HANFORD
Separation Plants
B Plant and Waste Encapsulation Storage Facility (WESF)
The B Plant was one of the three large scale chemical separations plants built at Hanford during World War II to recover plutonium from nuclear fuel irradiated in Hanford reactors. The Plant, located in the 200 Area, operated until 1952 when the Reduction Oxidation (REDOX) facility came on line. After modifications, the Plant took on a new mission that lasted from 1967 to 1985: removing cesium and strontium from liquid radioactive waste stored in Hanford's underground tanks. The Waste Encapsulation Storage Facility (WESF) was added in 1974 to encapsulate and store the cesium and strontium.
B Plant and WESF share a common plant wall, but have separate missions. B Plant is in transition to deactivation, with no production processes operating. A project management plan is being developed for disposing of organics, eliminating steam use, decontaminating the facility cold side and parts of the canyon, and performing filter isolation and stabilization. B Plant has radiological (nonfissile material) contamination in the canyon cells and in the ventilation HEPA filters. A few hazardous chemicals (acids and caustics) are stored to treat liquid wastes sent to the tank farms.
The WESF mission was conversion of solutions (nitrates) of strontium (Sr-90) and cesium (Cs-137) recovered at B Plant to suitable stable forms (e.g. strontium fluoride and cesium chloride salts). WESF is the custodian of 1,871 capsules (73 million curies of Cs-137 and Sr-90) stored in a water basin. Another 16,000 curies are in the K-3 ventilation ducting.
PUREX Plant
The Plutonium-Uranium Extraction (PUREX) Plant in Hanford's 200 East Area was constructed in 1953, at an original capital cost of $77,100,000, including the 202-A Building, with initial operation beginning in 1955. The building is 100 feet (with 40 ft being underground) x 1,080 feet, the size of three-and-a-third football fields. The structure is made of three components: a heavily shielded process canyon; a pipe, sample, and storage gallery section; and a steel and transite annex which houses support services. PUREX was third generation chemical separations. B-Plant and its two identical sister plants, T-Plant and U-Plant were first generation chemical separation facilities. The only second generation separation facility at Hanford was the REDOX facility.
The PUREX solvent extraction (tributyl phosphate) system was operated from January 12, 1956 until the end of September 1972, to separate and decontaminate uranium, plutonium, and neptunium produced by the Hanford reactors. The uranium was sent in a liquid form to the Uranium Trioxide (UO3) Plant. The UO3 Plant converted the liquid to a solid uranium oxide powder. The Plutonium Nitrate and Plutonium Oxide were sent to the Plutonium Finishing Plant. On two separate occasions during the mid-1960s, the process was used to separate 233u from irradiated thorium. Operation resumed in November 1983 to process irradiated N Reactor fuels.
PUREX closed in 1990 and deactivation activities are in progress. Deactivation begins the transition of a nuclear facility to decontamination and decommissioning (D&D)--the final phase of a facility's life cycle. The stack and the building were demolished, and the radioactive was disposed of elsewhere at Hanford. PUREX has been in deactivation status since 1993 and is the Hanford Facility Transition Plan pilot to formulate and demonstrate deactivation procedures for old, but recently operated, facilities. The transfer of nitric acid to British Nuclear Fuels Ltd., Sellafield, England, was completed in December 1995. Current activities include: (1) complete flushing of canyon vessels; and (2) continued deactivation of PUREX canyon, N Cell, Q Cell, and PR room. There are about 226 employees; 113 of these are craft workers. Deactivation activities were completed in May 1997, at which time PUREX was in a low cost surveillance and maintenance state pending final decisions on Deactivation and Decommissioning.
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| Photo Number: 299 011 002 | Photo Number 790 002 002 |
| Photo Date: 25 May 1993? | Photo Date: 18 February 1992 |
UO3 Plant
The UO3 Plant in Hanford's 200 West Area converted uranium nitrate liquid from the Plutonium Uranium Extraction (PUREX) Plant into uranium oxide powder, which was then processed into reactor fuel. The liquid was concentrated in the 224-U Building, and converted to a powder in the 224-UA Building.
The 224-U Building was completed in 1944 for fuel reprocessing as part of the U-Plant complex. This facility was never used for its original planned purpose, the building was a training facility from 1944 to 1950. In 1952, 224-U was converted to a Uranium Reduction Facility, and in 1955 to the current UO3 Plant. The 224-UA Building was added in 1957. This plant was shutdown in 1972 while various environmental control and monitoring upgrades and equipment modifications were made. Operation resumed in 1984. DOE issued the final deactivation orders in December 1992.
Deactivation means removing the bulk of the radioactive and chemical materials from the plants, stabilizing them inside and out, and shutting off ventilation and other systems and utilities. Deactivation is complete, the buildings are unoccupied and locked. Periodically they are monitored and inspected, and can remain in a safe condition for many years until final D&D takes place.
Plutonium Finishing Plant/Z Plant
The PFP provides diversified plutonium processing, handling, storage, and support operations. Construction on the Plutonium Finishing Plant (formerly called Z Plant) began in 1949 and was completed 1951. The PFP was the final link in the plutonium manufacturing chain at Hanford, processing plutonium-bearing chemical solutions and converting them into metal and oxide. This process ended in May 1989.
The plutonium finishing included three operations: (1) Plutonium Metal Production - the remote mechanical C (RMC) metal fabrication line, started in 1959, converted plutonium nitrate solutions to metal form, (2) Plutonium Reclamation Facility - added in 1964, recycled scrap plutonium from Hanford and the Rocky Flats Plant in Colorado, and (3) Plutonium Storage and Support Facility - plutonium was received, analyzed, stored, packaged, and shipped.
The "buttons" of plutonium metal are about the size of a hockey puck and weighed 4 ½ pounds each. The buttons were sealed in cans and shipped to the Rocky Flats Plant in Colorado, where nuclear components for weapons were made.
PFP has approximately 4 metric tons (net weight) of plutonium distributed among approximately 8,038 items. The plutonium in the items appears in many forms and has a wide range of chemical and physical properties, including metals, oxides, sludges, solutions, combustibles, other residues, and ash. The facility does contain other transuranic materials (such as Am-241).
PFP is storing plutonium safety in the near term in forms that are not suitable for long- term storage because the material can generate a flammable gas (hydrogen), which is given off through radiolysis. After the material has been thermally stabilized (by furnace), it is stored as a dry oxide in food pack cans. This design was intended for interim or inprocess storage during weapons production. No data exists on the service life of this storage configuration.
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