Power cut to world’s largest radioactive waste plant near Richland. Here’s what happened

When you are operating the world’s largest radioactive waste treatment plant, the last thing you want is a power outage.

That’s why the power was cut recently to the $17 billion vitrification plant at the Hanford nuclear reservation as work continues to prepare it for start up.

It was a key test of whether workers at the Waste Treatment Plant, often called the vit plant, could keep critical safety systems operating while they restored power to the plant.

Although the plant is not expected to begin treating radioactive waste until the end of 2023, it will need constant power starting this winter.

Then the first of two melters to be used to glassify the original waste is scheduled to be heated up. Once that happens, it must run continuously through its life span of at least five years.

Although the plant is a couple of years away from regular operation, first melter at the plant must be up and running for commissioning of the plant which should start next year, initially using a nonradioactive simulant to test and practice operations.

Construction began on the massive plant in the center of the Hanford nuclear reservation by Richland, Wash., in 2002. Initially, it will treat some of the least radioactive waste — low activity waste — as plans continue to be made to treat high level radioactive waste at the plant.

Hanford has 56 million gallons of mixed radioactive and hazardous chemical waste left from the production of plutonium for the nation’s nuclear weapons program from World War II through the Cold War. The waste is in underground tanks, some of them prone to leaking, until it can be treated and disposed.

The recent training exercise with outside power to the plant was a success, said Hanford officials.

“Achieving this milestone brings us a significant step closer to initiating melter heatup,” said Mat Irwin, Department of Energy deputy assistant manager for the plant. “The training has paid dividends and brings us one step closer to vitrification.”

Workers showed they could place the plant in a safe configuration during a loss of offsite power and restore power to the melters to ensure they stay at their operating temperature of 2,100 degrees Fahrenheit.

The two melters for low activity radioactive waste will mix waste with glass forming materials, heat it up and then pour it into stainless steel containers. The containers of glassified low activity waste will be disposed of at a lined landfill in the center of Hanford.

If a melter were to cool and the glass inside become solid, the melter would need to be replaced.

DOE already has a melters operating to treat waste at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina.

But the 300-ton Hanford melters are each four times larger. The Hanford Low Activity Waste Facility is designed to vitrify 5,000 gallons of low-activity waste a day — or 1.75 million gallons a year — when operating at full capacity.

This story was originally published November 9, 2021 at 12:12 PM.