RICHLAND, Wash. – Hanford’s Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant team recently completed startup testing of a radioactive liquid waste disposal system that will play an instrumental role during future operations to treat waste from the site’s large underground tanks.

During vitrification — the immobilization of tank waste in glass — the plant’s Low-Activity Waste (LAW) Facility will generate secondary liquids, or effluents, from processing equipment and exhaust from the facility’s two melters. The liquid waste disposal system manages these effluents and collects them in two large tanks before they are transferred through underground double-walled pipes to the Effluent Management Facility for processing.

The liquid waste disposal system joins dozens of LAW Facility systems that have completed startup testing and moved into the next phase of preparing for operations.

Laborer Sarah Orr, pictured, works near the effluent collection vessels in Hanford’s Effluent Management Facility.
Laborer Sarah Orr, pictured, works near the effluent collection vessels in Hanford’s Effluent Management Facility.

“We’re close to moving the entire LAW Facility into the commissioning phase,” said Mat Irwin, EM Office of River Protection deputy assistant manager for the plant. “This is a huge shift in our work at the plant and a giant step forward as we prepare to start treating tank waste.”

The entire Hanford Site is preparing for a shift to 24/7 operations by the end of 2023, when vitrification of tank waste is scheduled to start as part of EM’s Direct-Feed Low-Activity Waste Program. The program is a system of interdependent projects and infrastructure improvements, managed and highly integrated, that must operate together to vitrify the waste.

Information on the commissioning process, including a loss-of-power test and melter heatup, is available on the Journey to Melter Heatup website.

The plant facilities can be viewed using the self-guided Hanford Virtual Tour.