Engineers at the Hanford Site’s Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant are testing and programming robots that will help ensure the thousands of steel containers are safe for transport to the nearby Integrated Disposal Facility.
Office of Environmental Management
November 15, 2022
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RICHLAND, Wash. – Engineers at the Hanford Site’s Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant are testing and programming robots that will help ensure the thousands of steel containers that will be filled with vitrified, or immobilized in glass, radioactive and chemical tank waste are safe for transport to the nearby Integrated Disposal Facility. The automated machine arms in the plant’s Low-Activity Waste Facility will wipe absorbent pads, or swabs, on the outside surfaces of containers to check for contaminants. This video shows the robot touching different parts of a container to “learn" where the container is located before performing a swabbing pattern. This work supports the Direct-Feed Low-Activity Waste (DFLAW) Program, a system of interdependent projects and infrastructure improvements, managed and highly integrated as a program, that will operate together to vitrify the waste.
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