RICHLAND, Wash.—Testing of a half-scale pulse-jet-mixed vessel for the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant, also known as the Vit Plant, has demonstrated that the design is ready for full-scale testing of a 16-foot-diameter vessel.
Pulse jet mixers, or PJMs, will be used in the Vit Plant to ensure waste in the vessels is properly mixed and safely stored. The PJMs work the same way as a turkey baster – sucking in liquid and expelling it, keeping the waste mixed in the process.
“The half-scale tests confirm we have the right design and the right configuration of the internal mixing components to proceed to full-scale testing of the new standard design vessel,” said Felice Presti, the area project manager for the Pretreatment Facility for Bechtel.
Bechtel is designing and building the Vit Plant for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of River Protection. The Vit Plant will solidify 56 million gallons of liquid radioactive waste stored in 177 underground tanks at Hanford.
In early 2014, DOE instructed Bechtel to consider a new standard design to replace five different designs for the eight vessels designated to handle high-solid wastes.
The high-solid wastes have a consistency ranging from that of water to that of a milkshake. The testing is necessary to demonstrate that the vessel design and PJM placement are adequate to properly mix and safely store high-solid wastes in the full-scale standard vessel.
Project personnel began conducting the half-scale vessel tests in December 2014. Based on those tests, project engineers now have enough confidence to proceed with procurement and fabrication of a 16-foot-diameter vessel for full-scale testing using simulated radioactive materials.
The full-scale testing program is expected to start in summer 2016 and be completed in 2017.
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View short interview with the Vit Plant Pulse Jet Mixing project manager at https://youtu.be/bqC3JNxJQC0.
Photos – Click on photo to download high-resolution copy.
Workers used a clear plastic vessel for half-scale testing of the Vit Plant vessel mixing system.
Pulse-jet mixers are used in the Vit Plant vessel to ensure waste is properly mixed and safely stored in the vessels.
An array of pulse-jet mixers is removed from the half-scale test vessel.