By Kris JohnsonWashington’s infrastructure is due for a major investment. Strong economies and livable communities are built on sound roads, bridges and highways, ports that move our goods efficiently to markets throughout the world, and access to safe water and reliable broadband internet in every corner of the state.A new...
Washington River Protection Solutions is considering cuttingnew holes in Hanford’s single-shell tanks — openings that could potentiallyreach up to six feet in diameter. Currently, the holes in the tops of Hanford’s undergroundtanks are very narrow with extremely long pipes connecting the surface with theradioactive sludge and fluids in the tanks. Collapsible...
Tri-City leaders remain focused on efforts to diversify theeconomy, create jobs and expand employment sectors beyond Hanford and the rolesoffered by the U.S. Department of Energy and its contractors. “TRIDEC has made this a top priority for decades,” saidDavid Reeploeg, vice president of federal programs at the Tri-City DevelopmentCouncil.The effort...
In a way, when it comes totank waste at the Hanford site, the easy stuff has been done. Toxic liquidwaste can be transferred until it’s disposed of with a pump. But what about solid waste?What about a million-gallon tank with solidified toxic waste sitting inside? What about 177 of...
Nearly two years after a 20-by-20 foot portion of the Plutonium Uranium Extraction Plant’sTunnel 1 caved in, both it and its larger sibling, Tunnel 2, have been stabilized. On May 9, 2017, U.S.Department of Energy workers discovered the 20-foot collapse of Tunnel 1, after noticing a background increase in radiation levels....
The Plutonium Finishing Plantused to be called the Z Plant when the Hanford nuclear site produced plutoniumbecause it was the end of production of the radioactive material before it wasshipped to weapons production facilities. The PFP was a group of 60buildings, which began operating in 1949, where workers...
Round-the-clockstaffing is in place at the Hanford Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant asBechtel National Inc. prepares to process low-activity waste by 2023, butpossibly as soon as 2022. There hasn’t been 24/7 staffing at Hanford in morethan 20 years.Earlierthis year, the analytical laboratory at the plant entered its startup phase,marking the...
The U.S. Department of Energy’s prime contractors awarded nearly$785 million in subcontracts in fiscal 2018, a figure representing more than 30percent of Hanford’s roughly $2.4 billion budget that year, according to arecent Department of Energy report.While most of the prime contractors have aggressive small businesssubcontracting goals written into their contracts,...
Contracts worth tens of billions of dollars are beingsystematically awarded for work to be performed at Hanford, covering primeresponsibilities at the nuclear waste site and operating under new models. “It’s an important and critical time for collaboration,”said Mark Heeter, public affairs specialist at the U.S. Department of Energy’sRichland Operations Office....
Cleanup of the nuclear waste-contaminated Hanford site willcost another $323.2 billion to $677 billion and continue until at least 2078,according to the latest projections released by the U.S. Department of Energy.That’s why the Department of Energy is exploring newapproaches that could reduce both the timeline and costs associated with thecleanup...
