March 17, 2014

DNFSB SEEKS ANSWERS FROM DOE ON HANFORD VIT PLANT EROSION CONCERNS

By ExchangeMonitor

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board is seeking more information from the Department of Energy on how it plans to address erosion and corrosion concerns at the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant. In a Jan. 20 letter, the Board outlined the results of a nine-month evaluation of the wear allowances specified by WTP contractor Bechtel National for the design of piping, process vessels and pulse jet mixers to be used in the plant. Among the issues raised by Board staff are concerns over the assumptions used for design wear rates, “nonconservative” wear allowances used in the design of some plant vessels and mixing systems and questions over the testing used to validate the wear model. “As a result of our effort, the Board is concerned that the project team has not shown that the design wear allowances for vessels, piping and PJM nozzles are adequate to ensure that components located in the black cells will reliably function for the 40-year design life of the facility,” the letter states.

The letter goes on to say, “Inadequate wear allowances for piping, vessels and PJM nozzles could result in component failures. Component failure due to wear jeopardizes … safety functions and could stop waste processing for indefinite periods resulting in significant extensions in the time required to accomplish the facility mission. The existing design margins offer little or no flexibility for future operations or the opportunity to extend the life of the plant, if required.” The Board called on DOE to provide a report and briefing within 45 days on how it will address the design wear allowance issues and “provide confidence that WTP will operate safely and reliably for its 40-year mission life.” The full letter can be found here.

Comments are closed.