Richland, Wash. — Earlier this month, crews at the Hanford Vitrification Plant began a series of complicated cooling panel installations in the Low-Activity Waste Vitrification (LAW) Facility. The panels are being installed in the area of the facility where the 2,100-degree-Fahrenheit waste-glass mixture, the final product of the vitrification process, will be poured into stainless steel containers for permanent storage.

The panels will absorb the extreme heat emitted from the mixture, helping to keep the pour area of the facility at approximately 150 degrees Fahrenheit. This temperature allows the containers to cool enough to be transported out of the facility and maintains the integrity of both the equipment and surrounding concrete.

The cooling panels are specially treated to absorb the massive amounts of heat and must be handled with extreme care. The natural oils from human hands, for example, can compromise the special treatment coating. Therefore, the panels are covered in a polyurethane protective layer, which will later be removed, and workers must wear white cotton gloves during the installation process.

The panels are also quite thin, less than three-quarters of an inch thick, and range in sizes, from 4 feet wide and 16 feet long, to the same width and just a few feet long. To keep them from bending or folding and to aid workers in maneuvering, the panels are fitted on custom-built installation frames.

Further adding to the complexity, the area has limited access and already contains equipment that workers must maneuver around. A small temporary bridge crane is used to move the panels around installed equipment and within the tight area, where some clearances, above or below the panels, are less then an inch.

“These installations are very difficult and require extensive planning, collaboration and teamwork across organizations, disciplines and craft,” Wes Hoover, assistant area superintendent for the LAW Facility, said. “I’m confident this is the reason the first installation was so successful and that the remaining panels will go just as smoothly.”

A total of sixty panels, which cover 2,900 total square feet, will be installed and are expected to be complete early in 2011.

“Once the panels are installed, workers will connect piping that will transport chilled water to the panels (water will move through the panels as part of the cooling process),” Hoover said. “These are the final steps in completing the pour area of the LAW Facility.”

Bechtel National, Inc. is designing and building the world’s largest radioactive waste treatment plant for the U.S. Department of Energy at the Hanford Site in southeastern Washington state. The $12.2 billion Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP), also known as the Vit Plant, will immobilize the radioactive liquid waste currently stored in 177 underground tanks using a process called “vitrification.”

Vitrification involves blending the waste with molten glass and heating it to high temperatures. The mixture is then poured into stainless steel canisters. In this glass form, the waste is stable and impervious to the environment, and its radioactivity will dissipate over hundreds to thousands of years.

The WTP will cover 65 acres with four nuclear facilities -- Pretreatment, Low-Activity Waste Vitrification, High-Level Waste Vitrification and Analytical Laboratory-- as well as operations and maintenance buildings, utilities and office space.

Construction of the WTP began in 2001 and is now 55 percent complete. The plant will be operational in 2019.

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Richland, Wash. — Construction crews with Bechtel National, Inc. have successfully completed the precision installation of a massive 50-ton shield door at Hanford’s Waste Treatment Plant (WTP) in southeastern Washington State. Bechtel is designing and building the WTP for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of River Protection.

The shield door is in a key area of the WTP’s High-Level Waste Vitrification (HLW) Facility and was installed to extremely tight tolerances, down to five-thousandths of an inch, or less than the diameter of a human hair.

“Installation of the melter shield door is a significant project accomplishment and highlights the continued progress we are making in the construction of the Waste Treatment Plant,” said Jeff Trent, ORP’s Federal Project Director for the HLW Facility.

The steel shield door is 8 inches thick and measures 15 feet tall and 18 feet wide. It was installed in the melter area, which is the core of the HLW Facility. When operational, the HLW Facility will use two identical 90-ton melters to heat the high-level waste and glass-former mixture to 2,100 degrees Fahrenheit. The molten waste/glass mixture will then be poured into stainless steel canisters, sealed and prepared for storage and ultimate disposal.

“We installed the doors using precision optics and verified the installation with a laser tracker,” Scott Neubauer, Bechtel’s superintendent for the HLW Facility, said. “This technology is one of the few that provides accurate measurements to the precision this project requires.”  The laser tracker used was originally developed for and used in the aerospace industry.

Each HLW melter is designed to a five-year lifespan. At the end of the melter’s lifespan, it will be encased in a 250-ton, 8-inch-thick protective container, removed from the melter area and replaced with a new melter. This will be safely accomplished using a sophisticated, remotely operated rail-and-airlock system, which will ensure workers are protected.  The system includes six airlock shield doors, three for each melter. The doors will open and close sequentially when the transfer is taking place. When the melter is safely encased in the protective container, it will be moved out of the facility for permanent storage.

The recently installed shield door is the first of the rail-and-airlock system’s shield doors. It is also one of the two that will be closest to the melter itself.

“This system is key to operations of the HLW Facility,” Neubauer said. “By completing this first installation, we are setting the stage for the subsequent installations and ultimately for the entire WTP becoming operational in 2019.”

Bechtel National, Inc. is designing and building the world’s largest radioactive waste treatment plant for the U.S. Department of Energy at the Hanford Site in southeastern Washington state. The $12.2 billion Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP), also known as the Vit Plant, will immobilize the radioactive liquid waste currently stored in 177 underground tanks using a process called “vitrification.” 

Vitrification involves blending the waste with molten glass and heating it to high temperatures. The mixture is then poured into stainless steel canisters. In this glass form, the waste is stable and impervious to the environment, and its radioactivity will dissipate over hundreds to thousands of years.

The WTP will cover 65 acres with four nuclear facilities -- Pretreatment, Low-Activity Waste Vitrification, High-Level Waste Vitrification and Analytical Laboratory -- as well as operations and maintenance buildings, utilities and office space. 

Construction of the WTP began in 2001 and is now more than 50 percent complete. The plant will be operational in 2019.

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Richland, Wash. — This week, crews at the Hanford Vitrification Plant began installing key equipment essential for safely transporting analyzed waste within its Analytical Laboratory (Lab). The equipment is part of a waste-transfer system that, when the Vit Plant is operational, will move waste that has already been tested through the Lab.

“These components are critical to safely transporting waste from the Lab,” Heidi Schuette, deputy project engineering manager for the Low-Activity Waste Vitrification Facility, Balance of Facilities and Lab, said. “They required precision engineering and fabrication, and will require the same precision in installation.” During operations, approximately 10,000 samples, from throughout the vitrification process, will be taken and analyzed annually to ensure a high-quality glass product and strong process controls. Analysis will also confirm the glass meets all regulatory requirements and standards.

To aid in this process, the waste-transfer process will begin when a small crane lifts a 55-gallon drum onto a cart, known as a “bogie.” The drum and bogie will then move on rails through a protective shield door and up a hatch to the Lab’s hot cell. The hot cell is a radioactive area where samples taken from various stages of the vitrification process are analyzed.

The analyzed waste will then be loaded into the drum remotely using manipulator arms and lowered back through the hatch and into the maintenance access area for removal from the facility.

Crews began installing the hatch this week and will continue installing the rails, bogie and shield door throughout the spring. The components were fabricated by Premier Technology, Inc. in Blackfoot, Idaho.

The Lab is one of the five major nuclear facilities that compose the Vit Plant. Its footprint is 320 feet long and 180 feet, and it stands 45 feet, or four stories, high.

“The external structure of the Lab was topped off in 2007, and we continue to make significant progress on the interior of the facility,” Raleigh Amos, superintendent for the Low-Activity Waste Vitrification Facility, Balance of Facilities and Lab, said. “The installation of the waste-transfer equipment is just another step towards operations in 2019.”

Bechtel National, Inc. is designing and building the world’s largest radioactive waste treatment plant for the U.S. Department of Energy at the Hanford Site in southeastern Washington state. The $12.2 billion Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP), also known as the Vit Plant, will immobilize the radioactive liquid waste currently stored in 177 underground tanks using a process called “vitrification.”

Vitrification involves blending the waste with molten glass and heating it to high temperatures. The mixture is then poured into stainless steel canisters. In this glass form, the waste is stable and impervious to the environment, and its radioactivity will dissipate over hundreds to thousands of years.

The WTP will cover 65 acres with four nuclear facilities—Pretreatment, Low-Activity Waste Vitrification, High-Level Waste Vitrification and Analytical Laboratory—as well as operations and maintenance buildings, utilities and office space.

Construction of the WTP began in 2001 and is now more than 50 percent complete. The plant will be operational in 2019.

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Richland, Wash. — Effective January 18, the Hanford Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) Project announces Frank Russo as the new project director. In this position, Russo is responsible for oversight of the $12.2 billion nuclear waste cleanup project in Richland, Wash.

Russo brings 37 years of experience in engineering, procurement, construction, startup, commissioning and business management to the WTP Project, including experience in nuclear power plant construction and with the Department of Energy (DOE). He has served as president of Bechtel BWXT Idaho, a $140-million-a-year business that processes transuranic nuclear waste, and as senior director of the Idaho Completion Project, a $5 billion environmental cleanup and completion project.

Most recently, Russo was the Principal Associate Director of Operations & Business at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), supporting all science weapons and national security missions, as well as nuclear facility operations at LLNL and the Nevada Test Site.

Bechtel National, Inc. is designing and building the world’s largest radioactive waste treatment plant for the U.S. Department of Energy at the Hanford Site in southeastern Washington state. The $12.2 billion Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP), also known as the Vit Plant, will immobilize the radioactive liquid waste currently stored in 177 underground tanks using a process called “vitrification.”

Vitrification involves blending the waste with molten glass and heating it to high temperatures. The mixture is then poured into stainless steel canisters. In this glass form, the waste is stable and impervious to the environment, and its radioactivity will dissipate over hundreds to thousands of years.

The WTP will cover 65 acres with four nuclear facilities—Pretreatment, Low-Activity Waste Vitrification, High-Level Waste Vitrification and Analytical Laboratory—as well as operations and maintenance buildings, utilities and office space.

Construction of the WTP began in 2001 and is now more than 50 percent complete. The plant will be operational in 2019.

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Richland, Wash. — The Hanford Vitrification Plant finished 2009 with major accomplishments in three of its primary nuclear facilities—the High-Level Waste (HLW) Vitrification Facility, Pretreatment (PT) Facility and the Low-Activity Waste (LAW) Vitrification Facility. These accomplishments included fabricating keyequipment, placing a 36-ton rebar curtain and completing a support building, respectively.

“The Vit Plant reached 50 percent complete this fall, and we continue to make significant progress in all of our facilities,” Rick Bradford, Vit Plant project manager, said. “We finished the year strongly in terms of engineering, construction, and, most importantly, safety, achieving the best safety record since the project’s inception.”

The first of two melter assemblies that will be installed in the HLW Facility was completed last month by custom-steel fabricator Petersen, Inc., in Ogden, Utah. The melters, central to the vitrification process, will be used to heat the waste mixture to high temperatures before it is poured into stainless steel canisters for permanent storage.

“These melters will be integral to the high-level waste treatment process and must meet strict nuclear-quality standards,” Ty Troutman, area project manager for the HLW Facility, said. “This means extremely tight tolerances and precision engineering and fabrication. Our team worked with the vendor to overcome a myriad of challenges and complete the assembly as committed.”

Each HLW melter measures approximately 14 feet long by 14 feet wide, stands about 12 feet tall and weighs 90 tons. Work has already begun on the second melter assembly, which is expected to be complete this spring.

Also last month, the PT Facility, the largest of the WTP facilities, continued to increase its prominence within the WTP skyline, as the last rebar wall curtain for the fourth elevation of concrete was placed. The fourth elevation raises the facility from 56 to 77 feet in height, and the massive curtain, measuring 21 feet by 51 feet and weighing more than 36 tons, will reinforce its concrete walls. The PT Facility will stand 120 feet tall and comprise a total of five concrete elevations.

“This, along with the ongoing upper-elevation concrete placements, structural steel erections and hot cell piping installations, continue to move the PT Facility from the civil construction phase to the mechanical, electrical and piping installation phase,” Leon Lamm, area project manager for the PT Facility, said.

These accomplishments follow a milestone that occurred earlier this month, when the LAW Facility’s switchgear building structure was signed off as complete. The structure will contain two switchgear units that will serve as the facility’s main source of power. Combined, the two switchgear units distribute 5.3 megawatts of power. This is enough electricity to power nearly 1,800 standard residential homes, based on the assumption that 1,000 homes can be powered by 2 to 3 megawatts of power.

Cobra Roofing Services, Inc., a subcontractor to Bechtel National, Inc., completed the building’s structure and installed some preliminary electrical equipment, such as power panels, conduit and lighting. Extensive lightning protection has also been installed. Equipment installation is expected to be complete this spring.

“Equipment is being procured, delivered and installed; the skyline is continually changing; and buildings are going up,” Bradford said. “Each of these accomplishments advances Vit Plant construction and builds our momentum toward completion in 2019.”

Bechtel National, Inc. is designing and building the world’s largest radioactive waste treatment plant for the U.S. Department of Energy at the Hanford Site in southeastern Washington state. The $12.2 billion Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP), also known as the Vit Plant, will immobilize the radioactive liquid waste currently stored in 177 underground tanks using a process called “vitrification.”

Vitrification involves blending the waste with molten glass and heating it to high temperatures. The mixture is then poured into stainless steel canisters. In this glass form, the waste is stable and impervious to the environment, and its radioactivity will dissipate over hundreds to thousands of years.

The WTP will cover 65 acres with four nuclear facilities—Pretreatment, Low-Activity Waste Vitrification, High-Level Waste Vitrification and Analytical Laboratory—as well as operations and maintenance buildings, utilities and office space.

Construction of the WTP began in 2001 and is now more than 50 percent complete. The plant will be operational in 2019.

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Richland, Wash. — The Pretreatment (PT) Facility at the Hanford Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (Vit Plant) now reaches an impressive 77 feet in places and continues to rise steadily as concrete and steel are installed. Recently, the facility marked additional achievements when crews began installing a massive HVAC duct inside the facility’s hot cell. The duct is part of the primary air ventilation system in the PT Facility.

“This HVAC installation marks the expansion of work accomplishments in the PT Facility,” Leon Lamm, area project manager for the PT Facility, said. “Up until now, we’ve primarily concentrated on the exterior structural framework of the facility. Now, we are integrating efforts to install commodities inside the building.” The PT Facility is the largest of the four major nuclear facilities that compose the Vit Plant. Its footprint is 540 feet long and 215 feet wide, and it will reach an overall height of 120 feet.

The stainless steel HVAC duct is five feet in diameter and, once installed, will span more than 400 feet, the length of the facility’s hot cell. The hot cell will be a highly radioactive area that will be accessed only by remote-handling equipment. It will be used to separate the high-level radioactive solid waste from the low-activity liquid waste. Therefore, the HVAC duct must meet stringent nuclear-quality standards.

When the Vit Plant is operational, the duct will be essential for proper air filtration and ventilation. It will move air through the hot cell, as well as through the more-radioactive and completely inaccessible areas and up through the PT Facility environmental emissions stack. The stack will extend 60 feet above the PT Facility’s roof line.

Bechtel subcontractor Intermech began installing the duct in the east end of the hot cell last month. To prepare for the installation, ceiling coatings were applied to structural steel, and piping running above the ductwork was installed. Due to the size of the duct, work is expected to span the next few months.

Additional interior work has already started in other areas. Earlier this month, crews began major piping installations in one of the areas containing the four 275-ton waste feed receipt vessels. Structural progress continues as well. Work started on the third of ten steel zones at the 56-foot elevation earlier this month. The zone will contain a total of almost 350 tons of steel and is expected to be complete this winter.

“This is an exciting step forward because it demonstrates the PT Facility is moving forward on a wide array of work activities,” Lamm said.

Bechtel National, Inc. is designing and building the world’s largest radioactive waste treatment plant for the U.S. Department of Energy at the Hanford Site in southeastern Washington state. The $12.2 billion Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP), also known as the Vit Plant, will immobilize the radioactive liquid waste currently stored in 177 underground tanks using a process called “vitrification.”

Vitrification involves blending the waste with molten glass and heating it to high temperatures. The mixture is then poured into stainless steel canisters. In this glass form, the waste is stable and impervious to the environment, and its radioactivity will dissipate over hundreds to thousands of years.

The WTP will cover 65 acres with four nuclear facilities—Pretreatment, Low-Activity Waste Vitrification, High-Level Waste Vitrification and Analytical Laboratory—as well as operations and maintenance buildings, utilities and office space.

Construction of the WTP began in 2001 and is now more than 50 percent complete. The plant will be operational in 2019.

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Richland, Wash. — This month, the Hanford Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) Project celebrated surpassing the 50-percent-complete mark.

“Over the years, nearly 10,000 people have touched this historic project,” WTP Project Director Ted Feigenbaum said. “Each of these people, whether a skilled craft, engineer or other professional, has contributed to the project meeting this milestone. It is their pride and commitment to safety and quality that will continue to make this project a success and enable us to reach operations in 2019.”

The Vit Plant will use the vitrification process to treat the 53 million gallons of radioactive and chemical wastes now stored in underground tanks at the Hanford Site. The wastes will be blended with glass-forming materials, heated to high temperatures and poured into stainless steel canisters for permanent storage. In this form, the wastes will be stable and impervious to the environment, and the radioactivity will dissipate over time.

“The tank waste mission is critical to Hanford cleanup, and is the most complex and challenging environmental cleanup project in the nation,” said ORP Manager Shirley Olinger. “The vitrification plant provides the cornerstone to accomplish this mission.  Today, we are better aligned than ever, having reached a tentative agreement with the state and EPA on more realistic cleanup schedules, completed significant testing resolving nearly all of our technical design concerns, and we’re 90% complete with our design.”

The wastes in the 177 Hanford tanks are unique, complex in nature and vary per tank. To address the challenges this presents, the project has engaged recognized experts, external review teams and regulatory agencies. An external review team was brought in to look closely at the fundamental waste treatment processes.

As a result of this review, the Vit Plant confirmed the efficiency and throughput of key waste separation processes and is now confirming key mixing technologies. Using the Pretreatment Engineering Platform (PEP), one of the world’s largest test platforms, DOE and Bechtel verified the separations processes on a larger scale than ever before. A similar platform, the M3 Mixing Test Platform, was recently used to test pulse-jet mixers, which keep the waste suspended throughout the treatment process.

“We are confirming these processes and technologies now, which will provide additional confidence in commissioning and operations,” Olinger said.  “We are optimistic about our future, proud of our workforce and privileged to be part of such an important mission. Being a part of cleaning up the legacy of the cold war and doing our part to protect the Columbia River is what motivates us.”

Since construction began in 2001, nearly 200,000 cubic yards of concrete, 14,000 tons of steel and 340,000 feet of piping have been installed. Two of the major four facilities—the LAW Facility and Lab—are completely enclosed, and work is progressing on their interiors and equipment. The more complex HLW and PT facilities are steadily rising, reaching 37 feet and 77 feet, respectively.

In addition, the Vit Plant has installed key equipment. The massive environmental emission stacks are mounted on top of the LAW Facility and the Lab. The last of 13 glass-former silos, which will hold the glass-forming materials, are in place. And more than 70 vessels are installed, including four 275-ton waste feed receipt vessels in the PT Facility.

The Vit Plant construction site remains active and fast paced, making it essential to maintain a safe workplace. This year, the construction site earned the DOE’s Voluntary Protection Program’s Merit Status, which is awarded to highly effective worker-safety and -health programs.

Within the next few years, several more milestones will be met. The two 90-ton LAW and two 300-ton HLW melters, the hearts of the vitrification process, will be installed, as well as the 50-ton shield doors in the PT Facility.

“We are making very good progress,” Feigenbaum said. “Reaching the midpoint in the project is encouraging. Most of the tough technical issues are behind us and, while there will be challenges ahead, our progress to date gives us confidence in a successful completion. Fifty percent is another important step closer to commissioning and operations.”

Bechtel National, Inc., along with principal subcontractor Washington Group International, a subsidiary of URS - Washington Division, is designing and building the world’s largest radioactive waste treatment plant for the U.S. Department of Energy at the Hanford Site in southeastern Washington state. The $12.2 billion Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP), also known as the Vit Plant, will immobilize the radioactive liquid waste currently stored in 177 underground tanks.

Construction of the WTP began in 2001. The plant will be operational in 2019.

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Richland, Wash. — Crews working on the Pretreatment (PT) Facility recently reached a significant milestone when they finished installing the structural steel that raises the facility’s elevation from 28 feet to 56 feet.

“By completing this milestone, we are demonstrating the increasing momentum and mounting accomplishments for the PT Facility and the project as a whole,” Gary Brunson, Department of Energy (DOE) WTP Engineering Division director, said.

Work has already commenced on the floor of the 77-foot elevation. Crews began installing the rebar, which reinforces the concrete floor, last week. When complete, the PT Facility, the largest of the four major nuclear facilities that compose WTP, will comprise five total steel elevations and reach an overall height of 120 feet. Its footprint is nearly the size of four football fields.

“This installation provides a good working platform for the construction workers to safely and efficiently continue with completion of the facility to the upper elevations,” Leon Lamm, area project manager for the PT Facility, said.

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Richland, Wash. — With the ongoing construction of the Waste Treatment Plant (WTP) in the background at the Hanford Site, Energy Secretary Steven Chu joined Washington Governor Chris Gregoire, Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski, Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna, U.S. Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, acting U.S. Assistant Attorney General John Cruden and other officials today to announce a proposed legal settlement that will impose a new, enforceable and achievable schedule for tank waste cleanup at the Hanford Site in southeastern Washington State.

The Washington State and federal officials announced a proposed judicial consent decree that will be filed in federal court, then be subject to a public comment period. The proposed consent decree between the Department of Energy (DOE) and Washington State will set a new and achievable schedule for construction and startup of the WTP and the retrieval of waste from the large underground single-shell storage tanks at Hanford. Hanford currently stores 53 million gallons of radioactive and chemical waste in 177 underground tanks at the Site. The proposed consent decree settles litigation that was filed by Washington State last November and joined by the State of Oregon in February to compel the Energy Department to complete key aspects of the Hanford cleanup.

In tandem with the consent decree, the Department of Energy, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Washington State Department of Ecology are proposing changes to their 1989 Tri-Party Agreement to establish a new, realistic but aggressive schedule for completing waste retrieval from all single-shell storage tanks by 2040, and treating all of the tank waste by 2047. The modifications to the Tri-Party Agreement will also be subject to a public comment period before they are finalized.

The waste from the single-shell tanks will be removed and pumped to newer double-shell tanks, and ultimately transferred to the WTP where it will be immobilized into a sturdy glass waste form through a process called vitrification.

In addition, DOE and the State of Oregon have agreed upon a consent decree that recognizes Oregon’s strong interest in the cleanup effort and provides Oregon the right to receive copies of certain reports and notices that DOE must file under the consent decree with Washington State; the right to participate as observer in joint three-year reviews with DOE and Washington State; and prior notice of any motion by DOE filed with the court to modify the consent decree with Washington or invoke judicial dispute resolution proceedings under its terms. Oregon and Washington will also enter into a separate Memorandum of Agreement that will solidify the two states’ cooperative efforts regarding Hanford. Under the agreement, the Oregon Department of Energy will have the opportunity to review the Department of Ecology’s correspondence with DOE, consult with Washington State regarding changes and progress at Hanford, and provide input before final decisions are made.

The Tri-Party Agreement would extend the current schedule for completing retrieval of waste from single-shell tanks from 2018 to 2040, and completing treatment of all tank waste from 2028 to 2047. These new schedules are, in reality, aggressive, but achievable. With a goal of accelerating the completion dates, the proposed agreement adds a process for reviewing the final completion dates every six years. Each six-year review will determine whether the completion dates can be accelerated. At three-year intervals, a detailed system plan will be generated to evaluate options for accelerating cleanup. This “End Date Review Process” ensures that the Hanford tank waste cleanup remains as aggressive as possible.

As a result of the negotiations and settlement, the Department of Energy will issue an upcoming draft environmental impact statement that will include a preferred alternative of not importing certain off-site radioactive, mixed radioactive and hazardous waste to Hanford at least until the WTP is operational. Once the draft environmental impact statement has been issued and if public comment doesn’t identify a reason for not executing the consent decree, the state and DOE will move to enter the consent decree with the federal court and will also finalize the Tri-Party Agreement changes described above.

Under the agreement, DOE will also prepare a lifecycle analysis of all Hanford cleanup costs to meet legally mandated timelines for cleanup. The Tri-Party Agreement agencies today also finalized and signed changes in the agreement that establish new milestones for cleaning up contaminated groundwater under the Hanford Site to ensure protection of the Columbia River.

For more information about the Hanford cleanup, please visit: http://www.hanford.gov.

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DaBrisha M. Smith
DOE-Office of River Protection
(509) 376-4306, Dabrisha_M_Smith@RL.gov

Suzanne Heaston, Bechtel National, Inc., Waste Treatment Plant Communications
(509) 371-2329, smheasto@bechtel.com
(509) 539-7765 cell

Richland, Wash. — Last week, crews at the Hanford Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) installed two large mixing vessels, which are key to the vitrification process, in the Low-Activity Waste Vitrification (LAW) Facility.

Fabricated by Dynamic Air in St. Paul, Minn., each vessel is approximately 15 feet long, 11 feet wide and 8 feet tall and weighs approximately 45,000 pounds (more than 22 tons). They will be used to mix dry glass-forming materials, such as borosilicate and sugar, before the materials are added to the low-activity liquid waste. Once added, the liquid mixture will be poured into two melters, which will heat it to 2,100 degrees Fahrenheit, then transferred into stainless steel containers for permanent storage.

“This installation is significant because mixing, which ensures a quality glass product, is such an integral part of the vitrification process,” Bill Clements, area project manager for the LAW Facility, said. “These vessels are the last major pieces of equipment that will support the dry material process in the LAW Facility.”

Installed in the north end of the facility at the 68-foot elevation, each vessel was lowered through a hatch, not much larger than the vessels themselves, using a crane. A crew of approximately 20 craft employees, engineers and safety personnel worked together, making sure the vessels were precisely placed on the waiting support frames before they were bolted down.

“The LAW Facility is more than 60 percent complete at this time,” Department of Energy-Office of River Protection LAW Federal Project Director Gary Olsen said. “By placing these key components, which are so essential to the vitrification process, we are demonstrating the continued, steady progress on not only the LAW Facility, but the Vit Plant as a whole.”

When operational, the LAW Facility, one of four main nuclear facilities at WTP, will process low-activity waste that is transferred via underground pipes from the Pretreatment Facility. It will produce 30 tons of glass daily and is approximately the size of one and a half football fields, and 90 feet, or seven stories, high.

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