COVER STORY | HANFORD TANKS
Above left: Aerial view of the 100-B Area with the Reactor B, the fi rst large scale nuclear reactor ever built. The Hanford Site of the Manhattan Project produced the Plutonium-239 for the second atomic bomb Above right: The B reactor today
During 2024 cold commissioning will continue at the
vitrification facility. The target for a complete readiness review to authorise hot commissioning (ie with radioactive waste) is 2026, when hot commissioning of it and the Effluent Management Facility is due for completion.
Other processes Completing the Hanford clean-up depends on the third pillar of work at the site, upgrading the site’s conventional infrastructure. The site’s daily needs are for 50 MW of power and 3.5 million gallons (13,000 m3
) of water. To support the
clean-up process those supplies have to be augmented and updated. The site needs reliable water services for the next 40
years, but the water pumps in current use wereinstalled in 1943. So new water treatment works and water storage facilities will also be installed. Similarly, the site’s aging power infrastructure must be made fit for its new purposes. The various utilities needed
to support WTP operations include systems for electrical power distribution, backup power, compressed air, steam, chilled water, fire water and communication and control. Some systems can be scaled down, such as the steam plant. But in some cases there are new requirements. Power
supply to the melters in the WTP’s vitrification process, for example, cannot be interrupted or they become unusable and have to be replaced at a cost of million dollars. The electrical system has to be upgraded to get reliable power to working areas. Looking ahead, 2026 will see the transfer of caesium and
strontium waste from its current under water storage. In a process expected to take 27-36 months it will be transferred to interim dry storage. The coming two years will also see ‘no regrets’ work on high level waste, specifically 324 hot cells. They are due to be demolished in 2026 and the area remediated. The first step in that process is construction and commissioning of a structure to weather-proof the area. ■
20 | May 2024 |
www.neimagazine.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53
