The government’s two-decade effort to transform 56 million gallons of long-stored radioactive waste into inert glass for disposal at the federal Hanford nuclear waste cleanup site in Washington state moved closer to reality this month.

在3500英尺长的管道上完成了建设美国能源部（美国能源部）于8月20日表示，2023年的初创公司。

美国能源部网站经理布莱恩·万斯（Brian Vance）称完成为“重要的一步”受到挑战的废物玻璃化计划，which began in 2002.

将在地下储存的废物转移到废物处理厂的一个单位的输送系统由不锈钢主管组成，类似于汉福德（Hanford）其他地方使用的钢管，该管子被6-英寸迪亚（Hanford）包裹。坦克农场承包商华盛顿河保护解决方案的发言人说，用于冗余保护的次要管道。

Moving to Startup

The “pipe-in-pipe” transfer line will carry waste from a double-shelled holding tank where it has been treated to remove radioactive cesium and solids, says DOE. Contractor workers installed the cesium removal system next to the tank farm earlier this year and are conducting readiness tests before treatment of low-level nuclear wastes in batches is set to start early next year.

That treatment will follow two key tests, according to Bechtel, buiider of the vitrification complex. One in October will determine impact from possible power loss, to be followed by a December heat-up of the first of the plant's two giant waste melters.

"We are over 90% complete, but the last 10% is going to be a climb," says Valerie McCain, Bechtel treatment plant project director, in moving the first treatment unit and 14 support facilities from construction through startup testing to commissioning. "It is very exciting each time we complete testing and it gets handed over to the plant management team," she says.

技术问题延迟了，并不确定工厂其他单位的完成状态，这些状态将储罐废物分为高水平和低水平的量，以进行单独的治疗和处置。

能源部今年早些时候宣布,它将奖a combined contract for vitrification plant and tank farm operation, which will be for up to 10 years and valued at about $27 billion. A DOE spokesman declined comment on Aug. 26 on projected dates to issue its final request for proposals and make a contract award. The agency extended for two years, under a $725-million award, the WRPS tank farm contract that had been set to end on Oct. 1.

WRPS是Amentum的合资企业，Aecom在2020年初向私人股票买家开发，而Atkins是SNC-Lavalin Inc.的单位Atkins。Amentum也于去年11月收购了联邦承包商Dyncorp International，创造了6亿美元公司。

为了将储罐废物转化为玻璃玻璃，处理厂的熔体将加热废物和形成玻璃的材料至2,100°F。一旦加热，融化者将在其一生的寿命中失去电力，以防止玻璃硬化。废物处理厂的美国能源部联邦项目总监汤姆·弗莱彻（Tom Fletcher）说：“融化的热量是……实际上是没有回报的重点。”“那时，这种植物每年24小时保持热量365天。您不能关闭融化。”

The loss of power test will ensure that the plant workforce can demonstrate ability to respond to a need to restart required systems without impeding the melter, Fletcher says. "If we lose power, how does our team put the facility in a safe position and how do we bring it back from that condition?"

系统备份

Melter heat-up leads to the start of cold commissioning in February 2022, followed by testing of the second melter in April.

Cold commissioning will involve use of chemicals simulating wastes that will test more than 5,500 treatment procedures, Fletcher says.

Staggering the second melter was a "risk reduction" change made to the plan in the last two years. Fletcher says. Melters were designed by Duratek and fabricated by Petersen Inc., Ogden, Utah, with two others on site to replace the originals when they end their life.

The hot commissioning process planned for spring 2023 is the first entry of radioactive waste when the plant is turned over to operations.

弗莱彻说：“在2023年春季，我们有很大的管理风险。”“这是我们的重中之重。”

Hanford is a relic of World War II and Cold War nuclear weapons production spread across 580 sq miles of desert plateau from 1943 to 1987. Cleanup of plutonium and other wastes has been ongoing for more than three decades with project budget levels fluctuating over that time.

在拜登政府的领导下，资金一直保持稳定，众议院已经投票决定将废物项目的预算提高到政府要求的范围之上，但该数字尚未通过参议院。