Crews at the U.S. Energy Dept.’s Hanford nuclear-waste site in Washington state have placed the first of six massive, 50-ton shield doors at the site’s high-level waste treatment facility with a fit no wider than a human hair, say officials of San Francisco-based Bechtel National Inc., design-contractor for the $12.2-billion project on the 560-sq-mile site.

Crews supervise installation of the first of six 50-ton radiation shield doors at Hanford site.
照片：Bechtel National Inc.
Crews supervise installation of the first of six 50-ton radiation shield doors at Hanford site.
Crews supervise installation of the first of six 50-ton radiation shield doors at Hanford site.
照片：Bechtel National Inc.

屏蔽门位于65英亩的植物综合体的关键区域，该区域完成后，该区域将玻璃化高级核废料，现在在汉福德（Hanford）储存的144岁衰老中存储并恶化地下储罐。从生产p lutates的生产到第二次世界大战期间，在综合大楼的第一座原子武器的开发和制造中，剩下的超过5300万加仑的废物。

钢盾门是8。thick and measures 15 ft tall and 18 ft wide. It was installed in the “melter area,” which is the core of the plant’s high-level waste facility. When operational, it will use two identical, 90-ton melters to heat the high-level waste and glass-former mixture to 2,100° F, according to Bechtel officials. The molten waste-and-glass mixture then will be poured into stainless-steel canisters, sealed and prepared for storage and, ultimately, disposal.

Bechtel的主管Scott Neubauer说：“我们使用精确光学元件安装了门，并使用激光跟踪器验证了安装。”该设施的负责人Scott Neubauer说：“这项技术是为该项目所需的精确度提供准确测量的少数数量。”据公司官员称，使用的激光跟踪器最初是为航空航天行业的高精度应用程序开发的。

Each high-level waste melter is designed to last five years, says Bechtel. At the end of the melter’s lifespan, it will be encased in a 250-ton, 8-in.-thick protective container, removed from the melter area and replaced with a new melter. The operation will be “safely accomplished using a sophisticated, remotely operated rail-and-airlock system, which will ensure workers are protected,” says a company official.

该系统包括六个气闸门门，每个融化器三个。转移发生时，门将依次打开和关闭。当将融化器安全地包裹在防护容器中时，它将被移出设施以永久存储。

The recently installed shield door is the first of the rail-and-airlock system’s shield doors and one of the two that will be closest to the melter itself. “By completing this first installation, we are setting the stage for the subsequent installations and ultimately for the entire [waste treatment plant] becoming operational in 2019,” says Neubauer.

官员说，该项目现在已经完成了一半。该网站上的一位女发言人说，所有六个盾牌门都计划在2010年底之前安装。

官员们说，第一个装置的完成就在几天前，大风关闭了现场的一些建筑和其他操作，并于5月4日派遣了许多工人回家。一位女发言人说，风速高达60英里 /小时，一位发言人说，在该地点边缘的3,000英尺高山顶的顶部以100英里 /小时的速度记录了一次阵风。