The Department of Energy Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) at the Hanford Site in Richland, Wash., has now converted 250,000 gallons of less radioactive tank waste into solid glass form.
In September, over 39,000 gallons were vitrified into glass form at the WTP’s Direct-Feed Low-Activity Waste (DFLAW) Facility, Bechtel National, which built the plant, said in a press release emailed to Exchange Monitor.
“Our team continues to optimize the vitrification process as we progress through the hot commissioning phase,” Brian Hartman, WTP project director and senior vice president with Bechtel, said in the release. “They processed over 110,000 gallons of waste in the last quarter. This achievement is a testament to the dedication and expertise that is advancing the Hanford cleanup mission.”
DOE is targeting solidification of 2 million gallons of low-activity waste annually at a DFLAW operational cost of $450 million per year. Bechtel, which built the WTP could turn over operation of DFLAW to Hanford Tank Waste Operations & Closure’s (H2C) in April 2027, the Tri-City Herald recently reported. .
The long-awaited multi-billion-dollar vitrification plant started solidifying waste into glass last October. DOE Hanford Field Office Manager Ray Geimer briefed the Hanford Advisory Board on the plant during August.
During vitrification, tank waste is blended “with glass-forming materials in the Low-Activity Waste Facility’s two 300-ton melters and heated to 2,100 degrees Fahrenheit,” according to the press release. “The glass is then sealed in stainless steel containers, each of which is 4 feet wide and 7.5 feet tall and weighs approximately seven metric tons when filled.” Then the containers go to Hanford’s Integrated Disposal Facility for long-term disposal.
There is a long way to go in tank waste cleanup at Hanford. Decades of Cold War plutonium production left Hanford with about 56 million gallons of radioactive and hazardous waste held in underground tanks.
DOE is in the process of seeking approval from the Washington state Department of Ecology for solidifying some of the less-radioactive Hanford waste into a concrete-like grout. The grouted waste would be disposed of in Utah or Texas.
High-level waste solidification at Hanford is scheduled to start in the 2030s.
