Hanford reactor nearing its final end

By The Associated Press

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"This is just another step in the deactivation process we've been engaged in for some time," said Colleen Clark, spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Energy's Richland Operations office. "The focus is on doing it safely and on schedule."

The FFTF was built to test advanced nuclear fuels. It operated from 1982 until 1992 and was used for research, to produce medical and industrial isotopes, and to make tritium.

The Energy Department ordered the facility shut down permanently in 1993, unable to justify the $100 million operating budget. The department later agreed to try to find another use for it.

In January 2001, the Clinton administration ordered FFTF shut down for good. When the Bush administration took office, it also tried and failed to come up with a mission for the reactor and, in December 2001, ordered FFTF decommissioned.

With the focus at Hanford on cleaning up decades of waste left from plutonium production for the nation's nuclear-weapons arsenal, watchdog groups had opposed any new activities that might produce waste at the site.

Proponents of saving the reactor had pushed for its commercialization for a number of activities, including the production of medical isotopes.

One company, Mirari Medical, had proposed buying the reactor, but the Energy Department turned down the latest proposal Friday, said John Deichman, Mirari Medical chief executive.

By late afternoon Monday, 15,000 of the 150,000 gallons of liquid sodium in the reactor's primary cooling loops had been drained. Earlier this year, the secondary cooling loops were drained.

Once the sodium is drained, restarting the reactor would be prohibitively expensive.

"The sodium drain has given us no option to go forward," said Benton County Commissioner Claude Oliver, who had fought for a restart.
 
A Monday night meeting that drew 70 supporters of restarting the reactor was gloomy.

"This is the most advanced, most safe, most efficient and, in my opinion, most beautiful nuclear reactor in the world," said Wanda Munn, a retired engineer who spent nearly 20 years working at FFTF. "This is a tragedy."

The Energy Department has requested bid proposals from small businesses for the estimated $500 million cleanup and closure of the reactor. The agency also will be seeking public comment on whether the reactor should be left standing or torn down and what should happen to its waste.

The sodium being drained from the reactor is being stored as a solid in steel canisters at the site. The Energy Department plans to have it processed into a caustic substance that can be reused in turning other Hanford waste into glass for permanent disposal.