HANFORD
History
Established in 1943 as part of Manhattan Project, the Hanford Site is the largest of three original defense production sites. It is a plutonium production complex with nine nuclear reactors and associated processing facilities, Hanford served the nation's defense for more than 40 years, producing about 64 metric tons of plutonium. Just one month after Enrico Fermi and his team conducted the first controlled nuclear chain reaction, the leaders of the top secret Manhattan Project chose a place to build the world's first, full scale plutonium production plants. It was a remote, arid site near the farming village of Hanford in southeast Washington. Three plutonium production reactors quickly took shape along the banks of the Columbia River, 35 miles north of the town of Richland. Fuel fabrication, chemical reprocessing, waste management, research and other support facilities sprang up in other parts of the site.
Thirty months later Hanford produced the plutonium used for the world's first nuclear detonation. Soon after, U.S. planes dropped two nuclear bombs on Japan to end World War II. One was triggered by concentrated plutonium made at Hanford. The unexpected onset of the Cold War and the nuclear arms race brought an urgent demand for plutonium that led to major expansions of Hanford throughout the 1950s. By the end of 1963, nine production reactors and a variety of facilities spanning the nuclear production cycle were operating at the 1,450 square kilometers (560 square mile) site. Five reprocessing facilities were built with more than 900 support facilities and radiological laboratories. Production cutbacks started in 1964. Until the late 1980s, plutonium and reusable uranium were separated from irradiated fuel, and the plutonium was exported to other DOE sites for use in nuclear weapons. Eight of Hanford's nine plutonium production reactors were closed by early 1971. The last production reactor built, N Reactor, was placed on 'cold standby' in February 1988. In 1991, Hanford's owner, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), retired N Reactor.
Transition
While defense production had been a prime mission of the Hanford Site, Hanford's activities shifted to focus on environmental restoration and waste management; scientific and environmental research; development and application of radioactive and hazardous waste management technologies; and the design, construction, and operation of major energy-related test and development facilities. In May 1989, DOE, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the Washington State Department of Ecology signed the Hanford Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order, also called the Tri-Party Agreement (TPA), a regulatory framework to guide cleanup at the Hanford Site.
Nearly 80 percent of DOE's inventory of spent fuel is stored at Hanford, and almost all of that is in the aging K East and K West water basins a few hundred yards from the Columbia River. Although new double shell tanks have been put into service and high-level radioactive waste (HLW) transferred to the tanks, a large volume of HLW is stored in structurally deteriorating single-shell tanks that have exceeded their design life by 30 years. Efforts to reduce liquids and stabilize tank sludges reduce the potential for significant impact to ground water and the Columbia River.
The Hanford Site was divided into several areas, each of which was devoted to specific types of facilities and activities. Nine older plutonium production reactors are located in the 100 Areas, which are situated along the Columbia River. All nine of the reactors have been retired: eight have been deactivated and are in storage and mothballed (S&M); the ninth (N Reactor) is being demolished in 2008 and it is expected to be cocooned by 2012. Chemical processing and waste management facilities (including the PUREX Plant, 222S, the Plutonium Finishing Plant (PFP), and the Tank Farms) are concentrated in the 200 Areas, East and West. The 300 Area, located in the southeast corner of the site, contains laboratories, technical shops, engineering offices, and support facilities that focus on research and development (R&D) associated with waste management and energy technologies. The 400 Area is north of the 300 Area and includes the Fast Flux Test Facility (FFTF), a shutdown sodium-cooled fast flux test reactor, and the Fuels Material Examination Facility (FMEF). This latter facility meets current seismic qualifications and was to be used for FFTF fuel fabrication and processing. To date, FMEF has had no nuclear materials. This facility is used by onsite personnel for non-nuclear activities (e.g., office and training activities).
The facility transition program is a long-term program to deactivate several old weapons production and nuclear energy facilities. These facilities are being transitioned to a safe, stable condition, with a significant reduction in surveillance and maintenance costs. These facilities include the UO3 Plant (already transitioned), PUREX (pilot transition plant), B Plant, K East and K West, FFTF, and PFP. In addition, all dispersible material from the 324 Building B Cell is being removed and emplaced in PUREX tunnels.
Approximately 70 construction projects were undertaken. Major active construction projects have included the Waste Receiving and Processing Facility (WRAP) Module 1, the Environmental and Molecular Sciences Laboratory, Hazardous Materials Management Emergency Response (HAMMER) Training Facility, the Fast Flux Test Facility Sodium Storage Facility, the Tank Farms Ventilation Upgrades, the Canister Storage Building, and the Environmental Restoration Disposal Facility (ERDF) facility. The former site of the Hanford Waste Vitrification Plant is to be used for construction of a Canister Storage Building for K Basin spent fuel.
Two contracts were awarded for the Hanford Tank Waste Remediation System contracts, the first phase of the nation's largest environmental remediation project for the treatment and stabilization of radioactive waste tanks at the Hanford. Two teams, BNFL Inc., and Lockheed Martin Advanced Environmental Systems, were each awarded the contracts to solidify as much as 14 million gallons of radioactive and chemical wastes. Contractors will finance and build the remediation facilities while the department will pay only for solidified waste.
The entire project consists of two phases: Demonstration and full-scale production. These contracts will fulfill Parts A and B of Phase I. Part A is a 20-month period to establish the technical, operational, regulatory, business, and financial elements required by privatized tank treatment facilities. Phase II would be the full-scale production phase, in which the facilities would be configured so all of the remaining waste can be processed on a schedule that will accommodate removing the waste from single-shelled tanks by the year 2018.
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