Recently, the Vit Plant team completed the first commissioning test for one of 37 remote-operated cranes inside the Low-Activity Waste (LAW) Facility, bringing the plant one step closer to treating nuclear tank waste.

The commissioning test was also the first for any system inside the LAW Facility. The facility's remote-operated cranes will access plant components, transfer equipment, package materials, bring in empty stainless steel containers, and transport glass-filled containers out of the facility.

The bridge crane that went through commissioning will be used in the LAW process cell area that contains six large vessels. Three of the vessels receive, mix, and feed radioactive tank waste and glass-forming materials into the melters. The others cool the exhaust and remove particulates.

If needed during plant operations, the bridge crane will hover above the process cell area to lift metal floor hatches for access to the process cell below, remove and replace equipment inside the cell, and bundle potentially radioactive-contaminated equipment into waste packages.

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What is the Low-Activity Waste Facility?

In the LAW Facility, concentrated low-activity waste will be mixed with silica and other glass-forming materials. The mixture will be fed into the LAW’s two 300-ton melters and heated to 2,100 degrees Fahrenheit. The glass mixture will then be poured into stainless steel containers to cool and solidify.

What is Direct-Feed Low-Activity Waste?

Direct-Feed Low-Activity Waste is part of the Department of Energy's sequenced approach to treating Hanford’s tank wastes. In this process, low-activity radioactive waste from Hanford tank farms is fed directly to the LAW Facility, and the Vit Plant will be able to begin treating waste as soon as 2023.

What is commissioning?

Commissioning is the fourth of five steps to complete the Vit Plant (engineering, procurement, construction, commisioning, operations). It is the process whereby constructed plant components and systems are verified by testing to meet requirements and placed into service.

The Vit Plant’s Analytical Laboratory team completed a commissioning test of a high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filtration system that uses a new filter design that exceeds nuclear industry standards and requirements.

Finishing the test was a prerequisite for the laboratory team to begin using scientific equipment with radioactive materials, which is required for operations. The plant team and Mississippi State University (MSU) collaborated throughout the design, installation, and multiple types of stringent tests.

HEPA filters are critical to the nuclear industry for their ability to filter airborne contaminants from ventilation and exhaust systems in accordance with state and federal requirements. The filters will also be used in the plant’s Low-Activity Waste (LAW) Facility.

For testing, the team saturated each HEPA filter with an aerosol spray to simulate potential radioactive contamination, passed air through the filters, and collected and analyzed air samples on the other side to ensure the filters captured the simulant as designed. During future operations, air from the laboratory will flow through the HEPA filters before reaching the building’s environmental exhaust system, where it will then be sampled to ensure it meets Washington State Department of Health standards.

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The Journey to Melter Heatup website explains the commissioning process, including critical activities such as the loss of power test and melter heatup process.

The two 300-ton waste melters inside the Low-Activity Waste (LAW) Facility will heat Hanford’s low-activity tank waste and glass-forming materials to 2,100 degrees Fahrenheit and transform, or vitrify, it for safe disposal.

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