Training while using COVID-19 safety protocols has kicked off for the final class of 27 technicians who will help prepare Hanford’s massive vitrification plant to start converting millions of gallons of radioactive tank waste into glass for safe disposal.
Training while using COVID-19 safety protocols has kicked off for the final class of 27 technicians who will help prepare Hanford’s massive vitrification plant to start converting millions of gallons of radioactive tank waste into glass for safe disposal.

RICHLAND, Wash. – Training recently kicked off for the final class of commissioning technicians who will prepare Hanford’s massive Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) for round-the-clock operations in the next few years to vitrify millions of gallons of radioactive tank waste.

An in-depth classroom and on-the-job training program is preparing the final class of 27 new commissioning workers to bring more than 200 separate systems online in two main facilities, including the Low-Activity Waste Facility where the radioactive waste will be blended with glass-forming materials and heated to 2,100 degrees Fahrenheit, and 14 support facilities.

At the end of the five-month training program, a total of approximately 140 commissioning technicians will be readying the plant for round-the-clock operations to treat a large volume of Hanford’s waste leftover from producing plutonium in the 1940s through the late 1980s.

“A lot of people have put in years of work and effort to get us to where we are today,” said Tom Fletcher, EM federal project director for the plant. “It’s an exciting time to be working at Hanford as our team moves closer to treating tank waste.”

Using appropriate COVID-19 safety protocols, commissioning technicians train at a 17,000-square-foot building that contains a full-scale, fully functional replica of the control room at Hanford’s Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant.
Using appropriate COVID-19 safety protocols, commissioning technicians train at a 17,000-square-foot building that contains a full-scale, fully functional replica of the control room at Hanford’s Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant.

Training the technicians supports EM’s 2020 priorities, which include completing Direct-Feed Low-Activity Waste (DFLAW) construction for turnover to commissioning. Direct-feed means waste will be pretreated at a tank farm, which is a group of tanks, to remove radioactive cesium and solids. The resulting less radioactive, low-activity waste will be fed via pipelines directly to the Low-Activity Waste Facility for vitrification.

The Bechtel National, Inc.-led WTP contractor team began hiring technicians in 2016 to prepare, or commission, the WTP to start treating tank waste in the next few years. Workers are observing COVID-19 safety protocols while training at a 17,000-square-foot building that contains a full-scale, fully functional replica of the Low-Activity Waste Facility control room, where they will eventually work. In early 2019, the plant began 24/7 commissioning shift work, as the control room is already operational and staffed by qualified commissioning technicians.

“Our rigorous training program prepares and qualifies them to bring the plant online as we complete commissioning and for eventual around-the-clock operations,” said Valerie McCain, Bechtel National, Inc. project director. “I’m excited to welcome them to our team.”

Commissioning technicians also learn about conduct of operations; process systems; integrated system response; alarm response; normal, abnormal, and emergency procedures; and human performance improvement fundamentals.