STATUS OF THE DEFENSE WASTE PROCESSING FACILITY AT THE SAVANNAH RIVER PLANT

The Department of Energy has built and will operate a facility to vitrify high-level radioactive waste at the Savannah River Plant near Aiken, South Carolina. The Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF) will solidify existing and future radioactive wastes by immobilizing the waste in borosilicate glass contained in stainless steel canisters. The cannisters will be sealed, decontaminated and stored prior to emplacement in a federal repository. Discussion of DWPF process technologies and current project status will be presented. Recently performed significant equipment and process demonstrations will be reviewed. The completion strategy for DWPF using sequential turnover of facility segments will be described, including discussion of the task teams that are being used for checkout and run-in of the turned-over facility segments. The integrated startup schedule that includes the activities required by all parties for a successful startup and to demonstrate product acceptance will be reviewed.