Mike Nartker
WC Monitor
2/21/2014
CH2M-WG Idaho (CWI) appears to have a hit a new set of challenges in its efforts to get the Idaho Sodium-Bearing Waste Treatment Facility in operation, and it remains to be seen when the facility will actually begin processing waste. The facility has been projected to begin waste processing this spring; but last week CWI acknowledged that all the remaining contingency to maintain that schedule has been exhausted due to issues experienced getting the facility up to its operating temperature. “CWI is focused on safely starting up the treatment plant and we are still close to the anticipated schedule,” contractor spokesman Erik Simpson said in a written response.
Then this week, the facility was forced to shut down because of a tiny leak, WC Monitor has learned, and it remains to be seen when it will be back up and running. Notably, the leak occurred a day after CWI President and CEO Tom Dieter announced to employees that the facility had reached a “testing milestone” by achieving its “normal operating temperature and pressure.” Neither the DOE Idaho Operations Office nor CWI responded to requests for comment on the leak late this week.
The SBWT Facility, also known as the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit, is intended to treat the approximately 900,000 gallons of remaining liquid waste at the Idaho site through a steam reforming process for disposal and to allow for closure of the site’s remaining waste tanks. The facility is intended to help DOE meet a commitment to the state of Idaho to have the liquid waste processed by the end of this year, and both the Department and CWI have stressed they believe the milestone can still be met. DOE previously had a commitment to the state to complete processing of the waste by the end of 2012, but in the summer of that year, startup of the facility was significant disrupted by what has been described as a “pressure event.” The incident occurred when the facility’s filters became clogged with carbon material during efforts to get it up to its operating temperature. The facility was shut down and DOE and CWI implemented a set of modifications, the last of which were completed last summer.
CWI Sought to Find Facility ‘Sweet Spot’
Once the facility modifications were completed, DOE and CWI began moving forward with a series of assessments to determine if the facility is ready to enter into operation (WC Monitor, Vol. 24 No. 43). Now underway is an integrated system test, dubbed ‘Test Instruction (TI) – 102,’ which entails bringing the facility up to its operating temperature and pressure, which will then be followed by introducing steam and a waste simulant into the process. Once the integrated system test is completed, the facility will enter into a planned cool-down and outage period, and DOE will seek permission from Idaho regulators to initiate actual waste processing.
During the test, CWI has been working to find what Dieter described in his message to employees this week as the facility’s “sweet spot” of nitrogen, oxygen, charcoal, and coal mixtures to help determine the normal operating temperature and pressure. “Testing a complex facility such as the IWTU enables us to identify challenges and work through them as a normal function of startup preparations,” Dieter told employees, adding, “We have experienced and resolved many issues along the way and expect additional adjustments will be necessary as testing reveals actual plant behavior vs. anticipated plant behavior of this first-of-a-kind facility. I encourage you to remain positive and proud knowing that we are doing all the right things to ensure a safe startup.”
