Richland, Wash. — The Hanford Waste Treatment Plant Project, also known as the "Vit Plant," recently issued the final design detailing the structural concrete for the Pretreatment Facility. The final drawing represents the completion of the facility's concrete floors and results from more than 15,000 pages of calculations and 500 other drawings. These calculations and drawings provide the details that enable crews to construct the massive concrete structure.

"Completing the structural concrete design for the Pretreatment Facility—the largest Vit Plant facility—is the culmination of more than 500 Vit Plant engineers' and designers' working over several years," Tom Patterson, manager of engineering at the Vit Plant, said. "It is an important milestone that enables us to fully support the Vit Plant's construction schedule."

The Pretreatment Facility structural concrete design includes calculations and drawings that are upheld to the highest nuclear safety and quality standards. Every inch of concrete design—wall or floor—underwent extensive review to ensure it met all regulations and requirements.

When complete, the Pretreatment Facility will be composed of 113,000 cubic yards of concrete and approximately 20,000 tons of steel. It will include five concrete floor elevations, which start at ground level and extend to 98 feet above ground. A single concrete floor ranges from 1 to 8 feet thick and spans 40 to 50 feet, depending on its location within the facility.

Each floor is reinforced with a complex rebar grid, composed of more than one-inch-thick rebar. Many of the floors are also supported by structural steel.

"Thanks to the hard work of the Vit Plant engineers and designers, design of the Pretreatment Facility is more than 75 percent complete, and we are steadily progressing toward Vit Plant construction complete in 2016, commissioning in 2019 and full operations in 2022," Wahed Abdul, federal area project manager, said.

The Pretreatment Facility walls will reach a total height of 109 feet when finished. Steel columns and roof trusses will extend beyond the walls to an overall height of 120 feet, and the emissions stack will reach nearly 200 feet.

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, 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 Vit Plant 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 Vit Plant began in 2001 and is more than 60 percent complete. The project is scheduled to complete construction in 2016; will reach commissioning in 2019 and achieve full operations in 2022.

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Richland, Wash. — Employees at the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant, also known as the "Vit Plant," donated more than 4,000 toys and over $10,000 to the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves' Toys for Tots campaign at an event this morning. Marines from Bravo Company, 4th Tank Battalion, were on hand to accept the donation.

"I am pleased to be back for a second year at the Vit Plant Toys for Tots event," Captain Christopher Johnson said. "Again, this is the largest donation from a single employer, and on behalf of the Marines Corps Reserves, I thank you. Your gifts will help many children have a brighter holiday season."

The Vit Plant's nearly 3,400 employees rallied to collect the more than 4,000 toys, which include 500 bicycles and helmets. Bechtel and URS, the contractor and principle subcontractor for the Vit Plant, also made $5,000 in corporate donations to the Toys for Tots organization. Employees raised an additional $5,000.

Because employees surpassed last year's donation, several Vit Plant senior managers attended the event dressed as various holiday characters, including Santa and his elves. Last year, Vit Plant employees donated 3,500 toys, including 200 bicycles, and $8,000.

"Toys for Tots is an important program, and the Vit Plant is proud to support it and the Marines Corps Reserves," Ty Troutman, manager of construction, said. "Once again, our employees have demonstrated their incredible generosity and made me proud to be a part of the Vit Plant project." Troutman also thanked the Marines for their service.

Local businesses Griggs/Ace Hardware and Vintners Logistics also contributed to the Vit Plant's efforts. Griggs/Ace Hardware ensured the bicycle orders were fulfilled, and Vintners Logistics provided transportation for the toys and bikes.

Vit Plant employees are committed to supporting the local community and have donated nearly $640,000 to area organizations and charities. These include the United Way of Benton and Franklin Counties, March of Dimes and Second Harvest.

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, 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 Vit Plant 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 Vit Plant began in 2001 and is more than 60 percent complete. The project is scheduled to complete construction in 2016; will reach commissioning in 2019 and achieve full operations in 2022.

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Richland, Wash. — The Hanford Waste Treatment Plant Project (also known as the "Vit Plant") will host an open house, Wed., Nov. 30, 5-7:30 p.m., at the Red Lion Hotel in Richland, Wash. The purpose of the open house is to promote public awareness and support the project's efforts to be transparent and open. Vit Plant subject matter experts will be available to answer questions, and Vit Plant exhibits and videos will be on display. Everyone is invited to attend.

To support the Vit Plant's community giving efforts, Santa will be on hand to collect donations for Toys for Tots. The public is welcome to bring their own cameras and take photos with Santa.

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, 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 Vit Plant 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 Vit Plant began in 2001 and is more than 60 percent complete. The project is scheduled to complete construction in 2016; will reach commissioning in 2019 and achieve full operations in 2022.

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Richland, Wash. — The Hanford Waste Treatment Plant Project (also known as the "Vit Plant") and the Department of Energy (DOE) will host an open house, Wed., Nov. 30, 5-7:30 p.m., at the Red Lion Hotel in Richland, Wash. The purpose of the open house is to promote public awareness and support the project’s efforts to be transparent and open. Vit Plant subject matter experts will be available to answer questions, and Vit Plant exhibits and videos will be on display. Everyone is invited to attend.

To support the Vit Plant’s community giving efforts, Santa will be on hand to collect donations for Toys for Tots.

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, 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 Vit Plant 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 Vit Plant began in 2001 and is more than 60 percent complete. The project is scheduled to complete construction in 2016; will reach commissioning in 2019 and achieve full operations in 2022.

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Richland, Wash. — Last week, the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant, also known as the "Vit Plant," received and placed a key piece of air-filtration equipment in the Low-Activity Waste Facility. The nearly 100-ton carbon bed adsorber is part of a complex air-filtration system that will ensure the facility’s air emissions meet strict environmental regulations and requirements.

The extensive air-filtration system includes compliance monitoring equipment, HEPA filters, the adsorber, a thermal catalytic oxider, caustic scrubbers, exhaust fans and a more than 130-foot tall emissions stack. When operational, the adsorber will remove mercury and acid gases before air is channeled through the thermal catalytic oxidizer, which will remove organics and NOx.

"The air-filtration system is designed to the highest nuclear-quality standards to ensure the air emissions from the Low-Activity Waste Facility are completely safe and will not pose any danger to the environment or people," John Platt, area project manager for the facility, said.

Similar air-filtration systems will be used in the High-Level Waste and Pretreatment facilities. The Low-Activity Waste Facility adsorber is the first to arrive at the Vit Plant.

Completely assembled, the adsorber measures 45 feet long, 12 feet wide and 14 feet tall. It is composed mostly of stainless steel, including nearly 110 feet of 18-inch-diameter piping, and required more than 7,000 nuclear-quality welds to assemble.

The adsorber arrived at the Vit Plant construction site on seven trucks that included two base frames, two major units and two upper platforms and several crates of additional parts. Each major unit measures 21 feet long, 8 feet wide and 11 feet tall.

Using a crane, the adsorber parts were lowered through a hatch in the facility’s roof to the 48-foot elevation. The hatch, which measures 16 feet by 26 feet, is not much larger than the units themselves and required careful planning by Vit Plant engineers and craft.

"Receiving and setting this major piece of equipment is a significant milestone for the Low-Activity Waste Facility and the Vit Plant as a whole," Jeff Bruggeman, federal area project manager for the facility, said. "The Low-Activity Waste Facility is 67 percent complete and steadily receiving and setting its permanent plant equipment. This is essential to completing Vit Plant construction in 2016, reaching commissioning in 2019 and achieving full operations in 2022."

A video of the receipt and placement of the carbon bed adsorber is available at http://www.hanfordvitplant.com/newsroom/videos/.

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, 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 Vit Plant 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 Vit Plant began in 2001 and is more than 60 percent complete. The project is scheduled to complete construction in 2016; will reach commissioning in 2019 and achieve full operations in 2022.

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Richland, Wash. —Last week, crews at the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant, also known as the "Vit Plant," finished installing the Pretreatment Facility's fifth elevation of concrete walls. The fifth elevation reaches approximately 97 feet at the top.

To place the final walls, crews used a specialized concrete pumping truck with an extendable arm that reaches approximately 200 feet vertically or horizontally.

The Pretreatment Facility, the largest of the Vit Plant's four major nuclear facilities, comprises six elevated concrete sections and more than 113,000 cubic yards of concrete. Work on the sixth and final elevation is already in progress, and only four small wall sections remain before all concrete walls in the Pretreatment Facility are complete.

When complete, the building's walls will reach a total height of 109 feet. Steel columns and roof trusses will extend beyond the walls to an overall height of 120 feet.

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, 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 Vit Plant 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 Vit Plant began in 2001 and is more than 60 percent complete. The project is scheduled to complete construction in 2016; will reach commissioning in 2019 and achieve full operations in 2022.

Download Press Release (with Photos)

Richland, Wash. — Recently, the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant, also known as the "Vit Plant," received two decontamination vessels that are essential to safely removing glass-filled canisters from the High-Level Waste Facility. The titanium steel vessels weigh 4,200 pounds and measure 2.5 feet in diameter and 18 feet tall.

When operational, the High-Level Waste Facility will vitrify high-level radioactive waste by mixing it with glass-forming materials and heating the mixture to 2,100 degrees Fahrenheit in one of two identical 90-ton melters. The mixture will then be poured into stainless steel canisters, the exterior will be decontaminated and the canisters removed from the facility.

After a canister has been filled, an overhead crane will transport it from the melter area, through three layers of protective shield doors and to a decontamination vessel. It will then be inserted into the vessel and decontaminated through "etching," a process that removes an almost sheer layer from the vessel's exterior with an acidic compound. This is accomplished using the vessel's complex coil-and-spray system. The canister will also be rinsed with nitric acid and demineralized water before it is removed from the facility.

"We are committed to safe Vit Plant operations," Joe St. Julian, area project manager for the facility, said. "And the canister decontamination process is extremely thorough using proven technology to ensure that risks to people and the environment are removed."

The entire process is completed in approximately 12 hours.

The decontamination vessels were manufactured by Titanium Fabrication Corporation in New Jersey and delivered to the Vit Plant's storage facility in north Richland, Wash. They are scheduled to be installed in the High-Level Waste Facility next year.

"The High-Level Waste Facility is making good progress towards construction complete in 2016 and preparing to treat Hanford's tank waste in the future," Gary Olsen, federal area project manager for the facility, 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, 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 Vit Plant 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 Vit Plant began in 2001 and is more than 60 percent complete. The project is scheduled to complete construction in 2016; will reach commissioning in 2019 and achieve full operations in 2022.

Download Press Release (with Photo)

Richland, Wash. — The Hanford Waste Treatment Plant, also known as the "Vit Plant," recently received the first of 32 large nuclear quality dampers for the High-Level Waste Facility. The 1,350-pound dampers are part of the facility's extensive filter system and will be essential to maintaining contamination boundaries during plant operations.

Twenty of the 32 stainless steel dampers will isolate contaminated air flow during filter system maintenance using remote-operated vertical sliding doors. The doors will slide over two-foot-diameter openings that connect the dampers to one of two massive HVAC ducts, both which were installed early this year.

"These dampers are part of the High-Level Waste Facility's air-filtration system, which is essential to safely operating the Vit Plant and meeting strict air-emission requirements," Joe St. Julian, area project manager for the facility, said. "They are therefore being manufactured and tested to highest nuclear safety and quality standards by an internationally recognized leader in specialty dampers." The remaining 12 dampers will be used in other facility filtration systems.

As part of the quality-control measures, the dampers are being assembled and tested in a "clean room," which is accessed only through air-tight doors and closely monitored for airborne contaminants. In addition, anyone entering the clean room must be dressed in head-to-toe protective clothing.

Many of the damper pieces were cut using a precision laser, and the dampers are now being assembled, tested and shipped in pairs. "By manufacturing and delivering the dampers in pairs, we can begin to install them and progress more quickly than if we waited for all of them," Gary Olsen, federal area project manager for the facility, said. "This allows us to steadily move toward construction complete in 2016, commissioning in 2019 and full operations in 2022."

Each assembled damper must pass functional and leakage tests that ensure it will operate as designed for duration of the Vit Plant's 40-year life span. Each damper is estimated to open and close up to 500 times during plant operations.

A prototype damper was subjected to life-cycle testing that involved opening and closing it more than 500 times. The damper was then disassembled, inspected and evaluated to confirm that all parts would meet or exceed the design life.

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, 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 Vit Plant 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 Vit Plant began in 2001 and is more than 60 percent complete. The project is scheduled to complete construction in 2016; will reach commissioning in 2019 and achieve full operations in 2022.

Download Press Release (with Photo)

Richland, Wash. — Crews at the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant, also known as the "Vit Plant," recently received and set a bridge crane that is key to progressing construction of the High-Level Waste Facility. The three-ton-capacity crane needed to be in place before essential piping and hangers could be installed above and around it.

"It took an incredible amount of teamwork and coordination between our engineering, procurement and construction organizations to deliver and, in a matter of days, safely set the crane in the facility," Joe St. Julian, area project manager for the facility said. "This allowed construction to continue to progress at a steady pace and enables us to stay on schedule to meet project milestones."

The bridge crane was set in a 40-foot-long, 16-foot-wide area on the northeast side of the High-Level Waste Facility. Using a tower crane, crews lifted it over the facility's 58- foot walls and lowered it, with just a few inches of clearance at each end, onto rails installed 16 feet above the ground.

The crane weighs 6 tons and measures approximately 16 feet long, 9 feet wide and 4 feet tall. It will be used to handle 55-gallon carbon-steel drums before and after they are filled with residual solid waste. The residual waste is composed of solids, such as filters, glass shards and welding material remnants, produced during the vitrification process. It will be deposited into the drums, which are swabbed and lidded; removed from the facility inside nine-inch-thick steel casks and transported to an offsite storage location. When operational, the bridge crane will run the length of the drum swabbing and monitoring area, as well as an additional 10 feet into a crane maintenance area. It will be operated remotely from an adjacent room.

"Setting this bridge crane is an excellent sign of advancing construction of the High-Level Waste Facility from civil construction — concrete and steel — into mechanical installations," Gary Olsen, federal area project manager, said. The High-Level Waste Facility is the most structurally complex Vit Plant facility and is currently 35 percent constructed with a scheduled completion in 2016.

The crane was manufactured by American Crane & Equipment Corporation in Pennsylvania.

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, 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 Vit Plant 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 Vit Plant began in 2001 and is now 60 percent complete. The project is scheduled to complete construction in 2016; will reach commissioning in 2019 and achieve full operations in 2022.

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Richland, Wash. — A team of executive-level nuclear safety experts is now conducting an independent and comprehensive review of the nuclear safety and quality culture at the Hanford Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP).

Members of the independent panel bring many decades of high-level experience working with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Department of Energy (DOE), and Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) at both commercial and DOE nuclear sites. The team includes David Amerine, Joseph Callan, Nils Diaz, Gerald Garfield, Roger Mattson, Luis Reyes and Michael Sellman.

In an announcement to WTP employees last week, contractor Bechtel National, Inc. encouraged employees and managers at all levels to be open and responsive to the review panel as part of the company's commitment to safely designing and building WTP facilities that meet the highest standards of nuclear safety.

"Nuclear safety and quality are without question the most important considerations in achieving the vital cleanup mission at Hanford," says WTP Project Director Frank Russo." While we believe that our nuclear safety and quality culture here at WTP is strong, we also believe in continuous improvement. We welcome the opportunity for a full and open review of the project by these experts, and we will accept and implement any actions they identify."

The panel is defining the scope of its review and determining the actions it deems necessary to provide independent conclusions and recommendations. It has already informed WTP leadership that it will use several sources of information to conduct its review including all-employee surveys, interviews with employees, and review of other project information including numerous other recent evaluations conducted by external experts.

The panel's independence and experience, coupled with its thorough examination of nuclear safety and quality at WTP, will help ensure that the highest standards of nuclear safety and quality culture are met every step of the way in cleaning up and stabilizing the 56 million gallons of nuclear waste in the underground storage tanks at Hanford.

Complete and detailed biographies for each member are attached to this release.

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 60 percent complete. Construction is scheduled to be complete in 2016; will reach commissioning in 2019 and achieve full operations in 2022.

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