The liquid waste contractor at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site said Monday it had processed more than 366,000 gallons of liquid waste in the Tank-Side Cesium Removal system, which prepares waste for solidification in the nearby Waste Treatment and Vitrification Plant that DOE hopes to switch on in 2023.
That was according to a spokesperson for the Amentum-led Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS).
The contractor responded Monday to an Weapons Complex Monitor inquiry about a report from the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, dated June 24 and recently posted on the board’s website, that said WRPS began the second Tank-Side Cesium Removal (TSCR) batch run ahead of the July 4 holiday.
By Monday, July 18, the second batch run had processed a total of 165,000 gallons, the spokesperson said. That run began June 18, about three months after the conclusion of the first batch run in early March that processed roughly 200,000 gallons, the spokesperson said.
TSCR removes radioactive cesium and solids from tank waste in order to support startup of direct-feed-low-activity waste operations at Hanford’s Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant, targeted for December 2023.
William (Ike) White, top boss for DOE’s Office of Environmental Management in Washington, said in April in Congressional testimony that the agency plans to have 1 million gallons of waste pre-treated and ready for feed into the Waste Treatment Plant by the end of 2023..
Between the two batch runs, WRPS changed out TSCR ion exchange columns, installed new transfer hoses, redesigned certain components and analyzed data on the first campaign in order to improve future operations, the contractor spokesperson said via email.
The first two ion exchange columns reached their saturation level of cesium after the 200,000-gallon run in March after. TSCR is a demonstration project at Hanford. The TSCR is akin to the Tank Closure Cesium Removal project at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina.
