A comparative analysis of different supplemental treatment methods for low-level radioactive waste at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site should be included in the results of an ongoing study, according to the second review report on the study by a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine panel. The panel is independently reviewing a study ordered by Congress and led by the Savannah River National Laboratory to evaluate supplemental methods to treat the waste
The Waste Treatment Plant under construction was never planned to be large enough to process all 56 million gallons of radioactive tank waste at the Washington state facility in a reasonable amount of time.
About 90 percent of the waste in the tanks is expected to be low activity, and the plant might only vitrify a third to of half of that material in 40 to 50 years of operation. Treatment of this material must begin no later than 2023 under a federal court order.
The additional treatment capacity or method that will be needed is being called supplemental treatment. Three technologies are at the forefront of consideration because they are most technologically mature: vitrification, grouting, and steam reforming.
The second of four planned review reports by the NAS panel, released Friday, provides suggestions on what should be included in the final SRNL study report to make it useful as a decision on waste treatment is made.
The latest NAS review report said the final study should consider the sources, consequences, and probabilities of risks posed and avoided by each of the supplemental treatment options. There could be health, environmental, social, and regulatory risks.
The final SRNL study report should also assess reliability of technologies, or the likelihood that each system will be operable and continue to produce waste forms of the intended quality at the expected rate for a sustained time. The final SRNL study report should also estimate the full lifetime costs of each technology.
