System to send waste samples flying

The Hanford vitrification plant has received key equipment for its autosampling system, which will zip waste samples around the plant's 65-acre campus using a pneumatic system.

EnergySolutions in Richland is designing the system and Mid-Columbia Engineering in Richland is fabricating it.

"The autosampling system is a complicated and highly specialized system that is vital to successful vit plant operations," said Frank Russo, Bechtel National plant project director, in a statement. "The system will make sure the waste is accurately characterized and the final glass product is safe and compliant."

The $12.3 billion vitrification plant is being built to turn up to 53 million gallons of radioactive waste into a stable glass form for disposal.

The autosampling system will be used to collect about 10,000 samples annually from throughout the vitrification process in three buildings and transport them to the vit plant's Analytical Laboratory for evaluation.

Waste will be sampled using remotely operated robotic arms inside shielded boxes at the Pretreatment Facility, the High Level Waste Facility and the Low Activity Waste Facility.

The samples will be deposited into half-ounce bottles, which will be encased in tightly sealed carriers. The carriers will zip to the lab in a pneumatic transfer system, similar to those used at bank drive-throughs.

Stainless steel pipes will run between buildings handling radioactive waste and the laboratory to move samples at a speed of 25 feet per second. The longest route will deliver samples in less than a minute.

Autosampling equipment began arriving at the vitrification plant construction site in August for the Low Activity Waste Facility and the laboratory, and more recently the laboratory's sample receipt station was delivered. The station will receive filled carriers, and a robotic arm will remove the sample bottle and place it in a drop chute, which transfers the sample bottle to the lab's high-radiation area for analysis.

"The LAW (Low Activity Waste) Facility and Lab are the two facilities that are furthest along in terms of construction and are now steadily receiving key process equipment," said Rich Brown, area project manager for plant equipment, in a statement.

Construction of the vit plant is scheduled to be completed in 2016 and the plant should begin operating in 2019.

This story was originally published September 16, 2010 at 12:00 AM with the headline "System to send waste samples flying ."