Hanford Waste Vitrification Plant remote handling application

The Hanford Waste Vitrification Plant (HWVP) Project, to be constructed on the Hanford reservation in southeastern Washington State during the 1990's, will immobilize the liquid, high-level defense waste stored there. The wastes will be retrieved from double-shell tanks and pretreated at an existing facility onsite. Pretreatment will significantly reduce the volume of wastes to be solidified in HWVP by separating the feed streams into high- and low-activity streams. The high-volume, low-activity fraction of the waste will be sent to the Hanford Grout Treatment Facility for immobilization in a cementitious form in near-surface disposal vaults. The high-activity, low-volume fraction of the waste stream will be sent to HWVP for solidification in a vitrified (borosilicate glass) waste form. The vitrified waste will ultimately be sent to the US geological repository for permanent disposal. These operations comprise the initial steps at Hanford to provide for the permanent disposal of approximately 50,000,000 gal (190,000 m{sup 3}) of high-level waste containing approximately 70,000,000 Ci of waste fission products and 70,000 Ci of transuranic (TRU) elements, including 400 kg of plutonium. An essential design requirement of HWVP is to achieve a facility which meets the radiation protection requirements of As Low As Reasonably Achievable'' (ALARA). With the emphasis on radiation protection of the plant operating staff, it is imperative that the process operations involving radioactive materials use remote handling technology to the maximum degree economically feasible. 2 figs.