About Us
Leadership
Chuck Spencer – President and Project Manager
Chuck Spencer is President and Project Manager of Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS), an affiliate company of URS Corporation where he leads the $7.1 billion remediation of radioactive and hazardous waste tanks at the U.S. Department of Energy's Hanford Site in southeastern Washington state. WRPS assumed responsibility for the Hanford Tank Operations Contract on Oct. 1, 2008.
At Washington River Protection Solutions, he is responsible for retrieving, treating, storing, and disposing of Hanford’s tank waste and closing single-shell storage tanks to protect the Columbia River. Approximately 53 million gallons of highly radioactive and hazardous waste are stored in 177 underground tanks at the Hanford Site.
He is a 25-year veteran of URS (formerly Washington Group International) and the nuclear industry.
Before being named president of WRPS, Spencer was President and Project Manager of Washington Closure Hanford, a company that manages the River Corridor Closure Project at DOE's Hanford Site.
Prior to that, Spencer was senior vice president for management and operations for the Global Management & Operations Services Group, responsible for operations at the Idaho National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, the Waste Isolation Pilot Project and other project operations. In addition, he was responsible for design oversight of the Pit Disassembly and Conversion Facility and had operational responsibility for the business unit’s operations in the United Kingdom.
Previously, he was the vice president and general manager for Defense Programs at the Washington Savannah River Company near Aiken, South Carolina. There he had responsibility for servicing all active nuclear weapons through the production and processing of tritium and testing of gas boost systems. He also was responsible for managing the Savannah River Site’s development of the conceptual design of the $2.4 billion Modern Pit Facility for future plutonium trigger manufacturing for the nation’s stockpile.
From 1988 until joining Washington Group in 1990 he was an attorney for Centerior Service Company in Ohio where he was responsible for nuclear and other corporate matters.
He earned a civil engineering technology degree from Youngstown State University and a Juris Doctor degree from Cleveland Marshall College of Law.
Spencer resides in Richland, Washington, and serves on the board of directors for the Tri-City Economic Development Council and United Way of Benton and Franklin Counties.
About Us
Contact
Mailing Address:
Washington River Protection Solutions
P.O. Box: 850 MSIN: H6-04
Richland, WA 99352
509-373-2196
Location:
2440 Stevens Center Place
Richland, WA
External Affairs:
Questions/Comments
About Us
Community
Washington River Protection Solutions donates $500,000 to WSU Tri-Cities, CBC
The majority of the funds will support science, technology, engineering and mathematics efforts at Washington State University Tri-Cities and Columbia Basin College. The remaining portion will be used for general scholarships and local small business assistance through student internships. Each institution is receiving $125,000 this year. An additional $125,000 each will be awarded in 2010.
“Quality higher education opportunities, especially in technical fields like science and engineering, are critical to the success of both our company’s environmental cleanup mission and our community’s overall economic health and vitality,” said WRPS Project Manager Chuck Spencer. “Both WSU Tri-Cities and CBC are dealing with substantial cuts in state funding, yet enrollment demand is up. We want to help them maintain their programs as much as possible.”
At WSU Tri-Cities, the initial $125,000 will address a number of needs:
• Upgrades of Energy and Environmental Laboratory equipment
• Junior- and senior-year student research projects in science and engineering
• Student internships to support local small businesses with a preference toward those in the technology or manufacturing sectors and those located within the Tri-Cities Research District
• General student scholarships.
“This investment in WSU Tri-Cities benefits small businesses and employers — in addition to our students — by providing scholarships, undergraduate research, internships, and teaching laboratory development,” Chancellor Vicky L. Carwein said. “In these times of tightening budgets and a growing demand for education, WRPS is helping economic development on multiple fronts with this gift to our campus.”
The CBC funds are targeted primarily for the college’s nuclear technology program re-established this past fall to train a new generation of workers in nuclear operations and radiation protection. WRPS has committed to a base level of support for the program for five years through cash support, scholarships and student internships. Additional funding will be provided to allow expansion of the program and provide for some general scholarships as well.
“The support from WRPS has been invaluable. Without the funds we could not have begun the program this fall quarter. The initial donation was used for five full scholarships awarded to students enrolled in the Nuclear Tech program, and the remaining was used to purchase equipment needed to teach the classes,” said Donna Campbell, Vice President for Instruction, CBC.
“We expect our demand for technically trained personnel to grow in the years ahead, and we will continue to work with both WSU Tri-Cities and CBC on ways we can best help meet that need,” Spencer said.
WRPS
WRPS, owned by URS Corporation and EnergySolutions, with integrated subcontractor AREVA, is a prime contractor to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of River Protection and is responsible for reducing the risk posed by the waste stored in Hanford’s aging underground tanks.
WRPS is working to transfer the waste stored in 149 leak-prone single-shell tanks—some of which date back to World War II—to newer, safer double-shell tanks. It is also preparing for delivery of the waste to Hanford’s Waste Treatment Plant where it will be converted to a stable glass form for permanent disposition.
WSU Tri-Cities
WSU Tri-Cities is located along the scenic Columbia River in Richland, Wash. Established in 1989 with upper division and graduate programs, WSU Tri-Cities expanded in 2007 to a full four-year undergraduate campus offering 17 bachelor’s, 13 master’s, and six doctoral degrees. Learn more about the fastest growing and more diverse campus in the WSU system at www.tricity.wsu.edu.
Columbia Basin College
Columbia Basin College has served Benton and Franklin counties for more than half a century. The first classes at Columbia Basin College were authorized by the State
Board of Education in May 1955. Classes began in temporary quarters at the former Pasco Naval Base. CBC’s main campus moved to its current site in 1957. CBC continually expands and renovates programs and structures to meet the community’s needs. The enrollment of the college has grown from 299 students in 1955 to more than 7,500 students per quarter today. The faculty includes 125 full-time instructors and 300 part-time instructors. More information at www.columbiabasin.edu.
09.10.2008
Washington River Protection Solutions pledges $1 million to Hanford Reach Interpretive Center
RICHLAND , Washington – Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS), the company recently selected to take over remediation of underground waste tanks at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Hanford Site, has pledged $1 million to the Hanford Reach Interpretive Center (http://visitthereach.org/) to fund construction and educational exhibits for this world class facility to be built on Columbia Point.
The gift was announced at a ceremony in Richland this morning. The pledge will be paid over the next five years.
“Washington River Protection Solutions is excited about helping so grand a project as The Reach move closer to the day it opens its doors and begins to share stories of our community and region,” said WRPS President and Project Manager Bill Johnson. “The Reach’s integration of education, environmental stewardship and economic development activities is a great match with our company’s goals for investment in the community.”
Washington River Protection Solutions (www.wrpstoc.com) is a company formed by the Washington Division of URS Corporation and EnergySolutions with AREVA serving as a dedicated subcontractor. It was awarded the Hanford tank farm operations contract in May by the Department of Energy and assumes responsibility for the project Oct. 1. The WRPS team will be responsible for safely retrieving, treating, storing and disposing of Hanford ’s tank farm waste and closing underground tanks to protect the Columbia River.
The Reach is a $40.5 million, 61,000-square-foot facility designed to serve as a gateway to the Hanford Reach National Monument. It was designed by Seattle architecture firm Jones & Jones, who also designed the Seattle Children’s Museum and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.
The Interpretive Center will contain exhibits and educational programs for adults and children. Construction will begin when the Reach has raised 80 percent of the money needed for construction. To date, the Reach has raised nearly $24.2 million toward its goal, with $2.3 million coming from Battelle, which operates the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, WA for the Department of Energy. “When Battelle gave a corporate gift to the Reach of $1.3 million in January of this year, it came with a challenge. That was to raise an additional $4 million through other corporate donors,” said Mike Kluse, Battelle Senior Vice President. “Washington River Protection Solutions’ gift is a major milestone in meeting that challenge. We appreciate Washington River Protection Solutions’ leadership and vision in making this important community asset a reality.”
“The history of the Columbia River basin and its people is centuries old and vitally important,” added CEO Kimberly Camp. “The Reach will show the unique land-to-people relationship – how it evolved from a region shaped by the Ice Age Floods, to a shrub-steppe environment inhabited by Native Americans, to its role in shaping the 20th Century. Our challenge is to encourage others to help us to bring the Reach to fruition and step up to the plate with their pledge of support.”
08.2008
WRPS Assumes Corporate Sponsorship for Leadership Tri-Cities
Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) has joined Leadership Tri-Cities as its corporate sponsor for 2008-2009. Leadership Tri-Cities is an educational program that provides a forum to examine issues that face our region and provides valuable experience and tools that develop knowledgeable leaders to serve our community with continued learning opportunities through its Alumni Association. The course is made up of nine sessions that focus on various issues and aspects of the Tri-Cities region.
“We are pleased to be a part of this exciting program that helps develop and enrich the skills and understanding of current and future leaders of the Tri-Cities,” said WRPS External Affairs Manager Jerry Holloway.
The Leadership Tri-Cities mission is to produce a cadre of skilled leaders who will be catalysts for positive change in the community and who will mentor others towards this end. It also seeks to facilitate an exchange of ideas and solutions for problems best addressed at local and regional levels.
WRPS is one of the newest contractors on the Hanford Site and has a strong commitment to support education and economic development in the Columbia Basin. “Giving something back to the community is an important aspect of our company, and this is one of the ways we can accomplish this goal,” Holloway said.
Leadership Tri-Cities participants are selected based on a published list of criteria and seeks applicants diverse in age, community, ethnicity, professional background and community volunteer experience.
Details about Leadership Tri-Cities can be found on their Web site at www.leadershiptc.org
About Us
Challenges
Nowhere in the U.S. Department of Energy’s nuclear complex is cleaning up the legacy of Cold War plutonium production more challenging than at the Hanford Site in south-central Washington State. Here, in 177 huge underground storage tanks dating from the early days of the Manhattan Project to near the end of the Cold War, is the waste from reprocessing 120,000 tons of irradiated uranium. Hanford’s tanks contain nearly 200 million curies of radioactivity, as well as a complex mixture of hazardous chemicals. Safely managing and retrieving the tank waste to prepare it for disposal is the job of Washington River Protection Solutions.
Environmental cleanup formally began at Hanford in 1989. Hanford’s tanks hold 53 million gallons of high-level radioactive and hazardous waste, the legacy of decades of plutonium production for the nation’s nuclear arsenal. The waste is a complex mixture of radioactive materials and chemical waste. No two tanks contain exactly the same kind of waste and the waste itself is not homogenous.
Multiple fuel reprocessing methods were used at Hanford to improve efficiency, recover valuable materials and protect tanks from degradation. Because the waste coming from the processing plants was highly acidic it had to be treated to prevent corrosion. This was achieved with the addition of large quantities of sodium hydroxide and other chemicals to turn the waste alkaline. Campaigns were also conducted to recover uranium from the waste and return the material to the fuel cycle. In addition, chemical processes were developed to remove both strontium and cesium from the tanks, which created additional waste forms. The chemistry of these multiple waste forms was further altered by mixing waste between tanks, plus changes resulting from chemicals being exposed to radioactive materials.
About Us
Mission
Washington River Protection Solutions is committed to the safe and efficient management, retrieval and treatment of radioactive and hazardous risks to the Columbia River from the Hanford tank farms.
Vision
The Washington River Protection Solutions team is dedicated to bring proven and innovative worldwide technologies to the remediation of the Hanford tank farms, with a focus on workplace safety, performance excellence and respect for the environment.
About Us
Overview
Washington River Protection Solutions is committed to reducing the environmental risk posed by the 53 million gallons of radioactive and chemical waste stored in 177 underground tanks near the center of the 586 square-mile Hanford Site. This commitment includes the safe removal of waste from the aging single-shell tanks and the safe management of waste stored in the newer double-shell tanks until the waste can be prepared for disposal. Our commitment includes doing our job safely, with a strong focus on innovation, employee involvement and environmental protection.
Washington River Protection Solutions is a joint venture between URS Corporation and Energy Solutions, with AREVA as our primary subcontractor. Between us we have decades of experience which we bring to this job, which is considered one of the most complex cleanup projects in the nation.
While our first priority is doing our job, we recognize we also have a commitment to the community to help further its goals. As such, we are investing in programs and projects that advance educational and economic development opportunities in the region as well as those that enhance the quality of life. The future of the Tri-Cities area is bright, and we’re excited to be involved and help it grow to realize its full potential.
