Update on the Hanford waste vitrification plant technical developments

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) program to dispose a defense high-level waste is formally described in the Defense Waste Management Plan submitted to Congress in 1983. This plan outlines the strategy of sequencing the disposal efforts at the three DOE sites that have high-level waste: Savannah River, Hanford site, and Idaho. A key element of the Hanford Site waste-management strategy is the construction of a new facility, the Hanford Waste Vitrification Plant (HWVP), to vitrify existing and future liquid high-level waste produced by defense activities at the Hanford Site. An earlier paper presented at Waste Management '86 describes design aspects of the HWVP. This paper presents a brief description of the HWVP Project and describes the progress made by the HWVP Project on key applied technology issues. The HWVP technology approach is to identify key HWVP waste-form qualification and design issues, identify sources of applicable vitrification technology, and maximize the use of existing DOE vitrification technology and design resources. The HWVP issues are resolved through technology exchange, support from other Hanford Site waste-management programs, and a limited HWVP applied technology development effort