RICHLAND, Wash. - Workers have completed a significant risk reduction activity at the Plutonium Finishing Plant (PFP) worksite at the Hanford Site to prepare to eventually resume demolition.
Crews recently finished packaging the last of 20 large, industrial-strength bags, called “super sacks," into containers suitable for safe transportation to Hanford’s Central Waste Complex for monitored storage pending final disposition. EM’s Richland Operations Office (RL) expects to finish transporting the containers to the complex by mid-July. Workers helped develop plans and conducted a mockup in a contamination-free environment to practice packaging the large sacks prior to commencing activity.
The sacks, and other containerized waste, comprise about 90 percent of the transuranic-contaminated material left at the partially demolished facility. Since March, crews have shipped about 100 containers of previously packaged low-level or transuranic waste from the PFP to the complex.
“Moving this material from PFP into a monitored storage facility will significantly reduce the amount of hazardous material at the Plutonium Finishing Plant and the risk to workers and the public," RL Manager Doug Shoop said.
The shipment of waste is part of stabilization activities that have occurred since PFP demolition stopped in December 2017 following a spread of low-level radioactive contamination.
Other stabilization activities underway at the plant include routinely applying fixatives to prevent contamination from spreading, and regular radiological surveys of the plant’s footprint. Crews are also setting up new radiological boundaries to support stabilization work and future demolition activities. Workers are also planning for the eventual resumption of demolition, once DOE is confident it is safe to resume.
“We’re taking the time to do this safely and to do the job right," said Kelly Wooley, acting vice president of the PFP closure project at CH2M HILL Plateau Remediation Company, RL’s cleanup contractor. “I appreciate the workers for their involvement in planning for this work."
Source: U.S. Dept. of Energy, Office of Environmental Management
