The Hanford Vit Plant team recently reached a historic milestone when its first crew of commissioning technicians became fully qualified control room operators.
"The Bravo crew set the standard, and we’ve qualified additional crews since," said Valerie McCain, project director and senior vice president for Bechtel National, Inc., the EM Office of River Protection (ORP) prime contractor designing, building and commissioning the plant. "It is an important achievement as we ensure the people, plant, and paperwork or processes are ready as we go into melter heatup and cold commissioning." The control room the operators will work in is located inside the Low-Activity Waste (LAW) Facility, where radioactive and chemical waste from the tank farms will be vitrified, or immobilized in glass, for safe disposal as part of Hanford’s Direct-Feed Low-Activity Waste (DFLAW) Program. The first-ever control room operating crew completed its final qualification evaluations in a simulator facility as Melter 1 and Melter 2 operators, process operator, utility operator, Balance of Facilities/Analytical Laboratory operator, and control room supervisor. During the evaluation, a team of instructors observed each individual performing normal operations as well as responding to abnormal and emergency conditions. "The certification of the first crew of control room operators is the culmination of extensive training," said Mat Irwin, ORP deputy assistant manager for the plant. "It’s a truly important achievement on our path to tank waste treatment." Subsequently, the remaining three crews have also been qualified. The entire Hanford Site is preparing for a shift to 24/7 operations, when vitrification of tank waste is scheduled to begin as part of the DFLAW Program. That program is a system of interdependent projects and infrastructure improvements, managed and highly integrated, that must operate together to vitrify the waste. During vitrification, waste treated at a tank farm to remove radioactive cesium and solids will be fed directly to the LAW Facility’s melters. The waste and glass-forming materials will be mixed, heated, and poured into specially designed stainless-steel containers. The containers will be transported a short distance to the site’s Integrated Disposal Facility for disposal. The plant facilities can be viewed using the self-guided Hanford Virtual Tour.
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Benton County Fire District 4 will be holding its annual food drive to help neighbors in need this holiday season. Santa and his firefighter helpers will be at Flat Top Park on Saturday, December 11 from 4-8 p.m., with decorated fire trucks to collect donations and pass out candy canes. In order to receive a candy cane, please donate an item of nonperishable food.
“Every year we look forward to seeing the community come out to see Santa and drop off a donation,” said Fire Chief Paul Carlyle. “Being able to support members of the community in need means so much to our firefighters and staff.” Non-perishable food items can also be dropped off to Station 420 (2604 Bombing Range Road, West Richland) between December 1-12. Food will be distributed to families in need, with assistance from Catholic Charities serving Central Washington, West Richland Chamber of Commerce, and Operation We Care-Tri-Cities. Thank you to Yokes Fresh Market and Craig Bolling with Waddell and Reed for their continued support of Operation Candy Cane. More about the food drive can be found on BCFD4’s website (www.bcfd4.org). Arts Center Task Force (ACTF) today announced the results of their Mid- Columbia Performing Arts Center Update and Fundraising Breakfast. The organization raised a total of $53,000 at the December 1st event.
“The generosity demonstrated at this event far exceeded our expectations,” says Julie Wiley, Fundraising Committee Chair at ACTF. “It reinforces for us how much our community supports the arts and the construction of a dedicated performing arts center.” This funding will be used to support the operations of the organization as they work toward their goal of building the Mid-Columbia Performing Arts Center. During her update at the event, Executive Director Phinney Brown asked attendees to advocate for the organization by sharing their enthusiasm and support for the project with family, friends, colleagues, and community leaders. “One of the biggest factors in achieving our mission is community enthusiasm for the Performing Arts Center,” Brown stated, then added, “Everyone in this room shares our passion, or you wouldn’t be here today.” The event was sponsored by Bechtel and held at CG Public House in Kennewick. The Mid- Columbia Mastersingers performed a selection of holiday carols, under the direction of Reginald Unterseher, who is also an Arts Center Task Force board trustee. Speakers included Justin Raffa (Artistic Director, Mid-Columbia Mastersingers and President, Washington State Arts Commission), and the program was emceed by Michael Novakovich (CEO, Visit Tri-Cities). There were 75 guests in attendance. To learn more about the mission and progress of Arts Center Task Force, visit their website at www.artscentertaskforce.com. Visit Tri-Cities is excited to announce that a basic membership is now FREE for qualifying tourism-related businesses!
Benefits a free Visit Tri-Cities membership include:
“Offering a free membership to all local tourism-related businesses allows Visit Tri-Cities represent the entire Tri-Cities in a holistic manner,” said Michael Novakovich, President and CEO of Visit Tri-Cities. “It provides a greater opportunity to embrace the diversity of our tourism community and better highlight authentic visitor experiences. This puts the Tri-Cities in a more competitive position for not only attracting leisure travel, but also securing group business like conventions and sports events.” Qualifying tourism-related businesses include restaurants, attractions, museums, wineries, craft beverage operations, transportation providers, retail stores that offer products of interest to visitors, recreation, professional sports and performing arts, and similar entities that are located in or attract leisure visitation to Benton and Franklin Counties. Qualifying tourism-related businesses can begin the sign-up process for a free Visit Tri-Cities membership on the Membership section of VisitTri-Cities.com or contact Chase Wharton, Business Development Manager at 509.735.8486 or Chase@VisitTri-Cities.com. Lourdes Crisis Services is changing its phone number to 1.800.783.0544, effective Dec. 2, 2021, at 7 a.m.
Lourdes Crisis Services is located at 1175 Carondelet Drive in Richland. Services include crisis and commitment services, behavioral health therapy, co-occurring treatment, psychiatric medication management, transitions (crisis triage facility), inpatient psychiatric unit, phone crisis services, face-to-face evaluations to assist in resolution of the immediate crisis, crisis follow up to ensure the crisis is resolved and the individual has appropriate services and support available, consultation and training for community partners regarding crisis services and behavioral health conditions, Involuntary Treatment Act Investigations to determine if a person requires involuntary treatment due a mental health or substance use disorder. Lourdes Crisis Services can be reached at 1.800.783.0544. The Richland Arts Commission is accepting nominations in two categories for the 2021 Supporting The Arts in Richland, or STAR Awards. This honor recognizes two recipients, one individual and one organization/business for their outstanding contribution and support of the arts in Richland.
Nominations must be received digitally or postmarked by Thursday, January 13, 2022. The Richland Arts Commission will review and discuss all submittals during their January 2022 workshop. The chosen recipients will be presented with the award during a televised Richland City Council meeting in late February or early March. For more information and to submit a nomination, visit www.ci.richland.wa.us/artrecognition. Gesa Credit Union Hosts 6th Annual Holiday Toy Drive Benefitting Local Children’s Hospitals12/1/2021 Gesa, a community-chartered credit union, today announced they are partnering with local hospitals and community leaders to host its 6th annual toy drive. From now until December 17 members and staff are encouraged to donate toys at the oversized holiday stockings found at every Gesa branch, in honor of this year’s theme “Stock-the-Sock.”
All toys collected will be donated to local children’s hospitals and healthcare organizations across the state including: Seattle Children’s Hospital, Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital in Tacoma, Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane, Trios Health in Kennewick, Yakima Memorial Hospital and Samaritan Healthcare in Moses Lake. “Our annual holiday drives are one of my favorite community-focused initiatives because of who it helps. Our members are so generous that we’re able to really make an impact for a lot of families at a really special time of year,” said Angie Brotherton, Assistant Vice President of Community Relations. “This year we’re striving to surpass our toy collection goal, so we can brighten the day for some extra special children and their families spending the holidays in the hospital.” This year, Gesa’s goal is to collect 1,000 toys across Washington. Those who wish to stay up to date with the toy drive goal can visit the weekly tracker posted on Gesa’s social media channels. As a precaution due to COVID-19, only new, unused items will be accepted. Examples of gifts to donate include Lego sets, dolls, stuffed animals and prizes. For more information about Gesa Credit Union’s involvement in the community, visit https://www.gesa.com/community. Lourdes Health is pleased to announce that Carly Beesley, DNP, is joining Lourdes Urgent Care as a provider. Carly recently completed her Doctor of Nursing Practice through Washington State University – Tri-Cities. During her program, she completed 150 hours in an urgent care clinical rotation at Lourdes Urgent Care. During that time, some of her duties included obtaining patient history and physicals, interpreting laboratory values and diagnostics, suturing, wound care, pharmacological management, and problem-focused care. “Carly was a great asset to Lourdes Urgent Care as a student nurse practitioner, and we are thrilled that she is joining us full time,” said Dr. Kevin Taylor, Lourdes Medical Director. “She has a great bedside manner and treats patients with respect, dignity, and compassion. She will be a great provider for Lourdes and our community.” In addition to her Lourdes Urgent Care clinical rotation, Carly also completed clinical rotations at Tri-Cities Community Health and Benton City Clinic. She also performed lab and diagnostic test interpretation during her rotations. Additionally, she completed 360 project hours with Prosser Memorial Health, where she developed and implemented a quality improvement project on post-exposure prophylaxis policy. Prior to her Doctor of Nursing Practice program, Carly completed her Bachelor of Science in Nursing at Grand Canyon University in 2018 and earned her Associate in Science Nursing from Montana State University in 2012. She worked as a registered nurse and charge nurse on an inpatient medical floor at Billings Clinic, where she independently assessed patient status, interpreted lab and diagnostic data, and collaborated with providers. “Carly comes to us with great experience and has worked hard and diligently to further her skills and knowledge,” Dr. Taylor said. “She is also very aware of the healthcare needs in the Tri-Cities and is committed to helping all patients.” Lourdes Urgent Care is located at 5304 N. Road 68 in Pasco and is open Monday-Saturday from 8 a.m.-7 p.m. Patients can schedule an appointment online at YourLourdes.com/Online-Scheduling or walk-in to be seen. |
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