Paving the equivalent of 18 football fields without disrupting operations is no easy feat, but that’s what Inland Asphalt Company achieved at the Vit Plant.
“Inland Asphalt collaborated with the project team to coordinate activities and completed the work as promised, even in the unprecedented environment created by COVID-19,” said Rick Holmes, general manager of the Waste Treatment Completion Company, which oversees the physical work at the Vit Plant and is a subcontractor to prime contractor Bechtel National, Inc.
The different paving jobs transformed the jobsite.
“We are no longer a construction site,” Holmes said. “We are commissioning the plant to vitrify our first waste in 2023.”
The Vit Plant, also known as the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant project, will use a process called vitrification to safely treat and dispose of radioactive and chemical waste generated at Hanford during the Manhattan Project and Cold War. The waste is mixed with silica and other glass-forming materials, heated to 2,100 degrees Fahrenheit in one of two melters, then poured into stainless steel containers. The treated low-activity waste will be disposed of at Hanford in permitted trenches covered with soil.
The work included grading and paving 115,000 square yards of roadways, parking lots, and walkways around the 17 structures that support the Direct-Feed Low-Activity Waste program. To minimize disruption, the work was done in three phases of four to six weeks each from May 2020 to May 2021. The enhancements to the site improved traffic patterns and provided a safer environment for employees.
The Vit Plant incorporated walkways similar to bicycle paths adjacent to the roadways into the design, a safety improvement that segregates machines and pedestrians and provides a better walking surface for employees. During winter storms, the walkways can be cleared of snow at the same time plows clear the roads.
Completing the grading and paving took some coordination with other ongoing construction projects while also maintaining COVID-19 safety protocols.
“We had some coordination with other craft personnel onsite,” said Steve Hanson, Inland Asphalt’s project manager. “We had to work around them so their build could keep going.”
The company’s culture is centered around safety, which workers kept in focus to complete the paving without a single safety incident.