Richland Operations Office
K Basins Closure (KBC) Project

Welcome

The K Basins Closure (KBC) Project was established in 2004 to remediate the two K Basins after they were emptied of approximately 2,300 tons (2,100 metric tons) of spent nuclear fuel.  The fuel was removed in the 46 months stretching from December 2000 to October 2004, by Hanford’s Spent Nuclear Fuel Project.
 
After the fuel was removed, the basins still contained up to 40 cubic yards (30 cubic meters) of sludge, 2.4 million gallons of water, and hundreds of tons of debris and fuel racks (solid waste). Most of the sludge had formed in the KE Basin.  Remediation of the contents of the basins, as well as the basin structures themselves, constitutes the mission of the KBC Project.

The K Basins are two indoor rectangular, concrete structures.  Each basin is 125 feet long, 67 feet wide, and 21 feet deep, and filled with about 1.2-million gallons of water.  They are located in the 100-K Area of DOE’s Hanford Site, about 35 miles north of Richland, Washington, and less than one-quarter mile from the Columbia River. 

Many years of storing the spent nuclear fuel underwater caused corrosion of the fuel, forming a thick sludge that remained in the basins.   The radioactive sludge, most of which was located in the K East Basin, is an amalgam of spent fuel corrosion products, debris such as windblown sand and environmental particulates, metal rack and canister corrosion products, ion exchange resin beads, and small debris less than ¼-inch in size.  Until the KBC Project’s containerizing work, the sludge coated debris, tools, walls, and floor areas under the water, and swirled throughout both basins clouding visibility when disturbed. 

The Project has vacuumed and put into tanks (also referred to as containers) the sludge in both basins. The K East Basin sludge was then pumped into tanks in the K West Basin, so that aggressive cleanup of the K East Basin could proceed. The KBC Project also removed over 400 tons of debris and old fuel racks from both basins (combined).

Cleanup plans call for the K Basins to be emptied and demolished.   Cleanup requires that four major objectives be accomplished:

• Demolish K East Basin (ongoing)
• Treat the sludge for disposal
• Demolish the K West Basin
• Remediate potentially contaminated soil beneath both K Basins

For questions or comments, please send a message to hanford_kbc@rl.gov.