Workers at the Hanford vitrification plant have completed another step toward getting the plant ready to treat some of the nuclear reservation’s waste by as soon as 2022.
The last major equipment for a system that will clean the exhaust from the first operating treatment facility at the plant has been installed.
The system will make sure exhaust from the Low Activity Waste Facility meets air quality requirements as the facility produces up to 30 tons of vitrified waste a day.
The caustic scrubber — which is nearly 30 feet tall and 6 feet in diameter — was lowered through the roof of the 90-foot-tall Low Activity Waste Facility. The scrubber, initially weighing 14 tons, weighs 19 tons with internal components installed.