The Central Plateau Cleanup Company, a contractor with the Environmental Management Richland Operations Office, recently carried out the demolition of two contaminated buildings at the Hanford Site.
The Gas Preparation and Solvent Handling buildings supported the plutonium-production mission of the site during the 1950s and '60s and were used in conjunction with Hot Semiworks, a research and development laboratory created in 1951 to separate plutonium from reactor uranium fuel rods, according to a March 28 news release.
“These are not high hazard facilities,” Andy Wiborg, EM team lead for the Central Plateau Cleanup Project on the site, said in the release. “But it’s important to get these old facilities demolished when we can to help reduce our long term surveillance and maintenance costs.”
The Gas Preparation Building equipped Hot Semiworks with compressed air for activities and the Solvent Handling Building gave the facility space for creating solvents and other liquid solutions, the release reported.
The demolition process began last fall with various preparations including removing hazardous materials, asbestos abatement and disconnecting mechanical and electrical components, according to the release. Debris from the demolished buildings were shipped to Hanford’s onsite engineered landfill, the Environmental Restoration Disposal Facility.
“It was a total team effort,” Jeremy Hulquist, who manages demolition projects for CPCCo’s Inner Area End States organization, said in the release. “I’m impressed with the communication and collaboration not only between the demolition workers, but also with our DOE customer and our engineering, safety, industrial hygiene and radiological controls organizations.”
Tanks, piping and equipment were removed from both buildings, situated on Hanford’s Central Plateau, in the 1980s during a project decommissioning, the release reported. Hot Semiworks was shut down in 1967.
More than 18.5 million tons of low-level radioactive, hazardous and mixed wastes have been disposed of at the ERDF since 1996, according to the Hanford government website. The landfill features a waste capacity of 21 million tons.
