Mark Edgren, ORP chief of staff, left, presents Larry Shaffer and Clinton Summers with a plaque announcing their Grand Challenge-winning proposal. The two were part of a four-person team whose proposal aims to destroy organic bearing compounds and remove mercury by installing special skid-mounted treatment units to the vent pipes of Hanford tanks.

RICHLAND, Wash. – A proposal to destroy organic bearing compounds and remove mercury by installing special skid-mounted treatment units to the vent pipes of tanks in Hanford’s tank farms was recently named the winner of the 2016 Grand Challenge.

   Participants in the annual competition, now in its fourth year, propose and present creative ideas that can make a significant difference in the safety, quality, schedule and cost of EM’s Office of River Protection (ORP) mission. Judges then evaluate and select ideas for potential implementation. 

   The target cost savings for each Grand Challenge proposal is over $250 million.

   A four-member team made up of Joe Enneking, Larry Shaffer, Clinton Summers and Paul Kovach of the Columbus, Ohio-based NUCON International, Inc. won with their proposal titled “Control of Vapors from Hanford Storage Tanks.”

   Their proposal would require about $1 million to produce and test a prototype, but could save ORP up to $20 million a year. That could mean more than $250 million as tank farms activities are anticipated through at least 2040. 

   Grand Challenge judges reviewed 34 submissions from 20 organizations and partnerships, and selected 10 finalists who presented their proposals in September. Judges looked at factors such as technical viability and risks, whether proposals were achievable within a timeframe to meet mission needs, whether they were executable with existing safety basis requirements, cost avoidance, cost savings, and process efficiencies. 

   ORP will study about 18 of the proposals for potential implementation, according to Ricky Bang, an ORP facility representative and Grand Challenge advisor.

   If only the top 10 were implemented, it could save taxpayers a significant amount of money, said Elaine Diaz, ORP’s chief engineer and Grand Challenge lead advisor.

   “Grand Challenge is about getting the job done better, safer and sooner, and spending less of our tax dollars in the process. We all want that,” she said. “By tapping into great ideas from industry, academia, our network of national labs, and our own employees, we can make a significant difference.”

   Employees from DOE and its contractors, national laboratories, universities and corporations entered submissions.

   “I think this year was good because a variety of organizations participated,” said Bang. “I would say we got an improvement over last year through the increased collaboration between organizations. That resulted in better, more complete ideas that we can study.”

   The second-place proposal was “Optimization of Sodium Concentration in Direct-Feed, Low-Activity Waste Feed,” by Sahid Smith, Wendell Wrzesinski and Ben Harp, all from ORP.   

   The third-place proposal was “Hanford Waste Storage Capacity Management: Double-Shell Tank Life Extensions Supported by Forensics, Diagnostics, and Prognostics,” by Kayte Denslow, Kenneth Johnson, and Michael Rinker of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory; Kayle Boomer, Theodore Venetz and Jason Gunter of contractor Washington River Protection Solutions; and Dennis Washenfelder of AEM Consulting.