Contractor Requests New Roof for REDOX Plant
WC Monitor
12/19/2014
After a failing roof is leading to leaking and contamination migration in the Reduction-Oxidation Plant at Hanford, site cleanup contractor CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Company has requested funding for a new roof totaling about $7 million. Though the facility has not operated since the 1960s and is slated for eventual demolition, the water is impacting contamination and there are concerns it could eventually degrade facility rebar, according to a Nov. 7 Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board staff report. “Annual REDOX facility inspections have not identified issues that warrant immediate action. REDOX is not scheduled to be cleaned out or demolished in the near future, so repair of the REDOX roof is identified as a potential maintenance activity,” Geoff Tyree, a spokesman for the DOE Richland Operations Office, said in a written response.
The REDOX plant on the Central Plateau’s 200 west area is the fourth canyon and last processing canyon built at the site and processed plutonium for weapons and uranium from fuel rods. It remains highly contaminated. CHPRC has provided the DOE Richland Operations Office with a rough estimate of about $7 million for the project, “which includes an option to cut and cap piping that extends from inside the facility above the roof,” Tyree said. “The request for maintenance will be considered along with other maintenance needs on the Hanford Site. Maintenance projects will proceed on a basis that balances risk with available funding.”
