Washington state, federal agencies finalize agreement for tank waste cleanup at Hanford
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When it comes to tank waste at Hanford in southeast Washington, cleanup has taken longer and cost more than most people ever expected.
Now, Washington state and two federal agencies have finalized a deal on how to clean up the radioactive tank waste. The agreement will keep the schedule to vitrify the low and high level waste. Vitrification means binding up the waste with glass so it can’t move or leak into the environment for thousands of years, and the high-level portion of that will be stored in a deep geologic repository.
Under the new agreement, the 56-million-gallons of radioactive sludge will start to be treated this year, and high level waste will start being treated by 2033.
The agreement also calls for waste to be retrieved from 22 tanks by 2040. The bulk of it will be grouted and disposed of away from Hanford.
The state, the U.S. Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency have signed on to the new pact.
Single-shell tank AX-101 before retrieval operations at the Hanford site. (Courtesy: U.S. Department of Energy)
Suzanne Dahl, with the state Department of Ecology and an expert on the Hanford waste treatment, said the most exciting thing about the deal is the planned renovation of the high-level treatment plant. It was mothballed for more than a decade, after technical and funding concerns.
“… And all of that means that you’ll get more of that waste treated sooner and in final disposal locations sooner with this agreement,” Dahl said.
The Hanford site became this massive cleanup mess from being the workhorse of World War II and the Cold War – producing and refining more than 74 tons of plutonium for bombs. Hanford is one of the most contaminated nuclear sites in the world. Producing that plutonium left a legacy of about 56 million gallons of radioactive and chemically hazardous waste stored in 177 aging underground tanks.
Brian Vance, DOE’s Hanford field office manager, said in a news release that the deal “… establishes an achievable plan for our Hanford tank waste mission for the next 15 years. DOE also appreciates the time and effort that the public, stakeholders and Tribes took to review and provide comments on the agreement.”
Under the agreement, the federal Energy department also committed to not apply its interpretation of what “high-level waste” is when disposing of treated waste or closing tank systems at Hanford. It means that Energy intends to use other existing mechanisms for reclassifying waste at Hanford. Hanford watchdogs and Ecology were concerned that the federal government might have reclassified tank waste differently, or left more of it on site, with the high-level waste definition the federal government is using at sites like Savannah River.
“Cleaning up Hanford’s tank waste is critical for Washington state. With this final agreement, we’ve created a durable framework that will accelerate work while maintaining safety, said Laura Watson, the director of the Washington Department of Ecology, in a statement. “More tank waste will get retrieved, treated, and disposed through 2040 and beyond. This is the best way to ensure surrounding communities and the Columbia River are protected.”
