Another Shipment of “Reinterpreted” HLW at Savannah River Awaits Biden DOE Decision

The Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup office could find out soon if the administration of President Joe Biden will back a second trial run moving certain high-level radioactive waste out of the Savannah River Site in South Carolina and disposing of it in a facility licensed for low-level waste.

That was the word Monday from Doug Tonkay, the acting deputy assistant secretary for waste and materials management at the DOE’s Office of Environmental Management. Tonkay, who is acting as the replacement for Mark Senderling, who retired from the federal government in September after 18 years with DOE, addressed a virtual meeting of the Environmental Management Advisory Board chairs.

“Mark had worked to champion the high-level waste interpretation initiative” to allow certain “less risky” high-level waste to essentially be treated as low-level, Tonkay said during his presentation.

During a pilot case in 2020, DOE sent eight gallons of stabilized wastewater grout from Savannah River’s Defense Waste Processing Facility to Waste Control Specialists in Andrews County, Texas for treatment and disposal.

“Obviously we had an administration change,” Tonkay said, alluding to the election of now-President Biden and the subsequent appointment of Jennifer Granholm as secretary of energy. “They are reviewing that,” Tonkay said of the DOE reinterpretation of the high-level waste definition under the administration of President Donald Trump.

“We have a second waste stream teed up, should we get the green light to move on that,” Tonkay said. “It is some contaminated equipment … things like bubblers from the DWPF [Defense Waste Processing Facility, which vitrifies waste into glass,” Tonkay said. This is equipment that had touched some of the glass.”

The waste currently has no disposal path, Tonkay said. “We are hoping that we will get some decisions on that all very soon.” Then the Office of Environmental Management could proceed with a draft environmental assessment, he added.