Mike Nartker
WC Monitor
6/13/2014
As the Department of Energy and contractor CH2M-WG Idaho continue to move forward with startup testing at the Idaho Integrated Waste Treatment Unit, Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board Technical Director Steve Stokes said this week that it’s too early to say whether the facility will be able to begin processing actual waste by the end of this year. The DNFSB recently sent a letter to DOE raising concerns over some aspects of the startup process, and suggesting that further assessments may be needed before actual radioactive material is introduced. At a meeting the Energy Facility Contractors Group held at DOE headquarters, Stokes said it is “too early to really speculate about where they will be and the activities over the summer will allow us to be able to get a better idea where they’ll be before they introduce radioactive material.” He said, “It’s premature to guess at this time where DOE will be later this year. As far as I’m personally concerned, I’m optimistic that DOE will be able to operate that facility safely this year and years to come.”
The IWTU is intended to treat the approximately 900,000 gallons of remaining liquid waste at the Idaho site through a steam reforming process for disposal and to allow for closure of the site’s remaining waste tanks. DOE currently faces a commitment to the state of Idaho to complete processing of the waste by the end of this year. DOE had previously committed to have the waste processed by the end of 2012, but in the summer of that year, startup of the IWTU facility was significantly disrupted by what has been described as a “pressure event” that occurred when the facility’s filters became clogged with carbon material during efforts to get it up to its operating temperature. The facility was shut down and DOE and CWI implemented a set of modifications, the last of which were completed last summer.
Once the facility modifications were complete, DOE and CWI worked again to get the IWTU to its normal operating temperature and pressure, and then moved forward with a contractor readiness assessment and subsequent DOE readiness assessment. Now, DOE and CWI are moving forward with the introduction of steam and a waste simulant as part of the next stage of the startup testing. In its recent letter, though, the Board identified several concerns with how the DOE readiness assessment was performed, as well as several technical issues found after the assessment was completed. “Throughout the DOE RA, and subsequent startup testing, the need for substantial changes to the facility’s safety basis, credited control set, component design, and operating procedures were identified. These changes have the potential to result in substantial revisions and modifications that have not been subjected to readiness reviews,” DNFSB Chairman Peter Winokur wrote in the May 23 letter.
