December 07, 2015

Hanford WTP Construction Hits New Milestones

By ExchangeMonitor

Bechtel National has reached at least the 80 percent mark for design, procurement, and construction of the buildings at the Hanford Site Waste Treatment Plant that will not deal with high-level radioactive waste, according to an update from the Department of Energy. DOE and Washington state would like the Low-Activity Waste Facility at the vitrification plant to be treating low-activity radioactive waste for disposal at Hanford in 2022. The facility, the third largest on the vitrification plant’s 65- acre campus, would be supported by the Analytical Laboratory and about 20 support facilities that DOE calls the Balance of Facilities. Work to resolve technical issues at the Pretreatment Facility and the High-Level Waste Facility – which are not included in the 80 percent figure — is not projected to be completed until September 2019, according to documents filed in federal court for the Hanford consent decree case. Some redesign might be required before construction can resume after technical issues are resolved.

Design, procurement, and construction of the Low-Activity Waste Facility is at least 75 percent complete, according to DOE. The building is 330 feet by 240 feet and 90 feet tall. Bechtel National employees have been working on the refractory for the lids of the facility’s two glass melters in recent months. Workers mix cement-like castable refractory until it resembles wet concrete. It hardens to provide superior heat resistance for the glass melters, according to Bechtel. The melters will weigh 300 tons each and will be the largest waste glass melters in the world, the company says.

Comments are closed.