Fluor Hanford is pleased to submit the Plutonium Finishing Plant (PFP) Stabilization and Packaging Project (SPP) for consideration by the Project Management Institute as Project of the Year for 2004. The SPP thermally stabilized and/or packaged nearly 18 metric tons (MT) of plutonium and plutonium-bearing materials left in PFP facilities from 40 years of nuclear weapons production and experimentation. The stabilization of the plutonium-bearing materials substantially reduced the radiological risk to the environment and security concerns regarding the potential for terrorists to acquire the non-stabilized plutonium products for nefarious purposes. The work was done In older facilities which were never designed for the long-term storage of plutonium, and required working with materials that were extremely radioactive, hazardous, pyrophoric, and In some cases completely unique. I n some Instances, one-of-a-kind processes and equipment were designed, installed, and started up. The SPP was completed ahead of schedule, substantially beating all Interim progress milestone dates set by the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) and in the Hanford Site's Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order (Tri-Party Agreement or TPA), and finished $1-million under budget.

A long and intense effort to stabilize and repackage nearly 18 metric tons (MT) of plutonium-bearing leftovers from defense production and nuclear experiments concluded successfully in February, bringing universal congratulations to the Department of Energy's Hanford Site in southeast Washington State. The victorious stabilization and packaging endeavor at the Plutonium Finishing Plant (PFP), managed and operated by prime contractor Fluor Hanford, Inc., finished ahead of all milestones in Hanford's cleanup agreement with regulators, and before deadlines set by the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB), a part of the federal Executive Branch that oversees special nuclear materials. The PFP stabilization and packaging project also completed under budget for its four-year tenure, and has been nominated for a DOE Secretarial Award. It won the Project of the Year Award in the local chapter competition of the Project Management Institute, and is being considered for awards at the regional and national level.

The 231-Z Isolation Building or Plutonium Metallurgy Building is located in the Hanford Site's 200 West Area, approximately 300 yards north of the Plutonium Finishing Plant (PFP) (234-5 Building). When the Hanford Engineer Works (HEW) built it in 1944 to contain the final step for processing plutonium, it was called the Isolation Building. At that time, HEW used a bismuth phosphate radiochemical separations process to make 'AT solution, ' which was then dried and shipped to Los Alamos, New Mexico. (AT solution is a code name used during World War II for the final HEW product.) The process was carried out first in T Plant and the 224-T Bulk Reduction Building and B Plant and the 224-B Bulk Reduction Building. The 224-T and -B processes produced a concentrated plutonium nitrate stream, which then was sent in 8-gallon batches to the 231-Z Building for final purification. In the 231-Z Building, the plutonium nitrate solution underwent peroxide 'strikes' (additions of hydrogen peroxide to further separate the plutonium from its carrier solutions), to form the AT solution. The AT solution was dried and shipped to the Los Alamos Site, where it was made into metallic plutonium and then into weapons hemispheres.' The 231-Z Building began 'hot' operations (operations using radioactive materials) with regular runs of plutonium nitrate on January 16, 1945.