The Department of Energy is extending the public comment period for an evaluation that would allow remaining radioactive waste in the Hanford Site’s 16 C Farm single-shell tanks to be grouted in place after waste retrieval last fall was completed to regulatory standards. The grouting could allow the underground waste tanks in Eastern Washington state to be closed in place and left in the ground permanently.
The comment period, which started June 4, has been extended from Sept. 7 to Nov. 7. Comments may be sent to [email protected].
The Energy Department authorized the extension amid strong opposition to the plan from watchdog organizations in the Pacific Northwest. It would allow reclassification of the waste remaining in the C Tank Farm as “waste incidental to reprocessing,” or residual waste. The goal laid out in the Tri-Party Agreement that guides cleanup at Hanford is to remove 99 percent of waste on average from all 149 single-shell tanks at the former plutonium production complex. About 96 percent of the waste has been removed from the C Tank Farm, with no further retrieval planned.
Seattle-based watchdog Hanford Challenge is calling for DOE to continue to monitor the leftover waste in the C Tank Farm in the hope that better retrieval technology will be developed in the next 10 to 20 years rather than grouting the material in the tank now. “The federal government is setting the stage to leave toxic and radioactive pollution in tanks, soils and groundwater close to the Columbia River,” it said.
Hanford Challenge is continuing to hold “happy hours” at its Seattle office with information and materials available for people to write comments on the matter. Upcoming happy hours are scheduled for 4-6 p.m. Aug. 23 and Sept. 27.
Hanford Challenge, Seattle-based Heart of America Northwest, and Columbia Riverkeeper, of Hood River, Ore., have scheduled a workshop for today in Vancouver, Wash., on reclassifying C Farm waste. The workshop, at 6:30 p.m. at the Vancouver Public Library, is being paid for in part by a Washington state Department of Ecology grant.
