Molten Glass Fills Hanford Melter
DOE - Office of Environmental Management | 8/8/23 A Hanford Site Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant crew added the first frit, or glass beads, to the melter inside the
Low-Activity Waste Facility last week. Each bag of frit, seen here, weighs 300 pounds. The team will add frit in regular intervals until about 40,000 pounds have been added and the molten pool is about 31 inches deep. The project recently completed heating the melter to its operating temperature of 2,100 degrees Fahrenheit. The Hanford Site Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) team last week poured the first batches of glass forming beads, called frit, into a melter heated to 2,100 degrees Fahrenheit. At that temperature, the beads melted and created the first molten pool inside the melter, which during future
hot operations will immobilize radioactive and chemical tank waste in a form safe for permanent disposal. The accomplishment represents another positive step toward waste treatment operations at the WTP’s Low-Activity Waste (LAW) Facility as part of EM’s Direct-Feed Low-Activity Waste Program at Hanford. “This is a proud time for our Hanford team as we have established a molten glass pool in our first melter,” said Hanford Site Manager
Brian Vance. “It’s a tremendous success made possible through the entire team’s dedication to safely progressing our important cleanup mission.” Two 300-ton melters inside the LAW Facility at the WTP are the heart of the vitrification process, which will immobilize the tank waste in glass. During vitrification, treated waste will be fed to the LAW Facility’s melters. The waste will be mixed with glass forming materials in a melter heated to 2,100 degrees
Fahrenheit and poured into specially designed stainless-steel containers. The containers will then be moved a short distance to the Integrated Disposal Facility at the Hanford Site for disposal. “Our team is excited about furthering our progress in achieving continuous melter operations,” said Brian Hartman, the WTP project
director and senior vice president for Bechtel, which is designing, building and commissioning the plant for the EM Office of River Protection. On June 24, the team initiated heatup of the first melter and over a multiweek process slowly ramped to the 2,100 degrees operating temperature. Vance said many DOE and One Hanford team members, past and present, contributed to the important achievement. “This accomplishment, and the many others delivered daily across the
Hanford Site, reflect the expertise and commitment to excellence shown by our talented One Hanford team of dedicated professionals,” Vance said. A total of about 40,000 pounds of frit will be added to create a pool of molten glass about 31 inches deep. Information on the WTP commissioning process is available on the
Journey to Melter Heatup website. The plant facilities can be viewed using the self-guided Hanford Virtual Tour.
May 7-10, 2024 Richland, WA
Building on the momentum from successful meetings in Salt Lake City, Utah, and Paducah, Kentucky, the Energy Communities Alliance (ECA) is excited to
announce it will host its third ECA Forum on Hosting New Nuclear Development in Richland, Washington, May 7-10, 2024. The meeting is part of ECA’s New Nuclear Initiative to define the role of local governments in supporting the development of the new nuclear technologies, and answer three core
questions: - What do communities need to know to attract and support new nuclear development/missions?
- How can communities support industry, national laboratories, state, and federal governments and how should they communicate about
local resources and development opportunities?
- What hurdles and challenges will communities face – along with industry and developers – and who
can we work with to overcome them?
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION COMING SOON For questions, please contact Kara Colton, ECA’S Director of Nuclear policy, at kara.colton@energyca.org or Faith Sanchez, ECA Program Manager at faiths@energyca.org.
Energy secretary stops short of endorsing atomic waste victims fund in Missouri visit
Missouri Independent | 8/8/23 There is ‘no
doubt that we have to clean up’ Missouri nuclear waste sites, U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm says in St. Louis visit Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm in a visit to Missouri on Tuesday would not commit to supporting bipartisan legislation meant to compensate people who have been exposed to radioactive material from U.S. weapons development and
production. “I can’t speak for the administration on that particular piece because I just don’t know the answer,” Granholm told reporters, “but it certainly is something worth looking at for sure to bring justice to the families that have been affected.” Granholm was in St. Louis to tout projects funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and attended a groundbreaking ceremony for a $400 million battery materials manufacturing facility. Her visit comes as her agency faces calls from activists and elected officials to clean up sites contaminated decades ago with nuclear waste from the World War II-era
Manhattan Project. In her remarks, Granholm didn’t mention the region’s struggle with radioactive waste. But she took questions on the subject. Later in the day, she visited a contaminated site in St. Charles County with U.S. Rep. Cori Bush, D-St. Louis. “There is no doubt that we have to clean up these sites,” Granholm said, “and there’s no doubt that the testing and remediation is ongoing now…We’ve got to make sure that people feel safe.” The St. Louis area was pivotal to the development of the first atomic bomb, and the Manhattan Project casts a long shadow over the region. Sites where uranium was processed or stored have been contaminated for decades, leading to higher cancer risks in some areas. The issue has been
covered extensively over the years, but a six-month investigation by The Missouri Independent, MuckRock and The Associated Press found that federal officials and private companies either downplayed or failed to fully investigate the extent of radioactive contamination in St. Louis and St. Charles counties, allowing generations of families to be exposed. The findings prompted renewed calls for an end to the decades-long environmental disaster. Continue reading
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REGISTRATION IS OPEN!
September 11-13, 2023
Arlington, VA
Join us for the 9th annual National Cleanup Workshop at the Crystal Gateway Marriott in Arlington, VA. Register today to hear from senior DOE leaders, local government officials, and industry leaders about the future of DOE’s Environmental Management program. *Rates increase on July 1, 2023. If you have questions or are interested in sponsorship, please contact Autumn Bogus at abogus@la-inc.com. For more information, please visit cleanupworkshop.com. |
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Tri-Cities, Walla Walla events mark atomic bombs using Hanford plutonium 78 years ago Tri-City Herald | 08/07/23
The 78th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, will be
observed Wednesday, Aug. 9, with events in Richland and Walla Walla.
The Fat Man bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, Aug. 9, 1945, was fueled with plutonium produced at the Hanford nuclear reservation site in Eastern Washington. The Manhattan Project National Historical Park plans a “Lights for Peace” ceremony at 8 p.m. at the fingernail stage in Richland’s Howard
Amon Park. The ceremony is intended to acknowledge and interpret conflicting viewpoints, both historical and modern, that surround the development and use of the world’s first atomic weapons, according to the park service. The program will include music by the Mid-Columbia Mastersingers, a guest speaker and an opportunity to ring a peace
bell. The mayor of Nagasaki gave the people of Richland a model of the “Bell of Peace,” which was recovered from the ruins near ground zero in Nagasaki and rung each day to console survivors of the atomic bombing. The public can walk a path lit with luminarias decorated with messages of peace for a quiet, contemplative
experience. In Walla Walla a new documentary about nuclear weapons testing, “Downwind,” will be screened. |
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Beyond Oppenheimer: How Nuclear Weapons and Nuclear Reactors are Different DOE - Office of Nuclear Energy | 08/02/23 With the internet abuzz about J. Robert Oppenheimer, “nuclear” is a big
topic of conversation. But which nuclear? Nuclear weapons, or nuclear energy? For many people, the two often get tangled up — even though they’re completely different in key ways. Oppenheimer, one of the visionary leaders of the Manhattan Project, left behind a complex legacy of technological progress. The atomic weapons developed under his direction held
tremendous destructive power, but the same basic research that led to their creation also fostered a new era of peaceful energy production and advances in medicine. So, beyond the obvious differences, what sets commercial nuclear reactors apart from nuclear weapons? Let’s dive in. 1. Nuclear weapons and reactors follow two different
paths. Both uses of nuclear fission trace their roots back to the Chicago Pile-1 reactor. On December 2, 1942, the experiment directed by Nobel Prize-winning scientist Enrico Fermi achieved the world’s first self-sustaining, controlled nuclear chain reaction at the University of Chicago’s football stadium. From there, plans for harnessing the power of the atom split into two simultaneous paths — separate, but linked by fundamental physics. One, led by Oppenheimer, sought to create a weapon that would bring a swift end to World War II. The other chased a different dream: using the immense potential energy stored in uranium to supply the nation
with clean and reliable atomic power and to propel naval vessels for long stretches at sea without refueling. Even as the Manhattan Project pursued its goal of creating a nuclear weapon under a veil of secrecy, research on reactors for commercial energy production and naval vessels forged ahead. In the years following World War II, Argonne National
Laboratory built the world’s first power reactor — called EBR-1 — in Idaho and generated the first electricity in December 1951. The site is now part of Idaho National Laboratory. The world's first nuclear powered submarine, the USS Nautilus (SSN-571), was launched in January 1954. 2. Their designs are completely different. A nuclear bomb is designed to release as much energy as possible in the blink of an eye. A commercial nuclear reactor’s function is *precisely* the opposite. Reactors are designed from the ground up to achieve a steady, controlled release of heat from fission that can be used to generate electricity over a long duration — years or even decades. Every single piece of a reactor works toward that goal. The fuel design and the control rods limit the intensity of the nuclear reaction, the cooling system removes heat to produce electricity, and containment structures ensure the integrity of the reactor for years on end. While modern nuclear weapons have incorporated many safety features over the years, they are nothing like
these. Every aspect of their design is different, even down to the material that generates the chain reaction — which brings us to our next point: |
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U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board August Public Meeting to Focus on U.S. DOE Consent-Based Siting Efforts and Spent Nuclear Fuel and High-Level Radioactive Waste Management Research and Development, Tuesday August 29 The U.S.NWTRB will hold a workshop on Tuesday, August 29, 2023, to update its understanding of the lessons learned from the siting of radioactive waste management facilities, domestically and in other countries. The hybrid (in-person/virtual) workshop is from 8:00am-5:00pm MDT. The workshop will be held at Snake River
Event Center, 780 Lindsay Blvd, Idaho Falls, ID 83402. Details for joining and viewing the workshop will be available on the Board’s website approximately one week before the workshop. For information on the workshop, contact Bret Leslie at leslie@nwtrb.gov or by phone 703-235-9132; or Yoonjo Lee at lee@nwtrb.gov or by phone 703-235-4482. For information on meeting logistics, contact Davonya
Barnes at barnes@nwtrb.gov or by phone 703-235-9141.
The Department of Energy's Environmental Management office spends a lot of time remediating the problems of the past. But that doesn't mean they don't have an eye on the future. Perhaps nowhere is that more evident than in EM's current push to electrify it's gasoline-powered vehicle fleet. In this week’s episode of the Gone Fission Nuclear Report, Rob Seifert, DOE EM Headquarters, and Stuart MacVean, President and CEO of Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, discuss the status of progress in meeting federal mandates to electrify the fleet. |
Check out ECA's latest report! DISPOSAL DRIVES CLEANUP: RE-ENERGIZING MOMENTUM
FOR DISPOSAL SOLUTIONS FOR RADIOACTIVE WASTE
This report calls on the Department of Energy to launch the initiative to develop the actual waste disposition approaches. The Department could potentially save hundreds of billions of dollars in cleanup costs by using its available tools and implementing the report’s recommendations.
Interactive guide for communities and governments to help navigate nuclear waste cleanup The Energy Communities Alliance (ECA) recently released the Guide to Successful Environmental Cleanup, an interactive online resource that provides frequently asked questions, case studies, and recommendations regarding nuclear waste cleanup. To assist local government officials, their communities, and federal agencies in deciphering the complexities of the environmental cleanup process, ECA developed this guide to facilitate future successful cleanups. |
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Stay Current on Activities in the DOE World Read the latest edition of the ECA Bulletin, a regular newsletter providing a detailed brief of ECA activities,
legislative news, and major events from across the DOE complex. Have suggestions for future editions? Email bulletin@energyca.org. |
Learn More about Cleanup Sites with ECA's DOE Site Profiles ECA's new site profiles detail DOE's active Environmental Management cleanup sites and national laboratories,
highlighting their history, missions, and priorities. The profiles are a key source for media, stakeholders, and the public to learn more about DOE site activities, contractors, advisory boards, and their surrounding local governments. |
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