RICHLAND -- Hanford vitrification plant engineers have finished the mechanical systems design for the Analytical Laboratory, one of five major nuclear facilities at the plant.
It's the first building to have the mechanical design system completed after nine years of work. When complete, the lab will contain 35,000 feet of piping.
The vitrification plant, or Waste Treatment Plant, will be used to turn Hanford's radioactive waste held in underground tanks into a stable glass form for disposal. The lab will analyze about 10,000 samples each year collected from throughout the vitrification process to ensure high-quality glass and strong process controls.
Finishing the mechanical system design will allow engineers designing other systems -- from electrical and plant equipment to controls and instrumentation -- to complete their work.
The design diagrams cover all the required piping, valves, coils and pumps and specify part and equipment sizes. Supporting calculations call out pressure, flow and temperature requirements.
Completion of the mechanical system design moves the lab closer to being able to begin starting up individual components about 2014. The vit plant is expected to begin operating in 2019.
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Vit plant budget doubted in review
Vit plant budget doubted in review
The Department of Energy may not be able to complete the Hanford vitrification plant for the projected $12.2 billion, according to an internal DOE document.
The $12.2 billion figure is at risk due to uncertainties in congressional funding for the project, increased cost growth outpacing savings and delays in resolving technical waste mixing issues, according to a briefing document by the Construction Project Review team.
However, a "refined approach to treating the small fraction" of the most difficult waste, which includes plutonium, could help curb cost growth, the document indicated. That could mean finishing the design of the plant to treat the majority of the waste and then continuing to work on studies for treating the most difficult waste.
Temporary storage proposed for vit plant waste
Temporary storage proposed for vit plant waste
Hanford contractor officials are proposing a temporary storage system for Hanford's treated high-level radioactive waste that easily can be expanded, given uncertainties about the nation's plans for a national waste repository.
Washington River Protection Solutions formed an independent review team that is recommending a new Hanford building large enough to store as much high-level radioactive waste as the Hanford vitrification plant is expected to treat in a decade. But if needed, more vaults could be added.
The initial plans do not include a shipping facility. Given austere federal budget conditions, it makes sense to wait to add that when the nation is ready to ship the waste, said Tom Fletcher, Department of Energy acting assistant manager of the Hanford tank farms.
Government Accountability Office to review Hanford vit plant management
Government Accountability Office to review Hanford vit plant management
The Government Accountability Office is beginning a review of the Department of Energy's management of Hanford's vitrification plant.
It received a request from Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., and Diana DeGette, D-Colo., both of whom serve on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, the GAO told the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board in a letter. The GAO expects the review to touch on issues of concern to the defense board.
The review's objectives are not final, but among the initial focuses will be the reliability of the projected cost and schedule for completing the plant, including how that compares to prior estimates.
Design for facility at Hanford vit plant completed
Design for facility at Hanford vit plant completed
RICHLAND -- The final design detailing the structural concrete for the Pretreatment Facility at the Hanford vitrification plant has been completed.
The drawing represents the completion of the facility's concrete floors and results from more than 15,000 pages of calculations and 500 drawings. These calculations and drawings provide the details that enable crews to construct the massive concrete structure.
"Completing the structural concrete design for the Pretreatment Facility -- the largest vit plant facility -- is the culmination of more than 500 vit plant engineers' and designers' working over several years," said Tom Patterson, manager of engineering at the plant, in a Bechtel National news release. "It is an important milestone that enables us to fully support the vit plant's construction schedule."
WSU Tri-Cities to receive donated laboratory
WSU Tri-Cities to receive donated laboratory
Washington State University Tri-Cities is expected to get a new laboratory building, after EnergySolutions was awarded a Hanford subcontract.
Bechtel National announced Thursday that EnergySolutions Federal EPC of Richland was awarded a subcontract to build a facility for large-scale testing of the Hanford vitrification plant's waste-mixing system and to perform the testing.
EnergySolutions will be teaming with NuVision to build a laboratory for the testing and plans to donate it to WSU Tri-Cities, said Tom Yount, vice president of EnergySolutions' engineering technology group.
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