The Department of Energy resumed heating the first melter at the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant at the Hanford Site in Washington state, a process on hold since fall, the agency said Monday.
Resumption of the heatup was signaled last month by the acting head of the DOE Office of Environmental Management, William (Ike) White in comments to the Environmental Management Advisory Board
The federal agency and contractor Bechtel National started warming up the first 300-ton melter in October 2022 but soon ran into problems that forced crews to suspend the effort, including glitches with the control panels for the 18 temporary startup heaters in the top of the melter that are used solely for heatup.
“Over the last several months, we have investigated and resolved the condition that caused the heatup to be paused, as well as resolving some additional issues identified as part of the extent of condition review,” DOE said in a Monday press release.
It should take “several weeks” to heat up the first melter to 2,100 degrees Fahrenheit, DOE said. The melters are central to the Low-Activity Direct-Feed Waste Facility at the vitrification plant being built by Bechtel to solidify radioactive tank waste by blending it with a glass-like material.
During the heatup, small glass-like beads dubbed “frit” are melted to produce a pool of molten glass inside the melter and the melter’s permanent heating system takes over to ensure the melter stays hot enough during operations, according to DOE.
Once the first melter is hot enough, and the unit starts up, DOE “will process nonradioactive simulant to provide operational experience for the crews,” and provide lessons for heating up the second melter at the Waste Treatment Plant, according to the release.
A DOE link to a six-minute video on the heat process can be found here.
