Kenneth Fletcher
WC Monitor
1/17/2014
CH2M-WG Idaho, the cleanup contractor for the Department of Energy’s Idaho site, is beginning the hot startup process for the Idaho Sodium-Bearing Waste Treatment Facility, and hopes to begin full operations this spring after DOE completes a readiness assessment. CWI has finished a “management self assessment” launched last fall to evaluate design changes made to the facility as a result of an incident that occurred in a previous start-up attempt (WC Monitor, Vol. 24 No. 43). The hot startup process is underway, as well as a CWI readiness assessment. After that DOE will start a readiness assessment in February that will last “a few weeks,” in order to allow full operations in the spring, DOE Idaho Operations Office spokeswoman Danielle Miller said this week. DOE still hopes to meet a commitment to the state of Idaho to treat all remaining liquid waste by the end of 2014, Miller said.
The SBWT Facility, also known as the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit, is intended to treat the approximately 900,000 gallons of remaining liquid waste at the Idaho site for disposal through a steam reforming process, ultimately allowing for closure of the site’s remaining waste tanks. DOE had sought to have the facility built and in operation in time to meet a previous commitment to the state of Idaho to have the waste treated by the end of 2012. As startup activities were underway in June 2012, though, the facility experienced what has been described as a “pressure event” that occurred when its filters became clogged with carbon material during efforts to get the facility up to its operating temperature. The facility was shut down and since then DOE and CWI have been developing and implementing modifications to allow for another attempt at start-up (WC Monitor, Vol. 24 No. 22).
Hot Startup a Dry Run
The hot startup phase is a dry run to test the facility before it begins processing waste. “Hot startup refers to heating up the facility to normal operating temperature and pressure to ensure that everything functions as designed, prior to introducing radioactive waste,” Miller said. If all goes well in the testing phases, DOE expects to be able to meet the 2014 milestone. “We are cautiously optimistic that we can get it done either late this year or early next year, it depends on how the startup testing goes, “ Ken Picha, DOE Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Tank Waste and Nuclear Materials Management, said this week at a Institute of Nuclear Materials Management meeting.
Design Changes Made Since June Event
CWI’s latest self-assessment was focused on design changes made since the previous startup event in 2012. CWI completed the last of planned modifications in late August, which were intended to address concerns with the facility’s Denitration Mineralization Reformer ring head, which had been found to experience carbon buildup and plugging; and the fluidizing gas rails for the DMR. “There were two relatively minor modifications done to the DMR. The first was to reduce the number of flow orifices in the four fluidizing gas rails. This provided for better airflow in the DMR and performance of the fluidized bed. The second operational modification consisted of reducing the back-pulse cycles. This eliminated the clogging concern with the fluidizing rails to improve operational reliability,” DOE Office of Environmental Management spokesman Dave Borak said in November.
