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DNFSB spots possible bottleneck in Hanford’s waste vitrification
Workers change out spent 27,000-pound TSCR filter columns and place them on a nearby storage pad during a planned outage in 2023. (Photo: DOE)
While the Department of Energy recently celebrated the beginning of hot commissioning of the Hanford Site’s Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP), which has begun immobilizing the site’s radioactive tank waste in glass through vitrification, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board has reported a possible bottleneck in waste processing. According to the DNFSB, unless current systems run efficiently, the issue could result in the interruption of operations at the WTP’s Low-Activity Waste Facility, where waste vitrification takes place.
During operations, the LAW Facility will process an average of 5,300 gallons of tank waste per day, according to Bechtel, the contractor leading design, construction, and commissioning of the WTP. That waste is piped to the facility after being treated by Hanford’s Tanks Side Cesium Removal (TSCR) system, which filters undissolved solid material and removes cesium from liquid waste.
According to a November 7 activity report by the DNFSB, the TSCR system may not be able to produce waste feed fast enough to keep up with the LAW Facility’s vitrification rate.
T. Honda, J. Doggett
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 19 | Number 3 | May 1991 | Pages 1432-1438
ITER | Proceedings of the Ninth Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy (Oak Brook, Illinois, October 7-11, 1990) | doi.org/10.13182/FST91-A29543
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The Assembly and Maintenance (A&M) System is the complete set of personnel, equipment, and procedures required to successfully assembly and maintain the ITER components into a reactor capable of operation in the prescribed manner. It is composed of the complete collection of general and special purpose tools and their operating procedures, required for the assembly and maintenance of the ITER device. Included are the reactor specific auxiliary equipment (such has vacuum pumps and heating systems) directly coupled to the reactor and required for its operation. Also included are special facilities, including tools and fixtures, required for preassembly, inspection, disassembly, repair, or testing of components prior to delivery and final assembly. The A&M system operated within an envelope bounded by the plant confinement/containment system. It must have access to all reactor external and internal surface as required to perform its functions. Access to in-vessel components shall be primarily through the four designated maintenance ports located on the machine equatorial plane. Other ports, such as the top vertical port, can be used for maintenance; however, their use shall be limited to less frequent or unplanned operations such as the change-out of internal shielding or blankets, or recovery from an unforeseen event.
