Bill Proposes Less Funding for ORP, But Would Boost Richland Funding
Mike Nartker
WC Monitor
4/24/2015
House appropriators may be putting at risk the Department of Energy’s current goal to begin processing liquid radioactive waste at Hanford by the end of 2022 with their version of the Fiscal Year 2016 Energy and Water Appropriations bill, reported out of committee this week. The bill would provide significantly less funding than what DOE had requested next year for the Office of River Protection, which oversees the Hanford tank waste mission, with lawmakers calling on the Department to provide more information on how it intends to complete the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant. However, the bill would boost funding above what DOE had sought for cleanup work at Hanford overseen by the Richland Operations Office.
In a written response late this week, a DOE spokesperson said, “DOE is reviewing the details of the House Appropriations Committee FY 2016 Energy and Water Appropriations bill. The President’s budget request reflects resources ORP needs to make planned progress towards being able to begin vitrifying liquid tank waste by 2022.”
DOE Looking to Start-Up WTP LAW Facility Ahead of Rest of the Plant
DOE is looking to implement a phased approach to getting the Hanford vit plant in operation, the first phase of which would entail establishing an interim pretreatment system and a direct feed capacity for the WTP’s Low-Activity Waste Facility and beginning processing there. The LAW Facility, along with the WTP’s Analytical Laboratory and other support facilities (collectively known as ‘LBL’), does not have the same technical issues that have slowed progress on the other main portions of the vit plant—the Pretreatment and High-Level Waste facilities. DOE has proposed beginning waste processing at the LAW Facility by the end of 2022, but the schedule remains uncertain for when the Department will operate the HLW and main Pretreatment facilities as DOE continues to address technical issues at those sections of the plant.
House Bill Would ‘Defer’ Funding for Tank Farm Modifications
The House spending bill would provide a total of $1.268 billion for the Office of River Protection, approximately $146 million below DOE’s budget request. The funding includes $578 million for tank farms activities, approximately $71 million below the request. The report accompanying the bill notes, “The recommendation defers funding for modifications needed for direct feed of the Waste Treatment Plant until the Department has provided more clarity on its multi-year cost and schedule plans.”
Lawmakers Want ‘Overarching’ Strategy for WTP…
House appropriators are also looking to spend less than what DOE had requested for work at the WTP next year. The House bill would provide the $75 million the Department had sought for work on the interim pretreatment system for the LAW Facility, but would only provide a total of $615 million for work on the rest of the vit plant. In contrast, DOE had sought a total of $690 million for work at the WTP, with an additional $75 million in tank farms activities funding for work on the interim pretreatment system for the LAW Facility.
In their report accompanying the bill, House appropriators expressed concern over a lack of full information from DOE as to when the vit plant will be completed. “Though the Department has made progress in resolving the WTP’s design problems through its proposal for direct feed, the Committee is concerned that the Department still does not have an overarching programmatic strategy to deliver the WTP, does not have a project baseline that is aligned with the contract structure, and has limited ability to monitor project performance because the contractor is no longer reporting earned value management system data against a resource-loaded schedule,” the report says. “The Committee does not support increasing the overall annual amount of funding for WTP construction until the Department has provided the Committee with a cost estimate to begin processing liquid waste and a clear schedule to accomplish that goal. In addition, the Department must account for its maintenance and operating costs and continued design and testing activities that are needed for the portions of the project that are delayed due to unresolved safety-related issues.”
…And Goals for Next Five Years of Remainder of Hanford Cleanup
For work overseen by DOE’s Richland Operations Office at Hanford, the House bill would provide approximately $923 million, an increase of approximately $79 million from the Department’s budget request. Notably, DOE had singled out the Richland Operations Office for the largest proposed funding cut among the Department’s cleanup sites in its FY 2016 request. The committee report states, “While the budget request proposes to reduce funds for Richland, the Committee is concerned that the Department’s strategy represents a change in the cleanup plans that have not been fully explained to stakeholders and that delays indefinitely the completion of some high hazard projects.” The House bill would give DOE 90 days to provide a report “on its plans for the Hanford site that clearly delineates goals and milestones over the next five years and that explains any deviations from agreements or other commitments previously made to the state and other stakeholders.”
