The Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup branch could greenlight hot commissioning of vitrification of low-activity tank waste in August 2023 at the Hanford Site in Washington state, and continues to mull the cost of a critical ventilation project at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico.
Those are among highlights from the Joe Biden administration’s 500-page justification for its fiscal 2023 budget request, which includes $7.6-billion for the Office of Environmental Management, down 3% from last year’s $7.9 billion.
Defense Environmental Cleanup, the largest tranche of funding, would receive $6.9 billion, though the agency wants $417 million of that transferred to the Uranium Enrichment Decontamination and Decommissioning Fund (UED&D). That would leave Defense Environmental Cleanup with $6.5 billion for the year, down from $6.7 billion appropriated for 2022 in the omnibus bill signed in March.
The $7.6-billion requested would, if approved by Congress, represent a return to fiscal 2021 funding for Environmental Management (EM).In recent years at least, appropriators from Washington, Idaho and Tennessee have successfully increased EM funding during the annual appropriations process.
Requested non-defense cleanup is $323 million, about $333 million fewer than the final appropriation for the current budget year ending Sept. 30. The administration seeks $822 million for the UED&D fund, or $841 million fewer than in fiscal 2022.
At the Hanford Site, lawmakers are already scowling about proposed cuts for both Hanford’s Richland Operations Office — the administration asked for $917 million, down from $950 million in fiscal 2022 — and its Office of River Protection, for which the White House seeks $1.6 billion, down from $1.64 billion.
With construction substantially complete on the direct-feed-low activity waste portion of Hanford’s Waste Treatment Plant, the budget request would shift funds from construction to commissioning of the facility, which was designed to solidify the less-radioactive liquid waste at Hanford. DOE envisions issuance of Critical Decision 4a, approving the start of “hot commissioning” in August 2023.
The request for direct-feed, low-activity construction dropped to zero in the 2023 request, down from $586 million in the 2022 appropriation, while the request for commissioning this initial module of the Waste Treatment Plant came in at more than $412.5, well up from $50 million in 2022. The funds for the commissioning phase would pay for ordering long lead spare parts and miscellaneous consumables along with procurement of 850 low-activity waste containers.
All of this, according to DOE’s request, should keep the plant on schedule to begin the long-pursued conversion of the site’s less-radioactive liquid waste into a glass form by the end of 2023 — a legally binding deadline.
Meanwhile, the Hanford request also reflects a ramp-up in construction for the Waste Treatment Plant’s High Level Waste Facility, which is designed to solidify the site’s most radioactive liquid waste and must by law begin operating in 2036.
DOE requested more than $315 million for construction of the High Level Waste Facility in fiscal year 2023, more than double the 2022 appropriation of just over $144 million.
For the mostly solid-waste cleanup in Hanford’s hub, DOE requested a flat budget for Central Plateau remediation: $650 million, about the same as the 2022 appropriation.
Back east…
Across the country at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, the request seeks about $1.74 billion in Environmental Management funds, up from the $1.6 billion in fiscal 2022.
The safeguards and security budget at Savannah River, located near the South Carolina-Georgia state line, is $152 million in the request, which is less than the $171 million in fiscal 2022.
The Savannah River request includes more than $86 million to support continued construction of Saltstone Disposal Units 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12. That is roughly equal to what was budgeted for the units during fiscal 2022. The mega-volume units are designed to hold about 33 million gallons of saltstone each.
The request also includes about $26 million for construction of a new Emergency Operations Center at Savannah River. Congress gave the project $9-million in fiscal 2022.
The Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF) at Savannah River is scheduled to undergo a month-long outage during the first quarter of the 2023 fiscal year in order to prepare the plant to utilize the “Next Generation Solvent,” according to the justification.
The improved solvent should eventually enable the SWPF to treat up to 9 million gallons annually, although the amount treated during fiscal 2023 should be just shy of 6 million gallons, DOE said in the budget request. SWPF processed less than 3 million gallons during its first year of operations.
DOE expects IWTU treating sodium bearing waste in fiscal 2023
Nuclear cleanup at the Idaho National Laboratory would be funded to the tune of $391 million during the coming fiscal year, down from the current fiscal year level of $443 million, according to the request.
“The funding request supports the hot operation of the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit to treat the sodium-bearing tank waste,” DOE said. Final plant modifications are underway as DOE is still hoping the facility, first built in 2012 but yet to enter radioactive operations, can start processing sodium bearing waste before the end of this fiscal year.
The unit is designed to convert about 900,000 gallons of high-level sodium-bearing waste into a granular form. DOE and the prime contractor are currently working to restart a test run with a nonradioactive simulant liquid.
WIPP
Some uncertainty remains about a couple of major infrastructure projects at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico, which is overseen by EM’s Carlsbad Field Office. Carlsbad’s request is $463 million, up about $20 million from 2022.
The agency requests $59 million for construction of the Safety Significant Confinement Ventilation System,down a bit from $65 million in 2022. The agency has already committed more than $280 million to the project that is designed to triple underground airflow and allow maintenance, salt mining and waste disposal to happen simultaneously. However, the final cost remains uncertain as DOE continues its project baseline re-evaluation.
Managers at WIPP say they are hopeful of getting the new ventilation system into operation before 2026. The COVID-19 pandemic and the decision by prime contractor Nuclear Waste Partnership to replace the original ventilation system subcontractor have slowed progress.
Uranium enrichment sites
In Tennessee, DOE requested $612 million Oak Ridge Site, down from $630 million in fiscal 2022; both figures include Oak Ridge’s share of UED&D funding,
The request includes no construction funds for the Mercury Treatment Plant, which received $20.5 million for fiscal 2022. The Oak Ridge Environmental Management office will continue Outfall Mercury Treatment Facility construction using prior year funding, according to the request.
Located at the headwaters of Upper East Poplar Fork Creek, the facility is expected to go online in 2025 and blunt the impact of demolishing buildings around the Y-12 National Security Complex that are heavily contaminated with mercury.
The Portsmouth Site in Ohio would receive $560 million under the request, up from the 2022 omnibus level of $467 million. At the former Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion plant, DOE expects to finish tearing down the X-326 Process Building around September 2022 and dispose of the debris in the On-Site Waste Disposal Facility, according to the budget document.
The Paducah Site in Kentucky would receive $282 million under the fiscal 2023 request up from the $240 million in the 2022 omnibus. During the upcoming fiscal year, the agency anticipates releasing a draft of the Remedial Action cleanup plan for the C-400 complex. The C-400 cleansing plant operated for about 60 years, until 2014, and the 8-acre property is contaminated with Trichloroethylene, a degreasing agent once used to clean equipment.
Los Alamos
The DOE request for legacy cleanup at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico is $332 million, up from $275 million in the 2022 omnibus package. The request includes money to start decontamination and demolition of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s shuttered high-risk Ion Beam Facility. Altogether, the request includes $40.5 million for cleanup of contaminated excess facilities at Los Alamos.
