Destruction of millions of gallons of radioactive and chemical wastes stored for decades in leaking underground tanks at the US Energy Dept.'s Hanford waste site in Washington state now will begin with startup of a new facility in the storage area that is set to remove cesium and solids before the toxics are turned into inert glass, with treated waste disposed of in an onsite landfill, or with some quantity possibly sent to an offsite disposal facility.
Pumping of waste into the site’s $130-million Tank-Side Cesium Removal System, which began late last month, is a key step before an estimated 56 million gallons of waste generated in one-time production of nuclear weapons at Hanford, are immobilized in the site’s multi-billion-dollar玻璃化植物, under construction for 20 years and准备上线by the end of 2023 under state and federal order.
的指导下,项目团队,贝克特尔National Inc., is expected to begin heating up the plant's first melter within the next few weeks.
DOE现场承包商华盛顿河保护解决方案总裁兼首席执行官John Eschenberg说：“我们第一次可以说我们已经开始预处理和调理坦克废物。”它负责准备将汉福德坦克中存储的废物送到玻璃化厂的送达。他说：“我们将在本日历年结束时进行一百万加仑的治疗。”
The system removes the cesium and solids using filtration and an ion exchange system tested at DOE’s Savannah River site in South Carolina and Oak Ridge lab in Tennessee, Eschenberg says. It is designed to treat about five gallons per minute or 7,200 gallons per day.
到目前为止，该系统已经处理了90,000多加仑。
该系统设计为五年的示范项目，预计将在玻璃化工厂在线时处理和一百万加仑的废物。DOE网站经理Brian Vance表示，将对其可行性进行评估以备将来使用。
在五年的过程中，官员估计，他们将花费大约150个离子交换列（每列100万美元），总共花费多达2亿美元来运营该设施。
万斯说：“我们认为这是一个很好的项目，可以……学习和发展我们认为负担得起的和可实现的方法。我们将为我们提供很多开放，但这在将来为我们带来了一些机会。“
Using engineering lessons learned from the Savannah River system, WRPS worked with subcontractors AVANTech, Atkins Nuclear Secured LLC, Fowler General Construction Inc. and Apollo Mechanical Contractors Inc. to design and build the pretreatment system. It was fabricated in Columbia, S.C. with final assembly offsite in Richland, Wash., before installation in Hanford’s tank farm area less than one-quarter mile from the vitrification plant. The project was finished ahead of schedule and under budget, WRPS says.
能源部长詹妮弗·格兰霍尔姆（Jennifer Granholm）将于本月晚些时候首次访问汉福德。
TAHK废物处理工作是一份新的DOE报告预测，完成整个汉福德核综合体的清理工作将花费3000亿美元至6400亿美元，18luck官网这是自2019年最后一次进行以来的成本范围。三城市先驱。But more than $200 million of the total's low-end estimate will be spent on emptying tank wastes, and treating and disposing them, DOE's report says.
