The Department of Energy contractor in charge of tank waste at the Hanford Site in Washington state is shopping for potential subcontractors capable of refurbishing up to 10 miles of underground pipeline for double-shelled waste-storage tanks.
Amentum-led Washington River Protection Solutions published its notice seeking expressions of interest in the project on Jan. 30. Replies are due by 4:00 p.m. Pacific Time on Feb. 19, according to the notice that appeared in the government’s system for award management (SAM.gov).
At Hanford, there are roughly 56 million gallons of mixed radioactive and chemically hazardous waste, left over from decades of plutonium production for nuclear weapons. The waste is held in 177 large underground tanks, of which 28 are one-million-gallon double-shell tanks.
The buried encased transfer pipelines linking the tank farms “equate to approximately 10 miles in total length and vary in condition,” according to the notice. Pipeline construction started in 1968 and completed in 1986. Some lines have been buried for over 50 years and are subject to erosion or corrosion, Washington River Protection Systems said in the notice.
No cost estimate was given for the project.
Hanford managers intend to start turning some of the less radioactive tank waste into a solid glass form starting in 2025 at the Bechtel-built Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant.
