Hanford Contractors Collaborate on Waste Feed Qualifications

RICHLAND, Wash. – Teamwork between EM Office of River Protection contractors at the Hanford Site will ensure legacy tank waste is ready for treatment and vitrification.

Hanford contractor Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) and contractor Bechtel National, Inc. (BNI) subcontractor Waste Treatment Completion Company (WTCC) have been working together to qualify waste as part of Hanford’s Direct-Feed Low-Activity Waste (DFLAW) approach to treating tank waste.

Each company plays a critical role in making sure the tank waste meets the requirements, or qualifies, for treatment and subsequent processing at Hanford’s Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP). Vitrification is a process in which tank waste is immobilized in glass.

WRPS Waste Feed Delivery and Operations Planning Manager Peter Benson started establishing the qualification process about 10 years ago when he worked at the WTP. Now Benson is establishing parallel parameters in coordination with WTCC and Bechtel.

“Every tank has waste with a different chemical makeup, and we need to know what that is before we can treat it,” Benson said. “We can effectively immobilize waste in glass by adapting our process to each tank.”

The reason for the complexity of the waste at Hanford when compared to other EM sites is due to the different chemical processes that were used to separate plutonium during Hanford’s production lifetime. That complexity carries into the vitrification process, requiring different recipes for the vitrification materials, depending on the contents of the waste.

“We sample the waste at the tank farms, comparing it to a set of requirements to determine whether we need to make any modifications to the waste on our end before we move forward with treatment,” said Michelle Molina, WTP engineer for process chemistry.

Workers at the 222-S Laboratory, operated by EM contractor Hanford Laboratory Management and Integration, are tasked with analyzing and testing waste samples. Once the waste is fed to the WTP, the plant’s Analytical Laboratory team will sample and analyze it again to ensure it will meet the glass product requirements.

The joint waste qualification process is an example of how separate contractors can work together successfully.

“Both sides have fully embraced the need to do this,” Trevor Kilgannon, WTCC plant engineering flow-sheet integration manager said. “This is just another sign of progress — shared progress among Bechtel, WTCC, and WRPS — as we move forward with the DFLAW concept, with contractors mindful that waste treatment through WTP is a common goal for the Hanford Site.”

Benson agrees, saying there are many groups that contribute to the waste feed qualification effort.

“The effort requires a significant amount of coordination among the organizations, from the tank waste inventory and characterization group that plans the sampling and analysis, to sampling operations that pulls the samples, as well as process engineering, waste feed delivery and operations planning, and WTCC flowsheet integration, who all have downstream activities as part of the program,” Benson said. “Implementing the DFLAW approach to waste feed delivery will be a true Hanford accomplishment.”