Test runs have shown the process and equipment work, said David G. McAlees, senior vice president and general manager. The plant is awaiting final licensing from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The dry conversion process was invented by Siemens engineer Nak Urza. He's one of 40 inventors from Siemens to be honored in Germany next month at the international conglomerate's 150th anniversary celebration. The tall, concrete-colored structure with a blue roof, is visible from nearby Horn Rapids Road in north Richland.
Wet conversion is the method now being used.
It's a liquid chemical process that sends wastes into lagoons, to be shipped to a treatment plant. The Richland division will stop using wet conversion by the end of 1998 and the lagoons are to be removed by 2004. No liquid wastes are produced. Doug Mosich with the state Department of Ecology praised the pollution-prevention aspects of the new plant. The dry conversion method also will increase Siemens' uranium-processing capacity from 770 tons a year to 880 tons.