UPDATE HANFORD SITE D & D PROGRAMS ACCELERATE EXPAND
A large, new decontamination and decommissioning organization targeted toward rapid, focused work on aging and highly contaminated structures was formed at the DOE's Hanford Site in southeast Washington state in autumn 2003. Managed by prime contractor Fluor Hanford, the new organization has made significant progress during its first six months. Under the direction of Mike Lackey, who recently joined Fluor from the Portland General Electric Trojan Plant, the Fluor Hanford D&D organization is tackling the Plutonium Finishing Plant (PFP) complex and the Fast Flux Test Facility (FFTF), and is nearly finished demolishing the 233-S Plutonium Concentration Facility. In addition, the D&D organization is progressing through the development and public comment phases of its required environmental permitting, planning work and procurement services to D&D three other Hanford facilities: 224-T and 224-B Plutonium Concentration Facilities, and the U Plant radiochemical processing facility. It is also planning and beginning to D&D the spent fuel handling areas of the Site's 100-K Reactor Area. The 586-square mile Hanford Site, the oldest plutonium production center in the world, served as the ''workhorse'' of the American nuclear defense arsenal from 1944 through 1989. Hanford produced the special nuclear material for the plutonium cores of the Trinity (test) and Nagasaki explosions, and then went on to produce more than half of the weapons plutonium ever manufactured by the United States, and about one-fourth of that manufactured worldwide. As a result, Hanford, the top-secret ''Paul Bunyan'' in the desert, is one of the most contaminated areas in the world. Its cleanup agreement with state and federal regulators, known as the ''Tri-Party Agreement,'' celebrates its 15th anniversary this spring, at a time when operations dealing with unstable plutonium leftovers, corroded spent fuel, and liquids wastes in single-shelled tanks conclude. As these crucial jobs are coming to an end, D&D has gained traction as a central Site mission.
- Research Organization:
- Fluor Hanford, Richland, WA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT (US)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC06-96RL13200
- OSTI ID:
- 824122
- Report Number(s):
- HNF-20844, Rev.0; TRN: US0401975
- Journal Information:
- Decontamination, Decommissioning and Reutilization Division Newsletter, Other Information: PBD: 22 Apr 2004
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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