RICHLAND, Wash. - Physical progress is visible at the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) as EM ’s Office of River Protection (ORP) moves closer to treating millions of gallons of Hanford Site tank waste. Workers recently took down scaffolding used in startup testing around large vessels in the plant’s Effluent Management Facility (EMF). Startup testing is performed after construction and before commissioning. The EMF is a key facility in the Direct-Feed Low-Activity Waste (DFLAW) approach, a system of interdependent projects and infrastructure improvements, managed and highly integrated as a program, that must operate together successfully to vitrify, or immobilize Hanford’s low-activity tank waste in glass. The EMF will treat liquid secondary waste, called effluent, generated by melters and the off-gas treatment system in the WTP Low-Activity Waste Facility.
Source: U.S. Dept. of Energy, Office of Environmental Management
