A long-awaited settlement agreement rolled out Monday by state and federal agencies says the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state still intends to start turning low-level radioactive tank waste into glass starting next year, with high-level waste vitrification to follow in the 2030s.
DOE, the Washington state Department of Ecology (Ecology), and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency also said the direct-feed approach planned next year for low-level waste, will also be employed for immobilizing high-level waste in glass.
The agreement resulting from the so-called “holistic” negotiations, proposes a “realistic and achievable course for cleaning up millions of gallons of radioactive and chemical waste,” according to a press release from the agencies. There was no slippage in the current schedule for the Bechtel-built Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant.
“Hot commissioning” of the Direct-Feed-Low-Activity-Waste Facilities should be done by Aug. 1, 2025, according to the agreement. Hot commissioning of high-level waste operations at the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant should occur by Dec. 31, 2033. Initial plant operations for the high-level waste facilities should occur by Dec. 31, 2036.
A 60-day public comment period will begin on May 30, with regional public meetings in Washington and Oregon in July.
DOE will also convene an independent expert committee on tank waste by March 2025.
The three agencies announced a conceptual agreement nearly a year ago. For years, the state and federal agencies have worked to update key parts of the Tri-Party Agreement that guides cleanup of the former plutonium production complex. Hanford has about 56 million gallons of radioactive and chemical water left over from making plutonium for nuclear weapons.
Submission of a state license request for a larger-scale successor to the Tank Side Cesium Removal System for low-level waste should be filed by August 2026.
“The disposal of tank waste is a critical component of the complex, site-wide cleanup efforts at Hanford,” said EPA Region 10 Administrator Casey Sixkiller. “We encourage all impacted Tribes, community members, and other stakeholders to participate in the public review process.”
