Richland, Wash. — Last week, the Waste Treatment Plant, also known as the “Vit Plant,” received a 2012 Safe-in-Sound award from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and the National Hearing Conservation Association. Each year, this award honors companies that have demonstrated dedication to hearing loss prevention through their workplace programs and practices.
The Vit Plant, which is being designed and constructed by Bechtel National, Inc. (BNI), is the first construction project to receive the award. It was recognized for its innovative strategies to address challenges in the areas of noise monitoring, risk evaluation and risk communication; for adopting the NIOSH-recommended exposure limits; for promoting active involvement of the workforce; and for encouraging the adoption of their strategies across Bechtel.
“Safety, at all levels, is a value at the Vit Plant, and we remain committed to ensuring the health and welfare of all our employees,” Frank Russo, BNI project director, said. “This recognition demonstrates that our comprehensive safety program, which includes an extensive hearing-loss prevention program, is viewed as effective and fully embraced by our employees.”
The Vit Plant is one of three 2012 Safe-in-Sound recipients. Other recipients include Colgate-Palmolive, a global company with 35,000 employees in 200 counties, and the 3M Hutchinson Plant in Minnesota, the largest 3M manufacturing plant in the U.S. Awards were presented at the 37th Annual Hearing Conservation Conference in New Orleans.
More information on the award can be found on the NIOSH website at http://www.safeinsound.us/.
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 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.