Hanford Generating Plant

N Reactor Is a 4,000-MW thermal nuclear reactor used to produce special nuclear materials (SNM) and byproduct steam that provided electricity to the Washington Public Power Supply System s (Supply System s) 860-MW Hanford Generating Plant (HGP) located adjacent to N Reactor. N Reactor Is situated on 640 acres of land along the Columbia River. The facility was built In 1963 and operated until 1986 when DOE Initiated a series of safety enhancements. 

BPA Bonneville Power A inistration EDB s emergency dump basin EOT emergency dump tank HOPE = high-density polyethylene HEPA high-efficiency particulate air (filter) HGP Hanford Generating Plant LERF s Liquid Effluent Retention Facility LULS s Liquid Waste Loadout Station Supply System Washington Public Power Supply System... 

The HGP is located on the DOE-owned Hanford Site in south-central Washington State adjacent to the south end of the 100-N Area. The HGP was the first nuclear power project In the Pacific Northwest and the fourth in the Nation to generate electricity using a nuclear heat source. At one time, it was the largest nuclear steam electric generating plant in the world, with a capacity of 860,000 kW. 

Over 5001 of HLW have been vitrified in France and Germany. In the USA, the HLW at the Nuclear Fuel Services plant in West Valley Plant, New York, have been vitrified (300 two-ton canisters) and vitrification is ongoing at the Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF) at Savannah River, South Carolina 1600 canisters by February 2004). A vitrification plant is under construction at Hanford, Washington. Vitrification of all of the HLW in the USA will generate approximately 20 000 canisters, which are destined for disposal at the geological repository at Yucca Mountain. 

In April of 1955, a facility utilizing the Recuplex solvent extraction process(2j was installed in the 234-5Z Building at Hanford. This facility provided the capability of recovering plutonium from unirradiated plutonium scrap from Hanford plutonium processing operations. By 1960, the Recuplex facility was inadequate with respect to contemplated production loads, shielding requirements, and criticality prevention safety. A project was authorized in March 1961 to provide a new facility for the adequate reclamation of plutonium from both wet and dry plutonium scrap generated from both on and offsite operations. This facility, the 236-Z Building, was completed in June 1964 and is referred to as the PRF. Details on the new plant were first published in 1967.(2)... 

The system consists of two essentially Independent sub-systems each supplied by different power sources One sub-system obtains power at 230 kilovolts ffom the Hanford BPA loop. The second subsystem obtains power at the 13 8 K7 level from the local turbine generator at the N Plant. These two systems may be augmented by a 13.8 KV connection to the D-H Area Substations during reactor outages. The system is shown In Figure 6-6. 

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