The Department of Energy and Bechtel National should make several upgrades to the chemical safety program for the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant at the Hanford Site in Washington state, according to DOE’s enforcement wing.
While Bechtel and subcontractor Waste Treatment Completion Co. have a “generally adequate” chemical safety program, until key improvements are made, “risk will be elevated as the facilities transition to operations,” according to DOE’s Office of Assessments.
Hazards linked with anhydrous ammonia storage vessels and process equipment, as well as fire barriers, should be addressed, according to a report issued last week by Enterprise Assessments.
The onsite phase of the investigation took place over four days in mid-June, the Office of Assessments said. Construction is complete and Bechtel is preparing to start commissioning for the plant’s Direct-Feed-Low-Activity-Waste Facilities in hopes of starting glass-making in 2025, DOE has said.
The report found that 13 of 32 fire doors examined were “unsatisfactory,” including 11 of 17 protecting systems or structures connected with the chemical safety management program. The DOE review also found shortcomings with fire door inspections and failure to implement compensatory measures like fire watches.
Also, Bechtel and its sub “did not consider all potential safety consequences of increasing water content in the anhydrous ammonia storage vessels,” according to the report. This includes the likelihood of water-induced corrosion in the storage vessels,
The agency Bechtel are working together “to leverage the findings in the report to strengthen the Chemical Safety Management Program before the chemicals are delivered” to the plant, a DOE spokesperson said by email Wednesday
The Waste Treatment Plant is the first DOE project subject to a new standard, rolled out in May 2019, for preparing documented safety analyses of hazard category-3 nuclear facilities, according to DOE.