RICHLAND, Wash. – EM’s Office of River Protection’s (ORP) Effluent Treatment Facility (ETF) resumed operations May 19 after a two-year period that saw ORP assume its oversight from the Richland Operations Office (RL) and a major upgrade to its equipment. 

   ORP tank farms contractor Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) has been managing the facility since taking it over from CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Company in March 2015. The facility had been offline since early 2014.

   ETF removes radioactive and hazardous contaminants from wastewater generated by 242-A Evaporator campaigns, groundwater projects, solid waste disposal facilities, and other Hanford cleanup activities. The 242-A Evaporator reduces the volume of material in the tanks, freeing up storage space in the site’s 27 operating double-shell tanks.

   WRPS manages ETF’s three associated facilities: the Liquid Effluent Retention Facility (LERF), the Treated Effluent Disposal Facility (TEDF), and the State-Approved Liquid Disposal Site (SALDS).

   The resumption of operations is important to the Hanford Site cleanup mission. “For us, it’s vital for continued operations at the 242-A Evaporator and the Hanford cleanup mission,” explained Richard Valle, ORP’s ETF technical program manager. 

   WRPS spent the past year completing facility upgrades, refining procedures, and training personnel. The facility upgrades included installing a new 10,000-pound heat exchanger last spring — the primary reason the plant’s treatment activities were suspended in 2014. 

   The heat exchanger provides heat to evaporate excess water during the effluent treatment process. In addition, a significant modification to the chemical supply for the ion exchange system was recently completed.

   “So far, the facility is running well,” said Valle. “Two million gallons of LERF backlog will be processed by June’s end, with 350,000 gallons processed to date.” 

   The LERF accepts and stores the wastewater sent to ETF for treatment. LERF consists of three lined storage basins that can hold about 23 million gallons of wastewater.

   ETF removes or destroys contaminants. The contaminants are then concentrated and dried to a powder, which is placed into drums and transported to Hanford’s Environmental Restoration Disposal Facility. The treated effluent is discharged to SALDS, north of the 200 West Area.

   TEDF accepts treated non-radioactive, non-hazardous effluent collected via pump stations in the 200 East and West areas.