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Since its days as the National Reactor Testing Station, Idaho National Laboratory (INL) has focused on proving that what people think can’t be done is in fact possible. In the past decade, the lab has repeatedly demonstrated to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the nuclear industry that it can complete large, complicated nuclear projects on time and under budget.

The path is seldom easy, said Brady Orchard, project director at INL’s Materials and Fuels Complex (MFC). “If projects ran smoothly, they wouldn’t need project managers,” he said.

But there are two keys to success. The first is rigorous planning, which includes evaluating potential risks and establishing appropriate budgets and schedule reserves to respond to realized risks. The second is finding capable contractors and subcontractors and communicating clearly with them.

Here are three INL success stories.

Transient Reactor Test Facility (TREAT)

Built in 1958, INL’s Transient Reactor Test Facility (TREAT) ran for more than 30 years before it was put on standby in 1994. Twenty years later, responding to demand from the nuclear industry for new fuels better able to withstand extreme conditions, DOE decided to restart TREAT, setting a deadline for the end of 2018.

TREAT was brought online in December 2017, ahead of schedule and under budget. In addition to thorough planning and clear communication, institutional memory helped get it back into operation. The condition in which the plant had been left and kept also helped.

Located at MFC, TREAT subjects nuclear fuel samples and materials to short, intense bursts of neutrons, simulating the harshest conditions likely in any reactor. It was originally built to provide quantitative data and visual information on the melting mechanism of fast reactor fuel elements. Following initial startup in 1959, it performed safety certification tests for the nearby Experimental Breeder Reactor-II, which also shut down in 1994. Although it could have been decommissioned and dismantled like EBR-II, TREAT’s air-cooled design and ease of maintenance made it a good candidate for standby status. “It’s a very simple reactor,” said Lee Nelson, an INL project manager who helped with the restart.

Rebooting any nuclear reactor after 20 years requires careful planning, and that’s what most of the first year involved. Project director John Bumgardner held meetings every morning where a free exchange of ideas was encouraged. “He read every document he could get his hands on and hired good, capable people,” Nelson said. “We had a tight project team. We collaborated on a plan and stuck to it.”

Left behind from 1994 was an operating manual loaded with useful information and documentation. Although the contents had to be adapted into new standard operating procedures, “We had a great team of technicians, systems engineers and training experts who could do that for us,” Nelson said.

The high-voltage power supply equipment was repaired, as were the power conditioning transformers. Several antiquated air compressors were replaced. To find the vintage made-in-USA vacuum tubes to repair the power supplies, the team turned to eBay and found a vendor in the lab’s backyard, Twin Falls, Idaho. Following acceptance testing and installation, the tubes performed flawlessly.

The digital systems were a challenge as well. TREAT’s Automatic Reactor Control System ran on computers from the ’80s that used Intel 8086/8088 microprocessors. To bring things up to speed, a new hard disk drive was configured from a set of backup 5¼-inch floppy disks that had been archived.

To stay on schedule and within budget, INL recruited veterans from TREAT’s earlier days to consult. “It was really fascinating,” said Dan Willcox, a member of the team. “We would have a question, then we’d give them a little time to ponder. Eventually they would say, ‘This is how we did it.’ They saved us a tremendous amount of time and resources.”

Since new tests started, TREAT has been a major asset for testing new, longer lasting and accident-tolerant reactor fuels. At a 2018 Nuclear Regulatory Commission briefing, Bill McCaughey, acting director of DOE’s Advanced Fuels Technologies program, hailed the reactor’s refurbishment as “probably the most significant addition” to DOE’s advanced fuel testing capabilities.

Remote-Handled Low-Level Waste (RHLLW) Disposal Facility

The same year DOE decided to restart TREAT, INL began work on the $77.6 million Remote-Handled Low-Level Waste (RHLLW) Disposal Project. The project was part of INL’s 2005 contract with DOE, and managers knew they had a tall order to fill. Its capabilities would be critical to meeting cleanup deadlines and keeping INL’s work for DOE and the U.S. Navy on track. The project was DOE Office of Nuclear Energy’s first congressionally approved line-item project in 23 years.

Today, the RHLLW Disposal Facility, a Hazard Category 2 nuclear facility located near INL’s Advanced Test Reactor Complex, is safely disposing legacy and newly generated wastes. The vault yard is roughly the size of two football fields and includes 446 concrete waste disposal vaults, a 150-ton mobile gantry crane, monitoring wells and a robust drainage system. The facility is designed to support 20 years of waste disposal operations, with expansion capability to 50 years.

The RHLLW project team completed the project $4.7 million under budget and six months ahead of schedule, but the path to completion had plenty of challenges, said Orchard, who came on as project director in 2015. In 2016, when construction was about 80% finished, a pre-cast concrete lifting anchor failed at the fabrication facility. Work stopped while engineers designed alternate hoisting and rigging methods. By January 2017, when work could have resumed, deep snow and harsh weather stalled the team. Construction finally restarted in April, and in September 2018 the project received DOE approval signifying formal project completion.

“Things happen,” Orchard said. “You have breaks in design and unexpected developments in the field. Planning is half the job – design, assessing risk, having sufficient management reserve and contingency. On the execution side, it’s all about expectation management of your own people and your subcontractors.”

In 2019, the RHLLW project team received the DOE Project Excellence Award and awards from the Project Management Institute and Engineering Â鶹´«Ã½-Record. “When you’re in the daily battle of working on the project, it’s hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel, but it’s amazing now to look back and consider the magnitude of what we’ve accomplished,” Orchard said.

Sample Preparation Laboratory (SPL)

As INL’s first new hot cell facility in 49 years, the Sample Preparation Laboratory (SPL) at MFC represents another ambitious undertaking. Its nuclear materials analysis capabilities will increase understanding of structural materials for nuclear power plants, accelerate the development of improved fuels and alloys, and extend the life and safety of existing and new reactors.

The Hazard Category 3 nuclear facility was designed in 2017 and funded by Congress in 2019 with a commitment to be operational by November 2026. At this stage, the project has achieved substantial construction completion, which means that major construction elements are complete and final turnover is underway, allowing for DOE equipment, including advanced scientific instruments, to begin to be installed. In October, Orchard said the project team expects SPL to be in full operation nine months ahead of schedule.

What makes SPL’s construction perhaps most remarkable is that it took place during the COVID-19 pandemic and despite inflation and supply chain issues. Had contracts not been signed before the lockdown, the project would not have been anywhere near on time, Acting Assistant Secretary of DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy Mike Goff said at the ribbon cutting. Meanwhile, the team was focused and well prepared for the job, said MFC Director Ron Crone. “You can count on two hands the number of days that work wasn’t done here,” he said.

Orchard said that although the punch list for SPL will require rigorous attention all the way to the finish line, he is optimistic. INL has developed a good working relationship with ESTECH, the Idaho-based company that constructed SPL and is supporting other key projects at INL. Altogether, MFC is in the middle of a building boom, with construction in 2024 up 160% over 2023 and 500% over 2020.

“Continued investment to sustain and enhance MFC’s unique nuclear capabilities is critical to DOE’s mission. The small projects are just as important as the big ones,” he said. “It’s all about active management and establishing a good team.”

About Idaho National Laboratory

Battelle Energy Alliance manages INL for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy. INL is the nation’s center for nuclear energy research and development, celebrating 75 years of scientific innovations in 2024. The laboratory performs research in each of DOE’s strategic goal areas: energy, national security, science and the environment. 

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