Cement-like grout might be a viable cleanup alternative for up to 60% of the liquid radioactive waste at the Hanford Site in Washington state, the acting head of the Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup office told Senators this week.
The long-delayed Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant being built by Bechtel to solidify radioactive waste into a glass form can only handle about 40% of the underground tank waste at Hanford, DOE’s Office of Environmental Management senior adviser William (Ike) White said Tuesday.
White testified before the Senate Armed Force Committee’s Strategic Forces subcommittee, chaired by Sen. Angus King (I-Maine).
“That leaves about 60% of the supplemental waste that we don’t have a clear path forward on,” White said in response to King. Research from the National Academies and the Savannah River National Laboratory has indicated grout “is by far the most cost-effective and timely,” way to address the waste that cannot be accommodated at the vitrification plant, White said.
The research, carried out at the behest of Congress, has deemed grouting waste into a cement-like substance is less expensive than either building a second vitrification plant or a steam reforming technology facility, akin to the Integrated Waste Treatment United at the Idaho National Laboratory.
As a result, DOE Environmental Management is working to submit a research and development permit to the Washington state Department of Ecology, White said. The permit is to demonstrate viability of what’s known as the test bed initiative, where 2,000 gallons of tank waste would be grouted at a commercial facility and then shipped away for disposal as low-level waste out-of-state.
The 2,000-gallon grout test on Hanford waste should be able to start about a year after the research permit is issued, White said.
In his written testimony, White cited recent milestones reached by DOE’s remediation branch in cleaning up contamination left over from the national defense programs from World War II and the Cold War. Also testifying during the hearing’s first panel were National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Jill Hruby and Admiral James Caldwell, NNSA’s deputy administrator for naval reactors.
