The Washington state Department of Ecology has denied the Department of Energy’s application for a permit to cover Test Bed Initiative (TBI) work at the Hanford Site, but expressed support for the project. Despite the initial setback, the letter of denial issued March 15 also said there is a better and possibly quicker way for the project to be permitted to meet state dangerous waste requirements.
The Energy Department and Perma-Fix Environmental Services are testing an alternative means for treating some portion of Hanford’s 56 million gallons of chemical and radioactive waste, which otherwise will be processed at the Waste Treatment Plant being built at the site. The first phase of the proof-of-concept project was completed in December 2017, encompassing just 3 gallons of waste.
It is not clear how long the permit process will take, and the Energy Department has said it wants to complete Phase 2 of the Test Bed Initiative this year. Phase 2 requires 2,000 gallons of low-activity radioactive waste to be separated out of waste stored in a double-shell tank, sent off-site to a Perma-Fix commercial facility for treatment and solidification in a grout-like form, and then shipped for disposal to Waste Control Specialists in Texas.
The Department of Energy on Jan. 24 submitted its initial permit application to add new activities to its existing permit for double-shell waste tanks, one of the Hanford units that have remained under an interim permit since federal regulations for hazardous waste were passed in 1976. The work at Hanford, using an ion-exchange column to remove cesium from tank waste to meet low-level waste requirements ahead of transport to Perma-Fix, is not covered by the current Energy Department permit.
The state is asking the Department of Energy to start over on the Test Bed Initiative permit process with a state Research Development and Demonstration permit application. “An RD&D permit is one of the tools in our regulatory toolbox,” said John Price, a Department of Ecology section manager. “We think it’s the quickest and most appropriate way to authorize DOE’s part of the 2,000 gallon TBI.”
Once the Energy Department submits a new permit proposal, Ecology would need to make sure the application is complete, write permit conditions, hold a 45-day public comment period, respond to comments, and then issue a permit. The permit would be final after a 30-day waiting period.
In the March 15 letter to the Energy Department and Hanford tank farm contractor Washington River Protection Solutions, Ecology emphasized its interest in seeing the Test Bed Initiative move forward.
The state agency said it appreciates the Energy Department’s effort to find innovative and cost-effective ways to accelerate cleanup at the former plutonium production site. “We support work consistent with our mission to clean up Hanford as quickly and safely as possible, in compliance with environmental standards and move it offsite,” according to the letter. “We look forward to seeing if the Test Bed Initiative proves that the concept of off-site treatment and out-of-state disposal of liquid low-activity waste from Hanford’s tank farms is a successful one.”
A 2017 Government Accountability Office report quoted Waste Control Specialist estimates that grouting the waste could cost up to $16.5 million less than expanding the Waste Treatment Plant to vitrify all of the low-activity tank waste at Hanford in a reasonable time. The Energy Department has said grouting has the additional benefit of removing some waste from the nearly filled 27 double-shell tanks at Hanford, allowing more waste to be emptied into those vessels from the site’s 149 leak-prone single-shell tanks.
The Department of Energy permit is in addition to the permit required for Perma-Fix Northwest in Richland, Wash., which was at least initially expected to treat the 2,000 gallons of waste in Phase 2 of the Test Bed Initiative. Because of the time it could take for Perma-Fix to get state Dangerous Waste Regulation permit approval for the Test Bed Initiative, the waste could be trucked to a Perma-Fix plant in Tennessee that is permitted to take the waste.
Perma-Fix Northwest has been processing some Hanford and other waste, including treatment and packaging of waste, after its Ecology permit expired in 2009 as the company has worked to get a revised permit approved. Ecology said it understands and appreciates Perma-Fix Northwest’s value to the Hanford cleanup mission.
“We know it is an integral part of processing Hanford wastes and getting them ready for final disposal,” said Ecology spokesman Randy Bradbury. “This is why we have allowed them to continue operating even after their permit expired in 2009.” State law allowed continued operations because the company made a timely application for a revised permit.
Ecology is working with Perma-Fix Northwest in hopes that its revised permit could be adopted this year, Bradbury said. However, the company would still have to file an additional permit application and get approval for the Test Bed Initiative work.
