RICHLAND, Wash. – EM Richland Operations Office contractor CH2M HILL Plateau Remediation Company (CH2M) recently awarded a subcontract to design and fabricate a cask storage system for more than 1,900 highly radioactive cesium and strontium capsules.

   The capsules represent a significant portion of the radioactivity present on the Hanford Site. They are stored underwater in pool cells that help keep them cool and provide shielding from radiation in the aging Waste Encapsulation and Storage Facility (WESF). The facility has high operating costs and represents one of the DOE complex’s largest risks in accidents such as a beyond-expected magnitude earthquake.

   The storage casks support DOE’s plan to reduce risk and cost by transferring the capsules to dry storage until a disposal pathway is available. In the dry storage system, the capsules will be cooled by air and shielded by concrete and steel.

   “The crew at WESF is doing a great job maintaining a facility that’s becoming increasingly difficult and costly to operate,” said Connie Simiele, vice president of CH2M’s Waste and Fuels Management Project. “Removing the capsules from WESF and placing them into a dry storage system will reduce the risk and costs for the storage of the capsules.”

   NAC International received the $23 million subcontract that calls for conceptual, preliminary and final design work for the 16 storage casks, with the first cask fabrication beginning in fiscal 2019.

   In the 1970s, radioactive isotopes of the chemical elements cesium and strontium were removed from Hanford’s waste tanks to reduce the temperature of the waste inside the tanks.

   The Management of the Cesium and Strontium Capsules Project subcontract award is part of CH2M’s continued commitment to meet or exceed its subcontracting goals at Hanford. Since the beginning of its contract in 2008, CH2M has awarded more than $2.4 billion in subcontracts.