RICHLAND, Wash.-The U.S. Department of Energy announced the first batch of test glass has been poured at Hanford’s Waste Treatment Plant.
The first container of clean glass was produced as workers started the first of two large melters in the plant’s Low-Activity Waste Facility, according to a press release from the Hanford site.
“With the first container of clean glass produced, we are entering the next era of risk reduction in the Hanford environmental cleanup mission as we work towards the start of tank waste immobilization,” said Hanford Site Manager Brian Vance.
The Department of Energy and Bechtel heated up the first of the two melters that will transform Hanford radioactive and chemical tank waste into a vitrified glass form safe for disposal earlier this year.
In August, workers poured the first batches of glass beads, called frit, into the melter and by early September, the first molten pool of glass was created in a commissioning process that led to filling the first container with clean glass recently at the plant, according to today’s press release.
“Turning tank waste into robust and stable glass for final disposal is paramount to the protection of the Columbia River and the Pacific Northwest,” said Suzanne Dahl, Tank Waste Treatment section manager with the Washington Department of Ecology’s Nuclear Waste Program.
