FLUOR HANFORD DECOMMISSIONING UPDATE
Fluor Hanford is completing D&D of the K East Basin at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Hanford Site in southeastern Washington State this spring, with demolition expected to begin in June. Located about 400 yards from the Columbia River, the K East Basin is one of two indoor pools that formerly contained irradiated nuclear fuel, radioactive sludge and tons of contaminated debris. In unique and path-breaking work, workers finished removing the spent fuel from the K Basins in 2004. In May 2007, workers completed vacuuming the sludge into containers in the K East Basin, and transferring it into containers in the K West Basin. In December, they finished vacuuming the remainder of K West Basin sludge into these containers. The K East Basin was emptied of its radioactive inventory first because it was more contaminated than the K West Basin, and had leaked in the past. In October 2007, Fluor Hanford began physical D&D of the 8,400-square foot K East Basin by pouring approximately 14-inches of grout into the bottom of it. Grout is a type of special cement used for encasing waste. Two months later, Fluor Hanford workers completed sluicing contaminated sand from the large filter that had sieved contaminants from the basin water for more than 50 years. Next, they poured grout into the filter housing and the vault that surrounds the filter, as well as into ion exchange columns that also helped filter basin water. For a six-week period in February and March, personnel drained the approximately one million gallons of contaminated water from the K East Basin. The effort required more than 200 tanker truck loads that transported the water to an effluent treatment facility for treatment and then release. A thin fixative was also applied to the basin walls as the water was removed to hold residual contamination in place. As soon as the water was out of the basin, Fluor pumped in approximately 18 feet of 'controlled density fill' material (somewhat similar to sand) to shield workers to a safe level from the residual radioactivity. Workers then continued preparations for demolishing the structure. Currently, they are isolating utilities, removing asbestos, draining oils, and removing other items not allowed to be disposed in Hanford's Environmental Restoration Disposal Facility (ERDF). The basin's superstructure will be demolished using a heavy industrial excavator equipped with a shear. This portion of the work is expected to be completed in September, with removal of the basin substructure to follow in 2009. D&D of the K East Basin eliminated the final major radioactive sources there, and made the Columbia River and the adjacent environment safer for everyone who lives downstream.
- Research Organization:
- Hanford Site (HNF), Richland, WA
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE - Office of Environmental Management (EM)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC06-96RL13200
- OSTI ID:
- 927479
- Report Number(s):
- HNF-37499 Rev 0
- Journal Information:
- DECONTAMINATION DECOMMISSIONING & REUTILIZATION NEWSLETTER AMERICAN NUCLEAR SOCIETY SPRING 2008 (PRE-PUBLICATION), Journal Name: DECONTAMINATION DECOMMISSIONING & REUTILIZATION NEWSLETTER AMERICAN NUCLEAR SOCIETY SPRING 2008 (PRE-PUBLICATION) Journal Issue: SPRING 2008
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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