ARLINGTON, VA — A planned test to solidify 2,000 gallons of low-level radioactive tank waste from the Hanford Site into a concrete-like grout could pave the way for a second method of treating waste at the former plutonium production complex near Richland, Wash., the Department of Energy’s top nuclear-cleanup official said here Tuesday.
During the kickoff of the National Cleanup Workshop here, William “Ike” White said DOE has sought a special permit from the state of Washington for the Test Bed Initiative.
The test, which involves sending 2,000 gallons of tank waste from Hanford to Waste Control Specialists in Texas and EnergySolutions in Utah for grouting and disposal, is a follow-up of a much smaller three-gallon test performed in 2017.
The National Academies of Sciences and a Savannah River National Lab-led team “recently issued a final analysis of a years-long look at options to address Hanford’s supplemental low activity waste,” White said. The researchers concluded the test-best-initiative” is a realistic supplemental option that should be explored.
Hanford’s Waste Treatment and Immobilization plant, which is now supposed to start up in 2025, will treat the first batches of liquid radioactive waste at Hanford using the proven technique of mixing the material with glass to form solid cylinders, but DOE needs other options for some of the remaining tank waste.
There is in total about 56 million gallons to treat.
