RICHLAND, Wash. — Completing the steam plant and placement of structural steel in the main portion of the High-Level Waste Vitrification Facility were just two of the major construction accomplishments this year at the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant, or Vit Plant, managed by Bechtel National Inc.
“I’m especially pleased to see the continued improvement in employees’ attention to safety, while completing a number of high-profile activities,” said Bechtel’s Vit Plant Project Director Peggy McCullough. “That contributed to Vit Plant workers achieving the best safety performance in project history with fewer injuries this year than ever before.”
Chief among the construction accomplishments were meeting a milestone for placement of the structural steel to the 37-foot level at the High-Level Waste Vitrification Facility and completing construction of the steam plant.
“Construction is in full-swing in most areas of the plant, including areas of HLW not impacted by technical decisions,” said Manager of Construction Steve Overton. “The structural steel milestone was met early in the year at HLW, and we continued steel placement to the 77-foot-level,” Overton said.
The steam plant is part of the Balance of Facilities at the Vit Plant. There are 20 facilities or systems that comprise the infrastructure necessary to support the four main Vit Plant facilities.
“In addition, we completed a substantial amount of work at the Analytical Laboratory, which puts us in a good position to complete construction of the Lab in 2014,” said Overton.
About:
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 Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant, also known as the Vit Plant, will immobilize the radioactive liquid waste stored in 177 underground tanks using a process called vitrification.
Vitrification involves blending the waste with glass-forming materials and heating it to high temperatures. The molten mixture is then poured into stainless steel canisters to cool and solidify. 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 major facilities – Pretreatment, Low-Activity Waste Vitrification, High-Level Waste Vitrification and Analytical Laboratory – as well as operations and maintenance buildings, utilities and office space. Visit at www.hanfordvitplant.com.
Editor’s note: Construction progress videos are available at:
WTP Construction Accomplishment 2013 URL = http://vimeo.com/hanfordvitplant/wtp2013construction
WTP Construction Accomplishment 2013 VNR URL= http://vimeo.com/hanfordvitplant/wtp2013constructionvnr