Bechtel, U.S. Department of Energy Open Control Room for Radioactive Waste Treatment Plant

Plant will treat millions of gallons of Cold War-era liquid waste

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Aug 21, 2019, 14:09 ET

RESTON, Va., Aug. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Bechtel, the U.S. Department of Energy, and members of Congress this week marked the opening of a 20,000-square foot control facility for a plant that will safely treat millions of gallons of liquid radioactive waste at the historic Hanford Site in Washington state. The milestone marked another step toward starting waste treatment at the Direct-Feed Low-Activity Waste Facility – a seven-story, sports arena-sized plant – and its associated support facilities.

The seven-story Hanford Low-Activity Waste Facility will treat liquid radioactive waste by melting it with sand into a solid, glasslike form for permanent disposal.

The control room for the Low-Activity Waste Facility opened for the first time this week. It will be the nerve center for continued startup and commissioning, as well as treatment operations once the facility opens.

"The control room is the operations center of the facility," said Bechtel Project Director Valerie McCain. "By moving into the control room, we have the capability to monitor and control completed systems inside the 14 support buildings. We are also using the control room to conduct startup and testing activities for the plant and our Analytical Laboratory."

The first phase of the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant is now well into its startup and commissioning, a methodical process to bring the plant's 86 individual systems online. The plant is scheduled to begin treating waste by 2023.

Treating Manhattan Project and Cold War-era waste

Hanford is the United States' most challenging and complex radioactive waste cleanup site. It had nine nuclear reactors as well as chemical separation facilities that created plutonium for U.S. nuclear weapons from 1944 to 1987. Approximately 56 million gallons of chemical and radioactive waste is currently stored and awaiting treatment in underground tanks, some of which have leaked into the ground. Bechtel has partnered with the DOE to support its mission to clean up legacy waste, leaving a cleaner and safer environment for future generations.

In WTP's first phase, the waste will be piped to the Low-Activity Waste Facility, mixed with silica and other materials, melted, and poured into stainless steel containers where it will solidify. The process is known as vitrification. The containers will then be disposed at Hanford's existing low-level waste disposal site.

Bechtel is a leader in environmental cleanup and restoration of former nuclear weapons production sites. The company's service spans nearly 40 years and includes the cleanup, remediation, and closure of nuclear waste facilities in Washington state, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Kentucky, Tennessee, and South Carolina, including the only currently operating vitrification plant in the U.S. – the Defense Waste Processing Facility at the DOE's Savannah River Site.

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About Bechtel:

Bechtel is a trusted engineering, construction and project management partner to industry and government. Differentiated by the quality of our people and our relentless drive to deliver the most successful outcomes, we align our capabilities to our customers' objectives to create a lasting positive impact. Since 1898, we have helped customers complete more than 25,000 projects in 160 countries on all seven continents that have created jobs, grown economies, improved the resiliency of the world's infrastructure, increased access to energy, resources, and vital services, and made the world a safer, cleaner place.

Bechtel serves the Infrastructure; Nuclear, Security & Environmental; Oil, Gas & Chemicals; and Mining & Metals markets. Our services span from initial planning and investment, through start-up and operations. www.Bechtel.com

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SOURCE Bechtel