Plutonium Recovery Facility (H Plant)

DOE-HDBK-3010-94

Appendix B

2 .0 P L U T O N IU M R E C O V E R Y F A C IL IT Y (H P L A N T )

2.1 F A C I LI TY D E S C R I PT I ON

2.1.1

O verview

The H Plant Plutonium Recovery Facility (PRF) became operational in early 1970. It was

originally planned to recover plutonium from oxide residues generated elsewhere and from

certain residues generated within the building. A second mission that was added to the

facility during construction was to purify plutonium metal received from offsite via

dissolution and reformation. The product of the plant is plutonium metal buttons. The major

waste streams are acidic and caustic low level liquid waste and solid TRU and low level

waste. For the foreseeable future, the H-Plant will only be required to operate at about 25%

of its historic capacity.

A schematic of the H Plant Area is provided as Figure B.1 on the following page. The H

Plant building (H-1) is a two story structure approximately 300 feet long and 160 feet wide

on the west structural wall and 130 feet wide on the east exterior wall. It is immediately

adjoined by three other structures associated with its operation. On the west side, the H-17

building Plutonium Vault Facility annex serves as an intermediate storage point for H Plant

feedstock as well as product buttons awaiting shipment. On the southeast corner, the H-7

Lab annex provides analytical support to the H Plant processes. Lastly, on the north face of

the building, the H-21 TRU Waste Drum Holding Facility has been constructed to hold

sealed waste drums awaiting shipment to site storage.

Other significant installations in the vicinity of the plant include the external Chemical Feed

area (H-3) consisting of chemical storage tanks and delivery systems, the small H-5 structure

at the southwest corner of the building housing the standby diesel generator, the area exhaust

stack 230 feet southwest of H Plant, and the H-8 Liquid Waste Treatment Facility located

approximately 300 feet south of H Plant.

2.1.2

F acility S tru ctu re

The H-1 structure is a two-story reinforced-concrete structure. The exterior walls are

supported on continuous wall footings ranging from 4 to 8 feet square and 15 to 20 inches

thick. The ground floor is an 8-inch-thick reinforced concrete slab. The main support

columns on the first floor are 22-inch diameter reinforced concrete cylinders which support

the second floor slab. Reinforced concrete beams anchored to the columns provide the

remainder of the support for the second floor slab.

Page B-3