The Creative Application of Science, Technology and Work Force Innovations to the Decontamination and Decommissioning of the Plutonium Finishing Plant at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation

Conference · Sat Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 2006

OSTI ID:21210708

Charboneau, S ^[1]; Klos, B; Heineman, R; Skeels, B; Hopkins, A ^[2]

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1. U.S. Department of Energy, Richland Operations Office, 825 Jadwin Avenue, Richland, WA 99352 (United States)
2. Fluor Hanford Inc., PO Box 1000, Richland WA 99352 (United States)

The Plutonium Finishing Plant (PFP) consists of a number of process and support buildings for handling plutonium. Building construction began in the late 1940's to meet national priorities and became operational in 1950 producing refined plutonium salts and metal for the United States nuclear weapons program The primary mission of the PFP was to provide plutonium used as special nuclear material for fabrication into a nuclear device for the war effort. Subsequent to the end of World War II, the PFP's mission expanded to support the Cold War effort through plutonium production during the nuclear arms race. PFP has now completed its mission and is fully engaged in deactivation, decontamination and decommissioning (D and D). At this time the PFP buildings are planned to be reduced to ground level (slab-on-grade) and the site remediated to satisfy national, Department of Energy (DOE) and Washington state requirements. The D and D of a highly contaminated plutonium processing facility presents a plethora of challenges. PFP personnel approached the D and D mission with a can-do attitude. They went into D and D knowing they were facing a lot of challenges and unknowns. There were concerns about the configuration control associated with drawings of these old process facilities. There were unknowns regarding the location of electrical lines and the condition and contents of process piping containing chemical residues such as strong acids and caustics. The gloveboxes were highly contaminated with plutonium and chemical residues. Most of the glovebox windows were opaque with splashed process chemicals that coated the windows or etched them, reducing visibility to near zero. Visibility into the glovebox was a serious worker concern. Additionally, all the gloves in the gloveboxes were degraded and unusable. Replacing gloves in gloveboxes was necessary to even begin glovebox clean-out. The sheer volume of breathing air needed was also an issue. These and other challenges and PFP's approach to overcome these challengers are described. Many of the challenges to the D and D work at PFP were met with innovative approaches based on new science and/or technology and many were also based on the creativity and motivation of the work force personnel. (authors)

• Research Organization: WM Symposia, Inc., PO Box 13023, Tucson, AZ, 85732-3023 (United States)
• OSTI ID: 21210708
• Report Number(s): INIS-US--09-WM-06442
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
DECOMMISSIONING
DECONTAMINATION
GLOVEBOXES
HANFORD RESERVATION
PLUTONIUM