The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has formally accepted for review an Energy Department proposal to dispose of vitrified low-activity waste inside the fence at the Hanford Site in Washington state.
The Energy Department on April 23 filed its draft Waste Incidental to Reprocessing (WIR) evaluation with the NRC, which in this case is serving as a technical consultant on the plan under an interagency agreement.
On Monday, the federal nuclear regulator said the submission was sufficiently complete for it to begin a full technical review of the draft document. It also released the schedule for the review.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will request any additional information from DOE by Oct. 1, which is expected to respond by Jan. 27, 2021. The NRC would complete the draft technical evaluation in mid-May of next year. After reserving a few days for additional discussion if necessary, the agency would deliver its final technical evaluation report to DOE on May 21, 2021.
The technical review is advisory and DOE is not required to follow its recommendations.
Once the Waste Treatment Plant starts the Direct-Feed Low-Activity Waste (DFLAW) process, to convert material from underground tanks into glass by the end of 2023, the Energy Department believes many of the resulting canisters can be disposed of on-site at Hanford’s Integrated Disposal Facility, according to the draft plan.
The Energy Department expects about 13,500 containers of vitrified waste will be produced using the DFLAW approach and disposed of at the Integrated Disposal Facility. The agency said it has long anticipated using on-site disposal at Hanford for much of the low-activity waste.
However, the plant lacks capacity to convert all the waste into glass, and DOE is studying options for the remaining 23.5 million gallons of low-activity tank waste is expected to be treated via DFLAW.
There is an estimated 56 million gallons of radioactive and chemical waste currently held in tanks at Hanford, left over decades of plutonium production. Low-activity waste accounts for 90% of all waste at Hanford, although it represents a small portion of the radionuclides.
Hanford’s high-level waste, once converted into a glass form, must be disposed of in a deep geologic repository, such as the stalled Yucca Mountain project in Nevada.
