The Obama Administration appears set to submit a new proposal for modifying the 2010 Consent Decree that governs the cleanup of Hanford’s tank waste to Washington state officials by the end of this month. The schedule was outlined in a letter Washington State Governor Jay Inslee (D) and Attorney General Robert Ferguson sent to Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz and Attorney General Eric Holder earlier this week, in which Inslee and Ferguson warned, “For a proposal to be viable, it must contain the specificity, detail and comprehensiveness which has thus far not been provided.”
To date, DOE has warned three times— once in 2011 and twice last year—that it is at risk of missing milestones contained in the Consent Decree. Last fall, DOE unveiled a new “framework” for moving forward with the Hanford tank waste mission. In their Feb. 11 letter, though, Inslee and Ferguson criticized the Department for not providing enough information. “Despite concerted efforts on our part, your agencies have not provided the details needed to assess the Framework or the effect that implementation of the Framework would have on all WTP and retrieval requirements set forth in the Consent Decree and TPA [Tri-Party Agreement]. Energy has not provided a definitive proposed path forward for Hanford cleanup,” the letter states.
Inslee and Ferguson called on the Administration to submit an amendment proposal that “comprehensively” addresses all requirements related to tank waste retrieval and treatment “including the out-year life cycle requirements.” They wrote, “An acceptable path forward must also be aggressive but realistic. It must be a path that gives the State confidence that tank waste retrieval and treatment will be completed as soon as possible.” DOE did not respond to requests for comment on the letter yesterday.
