currently balancing waste inventories in the DST system, making more room for additional transfers from AX-101, which has 395,000 gallons remaining.
  • Mobilization is underway for the U Tank Farm interim surface barrier. There are six barriers in five tank farms, meant to prevent rainwater from driving existing contamination toward the groundwater. The installation will be finished this summer.
  • Preparing to transition to the new Hanford Integrated Tank Disposition contractor, subject to DOE direction.
  • Maintained record as one of the safest companies in the DOE-EM complex

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Since 2003, Amentum, under its legacy company PAE, has successfully implemented 150 DoS AFRICAP task orders, performing as the procurement services agent responsible for full lifecycle supply chain logistics, including air, sea, and ground transportation; freight handling, warehousing, distribution, and sustainment; and training, mentoring and capacity building in 33 African countries.

Under AFRICAP II, Amentum was awarded 83 distinct task orders in 22 sub-Saharan African countries, drawing on its extensive strategic supply networks, comprising more than 300 distinct vendors from the U.S. and more than 35 countries in Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Amentum’s core expertise in procurement, logistics and inventory management resulted in the award of sequential task orders to secure vehicles, equipment, food, and medical supplies while maintaining ISO-certified trading, storage, and distribution operations, along with onsite inspections of vendor facilities and equipment prior to shipping.

Project Highlights:

• Received ISO 22000:2005 and Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point System (HACCP) certifications for compliance with trading, storage, and distribution of food products based on superior dry food management storage system
• Delivered high-quality, flexible, rapid, and cost-efficient solutions resulting in the award of 72 percent of AFRICAP task orders
• Simultaneously and routinely managed multiple task orders across complex, remote, and conflict-prone geography, including sub-Saharan Africa
• Overcame potential critical supply shipments during Ebola outbreak in West Africa by leveraging its expertise in port entries, shifting trans-shipment points at critical junctures
• Deployed innovative solutions, such as designing and constructing a concrete manufacturing camp to solve local sourcing challenges and complete multiple projects within the period of performance

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Amentum recently executed the world’s largest Thermal Conductive Heating (TCH) project over a four-year period with our Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) thermal partner TerraTherm using a multiple – phase approach.  The former jet fuel farm project site was historically used for the storage of jet fuel in two 420,000-gallon bermed, above ground storage tanks (ASTs) and two 567,000-gallon underground storage tanks (USTs).  The ASTs were removed in 1994 and the ASTs were abandoned in place in 2000.   The successful completion of this project resulted in a cost avoidance of $218M by reducing the environmental remediation timeline by 140 years.  The multiple phase approach was dictated by the available electric power supply and the operational limitations resulting from forecasted mass loading on the thermal oxidizer.

Over the course of the phased project, Amentum installed 1,156 TCH system infrastructure wells to a maximum depth of 30 feet over the 4.5-acre site to heat, remove and monitor contamination removal progress in the Thermal Treatment Zone (TTZ).  These wells were powered and monitored remotely via a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition system.  Amentum constructed a TCH Treatment Compound to cool extracted liquid, remove light non-aqueous phase liquid (LNAPL) and consolidate the TTZ vapor stream prior to treatment by the thermal oxidizer.

Project Highlights: 

• Removed 325,000 pounds of LNAPL.
• Remediated LNAPL contamination underneath the 10,000 square foot groundwater treatment plant (GWTP) while continuing to use the GWTP to process TCH liquid wastewater prior to discharge to groundwater recharge bed and 12 injection wells.
• Utilized our on-site Geographic Information System to pre-plan drilling solutions through historical fuel farm sub-surface concrete infrastructure and eliminate any project delays.
• Delivered this multi-year project 27-days ahead of schedule while mitigating unforeseen contaminant loading challenges that required flexible daily energy removal adjustments.
• While completing this complex remedial action task order, we continued our multiple contract 24-year safety performance record of zero lost-time injuries.

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