DOE says 529 Hanford facility issues are fixable

Each of 529 “vulnerabilities” identified for the Hanford vitrification plant’s Low Activity Waste Facility in a newly released report can be fixed, according to the Department of Energy.

Friday, DOE released a report prepared by teams of outside experts instructed to identify any potential problems or need for improvement with the design of the facility. They found 362, as reported when a draft of the report was leaked in August.

Bill Hamel, the DOE project director for the plant, called it a “find and fix” project report that is a planned part of good engineering and management practices on a complex project.

DOE, also on Friday, released a technical review it prepared internally to address the findings of the report. The review expanded the 362 findings identified by outside experts to include additional items pulled from the text of the report or added after a review of the report for a total of 529 vulnerabilities to address, Hamel said.

“I’m confident that given where we are at and what we found, we can fix these and achieve our goal,” Hamel said. “This review gives me confidence in the issues out there and how we are going to manage them.”

The massive vitrification plant is being built to treat up to 56 million gallons of radioactive waste left from the past Hanford production of plutonium for the nation’s weapon program, turning it into a stable glass form for disposal. It’s the first vitrification plant of its size and complexity to be built, because of the diverse nature and volume of Hanford waste.

The Low Activity Waste Facility, which measures 330 by 240 feet and stands 90 feet tall, will treat low activity radioactive waste possibly operating as soon as 2022.

However, construction has stopped on other parts of the Hanford vitrification plant that will treat or handle high-level radioactive waste because of unresolved technical issues, and DOE does not expect the plant to be fully operating until 2039.

The issues identified at the Low Activity Waste Facility are not as significant as those identified at the Pretreatment Facility, where construction has been halted since 2012, Hamel said.

However, there were some weaknesses in the design processes for the facility, similar to those identified previously for the High Level Waste Facility, which may have contributed to the vulnerabilities identified, said the report prepared by outside experts.

The report said that if the issues are not addressed, the plant may not operate as soon as planned or be able to process waste as efficiently as planned. Some of the issues could effect safety of workers when the plant is operating, if not fixed.

The DOE review said that almost 53 percent of the vulnerabilities found for the plant had been previously identified. Much of the work on the review was done in 2014, creating a snapshot it time as work continued on the plant and improvements were made, Hamel said.

Since 2014, Bechtel National, the contractor designing and building the plant has been under a managed improvement plan to ensure that the plant meets DOE requirements and operates safely.

Although more than half of the vulnerabilities were previously identified, the report by outside experts provides a look at whether the right actions are being taken to resolve them, Hamel said.

Nearly 37 percent of the issues identified are being further reviewed to see if they are valid. Bechtel pointed out what it believed were a significant number of factual inaccuracies in the outside expert report.

“There appeared to be broad factual accuracy discrepancies and concern with the review process on both sides,” the DOE review concluded.

Another 6 percent of issues were set aside as not falling under Bechtel’s contract, leaving just under 5 percent of the vulnerabilities reviewed listed as “newly identified” by outside experts.

“We take all of these findings very, very seriously and want to make sure we are not overlooking anything,” Hamel said. “This is the purpose of the report.”

The vulnerabilities include some fairly easy fixes, such as making sure that design documents match each other and are up to date, Hamel said. It’s a paperwork fix.

But others are complex issues, including two on which DOE has already taken action. “They were that important to us, they needed immediate action,” Hanel said.

In 2014, DOE assembled a second expert panel to look at software quality assurance as questions were raised about whether the rules by which software is developed to operate the plant are appropriate. The issue has been resolved, he said.

In the second case, progress is being made to make sure the controls for confinement ventilation systems are adequate, Hamel said. The confinement ventilation systems are used to keep contaminants from spreading to other areas of the plant.

The DOE review includes 10 recommendations that Bechtel has been instructed to address, including disposition of each of the 519 vulnerabilities identified. They also include creating an air-flow simulation model, identifying any changes needed in the areas where waste will be made into glass because of the high temperatures there and developing comprehensive worker safety and protection programs.

“This is part of the path forward,” Hamel said. “It is something to give us confidence to meet goals.”

This story was originally published January 29, 2016 at 12:55 PM with the headline "DOE says 529 Hanford facility issues are fixable."