Trenches processing facilities

Processing facilities have experienced several serious pipe trench fires. Contributing to the size of the fires were inadequate or plugged drains, lack of isolation valves, pipelines on the ground, or inadequate fire stops along the length of the trenches. Pipe trench fires can result in significant business interruption. 

Enter the applicable letter code for the receiving stream or water body from Section 3.10 of Part I of the form. Also, enter the total annual amount of the chemical released from all discharge points at the facility to each receiving stream or water body. Include process outfalls such as pipes and open trenches, releases from on-site wastewater treatment systems, and the contribution from stormwater runoff, if applicable (see instructions for column C below). Do not include discharges to a POTW or other off-site wastewater treatment facilities in this section. These off-sife transfers must be reported in Pari III, Section 6 of the form. 

In the early years of plutonium scrap processing operations, the CAW stream was routed to trenches(1 ) specially excavated in Hanford soil. Batch recovery of americium was started in 1965. Later (1970-1976), a continuous countercurrent solvent extraction process employing DBBP (dibutylbutyl phosphonate) as the extractant was operated to recover, at least partially, plutonium and americium values from the CAW stream. Aqueous waste from the DBBP extraction process, still containing some plutonium and americium, was blended with other Plutonium Reclamation Facility (PRF) wastes, made alkaline, and routed to underground tanks for storage. 

The authors would like to thank the personnel in the Silicon Facility at TOSHIBA TAMAGAWA for processing the wafers. Special thanks go to S.Kikuchi and M.Terasaki for the lithography, K.doi for the trench fill, Y.Otani for the trench etching, and K.lwade for the line process. And authors gratefolly acknowledge H.Kato, Tokuyama research Lab. for usefol experimental support. 

Low-Level Wastes. Low-level wastes presently are being entombed in near-surface, earth-covered trenches. These trenches are designed to minimize the inflow of water and drain to a sump that is constantly monitored. Treatment facilities are maintained to process drainage that exceeds licensed levels of radioactivity for release in the groundwater. 

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