Porvair wins major clean-up contracts

28 June 2017


Porvair Filtration Group has won major nuclear waste clean-up contracts for key US legacy sites, including Hanford, Idaho, Paducah and Portsmouth.

Bechtel National Inc. has contracted Porvair to develop novel HEPA filtration technology for use at the Hanford Tank Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP).  As the largest nuclear waste processing facility in the world, the WTP will process and stabilise 56 million gallons of radioactive and chemical waste.  Porvair says that newly developed radial flow HEPA-grade air filters will be used throughout the plant for off-gas and plant-air treatment.

Porvair will also be part of the Idaho Cleanup Project (ICP), providing high-temperature process gas filters for the THOR steam reforming process used to treat waste at the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit (IWTU), operated by Fluor Idaho. The filter technology for the IWTU is manufactured using various high-nickel alloys and has been designed to withstand the harsh chemical and high-temperature environments present during waste processing. The ICP focuses on reducing risk to the public and protecting the water supply in eastern Idaho from 900,000 gallons of liquid waste currently stored in tanks at the DOE Idaho Site.

At Paducah and Portsmouth, Porvair will be involved in converting DUF6 into depleted uranium oxide, which is a more stable chemical form that can be reused, stored, or sent for disposal. Diffuser media will be employed, as well as in-situ cleanable process filters manufactured from high-nickel alloys for use in the high-temperature and corrosive environments present within the conversion process vessels. Mid-America Conversion Services currently operate the two plants which are expected to run for several decades to process some 800,000t of DUF6. 

Porvair is also supplying filters that will be deployed on nitrate-salt waste containers stored at Los Alamos National Lab (LANL). These filters will provide a controlled release of pressure with HEPA-level protection in the event of chemical reactions within the waste containers.



Privacy Policy
We have updated our privacy policy. In the latest update it explains what cookies are and how we use them on our site. To learn more about cookies and their benefits, please view our privacy policy. Please be aware that parts of this site will not function correctly if you disable cookies. By continuing to use this site, you consent to our use of cookies in accordance with our privacy policy unless you have disabled them.