The Department of Energy has denied a local advisory group’s request to make treated liquid waste at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina eligible for disposal at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico.
The request, submitted in July by the SRS Citizens Advisory Board (CAB), asked the Energy Department to recharacterize the material as transuranic (TRU) waste — material contaminated with radioactive elements during activities such as processing of spent reactor fuel or nuclear weapons production. Under federal law, WIPP is the sole disposal site for waste of this type from the DOE complex.
In a Sept. 7 response letter, SRS Manager Michael Budney told CAB Chair Gil Allensworth that the Energy Department cannot accept certain parts of the board recommendation. That includes the central request that DOE determine what infrastructure and regulatory actions would be necessary for WIPP to receive and dispose of the waste.
According to the CAB, the material is currently classified as high-level waste due to its origin as a radioactive byproduct of Cold War nuclear weapons production at Savannah River. But once treated through a separations process known as vitrification, it becomes low-activity waste that is far less harmful.
Still, getting WIPP to accept the material would be more trouble than it is currently worth, according to DOE. “Until existing laws and regulations are modified to allow a risk-based approach to the classification of the waste contained in the canisters, it is premature to expend limited DOE resources on this item due to the higher priority needs at both DOE sites,” Budney wrote.
Allensworth said he understands why the federal agency denied the request. “They could look into ways WIPP could receive the waste. But if the waste isn’t redefined, it would all be for nothing,” he told Weapons Complex Monitor. “So I understand it would be premature to commit to that right now.”
The Energy Department did approve other sections of the CAB’s request, including to update the board next year on how much treated waste at Savannah River could be recharacterized as TRU waste. That presentation will also include previous considered concepts for waste recharacterization.
The 25-member CAB meets bimonthly to discuss Environmental Management activities at the Savannah River Site, and votes on various topics members believe would improve the Aiken-area site’s ability to complete missions.
The Energy Department routinely denies CAB recommendations that seek concrete actions, such as additional funding for the liquid waste program or requests not to accept nuclear materials at the site.
In March, Amy Boyette, a DOE spokeswoman at Savannah River, said decisions are based solely on whether the department can approve the recommendation in question. Rejections are based on timing, available funds, policy, or technical and scientific findings related to the request, Boyette said.
The CAB has never stated how much treated waste it would like sent to the WIPP. Of the 40 million gallons of material originally stored in 51 underground tanks at Savannah River, DOE has treated roughly 7 million gallons and closed out eight tanks. Overall, the site’s liquid waste mission is expected to last until 2039 and carries a life-cycle cost of $33 billion to $57 billion.
