Exploratory shaft

Richland, Washington on March 25 on the environmental assessment it has prepared with respect to the vertical exploratory shaft it is planning to excavate in basalt at Hanford. This hearing was not required. However, the DOE is reaching out to obtain public involvement in all steps it takes in implementing the waste program. 

The main heading in Brown s Quarry extends for some distance to the north beyond the area occupied by the RAF, and it was suggested that this should be further extended by several hundred yards to a point beneath the surface camp at Rudloe Manor, where a lift shaft would be sunk. Although a little exploratory work was started the scheme was soon abandoned because its cost was calculated to far outweigh the operational benefit. Access to Brown s Quarry is via an electric lift. There is a story (probably apocryphal) that this was requisitioned from Harrods in Knightsbridge when it was found that a new one could not be acquired from the manufacturer at short notice. Unlike all the other surface structures at Corsham, the lift-head building for Brown s Quarry was built... 

Early in the development of a new process, a productivity loss was encountered when the process was moved from the exploratory scale reactor to a larger pilot unit scale reactor. After study of many factors, the problem was resolved by installing a second impeller on the pilot reactor mixing shaft. While the action produced the desired results, it was not apparent why the one impeller system had performed below expectations. The traditional scale-up criterion of horsepower/unit voluaie for mixed vessels had been used when moving from the exploratory to pilot reactor. Historically this criteria had proved to be satisfactory. 

---