RICHLAND -- Engineers have marked another milestone in work to get Hanford's vitrification plant operating in 2019 to treat radioactive waste.
The heating, ventilation and air conditioning system design has been completed for the High Level Waste Facility.
"It is a nuclear-quality system that will ensure contaminated air does not leave the facility and helps protect the workers, the environment and the public," said Steve Cruz, area engineering manager for the building, in a statement.
It also will help cool the facility, which houses melters that will heat mixtures of waste and glass-forming materials to 2,100 degrees Fahrenheit.
That area of the building will be kept at 150 degrees to allow containers to cool enough to be moved out of the facility and to prevent damage to the equipment and surrounding concrete.
The HVAC system will include more than 600 tons of materials manufactured to meet nuclear grade specifications and nearly 150 major pieces of equipment. The equipment includes air-handling units, exhaust fans and HEPA filters. Equipment is designed to allow remote operations.
The system design comprises about 70 drawings, which are supported by more than 80 detailed calculations and 600 mechanical data sheets. The calculations provide information such as heat loads, duct pressures and air temperatures.
The design for the High Level Waste Facility, one of the four major buildings at the plant, is 85 percent complete.
Construction should be done in 2016. The building will be used to turn high-level radioactive waste left from the production of plutonium for the nation's nuclear weapons program into glass logs for permanent disposal.