After holding up the project two years, the Department of Energy will start developing an environmental assessment in July for a 2,000-gallon test of the Test Bed Initiative that involves grouting and out-of-state disposal of low-activity tank waste from the Hanford Site in Washington state.
DOE’s site manager for Hanford, Brian Vance, told the Washington state Department of Ecology in a Friday letter his agency will launch an assessment under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). “This NEPA review is being done in conjunction with a Waste Incidental to Reprocessing determination involving the Nuclear Regulatory Commission,” Vance wrote.
The assessment will consider potential environmental impact of retrieving and treating 2,000 gallons of low-activity waste and placing it into a form suitable for grouting and out-of-state disposal, DOE said in materials circulated to Hanford employees.
“Tank waste treatment is a high priority for the State and Ecology is pleased that DOE is providing the public with the opportunity to comment on the draft EA [environmental assessment],” said Ecology’s nuclear waste program manager David Bowen in an email statement Tuesday. “We look forward to a public meeting during the public comment period for the EA, and Ecology would expect to be present to answer any questions directed to us.”
As of late Thursday, Washington Ecology has not received the environmental assessment package, a state agency spokesman said by email.
DOE kicked off the initiative in 2017 when three gallons of waste were treated at Hanford’s 222-S Lab and grouted at the Perma-Fix Environmental Services Northwest plant in Washington state before being shipped to Waste Control Specialists in Texas for disposal, the federal agency said.
Given the DOE package has yet to be filed, it is unclear if the local Perma-Fix plant will be used for grouting the 2,000 gallons, Ecology spokesman Ryan Miller said.
In 2018 DOE started planning the 2,000-gallon demonstration before withdrawing its state application in June 2019 as state and federal officials prepared for broad “holistic” discussions on tank waste and cleanup at Hanford. These talks have continued into 2021.
The Test Bed Initiative, which requires a state research, design and development permit, will not affect plans to start converting low-activity tank waste into glass at the Waste Treatment Plant by the end of 2023, DOE said.
But research by the Savannah River National Laboratory in South Carolina and a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine panel have said the Waste Treatment Plant likely cannot vitrify all low-activity waste at Hanford and grouting might offer a lower-cost alternative for the remaining low-activity waste.
“The Test Bed Initiative could lead to an important tool in the larger Hanford cleanup mission, and we cautiously support DOE’s efforts to prove out the technologies, logistics, and acceptability of the approach, provided that all appropriate regulatory agencies approve the project,” Maxwell Woods, Oregon Department of Energy’s assistant director for nuclear safety and emergency preparedness, said in a Friday email. “We look forward to working with DOE and others about how to fit TBI within the bigger picture of Hanford waste treatment and disposal.”
There are 56 million gallons of radioactive waste in underground tanks left over from Hanford’s days as a producer of plutonium.
The DOE fiscal 2020 budget included $10 million for the Test Bed Initiative and there is $7 million in the White House’s fiscal 2022 budget request, the agency said.
“We are very supportive of them moving ahead with the Test Bed Initiative,” David Reeploeg, vice president of federal programs for the Tri-City Development Council, which serves the localities around Hanford. Other long-term treatment options for tank waste the vitrification plant cannot accommodate seems prudent, especially if it is more affordable, he added by telephone Thursday.
