Preliminary Conclusions Highlight Design Concerns With Various Facility Systems
Mike Nartker
WC Monitor
1/10/2014
As the Department of Energy gears up to begin resuming some long-paused activities at the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant’s High-Level Waste Facility, a new review is highlighting design concerns with various facility systems that could impact how much work comes back online. The review, which has yet to be finalized, was intended to help determine whether or not various facility systems, as designed, could perform their intended design and safety functions. According to a preliminary version of the review’s findings, which were outlined in a Dec. 11 presentation WC Monitor obtained this week, a number of “high” and “medium” risk issues were found, some of which could require significant redesign. The review also appears to have found a number of design process issues that still need to be addressed, according to the presentation. The review was performed by an independent expert team chartered by the DOE Office of River Protection. A final report on the review’s findings is set to be released next month, according to a recently released Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board site representative report.
Review Intended to ‘Find and Fix,’ Official Says
The DOE Office of River Protection largely declined to comment on the review’s preliminary findings this week, saying a final report has not yet been prepared. “ORP chartered an independent expert team to examine the design and operability of the High-Level Waste Facility. The team has not completed and submitted its final report to DOE and its contractor,” ORP spokeswoman Carrie Meyer said in a written response. A Department official also stressed to WC Monitor this week that the information contained in the Dec. 11 presentation was “a draft draft” and “preliminary preliminary,” adding that the review’s findings would be “only a small part” of DOE’s decision-making on how to resume work at the High-Level Waste Facility. “It’s a piece of the pie, but I can’t tell you until I have the whole pie,” the official said.
The DOE official also emphasized that the review’s purpose was to “find and fix” issues, rather than just identify concerns, noting that the review team identified paths forward for addressing the issues identified. “This is good engineering practice,” the official said. “This is a good report for what we’re trying to do,” the official said, adding that a number of the identified concerns may be relatively easy to resolve.
In a statement late this week, Bechtel National spokesman Todd Nelson said, “The HLW design is in development and as such, design reviews are routine and important elements of the design process. Design reviews allow a fresh look by experienced individuals to identify design weaknesses and opportunities for design enhancements. We diligently work with DOE to address the identified areas opportunities to meet DOE’s expectations for a plant that will operate safely and efficiently. Reviews will be conducted throughout design, construction, startup, commissioning and plant operations.”
HLW Work Largely Paused For More Than a Year
Work at the WTP’s High-Level Waste Facility—one of the main portions of the overall plant—has largely been suspended since the summer of 2012, when DOE halted most activities due to the need to fully resolve long-standing technical concerns such as ensuring adequate waste mixing and preventing erosion and corrosion. Since then, the Department has convened a number of teams to examine and help resolve the various WTP technical issues, and next month DOE is set to make decisions on how much work to resume at the High-Level Waste Facility and with what controls. The latest design review also comes as DOE and the Obama Administration are working on a budget request for Fiscal Year 2015, which will help determine how much funding the WTP receives next year.
According to the Dec. 11 presentation, the review examined 11 systems, such as the facility’s pulse jet ventilation system, melter handling system and canister decontamination handling system, among others. More than 30 ‘red,’ or “high” risk issues were identified in the various examined systems. Many of the identified issues appear set to have significant impacts on the operation and production rate of the WTP if not addressed. As one example of a “high” risk issue, the presentation cites “the ability to maintain the [facility] melter off-gas routes from the melter (primary route, standby line, relief valve) free of solids over long periods of melter operations has not been demonstrated,” which could lead to “production impacts from implementation of resolutions to safety basis related issues” and “a longer mission duration with associated costs.”
Among the review team’s recommendations, the presentation says, is that WTP contractor Bechtel National should complete “System Improvement Plans” for each HLW Facility system prior to “full release to EPC [engineering, procurement, construction] in order to qualitatively evaluate the risk of proceeding.” The review also has found a number of “design process issues” that need to be resolved, according to presentation, including:
- “Design and operations philosophy is not well understood”;
- “Facility throughput is not adequately underpinned”;
- “Lack of common understanding across design disciplines regarding operational and design intent”;
- “Maintenance tasks are not adequately addressed/considered in the design process”; and
- “Waste management not effectively defined or considered in the design.”
