SYSTEMS ENGINEERING IMPLEMENTATION FOR HANFORD TANK WASTE FEED DELIVERY

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is seeking a cost-effective technical solution to Hanford Site tank waste cleanup. The strategy being implemented by DOE is to vitrify the tank waste in a privately owned (non-government) facility built on site. As such, planning for the design, construction and operation of government-owned systems to deliver the tank waste to the privately owned and operated vitrification plant presents a complex problem. This complex problem, coupled with the need to procure the waste feed delivery system in small pieces via separate line item projects, presents a significant system integration challenge. This paper discusses the systems engineering principles applied to the waste-feed delivery problem needed to address the issues of baseline control, system integration and development of design solutions that are independent of a validated requirements set. We present herein a methodology a for developing and applying a consistent, top-down derived set of technical requirements that enable the line item projects to design (conceptual and detailed), construct and turn over subsystems/components that make up an integrated waste-feed delivery system. This methodology addresses the fact that items designed, constructed and turned over by these line item projects must be integral to an existing system that was designed, constructed and is being operated to satisfy a completely different mission —safe storage of tank waste. This paper also discusses how specifications and other documentation that communicate the technical requirements and project scope definition were produced. The problem of implementing this new methodology in parallel with ongoing project activities is also discussed. Lessons learned to date in applying this methodology conclude the paper.