Oregon Public Broadcasting

At the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in southeast Washington, scientists are trying to figure out how to treat highly radioactive waste and turn it into glass logs.

A massive facility now under construction will do that. But it won’t open until 2019.

First, scientists are testing the treatment processes at a mini factory, a quarter of the size of the real thing. Correspondent Anna King reports.

The concepts for how to stabilize 53 million gallons of radioactive goo have been tested in labs. But scientists want to test their processes a little more before a huge $12 billion glassification plant comes on line.

That’s where this quarter-scale model comes in.

Gordon Beeman is in charge of the mini plant. He works for Pacific Northwest National Lab. He says it took about two years to design and build the scale model.

Gordon Beeman: “It’s much better to find out an issue now than when you are trying to commission the plant.”

Beeman says the model plant just came on line. It uses a simulated goo mixture.

Dangerous stuff will never be processed here, because the mini-plant is close to housing developments in Richland.