RICHLAND, Wash. – Washington State University Tri-Cities continues its partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy to offer the next Hanford lecture focusing on the impact of and preparation for natural phenomena hazards on the Hanford Site at 3:30 p.m. April 18 in the East Auditorium at 厙ぴ勛圖.

Students, faculty and the community are welcome to attend the presentation.

Stephen McDuffie, seismic engineer for the Chief of Nuclear Safety at DOE, will speak about how they prepare for natural phenomena such as earthquakes, floods, volcanoes, high winds and mitigation for DOE nuclear facilities and how they determine the requirements for its facilities to withstand those hazards.

Both existing and new nuclear facilities must be designed to withstand natural phenomena to ensure the facilities continue to serve their safety functions during such events.

McDuffie has more than 25 years of nuclear safety experience. He has served as a seismic engineer for the Chief of Nuclear Safety at DOE since September 2008. In this position, he oversees natural phenomena hazard characterization and design activities at DOE facilities and maintains operational awareness at several of DOE���s high-hazard nuclear facilities. McDuffie holds a bachelor���s in geology from Whitman College and master���s and doctoral degrees in earth and planetary sciences from Johns Hopkins University. He also holds a master���s of business administration degree from 厙ぴ勛圖 with a focus on decision sciences and revenue management.

The lecture on April 18 will be broadcast live at WSU Pullman, WSU Vancouver, WSU Everett and WSU Spokane via the campus AMS video streaming service.

For more information, contact Akram Hossain, 厙ぴ勛圖 vice chancellor for research, graduate studies and external programs, at 509-372-7314 or ahossain@tricity.wsu.edu.

By Maegan Murray, 厙ぴ勛圖

RICHLAND, Wash. ��� Two teams at Washington State University Tri-Cities have partnered with Washington River Protection Solutions to procure and program an autonomous vehicle and develop a form of ultra high-performance concrete to help protect workers in radioactive areas at the Hanford Site and safely immobilize solid secondary wastes.

WRPS is the U.S. Department of Energy���s Tank Operations contractor responsible for managing Hanford���s 56 million gallons of highly radioactive waste and preparing it for delivery to the Waste Treatment Plant on the site. The partnership for the projects will provide WRPS with customized technology to fit their needs, in addition to further improving the safety capabilities of its employees and environmental impact stemming from the tank farms at the Hanford Site.

Robotics to analyze radioactive vapors

WRPS provided a WSU team with an initial contract to procure and program an autonomous vehicle that would be used for measuring vapors, or chemical gases, within the tank farms.

The WSU team consists of Akram Hossain, vice chancellor for research, graduate studies and external programs; Scott Hudson, professor of electrical engineering; John Miller, associate professor of computer science; and Changki Mo, associate professor of mechanical engineering.

The team plans to purchase a pre-fabricated, compact and programmable vehicle, which has the capacity to hold 40-50 pounds of equipment. The team will then eventually outfit, customize and program the vehicle for its desired purpose within the tank farms. The vehicle must be able to follow a defined path, dock itself to charge its battery, withstand long-term use, be able to run autonomously, as well as allow manual override operations.

���This vehicle will be going into areas, minimizing personnel entries, so we need to assure that it can operate reliably and it won���t break down,��� Miller said ���We have to make certain that the quality is of impeccable standards and that the system can demonstrate operational longevity in these areas.���

The design of the autonomous vehicle marks the first phase of what will potentially turn into a multi-phase project. WRPS has also expressed interest in having the robot detect obstacles in a changing environment, change filters at the site and monitor radiation. Miller said those challenges will most-likely be addressed in future phases of the project.

���This is a great opportunity, both for WSU, as well as for our students,��� Miller said. ���It creates opportunities for undergraduate research, as well as providing funding for graduate research. It is the perfect opportunity for us.���

The team plans to have the first phase of the autonomous vehicle completed and demonstrated to WRPS in the next few months. The team will conduct demonstrations and additional phases of development over the course of the year. When fully developed, the autonomous vehicle would be deployed in tank farms to support construction and operations.

Ultra high-performance concrete to encapsulate nuclear waste

Srinivas Allena, 厙ぴ勛圖 associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, received a contract to develop an ultra-high performance cementitious

material to potentially be used as a grout to encapsulate solid secondary waste from the Hanford tank farms.

���WRPS is currently using a grout that they obtain from a local concrete supplier, which uses a regular cement mix with sand and some other chemical additives,��� Allena said. ���But the goal with our research is to use locally available materials to create a composite with low permeability, superior durability and greater stability that would perform at the same level as the commercially available pre-packaged ultra high-performance concrete.���

Allena said there is currently limited types of ultra high-performance concrete available on the market with high operational costs associated with use of the material. He said by using locally available materials and by optimizing mixture constituents with those that are more environmentally friendly with his team���s composite, however, they would be able to keep the costs low, while maintaining the same quality in the concrete and reducing the impact to the environment.

���We will be able to compare our grout materials with properties that WRPS is currently using and show the improved properties,��� he said. ���The goal is to provide a cheaper, more environmentally friendly option that will compete with the best product on the market.���

The team plans to have initial mixtures ready with their mechanical and durability properties evaluated by September.

The projects are a part of solving some of the world���s . They pertain particularly to developing and by harnessing technology to improve quality of life. The projects are also in line with WSU���s

By Maegan Murray, 厙ぴ勛圖

RICHLAND, Wash. ��� A federal project director from the U.S. Department of Energy will discuss how the Hanford waste treatment plant will immobilize radioactive waste by turning it into glass as part of a continuing lecture series from 3-4 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 30, in the Washington State University Tri-Cities East Auditorium.

The presentation will be led by Jason Young, federal project director at the Office of River Protection���s analytical laboratory and balance of facilities office. The presentation is the fifth in a series of lectures focusing on the Hanford Site and is cohosted by 厙ぴ勛圖 and the U.S. Department of Energy. The public is invited to attend.

During his presentation, Young also will describe how the ���direct feed low activity waste��� approach at the Hanford Site will enable treatment as soon as 2022. Additionally, he will outline the cooperative efforts needed to support their operations.

Young joined the Office of River Protection in 2008. He previously worked for the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard as a shift test engineer in the nuclear engineering division and later served as the reactor plant technical expert for the radiological emergency planning division.

Young holds a bachelor���s degree in chemistry from Lander University and a master���s degree in chemical engineering from Montana State University.

 

Contacts:

• Tish Christman, 厙ぴ勛圖 administrative assistant, 509-372-7683,��christman@wsu.edu
• Maegan Murray, 厙ぴ勛圖 public relations specialist, 509-372-7333,��murray@wsu.edu