Waste Shipments Support Continued Progress at Hanford Reactor Basin

RICHLAND, Wash. – EM’s Richland Operations Office (RL) and contractor Central Plateau Cleanup Company have safely packaged and shipped the first engineered container of highly contaminated filter media from the K West Reactor spent fuel storage basin to T Plant on the Hanford Site.

The complex project required workers to design a system to remotely access 6-foot-tall filter vessels enclosed behind an 18-inch-thick concrete shield wall. The remote system allows operators to remove and place the hazardous material safely in the shielded containers for transport out of the basin. The filter media was used to remove radionuclides from the water in the 1.2-million-gallon basin during fuel packaging operations.

Crews will transfer the filter media to T Plant in three separate shipments for safe interim storage away from the Columbia River, with the final shipment expected in August. The work follows the successful removal and transfer of radioactive fuel sludge in September 2019.

Removal of the contaminated material will allow workers to dispose of the filter system safely during demolition of the facility.

“The safe containment and transport of the contaminated filter media is another key step toward removing water from and demolishing the basin,” said Mark French, RL project and facilities division director. “Our teams continue to make excellent progress on this critical risk-reduction project.”