Hanford contractors are working together to preserve the historical legacy and clean up the site. Recently that effort has involved moving and re-locating railroad equipment – locomotives and specialized railcars – either to be displayed at the B Reactor or disposed of in ERDF (Hanford’s on-site Environmental Restoration Disposal Facility for low-level radioactive, hazardous, and mixed wastes). The railcar project and the B Reactor are part of CH2M HILL Plateau Remediation Company’s (CHPRC’s) overall work scope. Fluor Federal Services, under its subcontract with the CHPRC, has managed the movement of the railroad equipment – a $5.5 million effort funded by the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA).
Hanford once had 158 miles of railroad track that crisscrossed the 586-square mile reservation. For more than 50 years, diesel locomotives hauled flat cars, tank cars and heavily shielded cask cars moving nuclear material and fuel irradiated in the site’s nuclear reactors along the Columbia River to storage areas and processing facilities where plutonium was extracted chemically.
The railcar project began in September 2010, and came to a close this week (7/25/11), with the last rail car being sent to B Reactor. In all, 16 pieces of equipment were moved: two locomotives, one general-purpose flatcar, two tankers for carrying contaminated liquids, and 11 cask cars lined with lead to shield the radiation from the radioactive fuel assemblies they carried.
The two locomotives and two cask cars have been located at the B Reactor as part of a permanent public display. The four units rest on track reclaimed at Hanford, all set inside a fenced area to allow public viewing. Designated a National Historic Landmark in August 2008, the B Reactor is slated to become part of the national park system commemorating the Manhattan Project and is currently open for public tours on a limited basis.
Before being moved, the locomotives and the railcars were inspected for surface contamination and treated accordingly. Further, the railcars because of the loads they once carried were inspected inside and out to determine the levels of residual radioactive contamination. As designed and built, each cask car had three separate compartments that carried heavily shielded casks filled with the irradiated fuel. Grout was applied to the interiors of the compartments to seal any contamination and reduce radiological dose, so that the cars could be wrapped and transported safely.
“These cars represented surveillance cost for DOE, as well as about a million pounds of lead shielding and other legacy waste sitting out in the desert,” said Earl Lloyd, Fluor’s project manager. “It was our job to get these cars into a safe condition and off the line.”
The project entailed a lot of planning and documentation. For example, the paperwork required to transport the equipment was very detailed. While some of the equipment, such as the two locomotives, was moved under guidelines set by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), other pieces required special packaging authorization approved by the DOE.
The two locomotives, USDOE 3731 and USDOE 3729, were road-switcher (RS-1) models purchased in 1948 from the American Locomotive Company. Each locomotive weighs 120 tons, as do the railcars. As a result, Fluor looked for innovative and cost-effective ways to lift and transport this heavy equipment. Crews used a pull-up gantry rather than a large crane to do the hoisting. This approach avoided having to stage cranes at multiple locations or assembling and disassembling a single crane numerous times. The pull-up gantry was more efficient because it could be repositioned easily and quickly, and was less expensive. In fact, the gantry’s mobility and flexibility helped shave $300,000-$400,000 from the project’s total cost.
Some of the heavy railroad equipment was transported on special self-propelled trailers that moved in any direction, including totally sideways or in a circular motion. According to Lloyd, “It was quite something to watch these massive trailers being manipulated like a child’s remote-controlled car.”
“This project has been particularly satisfying,” shared Lloyd, “because it’s meeting so many objectives. We’re cleaning up the Site…shrinking the active footprint…and preserving history…all in a ‘green’ manner.’ Our work today will allow generations to come understand the way Hanford worked and the impact it had on our nation’s history.”