Bechtel and the Energy Department are accepting public comment through Aug. 30 on a proposed modification to the Washington state Department of Ecology hazardous waste permit for the Low-Activity Waste and Effluent Management facilities being built at the Hanford Site in Washington state.
The permit revision will provide operational details for the two facilities in areas including training, emergency planning, performance, and record-keeping.
Bechtel and DOE are building infrastructure in phases for the Waste Immobilization and Treatment Plant (WTP) at Hanford.
Bechtel holds the contract to design, construct, and then commission the nearly $17 billion facility, which will turn much of the 56 million gallons of radioactive and chemical tank waste at Hanford into a stable glass-like form for disposal. The laboratory, effluent management, and low-activity waste operations are all part of the WTP’ Direct-Feed Low-Activity Waste (DFLAW) efforts to expedite processing of waste. This is a phased feed approach in which vitrification will start with low-activity waste as soon as 2022, followed later by high-activity waste.
Tank waste will arrive at the Low-Activity Waste Facility, where it will be heated and blended with materials to form glass. Excess water from the process will be sent to the Effluent Management Facility for evaporation. The Analytical Laboratory, which received its state operating permit last July, will ensure the glass produced at the vitrification plant meets regulatory standards.
The public comment period started Monday and a public hearing is slated for 5:30 p.m. Pacific time on July 30 at the Richland Public Library in Richland, Wash. Anyone who cannot attend in person can participate via webinar, using ID# 418-233-579.
Comments can be submitted electronically here. Questions can be sent to the Energy Department’s Paula Call at [email protected]; as well as the Ecology Department’s Daina McFadden at [email protected].
After the public input deadline, Ecology will review the comments, modify the draft permit, and then hold a 45-day comment period of its own. The state will review the second batch of comments and eventually issued a final permit, probably in early 2020, a source said.
