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Part 2 of 3 Parts (please read Part 1 first)
Local contractor Two Rivers Terminal (TRT) made its first delivery of materials that will be used to immobilize waste stored in the underground tank in glass logs. EM Office of River Protection (ORP) prime contractor Bechtel National awarded a contract to Two Rivers Terminal of Pasco, Washington. The contract appoints TRT to source, import, store and deliver materials that will be utilized in the glass forming vitrification process. This activity is part of the Direct-Feed Low-Activity Waste (DFLAW) program.
The DFLAW program is a system of interdependent projects and infrastructure improvements, managed and highly integrated, that must operate synchronously to vitrify the radioactive waste. During the process of vitrification, the contaminated waste and glass-forming materials are mixed together and heated to over two-thousand-degree Fahrenheit inside one of the two large melters in the Low-Activity Waste Facility. Following melting, the mixture is poured into stainless steel containers for safe storage.
The first delivery of glass-forming materials was lithium carbonate which is an industrial chemical used in processes such as manufacturing lithium-ion batteries. Other materials that will be used in vitrification are varied, consisting of multiple silicate compounds and other chemicals. Sucrose, better known as common sugar, is on the list of the ingredients. Silica will be the primary compound used in the vitrification process. The initial materials delivered to the WTP will be used in the process of starting up and tuning the first of the two melters later this year.
TRT intends to source the glass-forming materials both domestically and internationally. About half of the needed materials will be coming from locations around the U.S. The contractor will be required by contract to maintain a three-months supply of materials. Before delivering the vitrification materials to the WTP, TRT will work with another business called Mukang Labs which is also located in Pasco in order to ensure that the materials meet the quality specification in the contract for vitrification. Mukang Labs will take samples and analyze the materials. The results will be reported to Bechtel. TRT is a fertilizer and chemical formulator, distributor and importer that serves agricultural and industrial businesses in south central Washington state.
EM said that on the 17th of August ORP tank operations contractor WRPS had recently begun retrieving radioactive and chemical was from another massive underground tank at the Hanford Site. Over the next several months, workers will retrieve approximately one hundred thousand gallons of solid and sludge-like materials for vitrification or immobilization in glass.
Ricky Bang is the Hanford EM Tank Farms Program division director. He said, “Moving waste from older single-shell tanks to newer double-shell tanks is an important step in progressing our risk-reduction mission,” said Ricky Bang, Hanford EM Tank Farms Program division director. “It’s not easy to access the tanks or move this kind of waste, and it takes specialized tools and techniques that have been developed, tested, and proved successful to meet this challenge.”
Please read Part 3 next