The plant upgrade clears the way for the RLWTF to once again accept high-level radioactive liquid waste from stockpile mission activities at the Laboratory's Plutonium Processing Facility at Technical Area-55.
"The personnel at the RLWTF are to be commended for their steady and conscientious actions to safely bring the 43-year-old plant's capability back on line to treat high-level waste while a replacement facility can be planned and constructed," said Andy Phelps, associate director for Environmental Programs, which has responsibility for the facility.
"Successfully restoring this important capability at RLWTF allows us to sustain important stockpile stewardship activities at TA-55, which are vital to our overall success in maintaining the U.S. nuclear deterrent," said Glenn Mara, principal associate director for weapons programs. "The hard work and perseverance of everyone who worked this issue is greatly appreciated."
Since the fall of 2003, the RLWTF has accepted and processed high-level waste on a strictly limited basis, after infrastructure and worker safety concerns curtailed some plant activities. Since then, plant personnel have replaced, refurbished, or upgraded several key components of the plant, completing the final upgrades last week.
Infrastructure improvements to the plant include:
• maintenance of treatment equipment in Room 60 last May;
• replacement of a 2,500-gallon caustic waste holding tank in November;
• replacement of a failing retaining wall in November;
• and installation and switchover to new underground waste lines last week.
In addition, legacy radioactive contamination was removed from numerous areas of the plant, and new and updated operation and safety procedures and protocols have been adopted for plant operations.
In the coming year, the Laboratory's Plutonium Processing Facility is scheduled to create about 2,000 gallons of high-level radioactive acid waste and 4,500 gallons of high-level radioactive caustic waste that must be treated at the RLWTF. Solid waste from the treatment of the high-level waste is disposed of at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, New Mexico.
A replacement plant for the current RLWTF is scheduled to be complete by 2012, with construction commencing as early as 2008.
Los Alamos National Laboratory, a multidisciplinary research institution engaged in strategic science on behalf of national security, is operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC, a team composed of Bechtel National, the University of California, The Babcock & Wilcox Company, and Washington Group International for the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration.
Los Alamos enhances national security by ensuring the safety and reliability of the U.S. nuclear stockpile, developing technologies to reduce threats from weapons of mass destruction, and solving problems related to energy, environment, infrastructure, health, and global security concerns.