The Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state is accepting public comments between now and April 23 on plans to grout some of the less-radioactive waste from the 200 West Area.
The draft analysis under the National Environmental Policy Act looks at DOE’s plans to pretreat tank waste from the 200 West Area and then solidify it into a concrete-like grout either on-site or off-site, according to a DOE press release Monday.
The waste would ultimately be hauled away to either EnergySolutions in Utah or Waste Control Specialists in Texas for permanent disposal.
Some localities and advocacy groups in Oregon and Washington have said they don’t like the idea of the waste being hauled over public roads prior to it being grouted.
Earlier in March, at the Waste Management Symposia in Phoenix, DOE tank waste manager at Hanford Delmar Noyes said potentially between 20 million and 30 million gallons of Hanford tank waste could be grouted.
More than four decades of plutonium production ending in 1987 left Hanford with about 56 million gallons of radioactive and hazardous waste stored in underground tanks.
The Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant built by Bechtel National is expected to start converting some of the less-radioactive waste into a glass form starting in August. But much of the 56 million gallons will not be accommodated by the vitrification plant, according to DOE. Grouting has been touted as an alternative to building a second multi-billion-dollar vitrification plant at Hanford.
Comments can be emailed to [email protected].
