Building 324 crews recently finished replacing components of a ventilation fan, which helps keep the 50-year-old building safe and compliant while crews prepare to remove highly radioactive soil beneath the building.

RICHLAND, Wash. – Just north of the city limits here and within sight of the Columbia River remains one of the last buildings to be demolished in the Hanford Site’s 300 Area.

   Building 324 houses four areas known as hot cells, contaminated from years of research and development work supporting plutonium production in the Manhattan Project and Cold War. Before the building can be demolished, a waste site of highly radioactive soil must be removed from beneath one of the cells.

   “Remediating the waste site and demolishing the building is one of the most important projects remaining on the river corridor,” EM Federal Project Director Mark French said.

   As crew’s design and test components to remove the soil, workers maintain the building’s ventilation and fire suppression systems to allow safe and compliant remediation of the highly contaminated soil. 

   Crews recently replaced the shaft and bearings of an exhaust fan that provides negative ventilation to the building and helps prevent the spread of contamination. 

   A project team will clean the airlock in early 2017. Eventually, crews with remote operated equipment will cut through the hot cell’s floor to safely remove contaminated soil underneath, allowing for the building’s demolition.