A Hanford Advisory Board meeting scheduled in Richland, Wash., for Dec. 5-6 has been canceled after President Donald Trump declared Wednesday a national day of mourning for former President George H.W. Bush. Federal offices will be closed and federal employees have the day off.
Bush died Friday at age 94.
The Hanford Advisory Board meeting is not expected to be rescheduled. Instead, the agenda items are likely to be rolled over to the board’s next full meeting, set for Feb. 13-14.
The agenda for this week’s meeting included considering advice to the Department of Energy on its proposed change to the interpretation of the definition of high-level radioactive waste. The board also planned a discussion and possible issuance of a “white paper” on the assumptions and scenarios included in System Plan 8 that DOE issued in 2017. The Tri-Party Agreement governing cleanup at the former plutonium production plant requires updated system plans every three years and are based on computer modeling of rough cost and schedule estimates for completion of retrieval and treatment of Hanford’s radioactive tank waste.
Separately, the Senate Appropriations energy and water development has also postponed a Wednesday hearing on advanced nuclear reactors. The session will be rescheduled later, according to a notice from the panel.
Speakers at the hearing were to include Edward McGinnis, principal deputy assistant secretary in DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy.
