Nuclear power plants provide about 6% of the world’s energy, but it is not without its concerns to some. With the potential exposure to human lives, animals, and the environment, radioactive materials and wastes must be handled and stored properly. SPI’s polyurea coatings provide solutions to these most critical containment challenges.
To avoid an environmental catastrophe, Hanford Nuclear Reservation Tank Farm sourced SPI’s polyurea to assist in managing contaminated liquid waste by providing a surface barrier over the earth above the buried tanks.
In addition to large surface barriers, the Canyon building at the Hanford site housed 4 tanks below the floor of the processing cells, storing 19,000 gallons of highly radioactive liquid waste. Polyurea was sprayed on the floor and walls to reduce radioactive permeation from the buried tanks from coming through the concrete. After spraying SPI’s Polyshield HT™ polyurea, the contamination levels on the floor of the building registered low when compared to the levels that existed prior to spraying a monolithic membrane over the concrete.
Aside from infrastructure, SPI’s polyurea has also been used to line transport vehicles such as railcars that are used to move low-level radioactive waste.