The Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state, hit a speed bump recently in its efforts to remove radioactive waste from the final underground single-shell tank within the AX Farm, according to a staff report from a federal watchdog.
AZ-102, the double-shell tank receiving waste from AX-101 as part of a waste retrieval project, “is nearly full,” according to a Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board staff report for the week of April 7. The document was recently posted on the board’s webpage.
As a result, the Amentum-led tank management contractor, Washington River Protection Solutions, “has paused AX-101 retrieval pending transfer of the accumulated waste from AZ-102” to other double-shell tanks, according to the board document.
In early May, DOE and its contractor planned to create space in AZ-102 by transferring waste to another double-shell tank, AZ-101, according to the board report. A spokesperson at Hanford did not reply to a request for comment on Monday.
Three transfers from AX-101, which is “approximately 35% retrieved,” should occur before the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30, according to the board report.
DOE announced in January it is starting to remove about 426,000 gallons of waste from Tank AX-101, using a high-pressure water spray to dislodge saltcake and sludge, and putting it into a newer, safer double-shell tank. Emptying out AX-101 would complete waste retrieval from all four of the 1960s-era single-shell tanks built to hold waste from Cold War era plutonium production at Hanford.
The waste transfers are meant to reduce health and safety risks surrounding Hanford’s 177 underground tanks until the roughly 56 million gallons can be treated for disposal. The Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant built by Bechtel should start turning low-level radioactive tank waste into glass by 2025, DOE has said in recent months. That’s about two years later than the agency previously hoped to begin.
