Contractor Mission Support Alliance has begun a $7.8 million improvement to the water-system infrastructure in the center of the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state.
Workers are installing about 4 miles of 30-inch pipe to connect the separate water grids of the east and west areas of the nuclear cleanup site. Work is scheduled to be completed in the spring.
“With about 9,000 workers, many near the center of the site, where this project takes place, ensuring the dependability of the water system is key,” said Jeff Frey, assistant manager for mission support for the Department of Energy Richland Operations Office, in a prepared statement. Nearly 400 million gallons of water are used annually at Hanford, primarily in operations, construction, waste processing, and fire protection.
The infrastructure upgrade is critical for Hanford, where water will be needed for many years, said Dan Parr, Mission Support Alliance project manager. Environmental remediation in central Hanford is expected to continue for decades, with the most recent site life-cycle cost and schedule report showing at least $2 billion of cleanup work annually across the site until at least 2047.
The water-infrastructure project also will include installing a backup water supply line to central Hanford’s 200 West Pump and Treat Facility, which cleans contamination groundwater.
Once construction of the new water lines is complete, workers will revegetate disturbed areas with native grasses and shrubs and install wild bee habitats to encourage pollination of revegetated areas.
