The Department of Energy later this month will lift the curtain a little on its plans for temporarily storing 35 cubic yards of radioactive sludge at the Hanford Site near Richland, Wash., before disposing of the material permanently.
The changes will be detailed in an official document known as an Explanation of Significant Difference for the K Basins Interim Remedial Action Record of Decision, which DOE plans to release for public comment later this month, the agency wrote in a Monday email blast.
The Explanation of Significant Difference “will also note that treatment technologies need to be selected, and a suitable facility needs to be found or built to handle the sludge,” DOE stated.
While the document does not propose changes to the overall sludge-treatment strategy — essentially, moving the material away from the Columbia River until it can be treated and made safe for permanent disposal at DOE’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M. — it will discuss “the length of time K Basins sludge will be stored prior to treatment, as well as identification of potential storage placement on the Hanford site, such as T Plant,” the agency wrote.
The Hanford sludge is now stored in underwater containers in the K-West Basin about 400 yards from the Columbia River. DOE blew a 2014 deadline to start sludge cleanup there and now looks to be cutting it close to begin construction of the temporary storage site by 2018, the new start date the department settled on with Washington state last year. In 2014, DOE thought the cleanup would cost about $310 million. A new cost estimate is underway and will be complete after an external review of the program slated for this year, according to the fiscal 2017 DOE budget request the White House released in February.
The sludge was created by the decay of irradiated fuel rods that were slated to be harvested for plutonium until the federal government pulled the plug on Hanford plutonium production in the 1980s, with the Cold War winding down.
